Native Sun News: Skateboard competition arose from tragedy

Native Sun News: Skateboard competition arose from tragedy
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Filed Under: National | Sports
More on: native sun news, oglala sioux, south dakota, youth

The following story was written and reported by Brandon Ecoffey, Native Sun News Managing Editor. All content © Native Sun News.

Mike Hawk at skate competition. Photo Courtesy of Walt Pourier

A competition with roots
By Brandon Ecoffey
Native Sun News Managing Editor

RAPID CITY—Throughout the history of the Oglala Lakota nation two traits have become well engrained in its people: a love for family and perseverance. The Toby Eagle Bull Memorial Skate Competition in Pine Ridge is a prime example of these traits playing themselves out in real life.

In August of 2002 Toby Ray Eagle Bull lost his life in a drunk driving accident just south of the town of Pine Ridge. Toby who was a star athlete in multiple high school sports and was also at one point a top five nationally rated amateur boxer is widely credited with being one of the first people to bring skateboarding and the skate lifestyle to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Despite their loss the family of Eagle Bull has refused to let his death be in vain.

In the late 1990’s and early 2000’s the sport of skateboarding had already been established across the United States however on the reservation the sport had yet to take hold. The sport made famous by pioneers like Christian Ahoy and Tony Hawk had few followers on the Northern Plains and many Native athletes still focused only on Indian country’s universal pastime, basketball.

However with the emergence of people like Bam Margera and his early CKY skate videos and the popularity of Tony Hawk’s pro skater video games, reservations kids began to turn some of their attention away from the hardwood and towards the concrete jungles where street skaters use their creativity to perform feats that often seem to defy gravity. Leading the way for the emergence of skateboarding was Eagle Bull.

When Toby passed away in a single car accident while under the influence of alcohol many tribal members mourned collectively as several thousand people attended his funeral. However instead of simply chalking up Toby’s death as a product of reservation life the Eagle Bull family along with his friends used the notoriety of Toby’s athletic accomplishments and skate reputation to create an event that both educates youth on the reservation about the benefits of healthy living and also promotes the sport of skateboarding as a healthy alternative to alcohol.

The event that started the summer after Toby’s death is now in its 11th year and has grown from a tiny competition with only a handful of participants, attempting to land tricks on homemade ramps made of plywood and rails drilled in to wooden beams, into a premier event of the Oglala Nation fair that takes place on a world class skate park.

“The first year I remember me and my dad working all night to make sure that we had ramps and rails that were skateable. It was important to us that we made them good and we were running to surrounding towns to make sure that we had the right parts so the equipment would be safe,” said Kyle Mesteth a cousin of Eagle Bull. “It was all worth it because it was only the start of the comp and now it has grown in to something really special,” he added.

Mesteth who built the ramps with his father Perry would recant on how everyone was afraid to try the newly built equipment.

“Because we were all afraid of the ramps my dad who isn’t a skater tried them first and almost broke his leg,” he said. “The comp has been a family effort from the start.”

The original event relied heavily on the efforts of the Eagle Bull family and Toby’s sister Jeanne who would hustle year round for sponsorships and donations from skate shops and skate promoters across the globe.

Although the competition had always provided an enormous amount of free skate equipment and other prizes for participants and has featured the appearances of pro skaters like Ricky Fox the event became nationally known after the erection of a world class concrete skate park that rivals any ever constructed on or off a reservation.

As a result of Jeanne’s persistence and help from Walt Pourier and his group the Stronghold Society based out of Denver Colo., the Wounded Knee 4 Directions Toby Eagle Bull Memorial Skate Park was completed in 2011 and stands as a living testimony to both the sport of skateboarding and Toby’s role in bringing skateboarding to the Pine Ridge Indian reservation.

Walt Pourier who played a huge part in getting the park constructed added that it was a community effort to get the park built.

“(The Park) was built to inspire Lakota youth and to give them a healthy and positive place to gather together and skate. We have a lot of great older mentors there working with younger youth in full support of each other. And all of this began locally with the namesake of Toby Eagle Bull and the Eagle Bull family. It’s an honor for myself, Jim Murphy and Stronghold Society crew to comeback each year and support that families vision for Toby and for the Pine Ridge Community and help host a skate event. A lot of great people came together to create this skate park, including the community itself and together we created a beautiful story, still being told day to day, year after year,” said Pourier.

This year the event will take place on August 2 starting at noon with prizes being awarded in a number of categories including “best trick”, an Ollie competition, as well as traditional categories that one may see on ESPN’s X-games.

“When it first started it was small. Each year we would pick up some momentum and some more skaters and then there was a park constructed and now there is always someone skating on it year round. This is really what we wanted from the beginning something to honor my brother and something for people to use,” said Toby’s younger brother Larry Eagle Bull Jr. “Toby loved to skate and he was the best at it. Sometimes all the rest of us could do is watch him skate because he not only had the most talent but he was also the one willing to try the craziest tricks,” he added.

(Contact Brandon Ecoffey at staffwriter2@nsweekly.com)