Reggie Barnes

Reginald "Reggie" Barnes Jr. (born ) is a retired American professional freestyle skateboarder and the founder/CEO of Eastern Skateboard Supply, the largest skateboard wholesale company in North America. Known as a "virtuoso" teen amateur, Barnes skated professionally from 1980 to 1991, with the Pepsi-Cola Pro Skateboard Team, Walker Skateboards, and Dogtown Skateboards. By 1986, Barnes was one of the top five American freestyle skaters in the United States and was a featured demonstrator at Expo 86, the world's fair held in Vancouver, Canada. He placed third in freestyle at the World Cup in 1987.

Barnes retired from competitive skateboarding when his interest switched to street skateboarding and running his two businesses. In 1986, he opened the retail skateboard shop, Endless Grind, in Raleigh, North Carolina. He used his skating connections to bring professional skaters to the East Coast where their demonstrations attracted the interest of the next generation of skaters. One event, the 1986 Endless Grind / Bones Brigade Skateboard Showdown, featured Barnes competing against Steve Caballero; their showdown was captured in East Coast Motions, a 2018 documentary.

Barnes' primary business, Eastern Skateboard Supply, is a wholesale company in Wilmington, North Carolina, with annual sales of $24.64 million in 2021. The company produces and distributes Tony Hawk's Birdhouse Skateboards and other brands such as Plan B Skateboards. Barnes hires former skaters and built a corporate skatepark at the company's warehouse, which features the East Coast's biggest skate bowl.

While he was a professional skater, three Reggie Barnes skateboards were issued, two with Walker and one with Dogtown. Although greatly overshadowed by his contemporary Rodney Mullen, generally considered the greatest freestyle skater of all time, Barnes was influential in the spread of skateboarding, especially along the East Coast of the United States.

Early life Barnes is from Cary, North Carolina, and attended Cary High School, graduating in 1979.

Barnes became interested in skateboarding after seeing an article in Sports Illustrated about Gregg Weaver who skated in empty swimming pools in California. That was quickly replaced with a used skateboard with metal wheels—one that he says worked better on asphalt.

Barnes joined the team for Powerflex, a skateboard wheel company based in California, getting equipment and travel expenses in return for participating in demonstrations and competitions. He had "a dynamic freestyle routine", earning 285 points and placing 1st in the age 16–19 freestyle contest. Rodney Mullen, generally considered the best freestyle skaters of all time, placed 1st in the 13–15 category with 263 points.

Once Barnes learned to ride on his hands, his reputation grew; he was considered a virtuoso on the East Coast by 1979. Pepsi was among the first to pay skaters well. However, Barnes says he did not feel like a "real pro" because he had yet to win money in competition." This negatively impacted retail shops, competitions, and companies like Barnes' sponsor Powerflext, which had shut down. Walker paid for Barnes to fly to California for competitions, allowing Barnes to live in Wilmington North Carolina, where he could focus on both skating and surfing in his home state. That same year, Barnes was a featured demonstrator at Expo 86, the world's fair held in Vancouver, Canada. In a 2010 online conversation, professional skating superstars Joachim "YoYo" Schulz and Stefan Akesson recalled this competition: Schulz, who came in seventh, wrote, "Check out the results page—a who is who in skateboarding. Some names are still around to this day! Even Reggie Barnes made it over. Stoked!" To which Akesson replied, "4th place for me... I really like the skating of Reggie, and he is a super nice person!"

In 1989, Barnes' rank had slipped to seventh best freestyle skater in the United States. Yet, at the NSA's Savanah Slamma in May 1989, Thrasher noted, "Reggie Barnes, for a man who hadn't skated since the Arizona finals [in December 1988], ripped." His freestyle rank declined after he became a businessman and because of his increased interest in street skateboarding, a modified version of freestyle that was better suited for urban settings. One outcome of this event, which also served as a reunion of former skaters, was the creation of the World Freestyle Skateboard Association. June 17–18, 1978 Oceanside National Pro-Am Freestyle Contest Oceanside, California 5th Amateur Freestyle Men 16+ Sponsored September 2–3, 1978 Pepsi/Nova Team Challenge United States 1st Amateur Freestyle Age 16–19 August 30, 1981 Magic Mountain Freestyle Contest Valencia, California 3rd Pro–Freestyle May 1984 Sundek Pro–Am Skateboard Challenge Kona Skate Park, Jacksonville, Florida 1st Pro–Freestyle August 5, 1984 NSA Summer Series Contest Embarcadero Freestyle Contest San Diego, California 3rd Pro–Freestyle 1984 NSA (National Skateboard Association) Finals Del Mar Skate Ranch, Del Mar, California 2nd Pro–Freestyle July 19–20, 1986 Oceanside Freestyle Contest Oceanside, California 5th Pro–Freestyle 1987 International Freestyle Contest Olympic Velodrome, Carson, California 10th Pro–Freestyle 1987 Münster Monster Mastership (World Cup) Münster, Germany 3rd Pro–Freestyle May 30–31, 1987 Canadian International Championship Toronto, Canada 6th Pro–Freestyle 1988 Youth Skate Freestyle Contest Embarcadero, San Francisco, California 13th Pro–Freestyle December 10–11, 1988 NSA Freestyle Pro Finals Phoenix, Arizona 7th Pro–Freestyle May 19, 1989 Savannah Slamma 3 (NSA Pro Tour) Savannah, Georgia Pro–Freestyle The 1987 model featured tailbones or heavy plastic bumpers under both ends and his signature graphic—an Egyptian god Anubis on a skateboard, surrounded by hieroglyphics, including a Tar Heel footprint to symbolize his North Carolina origins. The Reggie Barnes' Street Skate was instroduced in 1989 and featured a kicked 4-inch nose and a new graphic of a mummy breaking out of a neon-yellow coffin, with an Anubis graphic on the lid.

Other ventures

Filmography In the 1980s, Unreel Productions produced a series of videos documenting the National Skateboard Association's championship competitions. Released in 1986, Skateboard: NSA '86 Summer Series Volume 4: Oceanside Street Attack showed highlights of the Oceanside, California Freestyle Contest, including Barnes' entire fifth place routine. In 2006, Pantheon Home Video released License to Skate!, a five-part series of how-to videos that featured Barnes and other early professional skaters with Walker, including Chris Baucom, Chuck Dinkins, Joe Humeres, Jim McCall, Tim Morris, Bill Robinson, and Paul Schneider.

Barnes was a stunt double for several films produced in Wilmington, North Carolina, including David Lynch's Blue Velvet (1986), Stephen King's Maximum Overdrive (1986), and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990), where he doubled for Donatello riding a skateboard.

Eastern Skateboard Supply

In 1985, Raleigh businessman Skip Flythe approached the 24-year-old Barnes about starting a skateboard distribution company. After eighteen months, Barnes made an offer to buy out Flythe, becoming the sole owner of Eastern in 1987. It is largest skateboard wholesale company in North America. This is the only brand that Eastern manufactures; Barnes took on Birdhouse Skateboards because of his appreciation for Hawk. Many of Eastern's 40 to 40 employees are experienced with skateboarding, including former professional skaters Brian Drake and Ray Underhill, a former member of the Bones Brigade with Tony Hawk. As a perk for employees, the Wilmington warehouse includes a private skatepark. He also sponsors an amateur Endless Grind team and organizes local competitions.

Skater Scott Bourne said, "I was really fortunate in that where I grew up; we had Reggie Barnes’ shop... Because he had such influence, he brought like World Industries and lots of teams; whoever was big came through NC on tour to Endless Grind skate shop. A lot of guys came out of there—Chet Childress, Kenny Hughes, Neal Hendrix. And you had a whole younger generation too, like Lennie Kirk. But Reggie really brought the industry to the middle part of the Eastern U.S." Robertson eventually won three Masters Freestyle championships and was inducted into the Freestyle Skateboarding Hall of Fame in 2010. Dinkins says:Jim and Reggie arrived and killed it. I had never really seen freestyle too much in person and was super stoked to have those guys come up. Both of them were super cool and professional. They even invited me to join in and I got to skate and showcase my flat land street style, plus launch ramp skills...I was skating with pros and had to step up my game...Reggie was smooth and stylish with Ollies, throwing in sweet G-Turns, etc...I didn’t know how impressed they were with me until a few weeks later when I got a call at the shop from Bruce Walker offering me a full sponsorship simply based on the word of Jim and Reggie.

In 2006, Swedish professional skater Stefan Åkesson recalled attending the Münster Monster Mastership (World Cup) in 1987. He wrote, "We (me, Shane Rouse and Reggie Barnes) stayed in Christian Seewaldt's apartment...Reggie was working on his board, putting on sho-goo [ sic] on the tail and gave me some secret tips on how to do it, something Shane always refused to help me with." He purchased two outrigger canoes and placed them at Wrightsville SUP, a rental facility so that he could take his family and friends canoeing. Barnes' efforts were successful—in 2018, the Wrightsville Beach Outriggers Canoe Club had ninety members.

Barnes currently lives in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, which is adjacent to Wilmington. He has two children: daughter Lindsey and son Mason, who is a professional surfer. Barnes tries to surf every day, runs marathons, and competes in the downhill skateboard slalom. He is 5 feet, 6 inches tall.