Tony Hawk

The McTwist is one-and-a-half rotations on a skateboard with a flip in the middle. A skater rides up a vert ramp, grabs his board, launches into the air, spins and flips around until he is headed facing back down the ramp. Hawk admitted it was one of the toughest to learn, but mastered the McTwist in 1983. He used the stunt to take first place at the St. Petersburg Pro Am that year. At the end of 1983, when all the contest results were calculated, Hawk turned up as the NSA's first world champion. He was the NSA's vert champion for each of its twelve years in existence.

Hawk mastered "720s," two full mid-air spins, while training in Sweden in 1985. The second Bones Brigade video, Future Primitive, captured Hawk at his best, landing tricks—with names like Airwalk, Switcheroo, and Saran Wrap—that he had yet to try in competition. Still a teen, he was one of the most popular skaters in the world, and became famous after starring in a Mountain Dew commercial. The video was a huge seller and Hawk began earning about $7,000 a month. He bought his first house before graduating high school.

By 1987, skateboarding's popularity had skyrocketed, and Hawk was making large sums of money. But he was also beginning to feel pressured to maintain his winning streak. Burned out at age nineteen, Hawk retired from skateboarding. He soon missed competition, and returned before the year was through. He married Cindy Dunbar in April 1990. They had their first child, Hudson Riley, in 1992, and divorced in 1994.