TONY HAWK: 900 is a 2 and 1/2 spin
in the air on a vert ramp going up forward,
spinning round 2 and 1/2 times, coming back down the same wall.
It was so much more dangerous and different than a 720.
And because the 900 forces you to be blind to your landing
spot twice, it's far more frightening and far
more inconsistent to figure out.
I tried my first 900 in 1989.
By the time I went around from my second spin,
I didn't know where I was.
I opened up, and I fell backwards down the ramp.
Like, literally upside down, falling down.
And it was frightening.
I didn't really want to try it again.
I made a few attempts through the years after that.
They all kind of ended up the same way.
And when I finally actually put one down on the wall,
my weight was too far forward, and I fell into the flat bottom
and broke my rib.
And that set me back quite a bit, because I just thought,
maybe it's not possible.
I don't know.
I thought I had every element to it.
I thought had I had what it took to do it.
And I just ended up crashing into the flat bottom with all
of my weight and all my force.
And so fast forward to 1999.
The X Games decided that in their 1999 event
in San Francisco that they would add a best trick
event to their programming.
I had a plan going into it that I
was going to do a varial 720, which
is a 720 spin with an extra 180 on my board.
I made the trick probably within 10 minutes.
I made it pretty clean.
And it was like, wow.
That was my best trick.
That was it.
And at the time, Dave Duncan, who was the announcer,
he's the one who said, well, why don't we see a 900?
And for me I just thought, well, it's
just going to be me trying it for the crowd.
I'm not going to make it.
And OK, sure.
I'll try it for the crowd.
Why not?
There's 10 minutes left.
I don't have any other tricks in mind.
So I tried to couple 900s, and there
was something that was different that night
in that I kept getting the right amount of speed to spin.
Every other time I tried it, I would either
not get enough speed or not get enough spin.
And I had a consistent speed and a consistent spin that night.
And suddenly, after about the third or fourth try,
I started spotting a landing.
And that had never happened in previous times.
I would get 1 out of 10.
And this one was like, every single time I was like, wow.
There's the landing right there.
So then I just started trying to make it,
because I was like, you know, if I'm ever
going to get hurt doing it again,
I guess it's here in this venue with all these people watching.
And so I started trying to make it.
And within one of the first tries of making it,
I fell forward again.
And almost did the exact same thing as when I broke my rib,
but managed to get out of it.
And that's when something clicked
and I thought to myself, why don't you
try shifting your weight more towards your back foot
as you're spinning?
And so I did that the next time.
And instead of falling forward, I fell backwards.
And that was the moment, because it was like,
I know how to maneuver my body while I'm
in midair, while I'm literally somersaulting through the air.
And if I can just split the difference between those two
things I just did, this could actually work.
And at that point I was like, I'm going to make this trick
or they're going to take me away in an ambulance.
And I think within another 2 or 3 tries, I made it.
[AUDIENCE CHEERING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[EXPLOSIVE APPLAUSE, CHEERING]
And when I made it, it was like time stood still.
And it was like--
well, I didn't really understand it happened
until I was riding back towards the stands and the crowd,
and everyone was rushing me on the ramp.
And that's when I knew, this really happened.
You actually did a 900.
That's-- that is crazy.
That doesn't even seem real.
I mean, it still doesn't seem real
that it happened in that element because I had tried it so
many times.
And that's probably why it worked,
because it wasn't like I was so focused on it that I put
all this pressure on myself.
The way that whole event played out,
and the way that people saw it happen,
and the way they saw the determination
and the perseverance-- it sort of transcended skating
where they thought, this is something
beyond just a skateboard trick.
This is sort of a milestone.
And they played that highlight on Sports Center.
That was the first time skateboarding
was on ESPN Sports Center.
ESPN created the X Games, but they had never
shown a highlight from that event in their mainstream
programming.
People were stopping me in airports and at restaurants
like, bro!
900!
It was crazy.
I really had no idea that somehow it
would resonate like that.
I didn't think that anyone would even care.
Suddenly, I was thrust into the spotlight,
and my name was synonymous with skateboarding,
and I was getting recognized ever I went.
I mean, I got to do Letterman because of that.
It was-- it got crazy.
It was the biggest moment of my competition career,
and I'm still hugely proud of that moment.