Ty Page

Ty Scott Page (May 30, 1958 – June 1, 2017) was a professional skateboarder. He got his nickname "Mr. Incredible" during the early 1970s, a significant period in skateboarding history. He was inducted into the Skateboarding Hall of Fame in 2016.

Early life

Ty Scott Page was born in 1958 in California and grew up close to the breakwater near Redondo Beach, California.

Page began surfing at the age of three and achieved national recognition in 1972 by winning the national surfing title at the age of 14. Both Page and his brother Greg were active participants in aquatics at Redondo Union High School and worked as lifeguards at the San Clemente beach. Page and Greg were both avid surfers and were said to have surfed well when the breakwater was over eight feet.

Page was given a skateboard at the age of 4 by Greg when he received boards on Christmas. At first, he skated in basic surf style, attempting anything he and Bruce Logan made up. He began bank riding in 1969, and many of his freestyle maneuvers were original tricks. After the urethane wheel's introduction in 1972, Page saw potential in the sport as a career, so he focused primarily on skateboarding.

Career

Page entered his first skateboarding competition in 1973 at the first Del Mar nationals. In addition to prize money from competitions, Page had endorsement deals. Page was paid $1 for every Ty Page Professional Skateboard sold, and he was paid for appearances, commercials, movie appearances, and to test new model boards. By the time he was 19 years old, he had an oceanfront apartment and a new Alfa Romeo Spider.

Page starred in several commercials, including Sunny Delight, Wendy's, and MG cars, and appeared in several movies. Page was a U.S. Goodwill Ambassador and traveled around the world performing in exhibitions and safety demonstrations. In 1977, he was awarded the key to the city of New Orleans by the mayor. He performed in Japan multiple times and after two tours through Germany, Page was featured as the centerfold in the November/December 1977 German issue of Skateboard, one of the first U.S. skaters featured in the German Skateboard magazine.

In March 1978, the California Free Former team was featured in Cal Jam 2, skating to Aerosmith, Heart, Ted Nugent, and others. Page skated to the Latin rhythms of "Black Magic Woman" as Carlos Santana performed on stage. The event had an estimated audience of 300,000 people and was aired nationally on ABC. Page's half-pipe skating was highlighted on the cover of Wild World of Skateboarding Magazine in July 1978.

"Mr. Incredible"

Page is credited with inventing over 50 new moves, including the Ty Slide, Ty Hop (pop-shove it), Half-Hop, Pay Hop, Daffy (also known as a Yeah Right Manual), Head Spinner (also known as a 360 Headstand), Foot Spin, Foot-Spin 360, Toe Spin, Toe-Spin 360, and many backwards footwork maneuvers. Mike Purpus said: "The reason the Z-Boys got more recognition was because they were loud and obnoxious, while the Makaha Team just skated great and went on quietly winning contests."

"Mr. Incredible," as he was known, placed first in a number of skateboarding and surfing competitions.

After trying many times to photograph his tricks, SkateBoarder magazine used a high-speed camera to catch him on film for publishing in the August and September 1977 issues. He lived with his wife and three sons in Park City, Utah.