Is Tony Hawk still considered the best skateboarder ever?

I was just wondering as a casual skater, I have o clue. I was watching street league tournaments on youtube.com so figured i would ask.

Any knowledgeable skaters on here, what do you think?

It's either Tony Hawk or Christian Hosoi... at least from what I think.

I don't think Tony Hawk skates PRO anymore........ I was always a Randy Mullen man myself.

Tony Hawk isn't the greatest per se. He was one of the best vert skaters and he was just really well known. There are lots of skateborders that were overall better than him. Honsoi, Rodney Mullen, Mark Gonzolas, Andrew Reynolds, Erik Koston are all better than Tony Hawk IMO.

@judasnixon said:

**Rodney Mullen

I will have to check out that rodney guy

I never kept up with skateboarding but love Tony Hawk. I think now he takes care of his daughter? Last time I checked he posted a picture of her having a tea party with him. xD Used to love playing Underground. What an addicting game. The only other skateboarder I know of is Ryan Sheckler but only by name. Hawk's more of my guy.

Hell yeah!!! He's just....magic O_O

Also Bob Burnquist, but that's mostly me being shallow on account of his intense hotness ;P

@samimista: yeah, just watched best of vids i gotta admit. I officially vote hawk, mullen and burnquist are the best. The tricks they all do is just wow....

@vaeternus: I really should watch skateboarding. As a kid I used to play Underground with my older brother which we spent many hours on. Really enjoyed that game. Think my brother actually watched skateboarding for awhile but not too sure on that. Tony really is awesome though. Such a nice guy he seems too with how he helps kids out.

@bumpyboo: I would take you as a Rune Gilfberg type of gal.

@judasnixon: I absolutely dig Rune, but never developed the same kind of soft spot for him :)

I know someone said this above but I'll say it again in agreement. There are vert skaters and street skaters, and in the vert world Tony was, and is in my opinion, still one of the best. To name one definitive best is hard, because so many skaters won various competitions so it's hard to make one absolute best. As far as street skaters go, I too was always a fan of Rodney Mullen. I just found his flow and style to be really great. Eric Koston is also another great street skater.

Gotta chime in and say if Rodney Mullen isn't the greatest skater he is at the very least the most inventive.

My personal favorite is Jason Dill, he's a weird dude.

People considered Tony Hawk the best? Wait, skateboarding still exists? This is too much information to process.

@edamame: same they are hard as hell lol

Rodney Mullen made skating into what it is today. Without him, it would've never gotten this far.

I always liked Bob Burnquist more ; /

@edamame: true, th games were hard as hell but also fun. I mean if they are that hard in game imagine real life lol

@deranged_midget: well he is awesome but i think we have to give tony credit too, he spread the name of the sport like no other skater and was pro at like 13 lol. Which is nuts

I didn't even know people still cared about skateboarding. Thought it was a 90's/ early 2000's fad.

No.

Wolverine and Darth Maul are better

no Tony Hawk is not the best skateboarder in vert or street. he may still hold the most x games gold medals for his event which was vert but he stopped competing a loooong time ago. i think he is near 50 now.

it really isn't fair nominating anybody as the best skateboarder because there are so many skaters and so many different ways to skate. right now in my opinion the best skater out right now is Nyjah Huston. He's 18 years old and he is winning every contest he enters. i know he won this years dew tour and i'm pretty sure he won last years as well. he also has gold medals in x games street and street league. the sport has a new generation of athletes rising to the top but the old gen is still there as well. the only time we ever really from Tony that pertains to skateboarding is when he is commentating the x games or dew tour. thats all he really does now.

whenever i was in high school me and my buddies would skate everyday. now that i'm an adult i can't risk my body like that because hospital bills are expensive.

@judasnixon: I know it's been around long, but I noticed it really picked up in the 80s/90s and part of the 2000's. But I hardly ever see anyone doing it, either in real life or on tv anymore. I remember in its hay day, there was tons of news about skaters.

He is an old man already

Rodney Mullen is the best.

Tony Hawk MIGHT be the best vert skater though.

anyone seen 'Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator'??

@violens: nope what is that?

This video is just wow... Not even mullen has done this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4QGnppJ-ys

@cattlebattle: Right. I don't think he was ever considered the "best of all time", but he was considered one of the best of all time.

Who's that?

lol jk

Tony Hawk is widely considered the GOAT skateboarder for various reasons, probably most significantly the impact he has had on the sport as a whole.

Such an awesome game. *does 360 shove it* =D

@xanni15: Certainly is a fun game! =D Haven't played it in years though. xD Think there was a GBA version but I liked the console version more. =D

Can we give Andy McDonald some love? He rolled (no pun intended) with hawk back in the day and he's one the most consistant vert/park skaters around. Think he's either tied or 2nd among all time medal in x-games history.

@russellmania77: lol tony? Eh hes not too old, in his early 40s he can still skate but he retied a while ago. He did the 900 at a ridiculous older age. Lol

http://gifs.gifbin.com/062013/1371747790_tony_hawk_serves_andy_mcdonald_a_skateboard.gif

@yourneighborhoodcomicgeek: nice gif

Anyone watch streetskate/league games?

I know this thread is old. but I felt like adding my opinion.

skating from the early 90's made me realize something. Tony Hawk was not as good as I thought in comparison to others. he's too basic in comps and often pulled the same tricks(no flips and mostly grabs). was always given hi scores (could be because he was dating someone). truth is whenever an innovative skater would perform new tricks before comps during practices in public places. word of mouth came about and in comps tony hawk took advantage to "steal" tricks to win. I highly recommend you guys go to watch the x games comps from the 90's. one skater that played a big role in performance and on the 900 is tas pappas (go check out the doco all this mayhem an all around tragic story). I remember seeing ben & tas pappas in comps and they were amazing. then I began to wonder about where they are now. and discovered the documentary and it is depressing, tragic what happened to them. they were overshadowed by tony hawk ( a skater who may seem all nice but had his hypocrisy against others to become the best). now, tony isn't THAT bad. but he's not amazing at least he landed the 900- but it gets worse. after the struggles tas was going through he actually competed once again where tony hawk was and when he went to be enlisted on the best trick session. he was denied. eliminated and all he did was sit down and watch. then tony hawk began pulling the 900 and that devastated him. it was no coincidence. because he even tried to get back at the x games but was blacklisted and just to support his family went to other comps that had no big sponsors just to make a bit of money. when x games competitors were winning big.

then tony hawk won and became and long famed legend even making video games and pushing skateboarding into the mainstream. imagine if there was a tas pappas pro skater game.

funny thing is I remembered another thing about tony. it was the gigantic skatepark tour that aired on ESPN. and there were moments where tony hawk tried and tried and didn't land it. then an indie/am skater inside a warehouse skatepark was pulling 900s even touching the ceiling. extremely close to landing them. his spins were faster and cleaner in his style in comparison to tonys.

sometimes, I think tony hawk doesn't deserve what he has now. what he did was highly selfish.

It must be weird having a video game built around you

It's looking like nyjah huston is probably one of the best skaters currently. Young kid and just kills everyone in every competition

I don't skate anymore and don't keep up with it much but I always liked p rod and I can't really think up any names right now

yes

I personally think skateboarding is extremely subjective when it comes to who one considers the best at it. Tony Hawk is one of the greats, and he did more for the sport than anyone else, but I don't think he's the GOAT.

Haven't kept up with skateboarding in over a decade, but it's a shame that Pro Skater 5 doesn't look so good. =/