I once got a present on my 16th birthday from a dear friend of mine that consisted of a collage of a ton of Tom Penny photos and I would look at that collage and dress like a photo from it everyday. Tom Penny is to skateboarding as MF DOOM is to hip hop.
To me Tom penny is like Jimi Hendrix, the way Tom is on a board like any situation he looks comfy and knows it in and out, doesn’t always do anything crazy but it’s still interesting. Just like Jimi Hendrix
@@debomb721 That would equate him more to Eric Clapton right? Clapton’s nickname is “Slow Hand” because he was comfortable and smooth but with legendary stuff. I compare Hendrix to Eric Koston if anyone because of his innovative goofy (literally) approach.
@@lukemaunder4839 I’m talking stylistically. That being said Clapton fucked George Harrison’s wife, then wrote a masterpiece about it, then George said it was no big deal. Maybe Tom is George? 🤔
I saw him back in the day at that huntington park. I have no clue how he could do all those nollie tricks over that bump to rail. That bump was fast. Still blows my mind
0:37 - 0:40 was from a Mount Hawke open demo from about 1993. I was there and saw Tom, Geoff Rowley and Danny Wainwright totally destroy the place. I recall Tom doing the hugest inward heelfips to fakie on that same flatbank (a trick he never really documented on video?). Got to skate with them all too, which was one of the highlights of my skate life. Also, was at the first Radlands comp where Penny kickflipped the pyramid - nobody had ever seen anything like this nor thought it was possible until we saw it. Understandably, the crowd went mental over it!
A friend of mine was on a bus with him and overheard him say "I've figured out skateboarding". Like there and then it clicked in his head and he could do anything. Like that end scene in the matrix.
That was in Dallas at the Jeff Phillips Park in 97 At this time it was called Rapid Revolution Myself, My friends: Canaan, Jeremy and Will were there skating with them. It was like a 2 day demo/ session. There were a ton of other Pros and AMS there that day, but youNEVER see footage of them that surfaced. Those vert walls were easily 8 to 9 feet tall. And he was blasting out of them 4-5 feet. No one else was on that level….it was insane.
I member skating at Jeff Phillips Park in Dallas a few years after this footage was taken and u wouldn't believe how many biters and lookalikes were posing and bailing sw fs flips on that hip I was little maybe age 12 and I remember thinking wow these dudes rip. Now is see they were busters
His line at the end ... its the best line ever ive ever seen ^^ I swear, no joke. So funny :) Crashing in the bushes, jumping on the board again, roll over some pencils (?) ... falling of again. ^^
But i heard back then 8 inch deck were seen as 'vert' decks. Not that much of a stretch, especially since people were riding 6" or 7" toothpicks in the 70's doing equally mad tricks
When I was 15, we were skating a mini-ramp in the center of A'dam. At one point I remember standing on the top of the ramp and a guy comes up, drops in.. and with like within 50 sec. does a huge frontside kickflip. Turns out, we got some mini-ramp lessons that day. Everybody just sat down and watch Tom Penny skate.
What I love about Penny that I don't see people talk about much, is the transition. He's a cool badass skater, but often we associate that with stairs and handrails, and kind of act like skateparks are uncool, but actually skating transition at skateparks is a dope as shit skill and Penny exemplifies that so well. Undeniably cool while doing tricks on tranny at a skatepark.
I remember him at Radlands. He was always just skating for himself. You could tell he couldn't give a shit about anything, just what he was skating. You couldn't tell if he was regular or goofy though. Utterly fluid in either stance.
Its funny because Reynolds and Penny are both my favourites, and Reynold's fav is Penny! Always admired his effortless style, and check out him doing kickflip indy 180 on vert at a young age... no pads! Dude can skate almost anything.
Video radio is an amazing skate vid. its the circa tour video from 2001 featuring jamie thomas, tom penny, chad muska, and am chris cole. a lot of "unseen" footage of these guys because back then it was taboo to show park footage in a video. but it was more or less a documentary on tour life. so you see skatepark footy of them
Mystery, Reynolds said it. I’ve always found Tom penny mysterious, I thought he was a super stoner kinda dumb guy, but he’s well spoken and thoughtful.
I've always described Tom Penny as a skateboarding unicorn. He'd just pop up out of nowhere and everyone would be in complete awe and then he'd disappear. Doesn't show up with anyone, doesn't talk to anyone, completely destroys the park and then vanishes into thin air. And then you also hear all these tall tales about Tom Penny doing tricks not on video, no one knows if they're true or not but everybody assumes they are because it's Tom Penny
Well said. Yes he could do cool tricks, but as skating evolves those tricks become easier and easier (not for me, mind you lol, for youngsters). What can't be replicated easily is the style. Tom Penny is the style king, always and forever.
tom penny was like an idiot savant, he just knew things about skateboarding that no one else did, probably born with it , that was cool enough. .Then the fact he was a skinny white dude from England who dressed like a gangster rapper (and pulls it off!) and has this booming deep voice and no ego, he's very unique
I got loaded with him muska bill Weiss in pacific beach California then got about 2 hours sleep headed downtown San Diego I was still hammered they killed it me not so much June something 1995 year of our lord.
Who was the filmer talking about him who said he tried to bs nollie flip into vert ramp and ran out? I would so much love to see the footage. How the hell can you run out of any trick on vert, especially something coming down blind like bs nollie tricks. Can believe it though, I have a photo of him doing bs nollie flip on this huge gap between two steep banks at meanwhile, London 30 years ago
@@Mr.paint123 banksy is awful just gentrified graffiti (shit stencil street art) also doesn't get arrested for his work whilst an actual graffiti writer will be heavily punished
I just wanna know if death box became flip because there was a death box in America as well my bet is the english one was first but couldnt be bothered with any controversy and court wranglings come on now out with the big guns!!!
@@dukeredi ah fair play the mind boggles at times deathbox concave where a game changer at the time of my junior ollies build quality too was noticable
Yo it really gets me just how trashed they be skating back in the day I can remember skating Colorado in the early 2000s ran into pros all the time the skatepark or skatespot was getting mad lit every time they was around I started smoking weed and drinking at skate parks and spots lol
Coolest guy at any demo. Went to e's demo one time. There was Koston (toolbag queer), Eldy (gamma elf), and of course Penny (upstanding, chill, genuine). Everybody acted forced to be there. Penny was being very nice to the kids, but nobody knew much about the guy, because every poser loves Chocolate. Penny, you are class. Only pro talking to the kids genuinly. The guy barely knew English, but I saw a man who loved his skateboard. This guy is like a cornerstone of the dogma we all envision, but never accuate.
@@blakebrooks157 They say he hit his head and forgot English because he was learning French for so long during his time in seclusion. I think he got tired of talking to anyone remotely American and made up some story. I believed the story because i was just a little kid. Did get to talk with him breifly.
@@poochimayne7294 Clearly you're a little slow. mullen inveted* the damn kickflip! the trick penny is most known for. .. your logic does not make sense. ...THERE WOULD BE NO PENNY WITHOUT MULLEN DUMMY
@@poochimayne7294 do some research. .. Tony takes all the credit. but even he took all these mullen tricks to vert. the man was a genius. there's no one who will ever match his contributions to skateboarding. EVER
![Tom Penny Stories [Skateboarding]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/eKiVvzxjhrg/mqdefault.jpg)
![Tom Penny Stories [Skateboarding]](/img/tr.png)
Tom Penny? Legend!!! Forget all that Red Bull, Olympia, SLS, x-Games bullshit….penny, muska, reynolds, rowely…true skateboarding
im 45 and have watched probably every inch of skateboard footage since about 1985, I've seen em all,
their was NO ONE ever like tom penny
fully cosign this statement!
Yup
The kids will make more and more elaborate tricks look easier and easier, but you can't replicate the steeze.
I once got a present on my 16th birthday from a dear friend of mine that consisted of a collage of a ton of Tom Penny photos and I would look at that collage and dress like a photo from it everyday. Tom Penny is to skateboarding as MF DOOM is to hip hop.
So true
To me Tom penny is like Jimi Hendrix, the way Tom is on a board like any situation he looks comfy and knows it in and out, doesn’t always do anything crazy but it’s still interesting. Just like Jimi Hendrix
@@debomb721 That would equate him more to Eric Clapton right? Clapton’s nickname is “Slow Hand” because he was comfortable and smooth but with legendary stuff. I compare Hendrix to Eric Koston if anyone because of his innovative goofy (literally) approach.
@@tonyattardo9350 nah clapton cared too much
@@lukemaunder4839 I’m talking stylistically. That being said Clapton fucked George Harrison’s wife, then wrote a masterpiece about it, then George said it was no big deal. Maybe Tom is George? 🤔
He backside flipped into a quarterpipe from the deck....
I saw him back in the day at that huntington park. I have no clue how he could do all those nollie tricks over that bump to rail. That bump was fast. Still blows my mind
such a huge impact on skating from someone who didnt really care for the industry. not sure will see another like him.
Check Vincent Huhta out
0:37 - 0:40 was from a Mount Hawke open demo from about 1993. I was there and saw Tom, Geoff Rowley and Danny Wainwright totally destroy the place. I recall Tom doing the hugest inward heelfips to fakie on that same flatbank (a trick he never really documented on video?). Got to skate with them all too, which was one of the highlights of my skate life. Also, was at the first Radlands comp where Penny kickflipped the pyramid - nobody had ever seen anything like this nor thought it was possible until we saw it. Understandably, the crowd went mental over it!
Everyone wanted to see more of Tom in the '90's and all that was available was around 5 minutes total in the entire VHS collection.
A friend of mine was on a bus with him and overheard him say "I've figured out skateboarding". Like there and then it clicked in his head and he could do anything. Like that end scene in the matrix.
The footage where he's skating in the white button up shirt and white shoes is fucking incredible every time.
Yeah that stuff is pinnacle, huge flip tricks above the coping, no grab, all control and style
super steez
That was in Dallas at the Jeff Phillips Park in 97
At this time it was called Rapid Revolution
Myself, My friends: Canaan, Jeremy and Will were there skating with them.
It was like a 2 day demo/ session.
There were a ton of other Pros and AMS there that day, but youNEVER see footage of them that surfaced.
Those vert walls were easily 8 to 9 feet tall.
And he was blasting out of them 4-5 feet.
No one else was on that level….it was insane.
I member skating at Jeff Phillips Park in Dallas a few years after this footage was taken and u wouldn't believe how many biters and lookalikes were posing and bailing sw fs flips on that hip I was little maybe age 12 and I remember thinking wow these dudes rip. Now is see they were busters
His line at the end ... its the best line ever ive ever seen ^^ I swear, no joke. So funny :) Crashing in the bushes, jumping on the board again, roll over some pencils (?) ... falling of again. ^^
The most fucked up part is, Tom was riding a 7.75 with probably 50mm wheels doing nollie backside flips on vert. Mind boggling.
But i heard back then 8 inch deck were seen as 'vert' decks. Not that much of a stretch, especially since people were riding 6" or 7" toothpicks in the 70's doing equally mad tricks
8 and above were surfboards
Um what?
@@DARRENTINOnz hard to think nowadays!
@@DARRENTINOnz I still ride 7.75 and 52mm wheels, fuck it.
When I was 15, we were skating a mini-ramp in the center of A'dam. At one point I remember standing on the top of the ramp and a guy comes up, drops in.. and with like within 50 sec. does a huge frontside kickflip. Turns out, we got some mini-ramp lessons that day. Everybody just sat down and watch Tom Penny skate.
Tom penny is the definition of style. GOAT status
I know nothing about skating really. I must say that this Penny has some sort of charm to his style, Nice..
That last scene is so funny dude. 🤣
tha fucken pastelss maann
What I love about Penny that I don't see people talk about much, is the transition. He's a cool badass skater, but often we associate that with stairs and handrails, and kind of act like skateparks are uncool, but actually skating transition at skateparks is a dope as shit skill and Penny exemplifies that so well. Undeniably cool while doing tricks on tranny at a skatepark.
reminds me of Mark Gonzales. while he's known as one of the street skating pioneers, he and Tony used to learn tricks together on vert.
I met Tom in Germany and have still a Foto with him ❤ it is my Favorit since 1995 🎉
I remember him at Radlands. He was always just skating for himself. You could tell he couldn't give a shit about anything, just what he was skating.
You couldn't tell if he was regular or goofy though. Utterly fluid in either stance.
Same here man! I used to go to radlands every week! Ironically, I bumped into the owner, Chris about a week ago as well! Great memories of that place.
Radlands Forever ! 🏁
Word..
Once you see him skate you never forget that smooth style that looks like he isn't even trying
I heard he was always super stoned that’s why he would mostly keep to himself.
Its funny because Reynolds and Penny are both my favourites, and Reynold's fav is Penny! Always admired his effortless style, and check out him doing kickflip indy 180 on vert at a young age... no pads! Dude can skate almost anything.
Video radio is an amazing skate vid.
its the circa tour video from 2001 featuring jamie thomas, tom penny, chad muska, and am chris cole.
a lot of "unseen" footage of these guys because back then it was taboo to show park footage in a video.
but it was more or less a documentary on tour life. so you see skatepark footy of them
Mystery, Reynolds said it. I’ve always found Tom penny mysterious, I thought he was a super stoner kinda dumb guy, but he’s well spoken and thoughtful.
I've always described Tom Penny as a skateboarding unicorn. He'd just pop up out of nowhere and everyone would be in complete awe and then he'd disappear. Doesn't show up with anyone, doesn't talk to anyone, completely destroys the park and then vanishes into thin air. And then you also hear all these tall tales about Tom Penny doing tricks not on video, no one knows if they're true or not but everybody assumes they are because it's Tom Penny
i like that so much, it is kind of true essence of skateboarding, just like that.
the best way i describe tom penny's style to friends is that he's the epitome of "it's not just what you can do, it's how you do it."
Well said. Yes he could do cool tricks, but as skating evolves those tricks become easier and easier (not for me, mind you lol, for youngsters). What can't be replicated easily is the style. Tom Penny is the style king, always and forever.
Got the knee pad footy
tom penny was like an idiot savant, he just knew things about skateboarding that no one else did, probably born with it , that was cool enough. .Then the fact he was a skinny white dude from England who dressed like a gangster rapper (and pulls it off!) and has this booming deep voice and no ego, he's very unique
I absolutely love this Phillip’s Park footage in Dallas. I was there. Nostalgia!
I believe I was there in the Dallas skatepark when Tom hurt his hand.
Truly gifted
The gyoza story is fucking hilarious
i still have tons of camcorder footage of Tom skating Radlands in the mid 90's.
Well wot you doin? Upload it all post haste!
@cultoftom wants to hear from you!
I got loaded with him muska bill Weiss in pacific beach California then got about 2 hours sleep headed downtown San Diego I was still hammered they killed it me not so much June something 1995 year of our lord.
amen
Skate in style! Different level of skateboarding.
does Tom Penny still live in France
I remember that me and my friends all wanted to be able to do as fat frontside flips as him, legend ;)
Rad video - FYI I think when Tim O'Connor was on the Bunt podcast he said some really cool shit about Penny that I hadn't heard
Jeremy Fox (Deathbox) + Ian Deacon (Bash Skateboards) = Flip 👍
Definitely worth the conversation
Jamie Thomas on Flip would be such a power move at the time.
That would have been epic, Geoff and Thomas pushing each other even more
1:14 is that Thomas speaking regarding that?
@@gmanzano89gmsure is
Elegant as F**k
that last vid was gold ahaha
Met him once in Hamburg
Penny is God!!!
Who was the filmer talking about him who said he tried to bs nollie flip into vert ramp and ran out? I would so much love to see the footage. How the hell can you run out of any trick on vert, especially something coming down blind like bs nollie tricks. Can believe it though, I have a photo of him doing bs nollie flip on this huge gap between two steep banks at meanwhile, London 30 years ago
Josh Stewart
The ending 😂
drunk magic ))
I think I know that girl..she gave me a signature too when I asked for toms😂
my fav since 95
lol so when he is drunk he can't stop speaking
We make them good here shout out to penny my hero growing up
Legend
It happens a pad bag Vert ramp water bottle skate tool you are missing and gaimg tricks well at the last second you touch hands
Tom penny is like banksy
Mysterious and creative
Except Tom didn't bite anyone's style😅
nooo
delete this comment
@@beaumill Pablo Picasso - “good artists borrow, great artists steal.”
@@Mr.paint123 banksy is awful just gentrified graffiti (shit stencil street art) also doesn't get arrested for his work whilst an actual graffiti writer will be heavily punished
Your favorite skaters favorite skater
a true great!
Sick ass video dude. More shit like this would be dope af.
Anybody know which spot at MacBa Chris is talkin bout?
Legendary
GrEaT ViDeO
I just wanna know if death box became flip because there was a death box in America as well my bet is the english one was first but couldnt be bothered with any controversy and court wranglings come on now out with the big guns!!!
Lol the CCS ad popped up after watching this!!
No.. the U.S. Deathbox was way later. Flip owner Jeremy Fox allowed them to use it I hear.
@@dukeredi ah fair play the mind boggles at times deathbox concave where a game changer at the time of my junior ollies build quality too was noticable
I still wish I was Tom penny lol
Yo it really gets me just how trashed they be skating back in the day I can remember skating Colorado in the early 2000s ran into pros all the time the skatepark or skatespot was getting mad lit every time they was around I started smoking weed and drinking at skate parks and spots lol
wheres the last clip from?
A greco film
who is talking at 1:15?
Jamie Thomas, Nine Club Episode #68, at around 2:17:33
Coolest guy at any demo. Went to e's demo one time. There was Koston (toolbag queer), Eldy (gamma elf), and of course Penny (upstanding, chill, genuine). Everybody acted forced to be there. Penny was being very nice to the kids, but nobody knew much about the guy, because every poser loves Chocolate. Penny, you are class. Only pro talking to the kids genuinly. The guy barely knew English, but I saw a man who loved his skateboard. This guy is like a cornerstone of the dogma we all envision, but never accuate.
barely knew english? he’s from the UK lol
@@blakebrooks157 lol
@@blakebrooks157 They say he hit his head and forgot English because he was learning French for so long during his time in seclusion. I think he got tired of talking to anyone remotely American and made up some story. I believed the story because i was just a little kid. Did get to talk with him breifly.
Haha koston came to winnipeg for a the forks opening. Decent park and he was and is an absolute dbag
@@poochimayne7294 no bro.
I like the footage of him wasted at the end lol
Best skater of all time.
Period.
I agree.
Idk man Rodney Mullen has done a lot for skating… he invented half the tricks we pull today
@@Thedudemannn Okay. If you like skating with your arms like T-rex. I would give Mullen a solid 2nd though.
@@poochimayne7294 Clearly you're a little slow. mullen inveted* the damn kickflip! the trick penny is most known for. .. your logic does not make sense. ...THERE WOULD BE NO PENNY WITHOUT MULLEN DUMMY
@@poochimayne7294 do some research. .. Tony takes all the credit. but even he took all these mullen tricks to vert. the man was a genius. there's no one who will ever match his contributions to skateboarding. EVER
I watched alot of his videos Growing up He's Absolutely Amazing and Awesome 🙂🫠