when i was 14 i went
to a skate camp and
lee ralph was an instructor.
i think most of the campers thought
lee was going to eat them.
full beard and known to skate
bare foot or in boots lee did
not fit the cookie cutter image
of the 80's vert skater.
he is a hilarious human that
lives to skate.
One of my favorites! Look at the back foot on that smith grind. GNARLY.
ReplyDeleteit seems like that back then alot of vert skaters (well besides the bones brigade dudes) were just animals. lee ralph, grosso, duane peters, jeff phillips, JJ, Salba. every ad and video part those dudes just fucking dripped mean vibes. now everyone is all fashion models and lingering man hugs.
ReplyDeleteaggression.
ReplyDeleteThis ad scares me today as much as it did when I was a kid. BEAST.
ReplyDeleteWeird, I was JUST thinking about him... and how fucking gnarly he is.
ReplyDeleteSkating aside, he scared the shit out of me when I first met him. He was shirtless, shoeless and had a MACHETE.
first time i saw him was in
ReplyDelete91. munster germany... he had just pissed in his beer, then drank
it then smashed the mug on his head.... no jackass film crew.
pure insanity.
Scariness aside, he is a super nice guy.
ReplyDeletelucky enough to give him a ride to jim's ramp from my house in s.f. once- had all of us shitting ourselves with laughter, unreal. you were at the ramp that day too max.
ReplyDelete¡gnar gnar!
ReplyDeleteBesides gnar-carving coping block, these days he also carves a mean Maori mask out of wood. I have a cool one on my mantle signed from him. Badass.
ReplyDeletelove it!
ReplyDeleteLee is one of the spiritual advisors here at ACE TRUCKS.
ReplyDelete...that's good.
ReplyDeletei'm pretty stoked that a post
about lee ralph gets over ten
comments.
This had to be the skate camp in San luis Obispo at Cal Poly? I grew up in San Luis Obispo and skated to that camp everyday that summer. remember meeting this dude and Jesse Martinez at the camp, and being so intimidated. But they were so nice and helpful. It was mindblowing.
ReplyDeleteLove Lee Ralph!
ReplyDeleteAbout 10 years ago we had a Ramp & Camp Jam and we had put "Special Guest: Lee Ralph" on the flier, hahaha, of course it was a joke, just to see who would know who he was...and people dug it and got the reference...
One of the gnarliest for sure!
met him at a globe 900 degrees party 10 years or so ago. i was so stoked. fucking legend.
ReplyDeletehttp://chromeballincident.blogspot.com/search/label/lee%20ralph
pool shots are from the cappo scum pool in adelaide, south oz
lee ralph is a fucking ruler
ReplyDelete