The Gordon & Smith(Fibreflex/Rocket/Wonker/YoYo) team was one of the most famous world
skateboard teams in the 70’s. The original team book was made for
Dave Mc Intyre’s office at G&S in 1977
(sales and team manager 1975 to 1981) to promote the G&S brands and amateur/pro riders.
The original book was 45 pages of bios and rider-product photos and was never sold.
The expanded G&S skateboard book is now over 80 pages featuring photos from Warren Bolster and team photographer, Jim Goodrich. The original 10 bios are included with bios on all of the major riders of G&S starting in the early 60’s to the 80’s. So the team book is a history of the skateboard division of Gordon & Smith formed in 1959 by Larry Gordon & Floyd Smith.
G&S celebrated it’s 50th anniversary last October of 2009 at the WaveHouse in Mission Beach, which was attended by over 1,500 guests (many teamriders were present from all decades) to honor Gordon & Smith as a brand.
The G&S pro-am skate and surf team was the first U.S. company to tour Japan in the summer of 1978 and the first to display U.S. made pro skateboards and surfboards at the international trade shows starting in 1977.
Of course, I personally want to thank Larry for hiring me at the surfboard factory while I was going to a local surf college in 1975 that has resulted in my 40+ years in the action sports industry.
I also want to thank Rich Novak of NHS/SC/INDY fame for giving me my 3rd chapter in my skate book.
My final thank you is for all of the team riders that made our brands famous worldwide. I always respected our riders and company staffers as it takes more than one person to develop a brand with a 50 + year history of success. The book also thanks several riders and industry leaders that are no longer with us as they are ‘out there surfing or riding the concrete waves’.
The G&S Skateboard book will be available in print and dvd. Also being offered is a dvd of the 1979 Oceanside Freestyle Contest of about 95 photos and a dvd of the 1976 trade show video on ‘how to skate’ featuring Steve Cathey, Ellen Oneal, Stacy Peralta and other G&S riders.