Object Details
Description (Brief)
This is an original 1970s release of the Logan Earth Ski, Bruce Logan World Pro Champion model. A member of the first family of skate, Bruce Logan began skating in 1959 at the age of 8 with his older brother Brian. Together, they created the South Bay Skateboard Club with a few other skaters and while they had t-shirts and jackets printed, they had no sponsors. In 1964, when skateboarding was becoming more popular, the Logan boys got an official sponsor through the Bing Surfboard shop located down the street from their house. Now the Bing Skateboard Team, they competed with a few other skate teams on the local tv show Surf's Up with Stan Richards. Normally a surfing show, Richards featured skateboarding during one episode which is one of the first times skateboarding appeared on television. The Bing team earned second place behind the Hobie team.
A founding member of the Makaha Skate team as well, Bruce went on to compete from 1965 to 1975 winning most every freestyle competition that he entered along with many slalom events. In 1975, the Logans, with an assist from their mother Barbara, went on to start the family business of Logan Earth Ski (LES). Entering the skate business just at the time the urethane wheel made its debut, LES made their boards out of solid oak, laminated and exotic woods, with and without kicktails. Using their family members and some of the top skaters of the era to populate their skate team, LES became one of the most popular and sought-after boards of the mid-1970s. Bruce and Robin Logan, Jay Adams, Laura Thornhill, Tony Alva and Torger Johnson were only a few of the skaters that put LES on the map. The company thrived under the leadership of Barbara and Brian until 1980 when the company folded due to slow sales during the second skateboarding bust. Robin Logan has recently began selling Logan Earth Ski boards again and has created another LES skate team competing since 2022.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1970s
ID Number
2013.0186.02
accession number
2013.0186
catalog number
2013.0186.02
Object Name
skateboard deck
skate deck
skatedeck
Physical Description
wood (overall material)
Measurements
overall: 29 in x 7 in x 1 in; 73.66 cm x 17.78 cm x 2.54 cm
See more items in
Culture and the Arts: Sport and Leisure
Skateboarding
Sports & Leisure
Data Source
National Museum of American History
name of sport
skateboarding
web subject
Sports
level of sport
Professional
Link to Original Record
Record ID
nmah_1448077