All language subtitles for Motivation.2.The.Chris.Cole.Story.2015.1080p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-[YTS.MX]

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Chris Cole...

He's the jewel in the team.

Super Crown,
the world champion, Chris Cole!

The Championship watch and ring
and the $200,000

goes to
the Street League veteran.

A couple of years' worth
of a sigh of relief.

An unbelievable finish,

as his family's standing
before us.

This is just awesome.

Some night...

I will walk you through
some photos.

There's Pixie with Christopher.

Sitting on Pixie.

That's with Pixie
and her pony cart.

Um...

What he said to me
after maybe six months,

was that he really liked her,
she was a nice pony

but that it wasn't for him.

I was trying to go out
and like...
and get energy gone.

My world was
baseball, football,

hockey, street hockey,
riding a bike.

Like, those were the things
that were in my world.

And then when I saw kids skate
past my grandmother's house,

everything about them
was cooler.

Everything about them
was way cooler

than anything that I had seen
up until that point.

It was a counterculture sport.

It was a sport for people
that didn't fit
into all the other sports.

You know, we didn't know much
about skateboarding then,

it hadn't become mainstream,
it was just, sort of,

what the surfers did
when there wasn't a decent surf.

Chris had been hounding her
for like three years.
He wants a skateboard.

He was six. Well,
I remember he was six
when he first asked for one.

I said, "No,
you can't have a skateboard,
those things are dangerous."

It took two years
to actually convince my mother
to buy me a skateboard

because she was an ICU nurse
and she was afraid
that I'd get hurt.

I have a friend whose son
was killed skateboarding.

Yeah.

I definitely took, like,
a lot of falls
off of that horse, though.

One time, I fell off
and I swung under the horse

and I got stepped on,
on my throat.

Like, just straight throat.

So I think that was more
the preparation
for skateboarding.

And I thought, "You know,

you just can't keep saying no
to somebody
who wants something so much."

I bought him a skateboard.

This is typical.

This is a typical Chris pose.

Making faces.

That's with his brother, Kevin.

I'm Kevin Cole.

I live in Levittown,
Pennsylvania
and I'm a pharmacist by trade.

My parents got divorced
when I was about six.

You know, pretty much
from that point on,

like, neither of us had
any contact with my dad.

Neither Chris nor I have asked
my mom too much about it,

like, what happened,
what was the break down, like...

You know, he and I talked about
maybe taking a road trip

and going to tell that dude
that he sucks.

My mom,
who was a single parent,

would work a ton,

so it was a pretty heavy job

and she would work overtime
to make extra money for us.

There was always food
on the table for my kids.

But there were many things
that we didn't have,
we didn't go on vacation.

Um...

There were things we needed
to skip and...

things that they did without.

We had things.

But we didn't have extra money
for things like Woodward.

And I never would straight up
ask my mom for that.

You know, I knew
what she was doing and I knew
that that wasn't cool.

I would look
through the booklet
and just imagine
skating all that stuff.

What it would look like,
what it would be like
to be in there.

And I would do that
every single year
that I got the booklet.

I would, I would...
And I would keep the booklet.

So I could look through it
throughout the year.

57, Combined Broadcasting
in Philadelphia.

It's the Street Beat Show
on Nickelodeon SK8-TV,

the only skateboarding show
made by skaters
for skaters.

My first skateboard video
was SK8-TV.

And the only way
I could get that skateboarding
was to record it on VHS.

You'd have to put
a piece of scotch tape.

Over the back of the VHS
there was a little square,

and you had to put
a scotch tape piece
over that square.

And then you could record.
So you'd have to, like,
put it in

and then hopefully
at that moment,
'cause there wasn't DVR...

At that moment, SK8-TV was on,
your tape was ready,
you popped it in,

you'd always miss some of it

because you'd be getting ready,
making sure
that the tape was cued up.

You'd record
over some other stuff,

hit record, and maybe,
you'd have, like, a skate video.

And that was cool.

Whoa! Posin'!

I had something to do.

I had something to accomplish
when I started skateboarding.

There were goals everyday,
every minute.
It just consumed me.

We had a rule that
because skateboarding is noisy,

the sound of the impact
is noisy,

He was not permitted to skate
before- 00 in the morning
or after- 00 at night.

For a long time,

he just skated by himself
out front.

And he used to tell me
that he thought
he invented every trick.

So this was my curb.

This is where I learned
every single trick
that I know, essentially.

You can see
how worn that corner is.

I didn't have anybody
who skated around me.

I was all alone.

And so what I did was
I did things like

a 180 to boardslide
on a curb,

which ended up
being a whip slide
but I made it up.

But only in my world
did I make it up.

Go, Rodney!

- Rodney!
- Rodney!

- Rodney!
- Yeah!

Go, Rodney!

This is the only autograph
I ever got,

um,

from a pro skater
when I was a kid.

And it's Rodney Mullen's.

I'd say Rodney Mullen
is the godfather
of modern skateboarding.

You know, the Albert Einstein
of skateboarding.

Rodney saw skateboarding
different than everybody else.

And it's apparent through
all the tricks that he created.

He saw the skateboard

and broke down
what it could do,

not what everybody else
was doing with it.

But he experimented.

When he'd skate at a competition
everyone would stop
what they were doing and watch.

Because we knew
that he was doing something

that was far beyond
what anyone else could do
or had thought of doing.

He went from
a freestyle skateboarder
in the '80s to basically invent

the fundamentals of modern
street skateboarding.

The other part
is he skated alone

and he skated alone for hours
and hours and hours

and skateboarding
was what he had,
skateboarding was his jewel.

I believe I was about
11 years old.

We went down to Philadelphia
to Rizzo's Skating plaza.

In the skating rink,
a bunch of people
were skating flat ground

and one of those people
was Rodney Mullen.

I didn't have anything
for Rodney Mullen to sign,

so I went over to, like,
just random trash on the ground

and there was a burned
piece of paper from, like,
a bum's oil drum fire.

And so I pulled this
random burnt piece of bum paper

and I stuck it in
with my library card.

So...

It's pretty rad
that I still have it.

My signature at the time,
and his signature.

Then I met a few kids
that skateboarded

and so I started to skate
with those dudes more.

We were skating these benches,
it was me and our friend, Ryan,

and he showed up with this guy,
Canyada, that we used to skate
with.

And he was wearing
a white Nike hat,
the brim flat as anything,

halfway turned on his head.

And at the time,
I worked at Burger King,

I was like, 16 years old
and he kept calling me
Burger King.

And I remember saying,
"I don't know who this dude is

but I'm gonna punch him
if he calls me Burger King
one more time."

When I started skating
with Jay,

and we started filming together,

it was nonstop.

And we had this idea that
we would film a trick a day.

Fuck!

I mean, I got a camera.
It was a little Hi8
piece of garbage.

And I just, I mean,
we hung out so much,

and I couldn't get anywhere
near his capabilities

so I figured if he's gonna
keep doing this stuff,
I might as well grab a camera.

That's a city ordinance
for that violation.

You're gonna have to
come to court.
Turn your ticket over.

There should be
a telephone number there.
Call that number,

explain to them the situation,
you live in Pennsylvania.

Yeah, right there.

And see if there's any other
way you can rectify this
with the court.

I'm gonna subpoena
this man here
who's the manager of the Hi8.

I really liked the stuff
that we filmed because
it was how I skated.

Then we started
putting together
sponsor-me tapes.

We'd constantly edit them.

We'd always be constantly
making an updated version.

I had this piece of crap
little editing board.

And if you wanted
to mark the clip in,
it was a thumbs up.

And if you wanted
to mark the clip out,
it was a thumbs down.

And I would just sit there
for hours, just thumbs up,
thumbs down.

It'd be four o'clock
in the morning,
I'm just wide-eyed

looking like
I've been on a bender
for two weeks, just...

We are behind
a Giant Food Store,

like, between my mom's house
and my high school.

I filmed the line
for my sponsor-me tape here,

and it's the line
that is the most memorable
of my sponsor-me tape.

And I came in this way faky,

and flat ground before
I hit the loading dock.

I did a full cap heel foot.

And swept it on the ground.

And you can just hear
the ground in the line.

You can hear it,
it's like super duper rough.

And then I pushed, I pushed
all the way up this thing

and my filmer, Jay, is out here.

And so,
it's like an eternity of pushing

up this and then,
at the very end,

where the Doritos truck is,

I did a switch frontside flip,

like 360,
so a switch frontside 360 flip.

Yeah.

Holler!

Today, you got YouTube
and Instagram and all these
different platforms
that you own

that can get you noticed
anywhere in the world.

In the past, you know,
it was really
all about filming tricks

and showcasing
what you could do.

I think the path
to get those to the people

that could actually put you on
was super difficult.

At the time,
Rodney Mullen did this, like,
manual contest for the A-Team,

and Chris' goal was
to do the trick at a time.

You had to be unsponsored.

And send in, basically,
the trick.

But the magazine would come in
and Chris would get it

and he'd go out
with Jay Fahnestock,
and they would go out.

They'd be back later that night,
Chris already had the trick.

So I did the manual and set up
and flipped out.

And you watch a video
and you look at that sequence,

like, "You slid it
longer than he did.

You definitely locked it."

He would do it as good
or better than the magazine.

Sent in the tape and got
an honorable mention.

So one day I get home
from work or something

and the phone rings,
I pick it up.

And it's like, "Hey, you know...

Is Chris there?"
"No, he's not around.
Can I take a message?"

"Yeah, can you tell him
Rodney Mullen called?"

I'm like, "Okay, Rodney Mullen,"

you know, "Is there a number
he can reach you at,
Rodney Mullen?"

And Rodney Mullen called me

to say thanks for participating.

So I get this guy is skating
and I start talking to him
and I realize,

"Man, he is... He just loves
skateboarding so much.

He's just going after it."

Whatever the case, you point me
to it, I'm going after it
type of thing.

He was a wealth of knowledge.

So, like, talking to him
really changed, like,

like, a lot of my motivation
and stuff, like,
it really spiked.

I think
Chris Cole's main skater
that he looked up to
was Rodney Mullen.

And Rodney Mullen
gave the poor decision

to give Chris Cole
his phone number.

I was like,
I was a young kid and I had
access to Rodney Mullen's
number. You know?

So I called him
way too much.

"Yo, so today, I did a kickflip
back tail slide to a 360 late
shuv-it out, you know,

and then I did a kick flip nose
manual to nollie heel flip--"

And, you know, he was like,
"Cool, cool, cool."

This is what I recall.

And again, I--
When I talked to Chris,

and though I hadn't met him,
we pick up a lot pretty quickly

because we share so much, right?

So I'd get these occasional
calls from Chris
and he'd be lit up,

talking about what he did
and I would get flashbacks of...

"Man, this is what I lived for
when I would make a trick."

And I tried to feed that
the best I could

because I knew how important
it was for me.

Around that time,

a Transworld magazine came out.

And it had Kris Markovich
doing a kickflip
down the Carlsbad Gap

on the cover all painted weird.

And in there was an article
on Love Park.

And it had, like, a picture
of all the skaters together.

Just everything about it,
the name, Love Park,

the sign, these dudes
were so cool,

um, it was in my city
and it was such an amazing
skate spot.

It was the Sub Zero guys.

It was Ricky Oyola,
Matt Reason,

Serge Trudnowski, Fred Gall.

They were the Rippers
of that time
and before it was like,

New York and DC
were the hot spots
of the East Coast.

But because of Love,

Philly became the main
East Coast skate mecca.

Well, Love Park became
a hub of East Coast talent.

You know, and a lot of things
were measured

by what you could do
at Love Park on what obstacle.

Back then, when you didn't have
a lot of skate parks,

you obviously were looking
for things

in just the natural urban
landscape that were skateable

and by pure happenstance,
that was kind of like, the...

it turned out to be
like a skate park.

To find one
that has perfect ledges,
ledges off stairs,

a hand rail, a legendary gap,
you know, like.

There's so many aspects
of Love Park that basically

became one of the world's
greatest natural
street skate parks.

Ultimately, it was
magnetic enough to create

an entire culture of its own
around it.

When I first discovered
Love Park, it was...

about 50, maybe 60 skaters
skating around.

I didn't know what the hell
they was doing.
I didn't even know no tricks.

I just was like,
"Damn! This is dope."
All different kind of races.

And I was addicted.

And that's a tough neighborhood
too, you know.

The stories that I've heard
from Love Park
are not that friendly or safe.

I mean, Love Park,
you had to know people
to go there to have fun.

If you didn't know people,
it wouldn't be fun for you.

They call Philly
the city of Brotherly love,
but I beg to differ.

- Philadelphia hates everybody.
- Yeah.

We're the people that throw
snowballs at Santa Claus.

I saw the snowballs
starting to come

and then I started getting hit
with them.

And all of a sudden,
Santa Claus is dodging
and ducking.

There is brotherly love
but you just kind of

have to earn it a little bit,
I think, in Philadelphia.

So it's a little rough.

There's a little bit of a
you know blue collar mentality.

People in Philly are mean
and angry.

And brotherly love
at the same time.

It's a good city, you know.
It's just rough,
it's a rough city.

Yeah, well,
Philadelphia is rough.

But there is
a lot of history there.

There's, you know...
that is a rich history
of skateboarding.

The neighborhoods,
depending what neighborhood
you want to go skate in,

you could get robbed, beat up,
shot, stabbed,

or celebrated, I don't know.
It all depends what neighborhood
you go in.

If they like you,
then you can skate.

If they don't like you,
they'll let you skate, but then
they're gonna rob you.

We had this plan
to go to Love Park.

And we didn't know
what we were doing,

we were 11 years old,
which is like, you know,
a mother's nightmare.

There was always this one dude
who would always show up,

and when he would see kids
from the suburbs come in
to come and skate,

he would just grab their board,
whack them over the head with it

and then steal their skateboard.

So a lot of people were scared
to come.

How's it hanging?

All right.

I think it was 12 bucks
or 15 bucks or something.

It was exactly that much for
a round trip for all of us

to take the train down
and we found a denim jacket.

And in the pockets
of this denim jacket
behind the school

was exactly the amount
that it took
for us to get down here.

We saw people taking a shit
in the middle of daytime,

like in broad daylight, like...

We saw people doing drugs,
drinking... And, like, we saw
young kids is drinking

and it's like, "Whoa!
This is, like, awesome!"

And Love Park smelled like piss
all the time.

Like, heroin needles and debris
and bums and crackheads
everywhere.

So it couldn't have been
more perfect

and all of the dudes
that were in the article,

in my magazine
were there that day.

All these influential skaters,

Ricky Oyola was there,
Stevie was there,
Sergei Trudnowski was there,

Fred Gall was there,
Matt Reason was there.

This kid shows up from Langhorn,

and he has like
the baggiest pants
I've ever seen,

he would do
the sickest tricks ever,

stuff that I'd never even
heard of and like,
landed it on first try.

I'm like, "What the fuck?"

I've never even seen a trick
like that."

Uh...

I'm thinking...

Right here I guess.

You want me to stand
underneath you?

I'll slide over,
kind of over you.

Yeah.

Or if you want to long lens it,
you know?

This looks pretty tight
right here.

Like this.

Chris was... different.

Chris was different.
He was... weird.

But good, but weird.

And... really good, actually.

You know, we'd be cruising
through Love and Ricky Oyola
would go shooting by

and we'd be like, "Holy shit!
That was Ricky Oyola."

So we would kind of tag along
for things.

I mean, they'd do a backside
tailslide, he'd do a switch
backside tailslide

and he was
just kind of showing off
what he could do.

But at the same time, you would
take him to a spot and he would
just shut it down.

I mean, there was stuff
he was doing
that the pros at the time,

I mean, you know...
they couldn't even dream of.

I think that he was one of
the kids that was hated on
big-time there.

Just 'cause his gear
was so crazy and stuff,

you know, everybody
from Love just thought,

"That kid is whack, man."
I'm like,

"He might be whack
but he's doing
some pretty hard tricks."

If that was happening, I was

very unaware of it.

And I wasn't
conscious of, like,

who was doing what,
and whether or not

you should like back off
and whatnot.

I was just trying
to get stoked.

It's easy to make up reasons
to hate somebody.

You know?
Especially when they're good.

Yeah!

The fountain gap was like one
of those things, like,

if you had it,
you could prove it

and put yourself on the map
by jumping down the gap.

When the fountain is drained
but it's only drained,

for like this short amount
of time during the winter.

It has to have not rained
anytime recently or snowed

And you have to come when
people aren't shooting photos
in front of the Love sign

because you have to cut
straight through there.

So it's pretty...
it's hard to deal with.

Kalis, Josh Kalis, who kind of
was, like, on the fence,

kind of loved him,
kind of hated him,

was at Love one day and Chris
was trying backside flip
down the fountain.

And it took me a long time.
I really battled for it.

And when I finally landed it...

Kalis was so hyped on it,
he rolled up to him and said,

"I'll give you 100 bucks
if you switch
frontside flip it."

And I was like,
"100 bucks? Absolutely."

Got it!

Like, he backside flipped
the Love Park Four
and then switch
frontside flipped it.

And that was like, "Wow, man.
This guy is...
He can do it all."

I remember he pulled out
two $50 bills,

so I was like, "This dude
has a 100 bucks on him

in $50 bills!"
Which was crazy.

But like a man of his word,
he gave me 100 bucks
for backside flipping.

...serious about this.
And I'm not
recognizing faces,

but we'll take your names,
just take your time.

We'll take your skateboards.
Can you also...

More and more people started
coming from all over the place
and it became like,

a straight-up
major skate park scene

and businessmen
couldn't even go there
and have their lunch.

You know, boards would go out
in the street,
cars would swerve,

hit another car...

By the time
I started going to Love,
they had made it illegal.

Once I got into, like,

sponsor-me tape filming
and stuff like that, that's when
it got really bad.

They became hazardous
to pedestrians.

I mean,
the kids are enthusiastic
and incredibly energetic

but it literally became a risk
to people who wanted to traverse
the park on foot.

Number one. And number two,

it was reported to me
by public property
that they started to wear away,

uh,

some of the ridges
and it was doing damage

to the structural part
of the park.

Edmund Bacon,
who's Kevin Bacon's father,

who designed this plaza,
was delighted

that it was used by
skateboarders and actually
appreciated by skateboarders,

rather than just vagrants
that were hanging out.

He was delighted and he wanted
skateboarders to stay,

and the city's like, "Nah!"

And now I, Edmund N. Bacon,

in total defiance
of Mayor Good-- Oh, God.

In total defiance
of Mayor Street

and the Council of the city
of Philadelphia,

hereby exercise my rights
as a citizen
of the United States

and I deliberately skate
in my beloved Love Park.

Oh!

My whole damn life
has been worth it
just for this moment.

Cops would run in and steal
everybody's skateboards

and everybody would just go
running in every direction.

How's it going?
What's that? Turn it off.

It's not on.

- Get it out of here.
- I'm taking photos.

- Get that out of here.
- No.

In the suburbs
or in any other spot,

if the cops come, you don't run.

If you ran from the cops,
that's, like, the worst idea.

Um...

But because there was
this plaza and everybody ran,

you just ran.

It was pretty gnarly, like...

We had to run...
I lost my skateboard five times
because of it.

So would it be fair to say
that the skateboarders

helped bring the X-Games
to Philly for two years?

I think so. I mean, I think...

When they went to plan
the event at some point,

someone said, you know,
"Philly has
such strong skate roots

and there's so many
really cool spots,

it'd be amazing if we could
go there and actually skate
some of those spots."

I'm sure they wanted
to go to Love Park.

Earlier this week, we were able
to do something at ESPN

that skateboarding hasn't been
able to do in 15 years.

We had a true street contest.

We took skateboarding back
to the streets at City Hall,

where normally you'd get
a $300 ticket
if you go skateboarding there.

The had X-Games come
and Mayor Street was, like,

sitting on a Rascal,
which was very weird,

sitting on a Rascal
and Kerry Getz
frontside 180'd over him

off a set of stairs
and stuff.

It was, like, this big push,

like, "Philadelphia loves
extreme sports".
And then it was just...

Nope.

X-Games came to Philly.

And they let people skate Love,
and skate City Hall,
and it made hella bread.

And then when they left,
we couldn't skate it no more.

We've been fighting for this
place for 10 plus years,

and as soon as some money
comes to the city,
"We can do it."

But as soon as the money leaves,
y'all are, like, locking us up.

People were getting
literally locked up.

The day that they were shutting,
taking it away.

It was nothing against X-Games,
they did a lot
for skateboarders.

I mean, I appreciate them
coming to Philly

but it's just how
Philly handled it.
Just Philly, man.
You know what I mean?

After the X-Games,
Mayor Street decided to

completely make sure no skaters
went to Love Park,
so what does he do?

He puts planters in front
of all the ledges

and then puts little grass gaps
and replaces the marble
with it.

And you know what?
Skaters still went there anyway

and just skated the ledge
over the planter.

The thing
about the East Coast is,

there's the East Coast 9
and the West Coast 9, you know?

East Coast 9 is a big, brutal
son of a bitch.

West Coast 9 is a nice,
mellow kind of whatever.

And East Coast winters, I mean,

you're out skating
and it's five degrees outside
and when you slam...

it's ridiculous,
you're half numb
but you know it hurts.

Yeah, he used to skate
in the winter here in a T-shirt.

And I guess he got warmed up,

but his skin would get
that mottled color
of really cold skin.

I think guys out here,
they get...

The perseverance is kind of
beaten into them.

- You all right?
- Yeah, man.

It was just gritty... a very
working class city, you know.

Nothing is really perfect,
I think that makes you, like,

have to adapt to a spot.

Get it, get it done
before you hurt yourself

or before a cop shows up
and puts you in handcuffs.

Bam Margera is a skater
from West Chester,
Pennsylvania.

He was
a really influential skater

that a lot of people,
like, loved

especially when he started
putting out his own videos

that were just antic based,
less skating but more antics.

Me and Ryan G. were filming
a skate video called CKY

which was basically Jackass
stunts before it was Jackass,

and mixed with skateboarding.

It was
the Landspeed Wheels video

in actuality,
but it became the Bam video.

And when Bam
was filming for it

in Tampa, Florida
at the Tampa Pro Contest
or the Tampa Amp Contest,

he pointed to me,

to Ryan G.
who was filming at that moment.

He pointed to me
and goes, "G, film him."

And then I remember Ryan G.
looking from across the course
going, "Why?"

I pretty much
was just watching him

and I was seeing how consistent
that he was, like...

You know, like,
"Even though, you know, people
from Love

think that that trick
was fucking lame,

I think it's rad,
so can I film that real quick?"

Yeah, I think that was
the first skate video
Chris Cole's ever been in, CKY.

All right, I'm here to tell you
a little about Chris Cole.

I'll start out with
the normal stuff. He rides
for Ezekiel, Axion,

Tenser, World Industries
Skateboards,

G-Spot Skate Shop, Speed Demons
Wheels and Bearings.

He's been skating since
he was sperm from what I hear.

You go to his house,
you'll see pictures of him
in diapers.

He'll have a skateboard
next to him.

He's from Langhorn,
Pennsylvania, which is
right outside of Philadelphia.

So you'll often see him skating
in the Philadelphia area.

If you ever see him, go up
and make fun of him to his face.
He'll probably like it.

He'll probably punch you.
Just punch him back

'cause that's what
everyone else does.

There's one time
we were skating this one spot

and a janitor started pushing
around one of our friends.

Big janitor,
he's pushing around
the littlest friend we got.

Altercation started, turns out
Chris runs behind the janitor,

punches him in the back
of the head, left the janitor
all woozy.

This one's my favorite.

High school graduation.

We were all so relieved
he got out 'cause academics
was not his thing.

Uh, he's lazy
except for skateboarding.

He'll never have a job,
except for skateboarding,
if that.

As far as...

Like, the later years
of schooling,

when skateboarding really,
really took a hold,
it made it pretty hard.

When he's not skating,
the only things he thinks
about, candies and girls.

Candy and girls, that's all.

I was trying to pass
in order to move on.

And that was it.

He wasn't interested.

He really wasn't interested.

And so it didn't make any sense
for him to go to college

and sort of figure out
something along the way.

Oh, yeah!

Who's Jamie Thomas?

All right, all right.

How do I talk about this without
sounding like such a nerd?

Jamie Thomas is a legend
in our sport.

One of the most innovative
street skaters,
one of the first skaters
to really go big,

do big hand rails,
do difficult, dangerous tricks.

Yeah, moved to San Francisco,
lived in a car.

Got hated on and then proved
to the world that...

how incredible he could be.

He eventually

became a really
influential skateboarder,

had phenomenal video parts

that myself
and all skateboarders
looked up to.

And what he ultimately
became is legendary.

But his legacy is the legends
that he created behind him
as well.

Someone who embodies
pursuing your dreams.

Well, I was at a...

I was at Tum Yeto one day,

someone was like,
"Hey, you gotta see
this sponsor-me tape
that came in."

And I was kind of like,
"What's the big deal?

You know, whatever. We get
sponsor-me tapes all the time."

They're like,
"No, you gotta see it."

Anyway, it was the first time
I heard Chris Cole's name.

And the first time
I'd ever heard of Chris Cole.

And basically watched the video
and I kind of knew
what they were talking about.

It was like, there was this dude
who was doing tricks

that a lot of them
hadn't been seen at the time.

And then, he had
this really, you know,

I don't know what you'd call it,
extravagant gear.

He had, like,
super baggy pants,
and giant T-shirts.

And he had like a...

I remember the thing
that stuck out the most

was the camouflage, like this
mustard camouflage shirt.

A camouflage shirt
but not camouflage,

it was like yellow camouflage
and gray and black.

- With a yellow camo shirt.
- Or the banana-flage, you know?

And he had
a yellow shirt on.

Yeah, and he was doing
all these crazy tricks

like dark slides and switch
frontside 360 kickflips,
you know?

And at the time, like you know,
no one was doing that.

It was, like, Mullen and him
and just a couple
of freestylers somewhere, so--

That being said,
we fast forward to Tampa Am.

I think it was 2000.

And...

Where we're...

I mean, he was fanning out
on Jamie too.

And he was his 18-year-old,
super excitable self, you know?

And he was just
a mile a minute.
He just wouldn't
shut the hell up.

Yeah, Jamie was there at Tampa,

scouting new talent and

he invited us
to come and hang out.

Jamie actually pulled him aside
and said,
"Hey, later on tonight,

after the contest is over,
come over to my hotel room,

I want to talk to you
about some stuff."

So Chris and I were like,

"Dude, he's gonna offer you
a sponsorship. This is awesome!"

And we get in and we start
to like chitchat

and then he goes into
a full breakdown of

all the things
that are wrong with me.

It was the most brutal grilling
I've ever witnessed in my life.

It was kind of like a,
I don't know,

a harsh, like, School of
Hard Knocks conversation

in order to encourage him...
Not encourage him,
but in order to let him know

what I felt from my experience
that he needed to do,

as someone who was already
ridiculed and already had
a tough time coming up.

Things that he could change
very easily to avoid
a lot of that ridicule

and kind of, he could start,
you know, really making

a name for himself
in skateboarding and making
a career for himself.

And there was a few, you know,
obvious things
that were holding him back.

And pushing Mongo
was the biggest one.

So most people, most people...

Yeah, most people
in skateboarding,

your front foot stays
on your board when you push

so you push with your back leg
and your front foot stays
on your board.

Pushing Mongo is when
your back foot
stays on your board

and your front foot comes off.

It's very strange
and awkward-looking,
there's never...

I mean, there's been a few
really good skateboarders

that have pushed Mongo
in their video parts
but it's like three.

He had to straight up
sit him down
and just tell him straight up.

Like, "Look, man,
if you're gonna ride for Zero,

you gotta switch your gear,

and if you're gonna kickflip
or 360 flip

or whatever you want to do
down the Love Gap,

you're not gonna
piss peddle to it."

Like, "You're not gonna
Mongo push
to the fucking Love Gap

because that's just
unacceptable."

"Everything that you know

that, like, about conversing
with others and whatnot,

it's all wrong,
nothing's safe."

Like, the example was,
"Shut up and skate."

"Just don't speak,
they'll all hate you.

You have to skate only."

I remember talking to him
about, like,
fishing for compliments

or setting me up
to compliment him or whatever.

That was a really
hard one to swallow.

The next day at the contest,
I was talking...

I was like, on top of the row
and talking and I just happened
to be looking...

I was talking to somebody
and I happened to be,

looking out at the course.
I saw him across the course.

And he looks at me
and just goes...

I was like, you know,
"Forget about him, man.
You don't need him."

And he was like,
"No, he's kind of right."

But that was like, it was like
baptism by fire, you know?

All of a sudden, he realized
what the pros in California
thought who...

I mean, quite frankly,
in this industry
if you're gonna make it,

you gotta have their backing,
otherwise you're just nobody.

You know,
Zero had a definitive image

and Cole at the time
didn't fit that at all.

And... so we started...

He got on Circa and we went
on a few trips together.

Actually more than a few,
we went on a lot of trips
together with Circa.

And we started
becoming friends.

Like a light switch,
you know, Chris Cole would
show up to Love Park

with his big baggy pants

and like, some crooked hat,
whatever.

Very next day, he shows up
with like tight black jeans

with a spiked belt on
and an Iron Maiden shirt

and everyone was like,
"What the fuck?"

Jamie used to send him clothes,
but I never saw it as

Jamie sending him clothes
to have him dress a certain way.

I thought it was just because
Jamie knew the kind of stuff
that he was into

and he would see something at,
like, a thrift store and say,

"Oh you know, Cole would like
this" and he would send
it over to him.

And I mean, there might have
been ulterior motives,
you know.

He may have been trying
to zero him out for,
you know,

suddenly, it was skulls
and bands and stuff like that.

But even at that time, Chris was
changing so drastically that

I think he was already headed
in that direction.

I sent him one
Ozzy Osbourne T-shirt

as a present, because
he told me this one

Ozzy Osbourne album was
like his favorite or something.

And basically, that one T-shirt
turned into this giant rumor
that I dressed him.

Talk is way cheaper
when the story's good

and that story's really, like,
it's a really juicy one,
you know?

To like,
"Oh, man, Jamie's like,

you know, so "military dad"
that he, like, changed
this dude's style."

You know, stuff like that.
It never happened.

When you're a kid,
you just dress in whatever.

Because that's what's
accessible, that's what
you wear, whatever.

And you go with what other
people are kind of wearing.

You don't really think about,
like, how music influenced you

or like, the movies you like,
things like that.

And I started to get
more into that.

And kind of outwardly showing
who I was on the inside.

And that was a darker,

a darker more, like,
heavy metal dude.

Jamie saw that early,

and...

Put me on Zero.

I kind of took a leap of faith
in the sense that,

a couple of the team riders
weren't really feeling it
and I was like,

"Look, I think this dude..."

Not I think, "He's one of
the most talented skaters

I've ever seen,
and he's a really cool dude."

And the team was like,
"All right, man,
if you really think so.

I mean,
we'll back your decision."

But he was probably
the first dude we put on Zero

where we didn't get
a unanimous vote.

So after, yeah, like,
after that call was done,

I felt like I was
stepping into a new territory
of endless possibility.

Just the world was
whatever I wanted it to be.

Ow.

- You all right?
- I think I'm cool...

Always doing next level tricks.

Uh...

I mean, he won Thrasher Skater
of the year, two years in a row.

Like, has anyone
ever done that?

I think he's the only one.
Two years in a row,
that's, like, unheard of.

Yeah, he's a big
fucking influence.
He's fucking gnarly.
He can do like every trick.

Like, they used to
call me Tails and shit

'cause they thought
I'd follow Chris Cole
around the skate park.

They just didn't like me.
Like, him and Tom Asta
and all of them.

Chris Cole?
My favorite skater ever!

He does a lot of different
tricks too. You don't...

You don't see everyone
doing the tricks that he does,
that's for sure.

Still killing it.

One of my favorite skaters.
Been watching him for years.

Well, I met him when I was
a kid at a demo.

Um...

A long time ago, let's see...

6th, 7th grade, something
like that?

And people don't come through
Kansas City a lot growing up
skating there.

And my mom like... They did a
demo like Friday afternoon.

My mom took me out of school,
'cause she knew, like,
how important it was

for, like, to me to go watch
these guys skate.

Yeah!

The whole Zero team was there.

Chris Cole, Adrian Lopez,
Jamie Thomas...

Like, all the dudes
that I, like, love seeing...

Um...

Seeing him in person
for the first time
is really crazy...

It's just T-shirts
all the way out
to, like, here.

And then it's like
three-quarter sleeves
and some button ups.

But this is a... The sweet one

is this guy.

From my sponsor-me tapes.
Yellow camo shirt.

It's in great condition.
I'll tell you what.
I mean, it took

a lot of slams.

And it's still holding up,
just excellent.

There's like the in between
that I'm not sure about.

So like right now, I have, like,
two tricks on this one bar.

And I have two tricks
over thisone gap.

And I'm like, "Oh!
That kind of doesn't work".

I can't just weep, weep, weep,
weep, weep, weep,
the whole entire time.

'Cause that's like really
boring.

So I want to use like what I...
The tools that I have,

rather than trying to force
something like, "I have to hit
everything on the course."

All the stars kind of have
to align for you.

When you're in a contest
that's that heavy,
like Super Crown.

Super Crown is such a,
like a Holy Grail of a contest,

that it's easy to freak
yourself out.

It was a course I liked.

I liked the size of
the handrails, I liked
the size of the hub.

I liked everything about
the course because it felt
like it was more designed...

It was designed more around
skill rather than guts.

It wasn't just like,

"Who's got the guts to
try their hard tricks
in this big thing?"

It was,
"Who has the board control,
the skill, the bag of tricks

to win this?"

Hey, how are you?

- How's it going?
- Hey there, man.

It's my performance.

I love raglan cotton.

It's my act.

I do a bunch of like,
motivational speaking
to myself.

I'll like...
I'll be in there just...

Like, I'll be in my head
just talking myself
through everything.

And I find things that work.

Four or five shots.

Oh, like bump reel...
and then you got a gap...

Right here.
Right here, ping.

Like, right up,
ollie right here,
crook, gap down to flat.

I don't know what to do.

Some days you have
the confidence

and your body just doesn't
react as quick.

Some days
you slept well and...

That should work.

If it almost works first try,
it should work right? Right?

He was your Super Crown
World Champion in 2013.

An impressive 14 nine point
scores, riding for DC,
Monster and GoPro.

This is Chris Cole.

Yeah, it just didn't
really work out.

It's funny because
it's not like

I mustered up the energy
for that one year,

did it and now I'm like...

You know, that's not it.
It's just like...

"Oh, yeah, I did well
and then I didn't do well."

And then,
"Hoping to do well next year."

I want to focus more
on other stuff, though, like...

I don't want to focus
solely on the contest,
where it's like,

"This is what I have to do.

This is what I'm making
my skate career out of."

Because I started a skate
career in the street.

I started a skate career
doing demos,

and skating
and doing video parts,
and not just contests.

And then to focus all
of my energy on this one
contest series,

that doesn't...
That's not the way that
my skateboarding works.

Trying to jump the 4.7,
First up on second flow run.

Here we go...

Chris Cole is out.

Let's give a round of applause
for Chris Cole right now, bro.

Come on,
show us your love for him.

Um, well, the loss isn't
as big of a deal for me.

It doesn't weigh
on my heart so heavy.

Um...

But what kills me is as a wife
is that I care about my husband,

and I don't want him to feel
bummed on his performance.

And that's like...
That's just something that,
like I'm not a therapist...

Like, I get bummed too
if he's bummed.

Because, you know,
you end up feeling

the same emotions after,
you know, years of marriage.

I'm just sad when he's sad.
So, it's not the...

It's not the fact
that he's lost,

it's the fact that he's sad
about it, that he lost, so...

Yeah, what's tough
for me is that I...

I've kind of put
a lot of pressure on
myself this year too,

that I don't want
people to think...

Because they focus,
for some reason,

they focused on my age a lot.

And they kept saying like,
"He's the oldest guy out here."

I'm the oldest guy by, like,
six months maybe, maybe.

And it's like,
"He's a veteran.
He's out there."

Like, "Doing it
for the old guys."
I'm like, "Dude,
I'm not that old."

But now I feel like,
because they focused
on my age so much...

You have more to prove.

I have more to prove.

And the fact that, like,
I didn't want people
to think that,

"Oh, he won the Super Crown,
now he's not doing good.

That was his peak
and now he's on his way out."

And that spun me out in my head
because I don't want people to
think that

because I'm nowhere near done,
you know.

I just love skateboarding,
and I want to do it
for as long as...

I want to skateboard
for a living as long
as humanly possible.

I'm gonna skateboard forever.

The day that I can't,
like, just shoot me.

You know, I think
there's two elements...

I think that there's two reasons
why a person should retire.

And it could be either reason.

One is, you don't want
to do it anymore,

and you don't appreciate it,
you don't want to be out there.

Two is,

even if you do appreciate it
and you do want to be out there,

nobody cares and nobody
wants to see you out there.

In this day and age,
this digital world,

this onslaught of information,

where people just
churn and burn
so quick,

how do you...

How do you become something like
a Tony Hawk in this generation?

You know, the generation
before us, the guys were done
at like 25, 26.

So, I think,

he's the first true elite level
professional skateboarder

who will be at an elite level
till his 40s.

So, that's why people ask,
"What are you gonna do
after skating?"

And it's a real question.
Like, even a top level pro...

You're earning that income

until you're 45 at best,

you know,
and that's pretty scary,
that's a long time.

And then to have
two kids and a wife?

When my job
requires me to skate,

skateboarding takes over
the entirety of my brain.

The only way for me to do
really well at a contest,

or to be on tour,

or to get like a video
project done, is to be
fully skate-brained.

And I'm thinking
about skating
all the time.

So when I have to have
skate-brain,

she takes care of
all the things that,
takes everything
off my plate.

I didn't skateboard myself,
but I was really into skating

and looked at mags
and stuff and...

Eventually, I was walking
through a mall

and saw a skate park opened.
So I got a job there.

I kept looking at her
while I was skating.

Like, looking back
over into the
retail area where she was.

And...

I remember feeling like,
"I can't ask her out

because I'm not ready,
if she says no."

I was 16 when
we first started dating,
but he was 20.

So in Pennsylvania, it's so,
it's like, barely legal.

It is legal.

It is legal.

But it is, barely.

But it's like...

I mean, you have
to research it.

- Yeah, so...
- So, it was like weird,
because she was...

Um...

She's obviously really mature
and really like,

- well thought out and smart.
- Totally.

And so, I was like
a 20 year old that acted way
more like a 16 year old.

She was a 16 year old
that acted way more
like a 20 year old.

My mom was really upset
because, I mean,
I don't blame her at all.

If my daughter pulled
what I pulled,
then I would react
the same way.

Totally.

But she didn't know
what I knew.

She didn't know I was in love
with him, you know, so, um...

The fact that he was 20,
and that he's a professional
skateboarder...

- There's a bunch
of red flags there.
- ...and, you know,
has long hair...

Yeah, you were a punk,
basically.

Even when the times are
really tough,

mentally, physically,
whatever it is...

I always feel safe
with my family.

I feel like my family
has my back.

And I always have some...

I always have
someone to go to.

Hey, Trooper!

Chris is here.

Hi.

You sunbathing?

You know, he's always
my little boy, Chris.

I'm glad that he does really
well with his career, but...

I don't know,
maybe it's surprising for me

not to say, "Oh, I'm so glad
he's won things
and done so well."

I'm glad for the person
he is, mostly.

I think when you reach
a certain level of success

you almost, feel the need to do
what you can to help others,

because people will help you
help others

because of the position
that you've reached.

For me, this was an
incredible project,

because I don't think
there's anything like it

in any other city in America.

I think it's the best skate park
in any city in America.

Congratulations
to the skateboarders.
Give them a big,
big round of applause.

We do love you.
We do care about you.

Please be safe.

We opened Paine's Park
a year ago.

By and large, it's been
really phenomenal.

And, you know,
I'll never forget the day
that we were down there
to open the park,

and we had all
the elected officials
to come down to cut the ribbon

and kids of all ethnicities,

skating like crazy,
skating as much as they can.

Skating with the pros,
Chris is out there.

And that's
an incredible facility.

Incredible. Why anybody
would want to battle

with lunch-goers
and pedestrians in Love Park,

when they have that facility in
Paine's Park, which is downtown.

It's right in the heart
of the western edge
of Center City.

There's absolutely no reason.

Well, I mean look, obviously
with Love Park, I mean,

you can't really replace
something that just naturally
turned out to be

incredible for skateboarding,
because

the coincidence of it, I think
is what made it so great.

Um...

But again, I think that
with Paine's Park, it just...

The whole idea there
was that we could create

this really awesome kind of
public space.

We came up
with the idea of...

Like, how cool
would it be to...

To bring a bunch of kids
that are just like me

back then, to Woodward.

Give it up for this dude
right here who like, wow,
like...

I mean, this kid will not stop.

You already know
who he is, Tom Ingleby!

This dude right here is...

I can't wait to see him
at Camp Woodward
because I know how much
potential he has.

Damir!

Give it up for Damir!

He is gonna a be a fun one
to have at Camp Woodward!

Good for you.
So styling.

We have the Reign guys
and the PPAL,
Philadelphia Police
Athletic League,

like, working together
to pick the right kids

from that area,
from my area, who...

They're good kids,
but they don't
have this opportunity.

It's just not
slotted for them.

And we give them...

We give them a chance
to go do it,
to make memories.

Um, his is my living room
and kitchen.

And my room's back here.

This is my room.

Me and my little brother's room.

Um...

Today I'm going to Woodward
'cause I won

the Chris Cole's
Excellent Adventure Contest
at Paine's Park.

And how you feel about that?

I'm so happy.

I've been dreaming
about going to Woodward
since I started skating.

What's it gonna be like?
What do you feel
it's gonna be like?

It's gonna be awesome.

How old are you, Tom?

13.

So, how long have you been
skating for?

Four years.

How do you feel about Chris Cole
doing this for you guys?

It's awesome.

He's really good
at what he does, so...

And even when he does fall,
he's a trooper,

he gets back up
and he keeps on going, so...

You know,
it's what he wants to do.
It's his dream, so...

I'm trying to do whatever I can
to help him get it to come true.

How do you feel about him
winning this contest
and getting to Woodward?

I'm so excited, I really am.

He wanted so badly
to go last summer

and I didn't have it. So...

Can we walk you downstairs,
please?

Time to go to Woodward!

Cool.

You geared up?
You got everything
you need?

Yeah...

My trucks! Nice.
Oh, she got them!

- Love you.
- Love you, too.

So, Damir,
how you feeling right now?
What's going through your mind?

I'm feeling good.

There's a lot going
through my mind.

Tell us about it.

'Cause so crazy...

Like this wasn't even
supposed to happen for me.

I started when I was nine
because, um...

When I was really young,
I used to watch Rob Dyrdek's
Fantasy Factory.

And, um, he just inspired me
to start skating.

Like, the life that
he has is amazing.

And to have that life
would be great.

Skateboarding helps me with...

Like, um, anger sometimes...

Like sometimes, I get angry.

And skateboarding helps me
with that and stuff.

Well, I have problems
with my family.

Like, I don't live
with my dad and stuff.

- And that makes you angry?
- Yeah.

- That he's not around?
- Yeah.

Chris had no dad
and no memories
of a dad, you know.

I, at least have some memories
of a dad, you know.

But he got the short end
of the stick.

It was his choice.

- Who's choice?
His dad's choice?
- Mm-hmm.

So not even a phone call
on a birthday or...

It was his choice. Oh, no!

Nothing at all.

The other thing
that's missing in my life

that I had to find myself,
is a script.

A script of how
a relationship works,

a script of how being
a grown man works,

of how growing up works.

And you scramble until you
figure it out.

And now that I'm a grown up,
it's my issue.

Now, it's more of
a "I want to find him" and

tell him he made
a huge mistake,

but also ask him why
he made the huge mistake.

I think that Chris
not having a father...

Um...

He was susceptible to influence
from men that he looked up to.

So that's why Chris looked up
to, you know, Rodney Mullen
and Jamie so much,

is because he was influenced so
greatly by their skateboarding.

So you've never been
to Woodward, right?

No.

What do you think
it's gonna be like?

I feel like it's gonna be
overwhelming.

It's a great facility, firstly,

but it also is a chance for
you to develop any kind
of skill you want.

You know, it's just like...
It's a...

It's Disneyland for
skateboarding.

And if you spend a week
there, inevitably your
skating's gonna improve.

And if you're serious
about improving
your skating, it's gonna
improve exponentially.

Yo!

Turn up!

Hey!

- What's up, yo?
- What's up, yo?

- What up, Tom?
- You made it!

Yeah, Tom! Yeah, Tom!

Hey, Tom is with the swag!

Great. You got the beanie on.

You cold, man?

Yeah. I wanna see that mini...

Yeah!

- Damn.
- How's it going man?
What's up?

So, Chris Cole and his whole
crew and his sponsors

have given you guys complete
skateboards, so go stand...

Yeah!

Welcome, dude.

I have the whole
thing going on...

Okay, Damir.

- This is sick.
- I am so grateful right now.

I'm hyped on it.

Right gear!

That training's getting you,
man!

It's so much more rewarding

to me than it is to them,
you know.

As rad as it may be to them,
it's way cooler to me.

Because I am essentially
creating a time machine.

I'm going back in time,
finding me, and sending
me to Woodward.

So...

That's what we do, every year.

That's what I want people
to take from it,

is that it's not just,

"Oh, that dude was good.

That's why he did the tricks.

That's why he was
in the videos.

And that's why
he was sponsored,
because he was good."

Because there's tons
of good people.

The story that's being told

is the story of
a skate-rat kid who made it.