bryan hartwick

These first skateboarders started with wooden boxes or boards with roller skate wheels slapped on the bottom. Like you might imagine, a lot of people got hurt in skateboarding's early years! It was a sport just being born and discovered, so anything went. The boxes turned into planks, and eventually companies were producing decks of pressed layers of wood -- similar to the skateboard decks of today. During this time, skateboarding was seen as something to do for fun after surfing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3LdeyjXTrw&feature=related

http://skateboard.about.com/cs/boardscience/a/brief_history.htm