Frank Gerwer Appreciation

“To anyone who’s ever used a skateboard as a pillow.”

It’s been a big week for Frank Gerwer, at least in the web world. Chrome Ball had a post for him, he got rollternative with Antihero’s new batch of boards, and now this…

When I think of what sets skateboarding apart from other “sports” or whatever you want to define skateboarding as, what comes to mind is the variety of people and the personalities that comprise it. Tim O’Connor, John Cardiel, Rick Howard, Fred Gall. You’re not running into people like this swimming laps at the local YMCA or shooting hoops in the park all too often.

I’ve never met Frank and I’ve only ever talked to him once. It was for an And Another Thing interview. It was great. He just went on and on and I didn’t have to do anything besides laugh, let the words fly and make sure the recorder didn’t stop.

From his days on The Firm through his Taxi Driver phase up to now, he seems to have kept it going with the same sort of rugged, out of the spotlight shredding that you can assume guys like Dan Drehobl or Brian Anderson are up to. It might be a minute or two between seeing photos or footage of them, but when you do, you’re always psyched.

I don’t know what else to say about Frank really, other than I’m glad he found skateboarding. I’m glad he’s still hopping in team vans to harass the new breed, and maybe inadvertently instill some of his sense of humor into them. We’re currently walking a very gray line in skateboarding with all the big money contests and corporations firmly planted within our walls, and guys like Frank and the whole Antihero family stray far from that line. It’s reassuring to think no matter how many dollars or people or tricks are involved in what we do, there will still be guys like Frank out there bombing a hill in San Francisco in a milk crate, camping out in the bottom of a bowl, just happy to be there with a board and a beer close at hand.

Frank’s the man with the golden nose. The first to kickflip Wallenburg. The Travis Bickle and Adelmo Jr. lookalike slash stand-in. The in-van terrorizer. The Hicksville Hellraiser. The Gerwer.

Here’s some of his videos for you to enjoy.
-Christian Senrud

Cash Money Vagrant



Six Newell



Crail Couch



Wallenberg

Number Nine “Another Number” – Frank Gerwer from NY Skateboarding on Vimeo.

Spitfire’s 3rd Degree



Lessons to a new pro



Frank on Lance

Comments

1. 

   superstoker.com

   10/7/11 - 12:57 pm

   

   any video of that last trick?? darkslide wallride?

2. 

   blago

   10/7/11 - 2:16 pm

   

   Some very inspiring moves in these vids!

3. 

   memories

   10/8/11 - 7:06 pm

   

   i saw this dude skate when i was way too young to appreciate seeing this dude skate

4. 

   Pozycjonowanie

   12/14/11 - 7:21 pm

   

   Howdy this is kinda of off topic but I was wanting to know if blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with HTML. I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding experience so I wanted to get guidance from someone with experience. Any help would be greatly appreciated!