Harold Hunter

Not too much later I met up with him again in Washington DC at Pulaski Park, which has always been my home for skating, so that was a blessing in itself, to share that with him. He came through DC on a Zoo York tour with Ryan Hickey, Jeff Pang and the rest of the gang. This time our friendship really began. Later on in 1993 we went to NYC and there he was at the huge Brooklyn banks contest wearing a hockey jersey and he got 150 dollars for doing a sick backside 180 heelflip over the Brooklyn wall. Thank goodness I was there to witness that. He had a huge fan club audience even then, and no one else could really accumulate that much love from people unless you were a great person like Harold. In 1995 I met up with Harold again in New York. These would be some of the most memorable times I spent with him. It was the Astor place CUBE spot. Our late night skate sessions there were out of a movie! But then again if you were with him at anytime it was a movie in real life, constantly rolling... It was like there was a glow around him and this electric energy that surrounded him. His tricks were incredible. He would do nollie backside heelflips first try at knee height on the way to get a slice at Rays Pizza. I remember this one day it had started raining and Harold really wanted to keep skating, he was going to skate in the rain. That's when I really knew he was like me, a real skate rat! He loved everything about skateboarding! Rocking the skate gear and product was important to him. He so proud to be a skateboarder. He would let people know, "Yo, this is what I do".

One time I ran into him in NYC and he invited me to an audition for a music video. We met up at this venue, Don Hills. It was a miracle they chose me to act with him in it. We both got to skate in the video as well, along with Keenan Milton and others. We had to keep doing the scenes over and over because him and I kept cracking up! We were supposed to be angry towards each other, but that was hard to do. It was a fun day and I could tell Harold had a real quality in acting. The movie Harold was in, KIDS came out later that year as well and we were all real stoked for him. I know he was proud to be in something with his real New York friends. I would continue to see Harold every so often in the streets when I was in NY or at skate contests and demos throughout the next few years.

In 1999 I moved to New York and would again get to see him more often. He was everywhere! I didn't even need to take his number down, because I knew I would see him again real soon. You never hear or see anyone that is so visible and part of a city like Harold was. I had the pleasure of hanging with him a bunch of times before I moved back to Washington DC in 2003.

Thank goodness I ended up going out to California for the tradeshow recently and had the best time with him ever. It was like every time I hung out with him summarized into one hour. That hour was at a Jay Mascis show at one of the after parties. The music that was being played was some of the most influential skate sounds you could hear. This music was in countless skate videos and made you tingle if you were a skater and could relate. Harold and I were sitting on stage together and Harold was nodding his head to the music. At one point we both looked at each other like, WOW! We couldn't believe how incredible the guitar sounds were, we were in a zone. Later the warehouse kicked us all out so they could clean up. The last time I was with Harold was when we were waiting outside at the pier to catch a cab. The situation seemed very similar to me, like we were back in New York. The saddest thing is that I now have to wait so long to see him again, but when I do it will be glorious. Rest in peace Harold.