Jahmal Williams : Boston's very own skating legend!
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- bking74
- added this
Who were some of the OG Boston locals of those late 80's and early 90's years that
ripped it?
The guys that I considered to be the Boston locals at that time were Sean Waters [R.I.P.], Scott Macintosh, John Conners, Tom Okeefe, JJ, Adam Ayer, and the youngest ripper of them all, Robbie Gangemi. I couldn't really tell you much about the Boston skate scene history. I know that Dan Estabrook, Luke, Jamie Fergusson, Davey Rogers, Kevin Day, Jeff Shank, Easty, Smitty, and Andy Blankly were some of the older heads that I would hang around with sometimes, and hear stories from. The C-bolt pool was a major spot back then.
One day I'd love to see some photos, or even video, of that super OG Boston scene.
To you, what was the landmark skate spot to the Boston scene?
For my generation, Copley Square was the spot. It was perfect. In any direction you
could find another awesome spot within five minutes. It was the center. We would meet up there and skate off around the whole city. When it really got cold outside we wouldn't want to skate around the city, so we would skate Copley all day, and then go into the Copley Mall and hang out, and look for girls. We would sneak into movies all the time, and go to the hotel swimming pools and game rooms. Heads would eat for free. I could go on for days about the Copley stories. What made it really dope was that it was a convergence of all types that would hang out there. It was bike messengers, punk rock kids, hard core heads, graf heads, death metal kids, the older lurkers, and the skaters. Everyone hung out and smoked weed and drank 40's, and had a great time. It was like
we were invisible, because no one cared. Try doing some of the stuff we did back then and you'd go to jail today. We had it the best because it was so free.
Who was your first sponsor?
My first real sponsor was Molotov Skateboards. I can't remember how I got on but they had sick boards and awesome graphics. Thanks Andy! Then I got hooked up by
T.V. (Templeton & Vallely's company.) Mike V had been to Boston a few times and we were all huge Mike V fans in Boston. He would come to town and street skate with us. He is still one of the best ever. So anyway, he asked me to send him some footy and I went and made a tape and sent it to him. It was one day of filming. I might let 48 Blocks show it someday.
That would be rad. You mentioned Robbie Gangemi. Can you elaborate more on your relationship with Robbie and his role in the history of the Boston skate scene?
I really can't get into the whole history of Boston skating because I don't know it that well. I just know bits and pieces. But I know that Robbie Gangemi, Adam Ayer, and myself helped to put Boston on the map during the 90's. Robbie has always been rad on a skateboard, since day one. He was that little kid that was better than everyone, and would learn tricks super easy. He skated faster than everyone else, slid tricks longer than anyone else, and went bigger than anyone else!
What was your first photo ever in a mag?
My first photo in a mag was in TWS and it was shot by Jeremy Traub. I think it was a
lip slide over the stairs, onto the long blocks at the Boston Public Library in Copley.
Back then, what kind of stories would you hear about skating in NYC?
When I was coming up, we always heard about stuff going down from all over,
especially in NYC and D.C. That's how things got around. It wasn't so much what magazines reported on, because there was a whole underground street scene, something that wasn't yet touched by the media. It was more by word of mouth, which was so
much better. You would hear about a trick and you had to visualize the trick, and try to break it down. I would always hear stories about all the SHUT skaters. They were the St. Legends, Barker, Sheffey, Pang, Q-lawn, Wyley, Mike Kepper, Jeremy Henderson, Rod Smith, Bruno, and more. But the heads that you seemed to hear about most were Pang and Sheffey.
ripped it?
The guys that I considered to be the Boston locals at that time were Sean Waters [R.I.P.], Scott Macintosh, John Conners, Tom Okeefe, JJ, Adam Ayer, and the youngest ripper of them all, Robbie Gangemi. I couldn't really tell you much about the Boston skate scene history. I know that Dan Estabrook, Luke, Jamie Fergusson, Davey Rogers, Kevin Day, Jeff Shank, Easty, Smitty, and Andy Blankly were some of the older heads that I would hang around with sometimes, and hear stories from. The C-bolt pool was a major spot back then.
One day I'd love to see some photos, or even video, of that super OG Boston scene.
To you, what was the landmark skate spot to the Boston scene?
For my generation, Copley Square was the spot. It was perfect. In any direction you
could find another awesome spot within five minutes. It was the center. We would meet up there and skate off around the whole city. When it really got cold outside we wouldn't want to skate around the city, so we would skate Copley all day, and then go into the Copley Mall and hang out, and look for girls. We would sneak into movies all the time, and go to the hotel swimming pools and game rooms. Heads would eat for free. I could go on for days about the Copley stories. What made it really dope was that it was a convergence of all types that would hang out there. It was bike messengers, punk rock kids, hard core heads, graf heads, death metal kids, the older lurkers, and the skaters. Everyone hung out and smoked weed and drank 40's, and had a great time. It was like
we were invisible, because no one cared. Try doing some of the stuff we did back then and you'd go to jail today. We had it the best because it was so free.
Who was your first sponsor?
My first real sponsor was Molotov Skateboards. I can't remember how I got on but they had sick boards and awesome graphics. Thanks Andy! Then I got hooked up by
T.V. (Templeton & Vallely's company.) Mike V had been to Boston a few times and we were all huge Mike V fans in Boston. He would come to town and street skate with us. He is still one of the best ever. So anyway, he asked me to send him some footy and I went and made a tape and sent it to him. It was one day of filming. I might let 48 Blocks show it someday.
That would be rad. You mentioned Robbie Gangemi. Can you elaborate more on your relationship with Robbie and his role in the history of the Boston skate scene?
I really can't get into the whole history of Boston skating because I don't know it that well. I just know bits and pieces. But I know that Robbie Gangemi, Adam Ayer, and myself helped to put Boston on the map during the 90's. Robbie has always been rad on a skateboard, since day one. He was that little kid that was better than everyone, and would learn tricks super easy. He skated faster than everyone else, slid tricks longer than anyone else, and went bigger than anyone else!
What was your first photo ever in a mag?
My first photo in a mag was in TWS and it was shot by Jeremy Traub. I think it was a
lip slide over the stairs, onto the long blocks at the Boston Public Library in Copley.
Back then, what kind of stories would you hear about skating in NYC?
When I was coming up, we always heard about stuff going down from all over,
especially in NYC and D.C. That's how things got around. It wasn't so much what magazines reported on, because there was a whole underground street scene, something that wasn't yet touched by the media. It was more by word of mouth, which was so
much better. You would hear about a trick and you had to visualize the trick, and try to break it down. I would always hear stories about all the SHUT skaters. They were the St. Legends, Barker, Sheffey, Pang, Q-lawn, Wyley, Mike Kepper, Jeremy Henderson, Rod Smith, Bruno, and more. But the heads that you seemed to hear about most were Pang and Sheffey.
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