Introduction

I have been blessed throughout my life with an abundance
of great experiences, adventures, and friends.

Definition: Testimony = A public recounting of a religious conversion or experience.
Testimony = Test I Mony = Daily Decisions About What You Value Most

Deuteronomy 5:7 - "You shall have no other gods before me."
Billy Graham: "Whatever you love most, be it sports, pleasure, business or God, that is our god!"


[1949]
I was born in 1949 in Winston Salem, North Carolina to two great parents and have two older brothers.

My Father worked as an engineer for the aerospace industry.

[1950]
Our family moved to Long Beach, Southern California in 1950 which was my father's birthplace.


[1958]
My Elementary School experiences taught me that Athletics were not in my future.
I began SkateBoarding and Surfing in 1958 at age 8.
I was the worst Skater in my neighborhood.

[1967]
I graduated High School in 1967.

I attended college for a year and then discontinued my education to pursue a "Life of Surfing".

My parents gave me the choice of returning to college or leave the house by that same afternoon. I chose to leave and lived in a friend's garage for three months. I am very thankful that my parents had the courage to allow me to embrace reality.


[1968]
I surfed Hawaii and Mexico and then enlisted in the Air Force in 1968 during the time of the Vietnam War. I was stationed in Taegu, South Korea.

Although my parents were both Christians, I had never accepted the Bible as anything more than a fictional story.

[1969]
One of the other soldiers in the barracks kept talking to me about the Bible and offered a "Good News For Modern Man" for me to read. I agreed to read it, not because I was interested in converting to Christianity, but so I could more intelligently argue against it. I found nothing within the Bible that I disagreed with. I'm a "Left-Brained" dominant thinker who is typically mathematical, organized, and logical with little attention given to the emotional side of life. The mathematics of the Bible were overwhelming. There are over 300 prophecies that point to Christ and even mentioned the exact date which He would arrive in Jerusalem (483 years before it happened). I have no doubts about Jesus Christ being the Messiah.

I accepted Christ as my Savior and my life changed forever.
The Bible came alive and my perception of the world changed forever.


[1973]
I returned home from the military and went back to college receiving a degree in Mathematics.

I worked at a YMCA Summer Camp as Assistant Director, Bus Driver, and Camp Counselor. Billy Graham once said, "Whatever you love most, be it sports, pleasure, business or god; that is you god." We make our decisions based upon that which we love most at the time of decision. Working with children changed my interests and I returned to college to study Physical Education.


[1975]
One of the requirements of my Physical Education program was to teach a class in my community. SkateBoarding was becoming popular and the Director at the City Park where I grew up asked me to teach a class of SkateBoarding Safety. The kids learned quickly and the temptation to hold back went against my beliefs as a Physical Educator. My decision to uplift others was immediately rewarded with new skills.

One of the kids wanted to go to an upcoming contest. His mother couldn't take him, so she asked me to drive him and spend the weekend with him at the contest. It was the 1975 Del Mar Bahne/Cadillac SkateBoard Nationals. There were over 500 skaters from all over the country competing. I had no interest in competing, but joined the contest to keep an eye on the 12-year old child in my care. I won the Senior Division and my life once again was changed forever. "SkateBoarding derailed my life in a beautiful way!" (Sean Mortimer - "Stalefish" - 2008)

Offers to represent SkateBoarding gave me the opportunity to become the World's First Professional SkateBoarder. I wrote books, appeared on television shows such as "The Tonight Show", "To Tell The Truth", "Good Morning America", and many others. I started PRO (Professional Riders Organization) which recruited other skaters and paid them to promote SkateBoarding all over the world. My travels took me all across the United States including Alaska and Hawaii, all across Canada, Australia, Japan, Peru, and Europe. My motivation was to share SkateBoarding, an activity I loved, with the rest of the world. Financial gain was not a priority for me and my lack of business sense led me into contracts where any compensation owed to me was never paid.

SkateBoarding, like any other human endeavor, will involve individuals making personal decisions. My Biblical beliefs put me on a much different path than many of the other Skaters. Many of us wanted to elevate SkateBoarding and work with City Councils to build Skate Parks. Other skaters were rebellious and got involved with drugs and gave skateboarding a bad image. SkateBoarding fell into a decade of decline in the early 1980's due to the Drug affiliation of the Sport and sponsors pulled their financial support from SkateBoarding events.

My greatest treasures from SkateBoarding are not the trophies I received from competing, but rather the friends I met along the way. Letters of gratitude arrive frequently from people I don't know. Our influence in other people's lives is strongest because of our daily actions, not just the words we speak.


[1985]
July 12, 1985 - Baptism at Pirate's Cove, Corona Del Mar by Chuck Smith.


[1986]
The World SkateBoarding Championships were held at the Vancouver, Canada World's Fair in 1986. Matthew 6:21 - "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."


[1987]
SkateBoarding was on the decline and I prayed to God for guidance on how to best use the talents He had given me. I received a phone call two days later from a friend telling me about a job opening at Calvary Chapel in Downey, California. Four of us had a SkateBoard Ministry and we used our Sport to share the Gospel.


My Father passed away in 1980,
      at the age of 76.


My Mother passed away in 1989,
      at the age of 68.





[1991]
I changed teaching jobs and moved over to the Long Beach School District where I was given the opportunity to teach Computer Robotics as an Educational Partnership with six AeroSpace Companies. They planned to integrate Computer Robotics into their industries and decided to fund public schools and recruit graduating students. Math scores went through the roof and the kids, who had been carefully selected, were eager to learn. The Program produced awesome results! AeroSpace had specific requirements for getting accepted into the Program, but an idealistic administrator decided to enroll a gang member one year. The new student entered one of our classrooms and told the teacher that he would blow him away if he tried to tell him what to do. The teacher, like all the rest of us, were used to working with great kids. The teacher told the student, "Take your best shot." The student pulled out a gun and shot the teacher to death.


[1992]
We lost our funding from all the AeroSpace companies and I decided to move out of California to Boise, Idaho. I taught computer classes for a program called "Community Education" where I met a lot of new friends.


[1999]
A friend made a Web Site for me on my 50th Birthday in 1999.


[2002]
I began learning how to create Web Sites in 2002.


[2003]
I uploaded "America's Godly Heritage" WebSite in 2003 which documented America's Christian heritage.


[2007]
I lived in Boise for 18 years and met Shelley, my wife, in 2007.

[2010]
We moved to Taylorsville, Utah in 2010 where Shelley still works as a Flight Attendant and most of her family had moved to from Southern California. Her needs for work and family were greater than my needs in Boise. We began attending The Adventure Church in 2011.

I am still involved in SkateBoarding!

[2012-2023]
Shelley and I have flown up to Vancouver, Canada to work at the World FreeStyle SkateBoarding Championships every May.


[2016]
We flew to Australia in 2016 for the 40th Year Celebration of the World's Oldest Public Skate Park - I was there in 1976 when it opened.

[2017]
I was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2017 and spoke about "Loving to Skate" and "Loving SkateBoarding".



[2023]

My life experiences have taught me that it is God who gives us our talents, and it is good to use them for His purpose.
1 Corinthians 4:7 - "What do you have that you did not receive?
If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?"

I am grateful for what I have been able to experience and learn from.

I am looking for the next adventure in the journey that God has for me.