10 Pics Remembering '70s Lady Skater Pioneer Ellen O’Neal

Tony Hawk who?

Published 1 month ago in Wow

Few women have dominated skateboarding quite like Ellen O'Neal. Picking up the sport as a teen in the mid-1970s, O'Neal was one of skating's biggest figures, serving as an athletic — and pop culture — icon throughout her storied career.

From first forays into skating to her retirement and final years, here are 10 pics remembering '70s lady skater pioneer, Ellen O'Neal.

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Long before Tony Hawk, Bam Margera, and Rob Dyrdek were even twinkles in MTV’s eye, the world of skateboarding was ruled by champion freestyle skater Ellen O’Neal.

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Born in San Diego, California, O’Neal picked up the sport after she was given a skateboard for her 16th birthday. She decided to enter a skateboarding competition shortly after receiving the gift, a decision she said was inspired by her summer job.

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“My own introduction to professional skateboarding came through a newspaper — a summer job as a delivery girl for the San Diego Union Tribune got me interested in a skateboarding contest that the paper sponsored in the Summer of 1975,” O’Neal wrote of her foray into skating for the November 1977 issue of Skateboard Journal. “After a lot of coaxing from my family and friends, who had seen me practicing in my driveway and around the neighborhood, I took the plunge and faced my first real competition.”
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Upon actually arriving at the competition, it was clear O’Neal was the one to beat. Facing 260 men — the only other female contestant quit after seeing her competitors — O’Neal landed a second-place win, besting 70 dudes.

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A year after she started skating, O’Neal went pro and was signed to Gordon & Smith. She began competing alongside other iconic female skaters, placing third behind Ellen Berryman and Laura Thornhill in the 1976 California Free Former Skateboard World Championships' freestyle category.
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By 1977, O’Neal had mastered several tricks ranging from handstands to v-sits to aerial jumps. This repertoire impressed not only fans and reporters, but also a few folks in Hollywood, who decided to give the skater her big break.
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Alongside her role in the 1978 skating documentary 'Skateboard Kings', O’Neal loaned her talents to ‘Wonder Woman.’ She appeared in season three’s ‘The Skateboard Wiz,’ where she served as actress Cindy Eilbacher’s stunt double. The skater was also no stranger to national television, enjoying stints on both ABC’s ‘Wide World of Sports’ and ‘Good Morning America’

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Having competed against both men and women, O’Neal seemingly preferred going up against girls, explaining that she felt the politics and prize obsession of men's skating made her beloved past time a little less enjoyable. ‘It must remain fun or no one will want to do it," she explained. "I’d rather do a school demonstration than a contest any day.’”
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O’Neal wasn’t just a star in the states. She skated and judged competitions around the world, traveling to Canada, England, and even Japan during her storied career. Though she, like many female athletes, faced her fair share of sexism, she took these comments in stride. “I don’t worry about my face, more my legs,” she told an English reporter who asked how she, “as a girl,” felt about possibly injuring her face.
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Though O’Neal retired from skating in the 1970s, her legacy is a lasting one. In 2014, six years before her death, she was inducted in the Skateboarding Hall of Fame, among other accolades. “I can truly say that the highlight of my professional career to date has not been any one contest or any one award. The highlight has been the friendships that I have been able to form with other women skateboarders,” she said of her career in the late ‘70s.