Rodney Mullen

This article is about the American skateboarder. For the CEO of Kroger, see Rodney McMullen.
Rodney Mullen
Mullen in 2013
Personal information
Birth nameJohn Rodney Mullen
Born (1966-08-17) August 17, 1966 (age 58)[1][2]
Gainesville, Florida, U.S.
OccupationSkateboarder
Years active1978–present
Websiterodneymullen.com
Sport
Country United States
SportSkateboarding
Turned pro1980

John Rodney Mullen[3][4] (born August 17, 1966)[5] is an American professional skateboarder who practices freestyle skateboarding and street skateboarding. He is considered one of the most influential skateboarders of all time.[6][7][8] Mullen is credited for inventing numerous tricks, including the flatground ollie, kickflip, heelflip, impossible, and 360-kickflip.[9] As a result, he has been called the "Godfather of freestyle skating."[10]

Rodney Mullen won his first world freestyle skateboard championship at the age of 14; over the following decade, he won 34 out of 35 freestyle contests, thus establishing the most successful competitive run in the history of the sport.[10] Over the following years, he transitioned from freestyle to street skateboarding, adapting his accumulated freestyle skills to street and inventing or expanding upon additional tricks in the process, such as primo slides, dark slides, and Casper slides.

Mullen has appeared in over 20 skateboarding videos and has co-authored an autobiography, entitled The Mutt: How to Skateboard and Not Kill Yourself, with writer Sean Mortimer.[11]

  1. ^ "Rodney Mullen — Happy 50th Birthday". The Berrics. 17 August 2016. Archived from the original on 28 October 2018. Retrieved 7 September 2019.
  2. ^ "Rodney Mullen: Another Dimension". 15 April 2010.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference John was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Mullen, Rodney (1994). "Second-hand Smoke". Plan B. Archived from the original on 2020-09-20. Retrieved 2019-11-03. John[ny] Rodney Mullen
  5. ^ Hawk, Tony (17 August 2018). "Happy Birthday to Rodney Mullen, the founder of modern skateboarding". Facebook. Archived from the original on 2022-02-26.
  6. ^ "The 30 Most Influential Skaters of All Time". 20 December 2011.
  7. ^ Kellens, Rob (January 4, 2024). "Legends of Skateboarding: The 10 Greatest Skaters of All Time". Ember Essence. Retrieved May 17, 2024.
  8. ^ Hasek, Jesse (September 18, 2020). "The Top 10 best skateboarders of all time". louder. Retrieved May 17, 2024.
  9. ^ MIT Media Lab. "Rod Mullen". media.mit.edu. MIT Media Lab. Retrieved 2021-02-25. Widely considered one of the world's most influential skateboarders, Rodney Mullen invented many tricks still used today. He studied chemical engineering at the University of Florida, leaving school to co-found the most dominant skate company in the 1990s ...
  10. ^ a b "Bio". RodneyMullen.com. Rodney Mullen. Archived from the original on 13 November 2017. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  11. ^ SkatevideoSite.com (2005–2012). "Rodney Mullen skate videos". SkatevideoSite.com. Archived from the original on 4 September 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2012.