Mark Gonzales
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born |
June 1, 1968 South Gate, California, United States (U.S.) |
| Occupation | Skateboarder, Artist, Company owner |
Mark Gonzales (born June 1, 1968), also known as "Gonz" and "The Gonz", is an American professional skateboarder and artist. He is known in the skateboarding world as a top pioneer of modern street skateboarding and was named by the Transworld Skateboarding magazine as the "Most Influential Skateboarder of all Time" in December 2011.
Gonzales was born and raised in South Gate, California, United States and is of Mexican descent.
Gonzales entered the skateboarding scene at the age of thirteen in South Gate, California, U.S. Then, at the age of fifteen, Gonzales adopted a more modern approach to skateboarding in a street context (subsequently dubbed "street skateboarding"). He was featured on the cover of Thrasher magazine's November 1984 issue riding a board from the Alva company, his board sponsor at the time, while performing a trick known as a "beanplant".
Shortly after his Thrasher magazine cover, Gonzales then joined the Vision skateboard team and attained the status of a professional skateboarder. Gonzales won the 1985 Oceanside street contest while sponsored by Vision.
Gonzales proceeded to further influence the progression of street skateboarding with the 1991 Blind Skateboards video Video Days (a company he formed with Steve Rocco in 1989).
Gonzales left Blind after experiencing frustrations that were similar to his time with Vision and then started another company called ATM Click. In 1993, Gonzales created controversy after he appropriated a Vision design that was used for one of his signature model boards for an ATM Click design; Gonzales then proceeded to also use the graphic for Real and Krooked signature skateboard models following his move to Deluxe Distribution.
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