By Jorge Garcia
VISTA, California (Reuters) -Skateboarding icon Tony Hawk is putting the board he used to land the first 900 in competition up for auction, saying the famed deck represents a defining era for the sport and could help fund new public skate parks.
The board, helmet, knee pads and shoes from the 1999 X Games "Best Trick" event - along with about 100 other items spanning his career will be sold through Julien's Auctions next month.
Proceeds will support The Skatepark Project (TSP), Hawk's
nonprofit that helps build public skate parks in underserved areas.
Hawk, 57, told Reuters the milestone sale feels surreal in a sport that was once marginalized.
"I grew up in a time when skateboarding was not popular and not encouraged," he said.
"To think that there is a skateboard that has any kind of reverence or value is still kind of strange to me, but I'm hugely honored that people are interested.
"I hope it sets some kind of standard and inspires people to support more skateboarding in public skate parks."
Hawk said he did not intend to attempt the 900 - a two-and-a-half-revolution aerial spin - on the night he made history. He had broken the tail of another board earlier that day during a magazine shoot and hastily set up the deck.
900 TRICK
After landing a varial 720 early in the contest, he used the remaining minutes to try the 900, a trick he had pursued on and off for 14 years, suffering many injuries along the way.
"It ended up going beyond time and I won the event, even though I was out of the context of the rules," Hawk said, adding he recently gave the trophy to fellow skater Colin McKay, whom he considered the rightful winner.
The board itself shows the rush of that night, including grip tape applied incorrectly and hastily patched, and trucks from Fury and shoes from Audio Footwear - brands that no longer exist. Of the sponsors featured on the setup, only Hot Wheels remains with him 26 years later.
The deck survived despite Hawk's lack of sentimentality.
"I basically threw away all my trophies through the years, so to have this remain was actually a surprise," he said.
"It represents that era of skating to me... I'm hugely proud of it, but I feel like it was time to let it go."
Hawk estimated the original cost of the board at about $150. Julien's has said the Birdhouse "Falcon 2" board is expected to fetch $500,000-700,000, a record for a skateboard, when it goes on the block in Los Angeles on September 23.
He hopes the eventual buyer will be someone for whom skateboarding resonated, rather than a bidder looking to show off.
"I hope it means something to them... and that they're able to display it somewhere," he said. "I just hope that they enjoy it."
(Additional reporting and writing by Rory Carroll, editing by Ed Osmond)
