People who changed freestyle that you forgot about: Jeff Carroll

When most of us older guys think back to the King of the Skateparks era in the early 1980's, Eddie Fiola, Brian Blyther, Mike Dominguez come to mind first, along with Hugo Gonzales, Rich Sigur, Tony Murray and maybe a couple others.  All those guys were pushing the progression of riding vert and pools.  The airs were getting higher, the tricks were getting gnarlier, and Hugo was hucking ridiculous things.

But one of the fundamental tricks of BMX vert, dirt jumping, and park riding came from a lesser known, but still rad rider, Jeff Carroll.  Like Jeremy Alder and Jose Yanez in the last two posts, Jeff showed the riding world that a trick thought impossible was actually possible.  Jeff gave us the no-hander.  It wasn't an eight foot air, his arms weren't stretched like later riders would do, but in the photo above at what I think is the last skatepark comp of that era, in 1985, Jeff showed the BMX world that you could take both hands off the bars in the air, put them back on, and survive.  With that one trick, he changed BMX riding.

 Here are some of the other guys who later built on that idea:

Joe Johnson- 1988-Stretched no hander about nine feet out, 1:48 in this clip, AFA Masters contest.
Chris Moeller-1991- no hander over Death Jump at Mission Trails (San Diego), 1:57 in this clip.  That's Ron Wilkerson himself yelling "Yeah," in the background.
Mat Hoffman-1991- no handed 540 and huge no handed air 1:57 in this video, Eddie Roman's Headfirst, the most influential video in BMX history.
Mat Hoffman- 2002- No handed 900 in the X-games.
Shaun Butler- 1996- Stretch no handed barspin over doubles, 1:40 in this video.
Cory Nastazio- 2000- Pinch seat no hander, :10 in this video.
Dave Mirra- 2006- No handed 720 and no handed 360 flip, 1:02 and 1:39 in this clip.
Ryan Nyquist- 2005- No hand 360 over a spine (:41), and other no hand variations at :51, 1:18, 1:34, and 1:56 in this clip.
Travis Patrana- 2005- motocross candy bar backflip to no hander lander.

People who changed freestyle that you don't remember: Jose Yanez: Grandfather of backflips

In 1984, Eddie Fiola, Mike Dominguez, Brian Blyther battled it out for the King of the Skateparks on a BMX bike.  Doing a seven or eight foot air and letting go of one hand and one foot was the peak of aerial radness.  That summer, the first BMX freestyle flatland and ramp contest was put on by BMX freestyler turned entrepreneur Bob Morales.  The term "BMX freestyle," was new.  Wizard Publications put out the first issue of FREESTYLIN' magazine.  BMX "trick riding" was just morphing into an actual sport.  Dozens of riders showed up at each contest with brand new tricks.  Nobody was sure what we were really capable of on BMX bikes.  Racers had been jumping bikes for 14 years.  NOBODY in the freestyle world even thought seriously of attempting a backflip on a bike.  It just seemed far too dangerous.

Then out of nowhere, Arizona came this kid named Jose Yanez who did the impossible.  He wasn't a top pro racer.  He wasn't a known freestyler.  He was just a kid who liked riding and decided to try the scariest thing any rider could think of at the time.  He learned, landed, and got a cover photo doing the trick no one thought was really possible on a bicycle.  Jose Yanez did the impossible, became instantly famous in the BMX world, then wound up in Ringling Bros., Barnum & Bailey Circus touring the world doing that trick.  Most of us freestylers back then never saw him do it live.  Even after he proved it possible, no freestylers learned the trick ramp to ramp until 1990, when flatlander Jeff Cotter learned it from Jose himself while working in the circus.  Mat Hoffman, in his traditional role of taking a new idea beyond possibility, learned backflip fakies and flairs, the backflip air, that same year.  Even then, it was a couple more years, around '92 or '93 when a group of BMX riders started learning to do backflips.  By that time, Jose Yanez had already done double backflips on a BMX bike into water, AND flipped a motorcycle ramp to ramp, the first to do either of those feats.

To put this into perspective, let's compare Jose's feats to the life of freestyle motocross pioneer Travis Pastrana.  Jose did the first BMX ramp to ramp backflip when Travis was less than a year old and in diapers.  Jose did a double BMX backflip into water when Travis was  about four years old.  Jose first flipped a motorcycle ramp to ramp when Travis was about eight-years-old.  Travis tried a motorcycle backflip on dirt for the first time in 2000, but missed and broke his foot.  He was about 17 at the time.  That was nine years after Jose had already done it.  I'm not trying to diss Travis, we all know how much he's added to the action sports world of progression.  I'm just pointing out how far Jose was in front of the curve.  But Jose Yanez, like many pioneers, didn't have massive TV coverage or tons of press around when he flipped that dirtbike.  In fact, he didn't have ANY press around, just a friend with a video camera.

The BMX and MX riders of today, as well as those in other action sports, grew up with backflips and flip variations as part of the lexicon of tricks.  These kids don't remember a time when a flip on two wheels was "impossible."  But us old guys remember that time.  In every progressive endeavor, someone has to put it on the line a be first.  In the world of flips on two-wheeled vehicles, Jose Yanez was that guy.
 
Here's a look at what's been built upon the foundation that Jose Yanez built with that first flip:
1984- Jose Yanez, BMX ramp to ramp backflip (Original photo sequence, 1:23 in the clip above)
198?- Martin Aparijo claims to have landed a BMX front flip into soft dirt, no photos or video.
1987- Jose Yanez- BMX double backflip into water
1990- Mat Hoffman, BMX backflip fakie and backflip 180 (Flair) on vert
1990- Jeff Cotter, First BMX freestyler to learn backflips into water, 44:23 in this video.  He also does a one handed flip (45:16) and quick no-hander (45:37) into water, the first backflip variations on a BMX bike.  Jeff landed his first ramp to ramp flip a week later, but I was editing the video then and didn't document it.  That was lame of me.
1990- Damien Sanders and Steve Graham flips and double flips on snowboards (segment at 53:43), At a time when snowboards were still banned from many ski resorts, and building snowboard jumps was illegal, these two put flips into the mix of snowboard progression.
1991- Mat Hoffman, First BMX backflip attempts in a dirt jump comp, 2-Hip King of Dirt, Mission Trails.  Dennis McCoy sort of tries a flip attempt on Death Jump as well.
1991- Mat Hoffman learning flairs (3:16), closer shot of first dirt flip attempt, other attempts into water.
1991- Jose Yanez, first ramp to ramp motorcycle flip, 1:17 in the clip above.  I believe freestyler Bob Kohl also flipped a motorcycle that year, no pics or video though.
1993- BMX Freestylers are finally flipping in contests...  starting at 9:38, you see three flips, unknown rider (Jay Miron?), Mat Hoffman, and then Bob Kohl with a no-footed flip (11:36).
1997- Jay Miron, first ramp to ramp BMX double backflip (3:29) for Canadian TV, ten years after Jose's double back into water.
1999(?)Cory Nastazio, Double BMX backflip on dirt attempts, Core Tour in Huntington Beach, CA, a few months before Dave Mirra landed double backflips at a CFB contest and then the 2000 X-Games.  I was there shooting video of this one, Cory knocked himself out on the second try.
2000- Cory Nastazio, JNCO commercial, Cory was the first guy (as far as I know) to backflip a bike on the first set of a rhythm section and keep riding.  That was huge at the time.
2000- Dave Mirra, The BMX Double backflip heard 'round the world, 2000 X-Games.  Dave landed a double in a CFB contest a couple months before this, and ESPN built a box jump to Dave's specifications so he could debut it to the world at the X-Games.
2000- Cary Hart, first backflip in a freestyle motocross contest (9 years after Jose did it clean)
2000-something- Todd Lyons, backflip at a BMX race, date unknown.
2002- Mike"Rooftop" Escamilla, BMX backflip over helicopter (blades going, of course) and 50/50 grind to backflip, from Etnies Forward.
2000ish- Koji Kraft in the circus.  He was the second guy to do a BMX double backflip in a contest, and the first rider to really have BMX double backflips on lock.  I saw him do one in practice in Huntington Beach one year, about 2003, with no cameras rolling.  He had them wired before anyone else.
2004- Matt Berringer, BMX Flip-O-Rama,  Hip front flip, backflip wall slap, street flair, snowbike flair, backflip disaster, from S&M Bikes Please Kill Me.
2006- Travis Patrana, First motorcycle double backflip, 2006 X-Games.
2007?- Stephen Murray, first BMX double flip on dirt in the X-Games.  Stephen later crashed a double flip and was paralyzed, reminding everyone in action sports just how dangerous flip tricks are.  STAY STRONG!
Stephen Murray-5 years later... still a part of the BMX world and a great dad.  He's moved back to England since.
Dave Mirra- No hand 360 flip to flair on Mega ramp, X-Games 14
2008?- Slednecks 4, First backflip on a snowmobile.  This is nuts.  Seriously, just plain nuts.
2008? Pierre Maixent, First double backflip on a jet ski. 
2009- Dave Mirra "Crank Flip."
2010? Snowboard triple flip attempt.
2010- Cam something, Longest MX backflip (129'7") and longest MX flip with trick (no footer, 126' 11") 
2011- Jed Mildon, First BMX triple backflip.
2011- Anthony Napolitan, BMX double front flip on Mega Ramp.
2011- A backflip like no other on this list.
2011- Harry Main, BMX bunnyhop backflip. 
2013- Cam Zink, Biggest mountain bike backflip cliff drop, Red Bull Rampage
2013- Russian girl, backflip tailwhip into foam pit.  I don't read Cyrillic, don't know her name.
2014- Brandon Schmidt, BMX 360 double backflip, "Aussie Roll."
2014- Cam Zink, 100 foot mountain bike backflip.
2014- Jolene Van Vugt and Lyn-Z Pastrana, Jolene, first female MX backflip, BMX backflip on mega, BMX front flip on mega; Lyn-Z, first female skateboard rodeo flip on mega.  
2015- Jed Mildon, First BMX quad flip.  Seriously guys?  Olympic gymnasts don't even do quad flips?
2015- Josh Sheehan, First triple backflip on a motorcycle.
2015- Ryan Williams, First BMX triple front flip
2015- Jolene Van Vugt, First female BMX front flip.
2015- Compilation, 9 Best FSMX flip variations
2016- Daniel Bodin, First double backflip on a snowmobile.
2016- Aaron "Wheelz" Fotheringham, first wheelchair frontflip.
2017- Ryan Williams- BMX front flip OVER skatepark bowl in New Zealand.  The progression continues...

Yes, yes, I know there are dozens more flip variations, but you get the general idea of what Jose Yanez started 33 years ago.

Check out my new blogs- 

Stench: Homeless Super Hero- I'm writing a fiction blog now, about the world's first homeless superhero, Stench.  

Crazy California 43- Weird, cool, and historic locations in California.

People who changed freestyle that you don't remember: Jeremy Alder

With Steve Swope's Old School BMX Reunion at Woodward West Happening this coming weekend (March 18-20, 2017), I decided to dredge my memories for some of the people who changed BMX freestyle forever, but you have have forgotten.  At :27 in this video you see East Coast rider Jeremy Alder huck a barspin air, the first person ever to do that to the best of my knowledge.  I think he debuted this trick in 1987.  Lots of great riders were inventing new stuff back then, but Jeremy gave us one of the now standard and classic tricks of all times.

Old School BMX Reunion Next Weekend

If you're invited to the Old School BMX Reunion at Woodward next, you already know that it's next weekend.  For the rest of us, I'll try to post a bunch of my better stories of the old days this week.  Stay tuned.

Summer Lovin' at the P.O.W. House

In the early 1990's, the P.O.W. House was filled with BMX riders, ugly couches saved from curbs, random bikes being worked on, and some of the nastiest brown carpet anywhere.  On any given night, grungy BMX guys like Dave Clymer, Alan Foster, Chris Moeller, Todd Lyons, Lawan Cunningham, Bill Grad, Chris Sales, Jai Lonegran, Eric Millman,John Salami, Bill Naggy, myself and several others would be sitting around the living room figuring out what cheap thing we could do that night.  Even the guys who didn't live in the House at the time, like Keith Treanor and others, would swing by and join the group heading to a club or wherever.  If music was playing, it was usually punk or early Hip Hop. 

But we were all kids from the 70's and teens of the 80's.  One of the most amazing things I saw at the House was one night when we were deciding what to do.  I think Sales had the remote, and was flipping channels.  He happened across the start of the movie Grease, which was etched into our brains as 80's teens, whether we liked it or not.  One of the guys in the House started singing along.  Then another, then another.  Within 30 seconds, every one of the guys in the living room was not only singing along with this song, but dancing and acting it out, myself included.  It just happened.  We sang the the guy parts and the girl parts.  It was literally like a scene from the TV show Fame or something.  We all were part of the musical for three minutes.

Then the song ended, Sales flipped the channel, and everyone went on as if nothing had happened.  I just sat there laughing to myself at the weird moment.  Even punkers love Grease a little, I guess.

As of the summer of 2023, I'm going in a new direction with my writing.  Check out my new stuff on my Substack.

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Hoopty Lists

This clip is the outtake footage from Todd Lyons in his JNCO days, around 2000.  If you watch the first couple of things he tries here, you'll get a good idea of what he looks at as possible on a BMX bike.

This is a bit after the P.O.W. House days, but it involves two of the House's craziest riders, Dave Clymer and Todd Lyons.  I went with a group of the HB guys to watch a 1995 contest at the Moreno Valley Skatepark.  In those days between the old concrete skateparks of the 70's, and the public ones built in the 90's and 2000's, Moreno Valley's wooden park was about all there was in Southern California.  I think it was a 2-Hip comp, because most of the top riders were there.  There was a small wooden pool off to one side, and I noticed Dave and Todd standing on the deck pointing to different parts of the park, conferring about something.  I hopped up where they were to see what they were doing.  Both guys had small pieces of paper and pens.

One of the other guys asked what they were doing.  "We're comparing hoopty lists," one said, I think it was Todd.  "You're doing what?  "We're comparing our hoopty trick ideas, what we want to do to end our runs, making sure we don't try the same thing."  The three or four of us there looked at the lists.  "Dave, your list says 900... you can't do a 900."  "Well," Dave side, "You know, I'll just spin 'til I hit the ground."  We all started laughing.

I can't remember what Todd ended up doing.  I think Dave launched off the side of the mini and into the baby bowl 15 or 20 feet away.  Like airplane pilots, Dave had the attitude that any landing you walk away from is a good one.  I think he completely missed the little bit of transition, and landed sideways in the middle of the bowl.  Todd did something similar.  But as I recall they both got out-hooptied by Mat Hoffman, who launched off the vert ramp deck and slid down the wooden handrail of the steps.  Sort of.  Everyone who rode limped away, a couple of them with a few hundreds bucks on a check.

Then we all headed to the S&M Bikes warehouse back in Santa Ana where some punk band played.  Might have been Supernovice, I can't remember.  In any case, someone found a bunch of inch thick foam padding in the dumpster from some other business.  So we had a foam pit slam pit... but not that much foam.  It was a damn good time, though.

Check out 32:00 in that clip above.  What?

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YOU ARE (fo)R(g)OTTEN... The P.O.W. House Video (sort of)

Back in about 1989, four pro BMXers rented an apartment on Alabama Street in Huntington Beach.  I believe the original four were Chris Moeller, Dave Clymer, John Paul Rogers, and Alan Foster (?).  Realizing that you could have really cheap rent in Southern California by sharing bedrooms, the crew added some members and rented a four bedroom, two bathroom house on Iroquois Street in Westminster, CA.  Over the course of about five years, 22 people were official residents, and well over 150 top riders from around the world crashed out on the couches or floors at one point or another.  The riders dubbed themselves the Pros Of Westminster.  The P.O.W. House, as it soon came to be known, was the first hardcore BMX rider house in the country, and a immensely influential BMX scene all by itself.

Check out my epic blog post about why the action sports exploded when they did

"The Rise of the Action Sports"

I was the sole freestyler who was a resident, and the only video producer when I lived there.  But I'd lost my equipment to edit, I was totally broke, and we never put out a P.O.W. House video.  But the riders of that house have been in all kinds of videos.  So here's my compilation, which is a big start and a work in progress.  Enjoy.

Only 28 years in the making (give or take), here is it the official (more or less) video of the Pros of Westminster, the infamous P.O.W. House.  Iroquois Street REPRESENT.


The P.O.W. House section from The Ultimate Weekend, the clip above, (1990-Steve Emig), :10-P.O.W. House backyard 1990, first time in a video, :26- John Paul Rogers, :31- Chris Moeller, :41- Dave Clymer, :47- Alan Foster, :51- Eric Millman, :56- Dave Clymer, 1:09- Dave Clymer, 1:12- Eric Millman, 2:00- Chris Moeller
2-Hip Ride Like a Man (1990-2-Hip/Eddie Roman), "2-Hip Street"- 1:50- Steve Emig, "Woodward"- 1:49- Dave Clymer, 2:12- Dave Clymer
The Ultimate Weekend (1990- Steve Emig)- 27:33- Steve Emig (before living in the House), 28:28- Steve Emig, 33:50- P.O.W. House section (embedded above), 36:22- Steve Emig, 37:14- Steve Emig
ABA Grands AA Pro Semis 1990- Dave Clymer
2-Hip Meet the Street '90 & '91- The Kings of Chromoly, 2014 web edit of old footage by Emil Chervatin,  :19- Todd Lyons, :28- Dave Clymer, 1:17 Dave Clymer, 1:22- Todd Lyons, 2:22- Dave Clymer, 2:44- Dave Clymer, 3:03- Todd Lyons, 5:03 Todd Lyons, this is why you never use chipboard on the deck of a ramp.  This might be footage I shot of these comps, I'm not sure.
 Chris Moeller in Feel My Leg Muscles, I'm a Racer (1991-Chris Moeller/Emig)
Dave Clymer in Feel My Leg Muscles, I'm a Racer (1991-Moeller/Emig)
Mission Trails 2-Hip King of Dirt in Leg Muscles (1991-Moeller/Emig), :07- Moeller, :38- Keith Treanor (friend of House), 1:15- Moeller, 1:20- Clymer, 1:27- Treanor, 1:37- Clymer, 1:57- Moeller
1991 ABA Grands AA Pro Mains- Dave Clymer
1991 UGP Flying Circus jump contest in Columbus, Ohio (contest starts at 17:39)
Chris Moeller crash at Backyard Jam (93)
1993 NBL Grands Pro Open Main- Alan Foster, Brian Foster
Chris Moeller- 1993 ABA Eugene, Oregon A Pro Mains
S&M Bikes 44 Something (1993-Moeller/Emig) Intro-Chris Moeller, 1:26- Keith Treanor (friend of the House), 6:59-Lawan Cunningham, 8:36- John Paul Rogers, 11:50-Chris Moeller, 13:33- Mike Griffin, 14:15-Dave Clymer, 20:13-Todd Lyons, 20:39- Lawan Cunningham, 21:07- Alan Foster, 21:59- Brian Foster, 22:07- Todd Lyons, 22:14- Chris Moeller, 23:00- Chris Moeller
S&M Bikes BMX Inferno (1994-Moeller/Dave Parrick) 5:20-Shaun Butler (Friend of House) in P.O.W. House backyard, 13:30- John Paul Rogers, 19:34- Mike Griffin, 22:20- Chris Moeller, 27:40- Brian Foster, 28:14- Todd Lyons, 30:02 John Paul Rogers
American Gladiators (1994- Goldwyn Productions) freeze it at :24 and you can see me (Steve Emig) in the background on Wesley Barry's tower.
Brian Foster Dirty Deeds (1995-Dave Parrick)
Mike Griffin Dirty Deeds (1995- Dave Parrick)
1995 ABA Grands AA Pro Mains- Brian Foster
Soil BMX (1996- Barspinner Ryan Brennan) 32:47- Brian Foster This crew, who came to be known as the Sheep Hills Locals (SHL!) were the direct descendants of the P.O.W. House and inheritors of Sheep Hills in the post-3 berms era.
Props 21-  (1997- Props)Bethlehem (PA) Scene report-  1:14- Jay Lonegran, 3:23- Jay Lonegran
American Muscle BMX (1997- Schwinn/Chris Rye/Massei; John Paul Rogers was team manager), 1:48- Brian Foster, 11:25- Alan Foster, 21:32 montage Brian & Alan, 27:59- Alan & Brian, 29:31- Brian Foster
Mike Griffin East Coast Destruction 4 (1999- ECD)
Todd Lyons JNCO commercial (2000? JNCO)
Todd Lyons JNCO raw footage/outtakes (2000-JNCO)- street, Sheep Hills (Check out Death Ride Dave at 6:54)
Jay Lonegran in East Coast Destruction (2000-ECD)
Brian Foster 2002 X-Games dirt (2002- ESPN)
S&M Bikes 20th Anniversary Party (2007?- S&M Bikes) 1:00- Todd Lyons, 1:32- Chris Moeller skating, 2:43- John Paul Rogers, 2:59- Jason Thompson
Chris Moeller showing new products at Interbike (2009- Vital BMX)
Todd Lyons interview at Interbike (2009- 3V)
S&M Bikes Hallowiener Jam (2011- S&M Bikes) Moeller at 2:15, 2:33, 4:31, 4:40 car jump, and at 6:38 they show the photo sequence of Chris Moeller jumping a Cadillac to flat at the 2-Hip Meet the Street in Palm Springs in '89 or '90.  I saw that one happen live, it was freakin' nuts back then.
Chris Moeller jumps car to flat (2011 S&M)
Brian Foster Stay Fit (2012? Fit Bikes)
Brian Foster signature stem promo (2012- Fit Bikes)
 Nike 6.0 The Pool (2012-Nike) 5:22- Brian Foster, Best Trick winner
Brian Foster Bike Check (2013-Fit Bikes)
Brian Foster- Anthem II Declassified (2013? Fit Bikes)
Brian Foster- Tom Dugan does Malaga (2014- Fit Bikes) Brian Foster at 2:35, 4:17, 5:10, 5:34, 6:04, 6:55, 7:20
Todd Lyons BSX Ride session (2014- BMX Ultra.com)
Brian Foster Holy Fit- (2015- Fit Bikes)
Jay Lonegran Posh Halloween Jam (2015- DIG/Rob Dolecki) Jay at :29, 3:49
Chris Moeller on Brian Foster (2015?)
BF-iT trailer- Brian Foster documentary (2015)
BF-it Cutting room floor (2015- DIG) Alan Foster- :12, 5:49; John Paul Rogers- :22, 3:59, 9:27; Chris Moeller- :30, 1:34, 5:43, 6:20, 7:59; Todd Lyons- :52, 2:56, 4:56, 5:29.   This is the closest thing to a P.O.W. House "where are they now" with the best known guys.  Everybody's talking about Brian Foster, but then, we've been doing that for 20-some years.  Style never goes out of style.
 Todd Lyons- Introducing the Fat Ripper (2016- SE Bikes)
Summer Cruisin' with SE Bikes (2016-SE Bikes) Todd Lyons at :21
SE Bikes Philly Rideout: narrated by Todd Lyons (2016-Third Eye Productions)
Brian Foster at Merritt warehouse (2017- Merritt)
Todd Lyons- The OM-Duro: The Worlds first 27.5 inch BMX Mountain Bike (2017-SE Bikes)

The Pro's Of Westminster included:

Dave Clymer, Chris Moeller, Todd Lyons, John Paul Rogers, Bill Grad (RIP), Eric Millman, John Salamne, Alan Foster, Lawan Cunningham, Mike Griffin, Jay Lonergan, Chris Sales, Bill Naggy, Scotty _______?, Brooks Manbeck, Brian Foster, Jason Thompson, Steve Emig, and ???? Who'd I forget?

Two brave women lived there: Suzi, Brooks' girlfriend and now wife, and Kris, Alan's girlfriend and now wife.  I'd like to apologize to the ladies for all the grief we gave them.

Honorable mention and Card Sharks contestant: Ned.

Also: Bob the dog, and Thor the Pit Bull (I'm not sure if Thor was there long enough to be official.

I'm Steve Emig, aka Heevin' Steve, Heave, E.Mig, M.Ig, The White Bear, Sluggo, etc.  Here's what I've been doing lately.  All drawings are 18" X 24", and drawn in my unique Scribble Style with Sharpies.  Vic Murphy's classic one foot table off a curb, Dave Vanderspek on his GPV, early pic of Ron Wilkerson, and The Ramones.

I'm going in a new direction with my writing, as of late summer 2023.  Check out my new stuff on my Substack:

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