Tony Hawk
CENTER:
Teeth knocked out three times
“The first time was at Del Mar in the halfpipe. I stuck on a 50-50 and fell forward. I woke up later in the pro shop. Both teeth were broken off—all that was left were tiny nubs. It looked like a bullet went through the middle of my teeth. They put caps on them and I broke two sets of those.”
Knocked out five times
Corrective eye surgery
Bruised tailbone
“I did a bad frontside air around the corner at Upland; I didn’t pull off enough, so I went into the corner at the wrong angle. My foot went over the deck and I flipped over onto my back at the bottom of the pool. I just laid on the bottom for awhile.”
Four stitches in middle of forehead
Compressed vertebras in back
“I tried 900s over and over. A couple of days later my back stiffened up. A few days after that I could barely walk.”
Deviated septum corrected.
LEFT SIDE:
Three stitches in thumb
Two screws in fractured funny bone
“Backside 180 Japan over a funbox for a Gap commercial. I overturned and deck checked—not a good combination. I shot off my board onto my elbow.”
Tattoo removed from wedding finger
Broken pinkie and middle finger
Hyperextended shoulder
“I tried to bail a trick at Del Mar, but I landed on my board and it shot me out and my arm stretched out.”
Torn cartilage removed from knee in orthoscopic surgery
At least 20 stitches in shin
“The scab I have right now is the result of two incidents. A bluntslide bigspin didn’t work out and my board got tangled underneath me. Two days later I kneeslid from a trick with the board underneath my shins, ripped the original scab off, and did some more damage.”
Twice sprained ankle so bad that couldn’t walk
RIGHT SIDE:
Four stitches in chin
“I slammed in the showers at the public swimming pool when I was a kid.”
Cracked second rib
“I landed a 900 and fell into the flat bottom. I heard something pop. Later that night I had trouble breathing, so I went to the doctor the next day.”
Popped bursa that created chunky calcium deposits along hip.
“I was trying to learn half-Cab to frontside blunt and I slammed really hard. That ended the session. I couldn’t sleep because the hipper stuck out so far. You could see it bulging when I was wearing regular shorts. My hip belonged to the Elephant Man.”
At least 30 stitches in shin
“In 1986 I was street skating and went to ollie up a bench, but my shin went right into the edge and cut it open. I went to the doctor and he gave me a local. He stuck his finger in the cut to make sure my shinbone wasn’t chipped. I could see his finger underneath my skin probing around. It was fine, all I needed was some stitches.”
Sprained ankle 4 times so bad that couldn’t walk
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