Geoff Rowley
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Geoff Joseph Rowley Junior |
| Born |
6 June 1976 Liverpool, England, United Kingdom |
| Sport | |
| Country | UK |
| Sport | Skateboarding |
Geoffrey Joseph Rowley Junior (born 6 June 1976) is an English professional skateboarder, former co-owner of Flip Skateboards and owner of the Civilware Service Corporation. Rowley is a recipient of the prestigious "Skater of the Year" award, judged and presented by Thrasher Magazine.
Rowley started skateboarding around 1989 in his home city of Liverpool, England, United Kingdom. Rowley was enthusiastic about skateboarding. He would skate for the course of entire days, while his friends would only skate for relatively short periods. In an interview for the UK magazine, rad, Rowley stated that he first became interested in skateboarding because "A lot of people in my school were into skating and I became interested through them." In the same interview, Rowley explained that his parents were both supportive of his skating, although his father was "not into me sitting around the house all day." At the time of the interview, Rowley was sponsored by Gullwing, Siesta, Airwalk, and Jeremy.
In a 2013 interview, Rowley provided further insight into his adolescence, explaining that skateboarding culture was not accepted during his time in Liverpool and it was during the 1980s that the culture became prominent in the city. However, even following the rise in prominence, skateboarding products were difficult to purchase:
The only place that actually sold skateboards in Liverpool at that time was a record shop. It was called Probe Records. When I went in there for the first time they had two boards on the wall, a Skull Skates “Dead Guys” and a Toxic team model. I think they had two sets of wheels and two sets of trucks. They had no griptape and one set of bolts. That was my first memory of going into a skateshop [laughs]. I rode my first complete with no griptape for a month or so until Probe got some grip back in stock.
Rowley's first sponsor was Deathbox Skateboards, a company that was later renamed "Flip Skateboards"—at this time, Rowley was also riding for Gullwing. In a "Check Out" segment for the Transworld Skateboarding magazine, Deathbox founder, Jeremy Fox, wrote:
Technical, burly, stylish, quiet, punker, street urchin: these are the descriptions that neatly fit young Geoff Rowley ... He doesn't care about music or anything outside of skateboarding. Although Geoff is from Liverpool (home of the Beatles, by the way) and looks like a rough kid, he is actually one of the least attitude-infested skaters out there today. Geoff is starting to send out 'waves' across Europe, and when Deathbox ships him over to the US, these waves will certainly come over with him.
In 1994, Rowley moved to Huntington Beach, California, United States with fellow Flip team riders, Tom Penny, Rune Glifberg and Andy Scott. In 2012, Rowley reflected upon the company's move to the US:
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