Tony Hawk’s legendary skateboard just sold for a record-breaking US$1.15 million
Hawk used the board at the 1999 San Francisco X Games, where he landed the first 900 trick ever
The skateboard that Tony Hawk used to make history in 1999 has sold for a record-breaking US$1.15 million (HK$8 million), according to a statement from Julien’s Auctions on Wednesday.
The deck, called the Birdhouse “Falcon 2”, was used by Hawk to land the first 900 trick – a 2½-turn trick few skateboarders dare to try – at the 1999 San Francisco X Games.
After numerous failed attempts, Hawk successfully flipped twice through the air and landed the move. The packed crowd roared and announcers screamed on the live broadcast.
By then, Hawk was 31 years old and already a decorated skateboarder. He had won 73 championships by age 25 and was world champion of vert skating – where skateboarders careen back and forth on a steep ramp – for 12 straight years in the 1980s and 1990s.
But the historic landing at the turn of the century cast Hawk as an indelible household name, and it made him one of the most well-known trailblazers in the sport.
Hawk said earlier this week that he hoped the anonymous buyer was “someone who truly appreciates it, or that event or that object meant something to them and that it’s not just a flex because they have the money”.