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» Christian Hosoi
» Lance Mountain
» Richard Mulder
» Brian Sumner
» Ray Barbee
Lance Mountain is without question one of the most important skateboarders in the history of the sport. From his stint as a former member of the famed Powell-Peralta Bones Brigade team to the video personality to his current position as president of the Firm skateboards, Lance has consistently shown himself to be an integral fixture in the skate community.
Lance began skating in 1974 at the age of 10, learning the ropes of the sport at the legendary Whittier's Skate City. Lance's aggressive style early on eventually led to a several sponsorship deals including one with Variflex skateboards in in 1981.
It was definitely a time of transition for the sport with many of Lance's
heroes all moving on to other things. "It was weird being sponsored"
Lance says "we were making like fifteen bucks, fifty bucks a month."
In 1983 however things completely changed for Lance when he joined the skate team for the then fledgling upstart company Powell-Peralta, co owned by original Z-Boy Stacy Peralta. "I always wanted to ride for Powell so it was awesome" says Lance of the match up.
Lance would complete a team that would go on to dominate contests and skate culture in general for years to come. Dubbed the Bones Brigade, the team in it's prime consisted of Lance, Tony Hawk, Steve Caballero, Mike McGill, and Tommy Guererro. Simply put the Bones Brigade was skateboarding in the 1980s.
Routinely the Bones Brigade would comprise the first five slots in any contest they would enter and could be seen on the cover of or in almost any skate magazine on the planet. Around that time Lance would become part of something that would later revolutionize the skate industry.
"Craig Stecyk and Stacy decided to put a video to promote the company" he says. With that simple idea skateboarding would never be the same. "I think they felt like I was an all around skater so in the video they kind of followed me around."
The resulting creation, "The Bones Brigade Video Show" would be the first to bring the skate industry into the video age. Over the years Powell-Peralta would produce several ground breaking videos including "Future Primitive", and "The Search for Animal Chin."
Lance remembers the time well, "We were known for skating halfpipes and touring, we were first guys to go around the world and promote skateboarding."
He adds that he feels that the team had a hand in encouraging others to get out and skate and not just be a spectator. "We were like hey you can build your own stuff and build your own scenes."
He describes the time as being "kind of like being on a wave, you just go where it takes you."
Around 1990 skating was changing, vertical skating was becoming street skating as the sport evolved into the 90s. "At that time things were changing, basically Stacy and George Powell were going in different directions and because of the change in the arena of skating."
He says that his relationship with the company ended abruptly. "It was weird, basically it just kind of ended all at once."
The other Bones members with the exception of Caballero were quick to follow suit.
In 1991 Lance began part two of his skating career founding the Firm skateboards. He says that the decision to start a company really came out of simply wanting to stay involved with skateboarding. "I always wanted to work with a team" he says "I wanted nothing to do with business it was just about the skating."
Throughout Lance's career however one thing has remained consistent, his faith in Jesus Christ. "I really believe that the Lord gave me this position so that I might live my life for him. I was never the best skateboarder. But somehow, I'm still around. The Lord put me in this position. He gave me this life and I want to be an example as best as I can."
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