Jay Adams

Jay J. Adams (February 3, 1961 – August 15, 2014) was an American skateboarder. As a teen, he was the youngest member of the Zephyr Competition Skateboarding Team (Z-Boys). His spontaneous freestyle skateboarding style, inspired by ocean surfing, helped innovate and popularize modern skateboarding. His aggressive vertical tricks make him one of skateboarding's most influential stylists. He has been called "the original seed" of skateboarding.

Jay Adams was born in Venice, California. He was the only child of Robert Adams and Philaine Romero, and grew up with his mother and his stepfather, Kent Sherwood. He began skating and surfing at the age of four. Sherwood worked at Dave Sweet's Surf Shop under Pacific Ocean Park, where Adams was introduced to skateboarding. Adams' skateboarding was greatly influenced by Larry Bertlemann, a professional surfer known for dragging his hands along the waves as he rode them.

In 1974, at age 13, Adams became the youngest member to join the Santa Monica-based Zephyr surf team representing Jeff Ho Surfboards and Zephyr Productions. Fellow Z-Boy Tony Alva said of Adams, "Some kids are born and raised on graham crackers and milk; he was born and raised on surfing and skateboarding."

The Z-Boys became a skate team when they heard about the Bahne-Cadillac Del Mar Nationals in 1975. Adams was the first member to enter the competition, held in Del Mar, California, taking second place in the Junior Men's Freestyle. His explosive energy and low, bold, surf-like moves characterized the style of the Z-Boys and contrasted with the traditional style of the era, which was still based around gymnastic-style tricks formulated in the 1960s. Adams' ability to turn near-disasters into never-before-seen feats of style and agility was termed "an athletic stream-of-consciousness" by the 2001 documentary about the team, Dogtown and Z-Boys.

Much of Adams' and the rest of the Zephyr team's fame is due to photojournalist and writer Craig Stecyk's "Dogtown Chronicles" in the 1975 relaunch of Skateboarder Magazine. The series of magazine articles chronicled the adventures of the Z-Boys, who rode empty swimming pools in Southern California over a two-year period, laying the foundation for vertical skateboarding. The international reach of Stecyk's Dogtown articles and skateboard-industry sponsorship led to skateboarding becoming a viable profession. By age 15, Adams was one of the first skateboarders shown "catching air" (time spent in the air after launching) above the edge of a swimming pool.

The Zephyr team broke up shortly after the Del Mar Nationals. Half the team formed a new team under Adams' stepfather Kent Sherwood, who made the Zephyr boards. Sherwood and Adams created the brand and team EZ-RYDER, which changed its name to Z-Flex six months later. Adams was the face of the brand.

During his skateboarding career, Adams was sponsored by Hurley, Nixon, Osiris Shoes, Z-Flex, Tracker Trucks, Vercelli Surfboards, Carver Racks, Abec 11 Wheels, and Black Flys. Along with Jef Hartsel, Adams would go on to revive EZ-RYDER as EZ Ryder Originalz, custom designing and testing their handcrafted equipment. He collaborated with Z-Flex, designing boards in the Z-Flex range, most notably the Z-Flex Jay Adams Cruiser Skateboard.

According to former Z-Boys teammate Stacy Peralta, Adams "is probably not the greatest skater of all time, but I can say without fear of being wrong that he is clearly the archetype of modern-day skateboarding."