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Early 90's at Competition Skates' Rampage Skatepark
The early 1990's were the "hey-day" of Competition Skates' Rampage skatepark. Competition Skates was owned and run by John Skelton (with help from his beloved sidekick Oreo). Skelton was an inline racer and sold both skateboards and rollerskates(later, inlines) from his shop which was located in Roebuck in the same building as the roller skating rink (good for sales eh?). Skelton opened a second shop across town in Hoover and had John Waight running that shop for him. John Waight is an excellent ramp builder (built all of the Brickyards) and along with other skater, convinced Skelton to build a skatepark at the Roebuck location (since there was a spot of open land right next to the skating rink). Construction began around fall 1988 and by October the mini-ramp was complete. Shortly after, the vert ramp was built. At that point, we had a true skatepark! Rampage was unique for many reasons. First, it had a huge mini-ramp (which were the "in" thing at the time) with a spine (which no other parks for miles/states around even had!!!). Second, it had a huge vert ramp at a time when big ramps were hard to find. Finally and most importantly, it was layered in STEEL ! NO other parks in the South could claim that at the time! Some incredible memories there...good times and great skating. Team Ping, Team Herb and LTSP were the local crews. We spent pretty much all of our free time there. Those were the salad days...
(*exact dates on these are hard to tell at times....if it helps, gray painted ramps @ opening-1991, orange mini/pink vert was @ 1991-close)
Hosey in his younger days @summer 1990
Hosey in his younger days @summer 1990
Rob Smith frontside grinding the mini-ramp @ 1990
Rob Smith frontside grinding the mini-ramp @ 1990
Hunter Oden with a sizable air-to-fakie on Comp's steel vert
Hunter Oden with a sizable air-to-fakie on Comp's steel vert
Rob Smith big Japan air
Rob Smith big Japan air
Hosey owned this spine! 180 tailgrab varial over the spine!
Hosey owned this spine! 180 tailgrab varial over the spine!
Tommy frontside layback grind on the mini
Tommy frontside layback grind on the mini
Hosey with a foot flappin' invert on vert
Hosey with a foot flappin' invert on vert
Weems grinding a frontside 5-0 across the vert ramp
Weems grinding a frontside 5-0 across the vert ramp
Hosey rocks a hurricane on vert
Hosey rocks a hurricane on vert
Tommy big air-to-falie with a cast on!
Tommy big air-to-falie with a cast on!
Tommy floats a high boned out air
Tommy floats a high boned out air
Hosey's fside tailgrab nose grind
Hosey's fside tailgrab nose grind
Tommy Little in mid-flight on a BIG fside air
Tommy Little in mid-flight on a BIG fside air
Tommy styles an air with wrist cast
Tommy styles an air with wrist cast
Tommy Little airs at dusk
Tommy Little airs at dusk
Trying stupid nosebonks playing around earned Solomon a nice broken ankle
Trying stupid nosebonks playing around earned Solomon a nice broken ankle
Liptrickster Griffin serves up a bside Watcha-ma-call-it
Liptrickster Griffin serves up a bside Watcha-ma-call-it
Griffin clicks a Watcha-ma-call-it over the spine
Griffin clicks a Watcha-ma-call-it over the spine
Little and Coggins....vert doubles
Little and Coggins....vert doubles
Tommy airs over Kenny's invert
Tommy airs over Kenny's invert
Griffin stands-up a backside 5-0 across the mini-ramp
Griffin stands-up a backside 5-0 across the mini-ramp
Tommy fastplant to fakie @ 1990
Tommy fastplant to fakie @ 1990
Byron Weems with a handrail high bside air
Byron Weems with a handrail high bside air
Tommy backside Indy air
Tommy backside Indy air
Tommy tweaks a backside air to the limits
Tommy tweaks a backside air to the limits
Hosey lays down his patented frontside Smithgrind
Hosey lays down his patented frontside Smithgrind
Little Jon ruling over his kingdom...the Comp mini-ramp
Little Jon ruling over his kingdom...the Comp mini-ramp
Little Jon no-handed backside nose grind
Little Jon no-handed backside nose grind
Hunter Oden big air-to-tail over the spine....if only you could hear how this sounds!
Hunter Oden big air-to-tail over the spine....if only you could hear how this sounds!
Tommy lofts a huge Method air over the spine
Tommy lofts a huge Method air over the spine
Hosey backside disaster on vert
Hosey backside disaster on vert
Hosey 180 frontside ollie shifty over the spine
Hosey 180 frontside ollie shifty over the spine
Chris Upton ollies to fakie on the mini
Chris Upton ollies to fakie on the mini
Chris Upton frontside ollie tail grab
Chris Upton frontside ollie tail grab
Solomon nose stall reverts on vert
Solomon nose stall reverts on vert
Kenny Wright one-footed tail gab over the spine
Kenny Wright one-footed tail gab over the spine
Solomon pivot-to-fakie ON VERT!
Solomon pivot-to-fakie ON VERT!
Coggins easy goin' lien-to-tail
Coggins easy goin' lien-to-tail
Kenny Wright palms a fakie ollie
Kenny Wright palms a fakie ollie
Weems goes frontside to backside stand-up over the spine at speed...HELLYEH!
Weems goes frontside to backside stand-up over the spine at speed...HELLYEH!
Solomon with a rare melon-to-fakie on Comp's wonderful mini-ramp
Solomon with a rare melon-to-fakie on Comp's wonderful mini-ramp
Tommy makes the paper @ 1991
Tommy makes the paper @ 1991
Kenny shows his true color! (haha)
Kenny shows his true color! (haha)
Kenny gets inverted
Kenny gets inverted
Stefan Wiggins with his trademark fside tomato grabs on the mini-ramp
Stefan Wiggins with his trademark fside tomato grabs on the mini-ramp
Griffin frontside half-cab ollie grab over the spine
Griffin frontside half-cab ollie grab over the spine
Joey Jones fakie ollie shifty over the spine
Joey Jones fakie ollie shifty over the spine
Griffin clicks a frontside Watch-ma-callit
Griffin clicks a frontside Watch-ma-callit
Ryan Ratliff ollie-to-tail on the mini @ 1991
Ryan Ratliff ollie-to-tail on the mini @ 1991
MC Coggins ollies over the Volcano to tail @ 1991
MC Coggins ollies over the Volcano to tail @ 1991
Every park has one and we did too...the "hang out" guy....Chris Souza seen here in better days
Every park has one and we did too...the "hang out" guy....Chris Souza seen here in better days
Steffan Wiggins grinding
Steffan Wiggins grinding
Steffan rocks it like a hurricane
Steffan rocks it like a hurricane
Kenny and his dog Stitch
Kenny and his dog Stitch
Tommy floats a big ollie across the spine
Tommy floats a big ollie across the spine
Griffin shows up to put in work on the mini-ramp
Griffin shows up to put in work on the mini-ramp
Joey Jones living at the park each day
Joey Jones living at the park each day
Joey Jones sticks smooth, clean pivot-to-fakie
Joey Jones sticks smooth, clean pivot-to-fakie
Ryan Ratliff frontside chink-chink
Ryan Ratliff frontside chink-chink
John Waight floats a frontside air @ 1991
John Waight floats a frontside air @ 1991
Yes, chicks did skate the vert ramp!
Yes, chicks did skate the vert ramp!
Solomon tail grab nose-stall revert on vert
Solomon tail grab nose-stall revert on vert
Kenny proudly shows off his hipper
Kenny proudly shows off his hipper
Kenny boosts a big footplant
Kenny boosts a big footplant
Rob airs to fakie
Rob airs to fakie
Kenny boosts backside
Kenny boosts backside
Solomon fakie-to-no-handed nose blunt
Solomon fakie-to-no-handed nose blunt
Hosey frontside one-footed air
Hosey frontside one-footed air
Kenny Wright air-to-fakie
Kenny Wright air-to-fakie
Chris Upton floats a one-footed frontside ollie
Chris Upton floats a one-footed frontside ollie
Hosey inverts in the final days of the park
Hosey inverts in the final days of the park
Rob Smith and Steffan with a vein attempt to block the dismantle of the mini-ramp on it's last day
Rob Smith and Steffan with a vein attempt to block the dismantle of the mini-ramp on it's last day
Solomon and Smith on Rampage's last day
Solomon and Smith on Rampage's last day
Bob from Atlanta gets last runs on the Rampage ramp he was taking home
Bob from Atlanta gets last runs on the Rampage ramp he was taking home
Bob dismantles the mini-ramp to take to Atlanta
Bob dismantles the mini-ramp to take to Atlanta
Rampage R.I.P.
Rampage R.I.P.
Competition Skates Rampage Skate Park fliers
These are fliers for the many contests held at the Rampage skate park over it's short life. All art work was done by John Waight who also was the main builder of the park itself and managed the Competition Skates in Hoover for the owner, John Skelton, who ran the park and shop in Roebuck.
Opening Day (Saturday was actually the 21st! haha)
Opening Day (Saturday was actually the 21st! haha)
Mini-ramp contest @ 1988
Mini-ramp contest @ 1988
Second mini-ramp contest @ fall 1989 (2a 1st place - Solomon; Sponsored 1st place - Griffin)
Second mini-ramp contest @ fall 1989 (2a 1st place - Solomon; Sponsored 1st place - Griffin)
Vert contest @ 1990 (Intermediate 1st place - Rob Smith; Sponsored 1st - Billy Lohrig 2nd - Tommy Little
Vert contest @ 1990 (Intermediate 1st place - Rob Smith; Sponsored 1st - Billy Lohrig 2nd - Tommy Little
Mini-ramp contest @ June 1991 (2a 1st - Peter Karvanen 2nd - Solomon; Sponsored 1st - Jon Griffin 2nd- Tommy Little 3rd - Rob Smith)
Mini-ramp contest @ June 1991 (2a 1st - Peter Karvanen 2nd - Solomon; Sponsored 1st - Jon Griffin 2nd- Tommy Little 3rd - Rob Smith)