Jon is a like-minded searcher. He’s a film maker, artists and activist. His work is varied and his efforts to support the skate scene he loves are laudable. Jon’s dedication to the sport and it’s creative roots are second to none.
When did you start skating?
I started skating in January of 1987.
What was your first skateboard?
My first skateboard was a Ken Sigafoos Brand-X.
Bill Ferrell, also know as Gentle Jones is a performer. Being from Delaware, our paths did cross in the past while on four wheels. His talents have taken him far and wide, both on board and through music.
When did you start skating?
I started skating when I was 7 years old, in Christmas of 1981. At the time I lived with my Mama in a glamorous HUD project in Jacksonville, Florida. We only lived there a few years.
What was your first skateboard?
My first skateboard was a brown, wooden department store board with two strips of grip tape running from nose to tail. No idea who made it–my Mama got it for me as a Christmas gift. I rode it every day. My parents were divorced, so when I went to live with my Dad a couple of years later, I was told skateboards were dangerous and the board disappeared. I complained all year and that next Christmas my Grandma got me a Snoopy “Joe Cool” Nash, which I eagerly skated on my block that morning and immediately got teased by a metal head from my street who had a day-glow orange Nash Executioner. I was mortified and never rode that board again. Soon after, I got a Nash Doz’r “Lockerboard” from my Mama which was a tiny piece of crap with no nose or tail and crummy XR-2 trucks. Eventually I saved up enough to buy a Chris Miller Schmitt Stix deck, my first pro set up. I had Santa Cruz OJII combo wheels (just before wheels had full color printing on them), and Gullwing Super-Pro III trucks with the huge nylon baseplates. In the 1980s it seemed like every kid around my neighborhood skated, though almost none of them could even ollie back then. That Chris Miller was basically the first board with an upturned nose and at the time my friends thought I was a weirdo on it and some said the nose would probably break off. We would all get together and practice early grabs off a sketchy launch ramp into some grass and get super worked. For like 3 years I swore by Rat-Nuts and drilled out all my boards, even the rails, and rattled everywhere I went.
Since I’m the one starting this thing it seems only fair that I subject myself to the same scrutiny. I spend my days doing design work for companies. When I’m not working for money I try and create fun projects of my own.
When did you start skating?
I started in sixth grade. That would have been sometime around 1985.
What was your first skateboard?
My first board was a Valterra Melt Down, one of those Toy R Us boards. My first real board was a used Sims Steve Rocco Streetstyle.
