Mike Carroll (skateboarder)
Michael Shawn Carroll[1] (born August 24, 1975) is a professional skateboarder from Daly City, California, United States. He is the co-founder and vice-president of Girl Skateboards and the co-founder of Lakai Limited Footwear.[2] He was also instrumental in the creation of the Chocolate Skateboards subdivision of Girl. Furthermore, Carroll is known for being in the vanguard of innovative, technical, and stylish street skateboarding in the early 1990s and beyond. The success of skateboarding videos like Hokus Pokus, Ban This! and Video Days firmly ensconced street as the premier variation of skating (a position formally held by freestyle and especially vert skateboarding).[3]
Mike Carroll | |
---|---|
Born | Michael Shawn Carroll August 24, 1975 |
Nationality | American |
Occupation | Professional skateboarder, company owner |
Known for | Girl Skateboards, Lakai Limited Footwear, EA Skate |
Career
Carroll's first sponsors were H-Street skateboards, Concrete Jungle and FTC skate shop in San Francisco. When Concrete Jungle closed in 1988, Carroll became a founding member of the FTC skate shop team along with brother Gregg Carroll, Jovontae Turner, and Rick Ibaseta.[4] H-Street was a skateboard company founded by Tony Magnusson and Mike Ternasky.[5] Carroll was featured in video parts on H-Street's Shackle Me Not (1988),[4] Hokus Pokus (1989) [6] and This Is Not The New H-Street Video (1990) [7] In 1991, Carroll joined the prestigious Plan B team that Ternasky left H-Street to form. After the foreclosure of H-Street and the death of Plan B owner Mike Ternasky, Carroll started Girl Skateboards in 1993 with fellow Plan B rider Rick Howard. Carroll explained in 2013 that, at the time, Plan B was continually "retiring" team members and he experienced a decrease in stress in regard to his future following the decision to launch Girl.[1]
Following his recruitment to the Vans skate shoe team in 1994, Carroll was often seen in his early team ads skating in Half Cabs.[8] In 1996, Carroll released a signature model, a technically more advanced shoe based on the Half Cab with a modern internal looped lacing system,[9][10][11] but left the company in 1997 and moved to DC Shoes.[12] In 1998, DC Shoes released a Mike Carroll signature model shoe called the "Cosmo".[13] Not long afterwards Carroll left DC Shoes in 1999 along with Girl Skateboards team member and founder Rick Howard and they started the shoe company, Lakai.
Carroll is globally known for his skating at the Embarcadero plaza (also known as Justin Herman Plaza), in San Francisco, U.S.[3] As of 2012, the area continues to be a popular location for skateboarders all thanks to a local skate crew which contributed to the locations notoriety today. They called themselves "EMB" (Embarcadero's Most Blunted).[14] Carroll is said to have discovered the famous San Francisco skateboard landmark 3rd and Army.[15]
Awards
Carroll won Thrasher magazine's Skater of the Year award in 1994.[20]
In December 2011, Carroll was selected as one of "The 30 Most Influential Skaters Of All Time" by Transworld Skateboarding. Carroll was number 16 in the list, following Jamie Thomas and preceding Guy Mariano.[3] In the corresponding interview with Skin Phillips, uploaded in September 2012, Carroll listed Jason Lee and Julian Stranger as the two skateboarders who have been the most influential in his life.[21]
Videography
- H-Street: Shackle Me Not (1988)[22]
- H-Street: Hokus Pokus (1989)[23]
- Plan B: Questionable (1992)[24]
- Plan B: Virtual Reality (1993)[25]
- Girl: Gold Fish (1993)[26]
- Girl: Mouse (1996)[27]
- Transworld: Modus Operandi (2000)[28]
- Girl: Yeah Right (2003)[29]
- Lakai: Fully Flared (2007)[30]
- Girl: Pretty Sweet (2012)[31]
Video game appearances
Carroll is a playable character in the Electronic Arts video games; Skate,[32] Skate 2[33] and Skate 3.[34]
References
- RouteOneDirect (23 August 2013). "Rick Howard & Mike Carroll: 20 Years of Girl - The Route One Interview. Part One" (Video upload). YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 20 September 2013.
- "Mike Carroll". Lakai Limited Footwear. Lakai Limited Footwear. May 2013. Retrieved 29 May 2013.
- Alley, Blair (20 December 2011). "THE 30 MOST INFLUENTIAL SKATERS OF ALL TIME". Transworld Skateboarding. Bonnier Corporation. Retrieved 7 September 2012.
- "FTC Retrospective". www.48blocks.com. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
- RIDEChannel (16 August 2012). "Tony Magnusson Loses Fingers, H-Street, Plan B and More on Free Lunch" (Video upload). YouTube. Google, Inc. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
- "H-Street - Hokus Pokus skate video soundtrack - Skatevideosite". www.skatevideosite.com. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
- "H-Street - This Is Not The New H-Street Video skate video soundtrack - Skatevideosite". www.skatevideosite.com. Archived from the original on 31 May 2019. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
- http://www.thrashermagazine.com/imagesV2/Features/2015/WTC_6_Vans/wtc_6_16.jpg
- "Thrasher Magazine - Wax the Coping: Classic Skate Vans". www.thrashermagazine.com. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
- http://www.thrashermagazine.com/imagesV2/Burnout/2013/Magazine_1996/May_1996/TH0596May1996p106-107_800t.jpg
- http://www.thrashermagazine.com/imagesV2/Burnout/2013/Magazine_1996/September_1996/TH0996Sep1996p46-47_800t.jpg
- http://skately.com/img/library/print/large/dc-shoes-plug-model-1997.jpg
- http://skately.com/img/library/print/large/dc-shoes-carroll-cozmo-model-1998.jpg
- "Justin Herman Plaza". San Francisco Parks Alliance. San Francisco Parks Alliance. 2012. Retrieved 21 September 2012.
- "15 THINGS: 3RD AND ARMY". Skateboarder Magazine. GrindMedia, LLC. 21 July 2005. Archived from the original on 2 February 2013. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
- "Family - FTC". ftcsf.com. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
- "Team". Glassy Sunhaters. Glassy Sunhaters. July 2014. Archived from the original on 26 December 2013. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
- "Team". Grizzly Griptape. Grizzly Griptape. July 2014. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
- "BONES® BEARINGS TEAM". Bones Bearings. Skate One. July 2014. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
- "Classics: Mike Carroll S.O.T.Y". Thrasher Magazine. High Speed Productions. 17 November 2009. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
- Phillips, Skin; Blair Alley (6 September 2012). "30TH ANNIVERSARY INTERVIEWS: MIKE CARROLL PART 2". Transworld Skateboarding. Bonnier Corporation. Retrieved 7 September 2012.
- "Skate Video Site: Mike Carroll Skate Videos". Skate Video Site. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
- "Skate Video Site: Mike Carroll Skate Videos". Skate Video Site. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
- "Skate Video Site: Mike Carroll Skate Videos". Skate Video Site. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
- "Skate Video Site: Mike Carroll Skate Videos". Skate Video Site. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
- "Skate Video Site: Mike Carroll Skate Videos". Skate Video Site. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
- "Skate Video Site: Mike Carroll Skate Videos". Skate Video Site. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
- "Skate Video Site: Mike Carroll Skate Videos". Skate Video Site. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
- "Skate Video Site: Mike Carroll Skate Videos". Skate Video Site. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
- "Skate Video Site: Mike Carroll Skate Videos". Skate Video Site. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
- "Skate Video Site: Mike Carroll Skate Videos". Skate Video Site. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
- César A. Berardini (19 March 2007). "SKATE: Mike Carroll". teamxbox. IGN Entertainment, Inc. Archived from the original on 4 March 2012. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
- "profiles". EA Skate. Electronic Arts Inc. 2010. Archived from the original on 11 March 2012. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
- LTUCKER (17 March 2010). "TEAM UP AND THROW DOWN IN SKATE 3 ON MAY 11TH". EA. Electronic Arts Inc. Retrieved 5 September 2012.