In 1988 Natas Kaupas was perhaps at the height of his power, when he and the SMA tour embarked upon what would be known as the Cadillac Tour of the United States. This tour pitted Natas and the SMA Team against some of the sketchiest obstacles at some of the jankiest demos of all time. That did not stop Natas from unleashing a relentless array of powerful new tricks and lines from coast to coast, making fans nationwide, and cementing his legacy of one of the best from the first generation of street pros.
Natas Kaupas (born March 23, 1969) is an American former professional skateboarder. He grew up in South Santa Monica, California, in the area known as Dogtown, and is of Lithuanian descent. He is often referred to as one of the first true professional street skateboarders.
Kaupas began skating during his childhood years. In 1983 Kaupas won a local Santa Monica surfing contest and received a Santa Monica Airlines (SMA) skateboard as a first place prize. SMA was operated out of the back of a surfshop owned by Skip Engblom. Kaupas approached Engblom about becoming a member of his skate team, which did not exist. However, Engblom was impressed with Kaupas's skating ability and offered to sponsor him.
Kaupas by his own admission remained clueless and uninterested in the mainstream skateboard subculture. He honed his street skateboarding skills by utilizing his surroundings, preferring not to ride ramps or parks. By the mid-1980s, Kaupas had discovered riding walls where he would throw his skateboard up against a wall and ride off it. He then perfected this trick by riding up the side of walls without using his hands. In 1984 Thrasher Magazine photographer and skating commentator Craig Stecyk took a photo of Kaupas riding off a wall which featured on the cover of Thrasher Magazine's September 1984 issue. With this cover photo, Kaupas began to receive more magazine coverage and recognition from professional skaters. Also in 1984, SMA released Kaupas's first pro-model skateboard, which infamously featured a panther image drawn by Santa Monica artist Kevin Ancell. At this point, Kaupas was regularly skating with such notables as Mark Gonzales, Julien Stranger and Jim Thiebaud and pioneering what would be known as 'street skating'. Kaupas and Gonzales innovated many new skateboarding tricks and ideas, the first of which was transferring Rodney Mullen's kickflip from freestyle skating to street skating.
Widespread recognition
In 1986 demand for SMA skateboards had grown at an increasing rate which they struggled to meet. At 16, Kaupas impressed Engblom when he arranged a manufacturing and distribution arrangement with the much larger company, Santa Cruz Skateboards. Kaupas and Mark Gonzales performed what are considered the first legitimate hand rail board slide and 50-50 grinds.
With Natas' fame and noteriety attention was soon turned to the spelling of his first name, as 'Natas' spelled backwards is 'Satan'. Kaupas attempted to explain his name as being the masculine version of the Lithuanian female name 'Natalija'. Despite this however, many schools and shops instituted a ban on any merchandise bearing the name 'Natas'.
Later in 1987, Kaupas had become such a well-known figure that shoe company Etnies offered him his own pro model shoe, an entirely new concept in the skating world.
Kaupas' stand-out performance in Streets On Fire featured a new trick where he ollied up onto a fire hydrant and performed a 720 degree spin on top of it. The trick would be known as the 'Natas spin' and has also been adapted to the sport of snowboarding. The 'Natas Spin' was also incorporated into the Tony Hawk's video game series.
Kaupas along with the SMA team began a tour across America driving used Cadillacs. During the tour, the duo discovered many unknown but talented skaters who would later skate for SMA including Sean Sheffey.
In 1991 fellow pro skater Steve Rocco, who founded World Industries skateboards, approached Kaupas about starting his own line of skateboards. Kaupas left SMA and began 101 Skateboards. The company would become an outlet for Kaupas to employ his graphic and artistic talents. By 1992, 101 had become a major brand, however a broken ankle meant Kaupas' skating career was halted. While convalescing, Kaupas explored his artistic talents more and began to use computer graphics programs. He was soon asked to assist with the first issue of the Big Brother skateboarding magazine, which was also owned by World Industries. As World Industries and 101 Skateboards became more successful, scooping up many well-established pro skaters and new emerging amateurs, Kaupas lost interest. Kaupas received a call from Larry Flynt Publications who were interested in launching a new magazine entitled Rage and needed an art director. Kaupas left shortly afterwards however, again losing interest after a change in tone of the magazine. -Wikipedia
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