Book Rodney Mullen

Rodney Mullen is an American professional skateboarder known as the godfather of modern street skating, the inventor behind many of the tricks that define the sport today. Mullen created the flatground ollie, the kickflip, the heelflip, the impossible and the 360 kickflip, the building blocks of street skateboarding. He started as a freestyle prodigy: after owning a board for barely a year, he placed fifth in the boys' freestyle division at the 1978 US Open Championships in Jacksonville, Florida, earning a sponsorship from Walker Skateboards. He took his first world freestyle championship at 14 and over the next decade won 34 of 35 freestyle contests, the most dominant competitive run the sport has ever seen. Mullen then moved into street skating, translating his freestyle technique into new moves including the primo slide, the dark slide and the Casper slide. On the business side, he helped found World Industries, Tensor Trucks and a third skate brand. He has starred in a long list of skate videos and co-wrote his autobiography, The Mutt: How to Skateboard and Not Kill Yourself, with Sean Mortimer. Mullen speaks with rare insight on creativity, invention, persistence and learning through failure.