‘Jake Phelps was abrasive, just like skateboarding’
- Text by Ed Templeton
- Photography by Thrasher magazine
Jake Phelps was abrasive, just like skateboarding. Through Thrasher Magazine, where for 26 years he was editor in chief, he helped promote a quintessential punk style and attitude to the skate masses that made skateboarding what it is today.
With Jake, you had to take the rough with the smooth, and at any given moment you never knew what you might get from him. He kept you on your toes. He played guitar in a punk band with Tony Trujillo called Bad Shit. He battled with drugs and alcohol, and he was so committed that skateboarding battered his body. I honestly don’t know how he did it for so long the hard way he did it.
The first time I met Jake Phelps was in 1990 when I was sent to Europe to compete in a bunch of skateboard contests. It was my first time to Europe and I realised once I landed in Germany that I had no idea where to go or how to get there. I wandered the airport hoping to see some other skaters going to the contests so I could ask them where to go. But Jake found me first. He yelled out from across the airport, “Ed Templeton!” – we had never met before. “Come with us.” It was as if he could sense I needed some help, and let me tag along with his crew on the way to the hotel where all the skaters were staying.
I never forgot that moment, and neither did he. It turned out to be typical of the kind of person he was. He may have been difficult to deal with, but he had your back and cared deeply about the way skateboarding was perceived. He had a nearly photographic memory and an encyclopaedic knowledge of skateboarding. He would recall some amazingly obscure details about your life when he saw you, anything that had ever been published in a magazine or in a video was seemingly logged into his head.
Jake’s spirit will live on. And his mark on skateboarding is undeniable.
Enjoyed this article? Like Huck on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
Latest on Huck
Maryam El Gardoum is breaking new shores for Morocco’s indigenous surfers
The Amazigh Atlantic — Through her groundbreaking career and popular surf school, the five-time Moroccan champion is helping women find their places in the waves.
Written by: Sam Haddad
Youth violence’s rise is deeply concerning, but mass hysteria doesn’t help
Safe — On Knife Crime Awareness Week, writer, podcaster and youth worker Ciaran Thapar reflects on the presence of violent content online, growing awareness about the need for action, and the two decades since Saul Dibb’s Bullet Boy.
Written by: Ciaran Thapar
Volcom teams up with Bob Mollema for the latest in its Featured Artist Series
True to This — The boardsports lifestyle brand will host an art show in Biarritz to celebrate the Dutch illustrators’ second capsule collection.
Written by: Huck
A visual trip through 100 years of New York’s LGBTQ+ spaces
Queer Happened Here — A new book from historian and writer Marc Zinaman maps scores of Manhattan’s queer venues and informal meeting places, documenting the city’s long LGBTQ+ history in the process.
Written by: Isaac Muk
Nostalgic photos of everyday life in ’70s San Francisco
A Fearless Eye — Having moved to the Bay Area in 1969, Barbara Ramos spent days wandering its streets, photographing its landscape and characters. In the process she captured a city in flux, as its burgeoning countercultural youth movement crossed with longtime residents.
Written by: Miss Rosen
Tony Njoku: ‘I wanted to see Black artists living my dream’
What Made Me — In this series, we ask artists and rebels about the forces and experiences that shaped who they are. Today, it’s avant-garde electronic and classical music hybridist Tony Njoku.
Written by: Tony Njoku
