- Jay Adams
Jay Adams (born
February 3 ,1961 ) is one of the originalZ-Boys and is considered one of the most influential skateboarders of all time.He was born in
Los Angeles, California . As a teenager in the mid-1970s, he was a member of the original Zephyr skateboard team and of the Zephyr surf team along withTony Alva andStacy Peralta . It was with skateboarding that Jay Adams truly began to shine.Adams is "the world's greatest natural skater," according to fellow Zephyr skateboard team member and Powell-Peralta
Bones Brigade founderStacy Peralta . [ [http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/peralta/thrasher.html "Thrasher magazine"] He also belonged to a Sponsor called "Nick Kostelnak Skateboards." ] The Godfather of modern day skateboarding,Craig Stecyk , dubbed Adams "the original 'seed.'" [ [http://thesunmachine.net/megaportal/features.asp?f=2547&Title=Pop%20Culture thesunmachine.net] ] Stecyk also wrote, "Having known Adams over the years I really can't say he's changed much. He remains one of the most spontaneous, unpredictable persons I've ever encountered... Everything you've ever heard about him is probably true, or should be anyway. Mere words could never come close to accurately describing him." ["SkateBoarder magazine", 1969 interview ]Adams is featured prominently in the award winning documentary "
Dogtown and Z-Boys " and in the dramatized film account of the Z-Boys origins, "Lords of Dogtown ". He made a cameo in "Lords of Dogtown".The character Iggy Van Zant from Tony Hawks American Wasteland is based on Jay Adams.
Adams has had several brushes with the law, and was involved in the beating death of a gay man in the early 1980s. He was convicted of assault in that case and served four months in prison. [ [http://www.angelfire.com/ca/alva3/spin.html The Lords of Dogtown] Spin]
Adams was released from a Federal Correctional Institution in Sheridan, Oregon on July 8, 2008 where he served two and a half years for his connection to a drug deal between California and Hawaii. He rides for Z-Flex skateboards and has had many guest boards throughout the years for many different companies
Further reading
*"
DOGTOWN-The Legend of the Z-Boys ",C.R. Stecyk III &Glen E. Friedman , Burning Flags Press, 2000, ISBN 0-9641916-4-4
*"JAY-BOY " - Classic photographs by Jay Adams stepfather, Kent Sherwood, Concrete Wave Editions, 2006, ISBN 0973528664 * [http://tailtap.com/jayboy.html]
*"Scarred for Life" - Eleven Stories About Skateboarders by Keith Hamm, Chronicle Books, 2004, ISBN 0811840530References
External links
* [http://www.angelfire.com/ca2/jayadams/ the internet's most popular un-official Jay Adams fan page]
* [http://www.z-boys.com The one and only, completely original, unofficial, homegrown, always corporate free, Z-BOYS webpage]
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