Skater Profile: Spidey De Montrond (and his new pro model)

Most of those who read this site will be more than familiar with Spidey De Montrond who skated with Santa Cruz Skateboards from 1983-1989 and who presently skates with Pocket Pistols Skateboards. For the benefit of those generations who may not be as familiar with Spidey, or for those who are just interested in knowing more about him, Skate Culture recently asked him if could provide a short summary of his skating career which we could publish in this article. Here is how Spidey summarized his skate career for us:

"My first time on a skateboard was in the summer of '73 in Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro, California. It was a Black Knight, which would very soon be dated technology as it was in the winter of '74 that I saw some guy on a board that made none of the noises that clay wheels made; this would be my first urethane experience and it was mind blowing to say the least. It changed my skate world but the bug had yet to bite me. I will tell you this though: the moment I stepped on a skateboard I knew I had something that was special.

"In Cabrillo Beach I honed basic sidewalk surfing and started speed-bombing hills. In the summer of '74 we moved to Monterey Park, Ca. and it was there, in 1975, that I got my first real skateboard with Chicago trucks and Stroker loose ball bearing wheels on a non-kick tail fibreglass deck. I continued on sidewalk surfing and bombing hills, wearing out my right Vans tennis shoe in the process. While hanging out at the local 7-Eleven I became turned on to Skateboarder Magazine and in 1976 a new skate-park would be built in nearby Montebello. I went to Montebello to skate but was caught forging my mother's signature so, consequently, I was only able to skate it after it had closed down.

"August 1976 would become a defining moment for me. We moved to the hideousness of El Monte, Ca. This place felt to me so removed from anywhere remotely good or desirable that this became the deciding moment when I was hooked on skating. I focused all my time, dreams and energy on skating. Almost immediately I started building crude ramps to ride. It was in El Monte that I manifested my dream of becoming a pro skater. I entered every bike shop parking lot contest doing slalom, high jump, freestyle and most 360’s. Then I found ways on the streets, by way of moped, to skate the now closed down Montebello Skatepark, as well as every ditch, reservoir, pool and school yard that was good (which was slim in El Monte). There was a spot I’d heard about (sort of a legend), the V Bowl, and it was not easy finding this gem but I did. Eventually I found the bus system and travelled to the skate-parks around which were Wild Wheels in Covina, CA, Marina, Upland Pipeline, New Wave Skatepark (Poman Pipe & Pool), Lakewood and Whitter SkateCity which would become my home park. All through '76-79 I entered every contest I could and did well again. In late '79 I had injury which would take me out for part of the winter and spring 1980, but I still skated with my cast on and by 1981 I was ready to enter the ASPO series. That year of 1981 was a landmark year as I was in most of the top two spots in my age group. Then in the Fall of 1982 Paul Schmitt of Schmitt Stix sponsored me at the Whitter Turkey Shoot in November of that year. In January of 1983 I received a call from NHS Inc./Santa Cruz Skateboards and I was offered full sponsorship. Then in fall of 1985 I was offered a model and turned pro at the Capitol Street Style. I rode for NHS until January of 1989 as well as Quiksilver, Converse and Rector. Currently I ride for Pocket Pistols Skates, Indy, PI Wheels, Bones Swiss Bearings, 187 Killer Pads, and S One helmets. I am very humbled and grateful to still skate and to enjoy my huge skate family all over the world."

-- Spidey De Montrond

Spidey always took a great deal of personal, active involvement in his own art direction, be it his boards, his stickers, his advertisements and so forth. The classic Spidey deck has, in the collector market, become one of the most sought after decks on the market, with prices reflecting this -- one sold on eBay within the past year or so for approximately $4000.00 USD.

The classic Santa Cruz Spidey deck. Image source unknown.

One of the other iconic graphics that Spidey became known for was his Spideybuck sticker. This particular graphic has been translated in an updated form to a new deck put out by Pocket Pistol Skateboards:

Here is Spidey in the present day, skating on his new pro model deck:

Spidey's new pro model is 9.625" x 33.5" with a 6.625" nose and tail and is hand screen printed in seven colors. It can be purchased for $54.99 USD from PPS Skateboards.