Isn’t skateboarding one of the coolest sports? It must be an awesome feeling to be able to ride a skateboard and perform tricks on it. I definitely wish I was good at it.
What some people may not know though is that there are actually health benefits that you can gain from skateboarding. Plus if you are any good at it, you can always try to go pro and use it as a good source of income.
Sounds amazing, doesn’t it? Well, it is. There are many people who have been so good at skateboarding that they have become millionaires from the sport. It’s as if they have lived the dream of many people – getting really rich by doing a job that they absolutely love.
One of the amazing things about skateboarding is that there are really no age limits so you do not have to feel restricted because of your age. It is a creative outlet that is ready and waiting to be explored by anyone who is willing to take on the challenge and there are virtually no limits to what you can accomplish.
Of course, there is the possibility of getting injured from skateboarding but in which sport is that possibility non-existent? All you need to do is wear your safety gear at all times and take as many precautions as you can.
In the past, many people thought that skateboarding was for teenagers who had a lot of free time or older men who loved to surf. Today, both males and females are skateboarding and it has become a multi-million dollar industry.
There are many people who have received endorsement deals and huge payouts because of skateboarding tournaments. Some have even started successful businesses that have yielded very good profits and made them extremely rich.
HERE ARE TEN OF THE RICHEST SKATEBOARDERS.
#10 TONY ALVA – $15 MILLION NET WORTH
Tony Alva was born on September 2, 1957, in the Golden State of California – Santa Monica to be exact. He attended Santa Monica High School from which he graduated in 1975. He has been described as being a very outgoing person who loves art and has a wealth of knowledge. Alva’s success has largely been attributed to his skill, style, and charisma.
Alva has earned his wealth from a variety of sources. He began skateboarding and surfing at the tender age of 11 and pretty soon he became good at both activities. Although he is not very well known for his accomplishments as a surfer, his skateboarding style contrasted what was typical of that era and this caused him to become a very famous skateboarder from when he was in his early teens.
Because Alva was so creative and inventive as it relates to his skateboarding style, he is known as an originator of vertical skateboarding and is one of the first skateboarders to perform front-side airs.
In 1972, Alva joined the famous Z-boys skateboarding team and, by the time he turned 19, he formed his own skate company which he named after himself. His skateboard company is called Alva Skates and it is the first skate company that is owned and operated by a skateboarder.
Alva skates have set the pace for the design and make of some skating gear. They are the first company that made skate decks by using plywood consisting of layered Canadian maple wood.
Alva also does work alongside the company called Vans by assisting them with modifying their designs to better suit their target market. Because of his invaluable input, he has also had critical input in the design of other Vans shoes that have been on the market.
Since then, he has played in bands and made several media appearances including documentaries and a film. He was also featured in a video game and the reality series Storage Wars where he appraised a skateboard. The first band he joined was called The Skoundrelz and he was a bass player for this band.
As a result of his hard work, he was the 1977 Men’s Overall World Professional Skateboard Champion, and in that same year, he was voted Skateboarder of the Year through a readers poll done by Skateboarders Magazine.
1977 seemed to have been a very great year for Alva because, in addition to these achievements, he set the Guinness World Record for barrel jumping in 1977. His most recent award was received in 1999 where he was given the X Games Lifetime Achievement Award.
He is considered to be one of the most influential skateboarders of all time. Some people even refer to him as the Godfather of modern skateboarding.
#9 CHAD MUSKA – $16 MILLION NET WORTH
Muska became interested in skateboarding at a very young age after he went to live with his father in Phoenix, Arizona. He was actually born on May 20, 1977, in Lorain, Ohio but eventually moved to California where he still resides today.
Muska’s love for skateboarding began while he was in Arizona where he ended up meeting and skating with Erik Ellington, another professional skateboarder. However, at the time, both boys were not yet in the world of professional skateboarding.
When Muska went to California, he did not have a lot of money. In fact, all he really had was a sketchbook and a cassette player since all he had his heart set on was skateboarding and art. After moving to California, Muska found himself homeless for an extended period but not hopeless. He still managed to meet up with Maple and made an appearance in the Rites of Passage video from 1994.
When the relationship with Maple ended, Muska joined Toy Machine and ended up being a leading member of the team. Because of his skills, he ended up getting an Elissa Steamer’s sponsorship and Toy Machine drew a lot of attention to itself as one of the most respected and emulated skateboarding teams. Muska appeared in other videos throughout the ’90s and still makes TV appearances to this date.
As it relates to his influence in the world of skateboarding, Muska was rated as the 12th most influential skateboarder of all time. This rating was given in December 2011 by Transworld Skateboarding Magazine.
Muska has had many sponsors throughout the years. In the late 90’s he was sponsored by the eS Skate Shoe company and they ended up releasing a line of shoes called the ‘es Muska’ in 1998. Muska made a lot of input in the design of these shoes and because he was very popular during that period, these shoes became very popular very quickly.
Since then, he has also contributed to the designs of other shoes from a variety of brands. One very notable brand is the C1RCA where they designed a lot of shoe models and as of December 2014, Muska is being sponsored by Element Skateboards, Supra Footwear, and Brooklyn Projects.
As an entrepreneur, Muska partnered with Cabada to open a store in Los Angeles, California which he called Factory 413. Since then, he has released a lot of signature products with the company including sunglasses and shoes.
Chad has also been involved in Music and has produced music for several hip-hop artists including Guru, Ice-T, and Africa. He is also featured in the Tony Hawk video game series as a playable character.
Although Muska has earned his wealth as a skateboarder, entrepreneur, in the music industry, making appearances in videos, etc, he ended up being arrested for vandalism in 2011. Otherwise, there are no other reported legal issues and Muska has retained a very large fan base even though he is not in the spotlight as much in recent times.
#8 RYAN SHECKLER – $16 MILLION NET WORTH
Sheckler is an impressive skateboarder who has made significant strides in the skateboarding industry over a few short years. He is relatively young as he was born in 1989 on the 30th of December.
To date, he has earned his wealth by being a professional skateboarder and entrepreneur. He was even the star of a reality TV series entitled Life of Ryan.
Sheckler was born in California and started skateboarding when he was a toddler. In fact, he was doing ollies by the time he turned 4 years old. Not surprisingly, he began skating on a mini ramp in his backyard by the time he was 7 years old. And, he skated every day.
To date, Sheckler has received numerous awards and is undoubtedly an extremely talented skateboarder. As a result of his numerous awards, he has accrued for himself a very good net worth and because of his impressive talent, he has even been covered boy for a few magazines.
Between 1999 and 2002, Ryan was runner-up and winner for several competitions and delivered impressive performances at the Globe World Cup, Slam City Jam, and Tampa Am. By the time he turned 13, Sheckler turned pro and performed incredibly well in tournaments that year. His achievements for that year included 2nd place at the Scandinavian Open, first places at Slam City Jam, and the Vans Triple Crown Street competition.
In addition to these awards, he received a gold medal at the Gravity Games plus an amazing win at the 2003 Summer X Games. His performance at the Summer X Games will leave a lasting impression in the skateboarding industry because he was the only skater that was successful in every trick that he attempted to do.
Due to his astounding performances, Ryan was dubbed Action Sports Tour’s Athlete of the Year in 2005 and he was the overall Street Champion by the World Cup of Skateboarding. In 2006, at the Arby’s Action Sports Awards, Ryan was selected as Skateboarder of the year as well as Athlete of the Year. He was even named overall Park Champion for the 2006 Action Sports Tour.
It seems as if 2006 was a great year for Sheckler because it was in that same year that he joined the Red Bull Energy Drink team. Actually, he made a significant contribution to Red Bull’s success as it relates to skateboarding.
Ryan is the first skateboarder who has won an AST Championship for 3 consecutive years. He accomplished this in 2007 and followed it up with a gold medal at the X Games in 2008. However, he believes that one of his greatest accomplishments was winning first place at the Bust or Bail contest put on by Thrasher magazine.
Outside of awards, Ryan has made a name for himself as a TV personality and still found time to launch a charity organization named after himself. The organization is called the Sheckler Foundation and it is aimed at assisting with the health of sports athletes and Ryan even auctioned his Range Rover with the proceeds directed to the Children’s Cancer Research Fund.
In more recent times, Ryan has joined the Plan B team and is one of the most recognized members of the team. He has plans of being one of the greatest skateboarders of all time and we can all see that he definitely on the right path for that.
#7 JASON LEE – $18 MILLION NET WORTH
With a net worth of approximately $18 million, Jason Lee is more than just a skateboarder. In fact, Lee is also a television producer, a comedian, and an actor. His life began in California, the USA where he was born on the 25th of April in 1970.
Lee made his first public appearance as a skateboarder while a teenager and he became a professional skateboarder by the age of 18. Not very long afterward, Jason decided to pursue a career in acting and began his stint in movie appearances.
As it relates to his personal life, Lee was married to Carmen Llewellyn, but they were divorced a few years later and Carmen attributes this to their involvement with the Church of Scientology. Yes, Lee is an active Scientologist.
The couple had no children together and Lee moved on to a new partner Beth Riesgrat with whom he had a son, Pilot, in 2003. In 2008, Lee and Ceren Alkac were wed. Since then, the couple has produced 2 children, a daughter (Casper) and a son (Sonny).
Jason’s career as an actor has been very long-lived and successful. He appeared in the movie Mi Vida Loca in 1993 which was directed by Allison Anders. In this movie, he acted alongside actors such as Salma Hayek in this movie. Shortly thereafter, Lee landed a starring role in the movie Mallrats which was released in 1995.
From his role in this movie, Lee became friends with the director of the movie, Kevin Smith. His next movie appearance stemmed from this friendship and he nabbed a role in the movie Chasing Amy from which he earned an Independent Spirit Award.
Lee and Smith continued to be friends and Lee made many more movie appearances as a result. One other popular movie in which he was cast is the 1999 movie called Dogma. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon were also a part of this movie and this goes to show the caliber of acting which Lee is capable of delivering.
Lee also appeared in highly recognized movies such as Vanilla Sky, Almost Famous, Alvin, and the Chipmunks and he played a voice part in the movie The Incredibles.
In addition to movies, Lee also made other television appearances and is especially known for his role in the sitcom My Name is Earl. Because of his role on this show, he won 2 Golden Globe Award nominations.
As you can see, most of Lee’s wealth has been acquired as an actor rather than a skateboarder although he is still recognized as a very talented professional skateboarder and he displayed great performances on his skateboards. In fact, Lee is the co-founder of a skateboard company called Stereo Skateboards which was started in 1992.
He co-founded the company with another skateboarder, Chris Pastras and although the company eventually became non-functional, it was revived in 2003. Lee has also appeared in promotional skateboarding videos and he was even featured in a skateboarding film in 2004 amongst other features as a skateboarder.
#6 SHAUN WHITE – $20 MILLION NET WORTH
Born on September 3, 1986, in San Diego, California, Shaun White is an amazing athlete. Because of his mind-blowing stunts on the snowboard and his red hair, he has been nicknamed the Flying Tomato. He is both a skateboarder and snowboarder and he has made over $9 million on endorsement deals alone.
Shaun began skateboarding at a very early age after he went to the Encinitas YMCA with his older brother. He attributes his inspiration to Tony Hawk whom he claimed to have met at only 9 years old.
Because he is a very great snowboarder, he has managed to get numerous sponsorships from the age of 7. His very first sponsor was Burton Snowboards and he has since received sponsorship from companies such as T-mobile, HP, Target, Red Bull, Adio, Birdhouse Skateboards, Mountain Dew, Ubisoft, and many others.
He has also participated in promotional activities such as a video game, snowboarding DVDs, and a clothing line. As a matter of fact, most of his wealth seems to have been gained from him being a snowboarder rather than a skateboarder although he is well known in both sporting arenas.
White is known for many accomplishments in the skateboarding world. This includes his ability to successfully undertake the body varial frontside 540. In fact, he is the only skater who completed this task. To top this off, he won first place in 2006 at the Dew Action Sports Tour’s Right Guard Open.
He is also credited as the first athlete who won both the summer and winter X-Games in two different sports. He is known for numerous amount of contributions during his athletic career and he is still quite young which means that he still has the opportunity to accomplish much more.
In more recent times, White has participated in the halfpipe event after he withdrew from the 2014 Winter Olympics. Unfortunately, he did not perform as expected since he only managed to place fourth at the event.
In previous Olympics performances, he had received a gold medal twice and holds the record for gold medals in the X-Games. He currently holds 23 medals from the X-Games where 15 of those medals are gold.
Although Shaun has been a very successful skateboarder and snowboarder, he has had a little trouble with the law, as it seems to be fairly common with skateboarders. So far there has only been one incidence of legal issues.
This occurred in 2012 where he was arrested for vandalism and public intoxication while staying in a hotel in Nashville, Tennessee. During the incident, White even sustained injuries for which he had to be treated at a nearby hospital.
As an entrepreneur, Shaun has been quite successful and is the CEO of Shaun White Enterprises. He also is a major stakeholder of Air and Style events. To add to this, he is a member of a rock star band where he plays lead guitar and he is also a part-time actor.
#5 RODNEY MULLEN – $30 MILLION NET WORTH
John Rodney Mullen hails from Gainesville, Florida where he was born on August 17, 1966. Rodney has since left his hometown and currently lives in the state of California with his wife Traci Mullen whom he married in 2000.
Rodney has accrued his wealth by being an engineer, skate brand owner, and skateboarder. He started skateboarding when he was only 8 years old and became pretty good at it really quickly. His skateboarding talents developed so quickly that he began competing in 1977 when he was only 11 years of age.
The start of Rodney’s skateboarding life is actually quite interesting. He had wanted to skate for some time but his father, who was a doctor, did not like the idea of skating because Rodney had a pre-existing condition called pigeon toe that had affected his legs so much that he ended up wearing leg braces.
Eventually, Rodney’s father allowed him to pursue his dream but only with the condition that he would stop if he ever received a major injury.
Rodney is considered the most influential skater in the history of skateboarding and he has invented numerous skating tricks. Some of the tricks he invented are the flat-ground Ollie, 540 shove-it, double heelflips, Ollie nose bones, Casper slides, and the kickflip.
As many as these seem, there are many more tricks that Rodney came up with. One interesting fact about Mullen is that throughout his entire skateboarding career, he only lost one freestyle contest and that was due to illness. Although he didn’t win, he placed second and that is just a testament to his extraordinary talent in skating.
Considered a legendary skateboarder, Rodney Mullen made significant strides within the skateboarding industry. Some of his accomplishments include winning his first freestyle contest in 1977, appearing in a feature film in 1988, and Transworld Reader’s Choice Award for Skater of the Year in 2002.
He also started the Almost Skateboard company in the year 2002 and a year later he released the well-known autobiography book “The Mutt: How to Skateboard and Not Kill Yourself”.
Although Mullen is such a renowned skateboarder, he is mostly known for his passion and success as a street skateboarder. In fact, he may just be the best street skateboarder to date. Although he no longer skates professionally, throughout his career, he displayed such finesse and natural talent as a skater that he made an indelible mark in the skateboarding industry.
Many skateboarders consider his style to be comfortable and relaxed and he often made difficult tricks seem pretty easy and simple. Mullen has made appearances in many video games of the Tony Hawk’s pro skater series and has been featured in several videos.
As one of the many rewards for such a rewarding career, Rodney Mullen was inducted into the Skateboarding Hall of Fame in May 2013. He now lives in California and still enjoys skateboarding but without an audience. Instead, he says he prefers to skate at night when no one is around so there is less pressure and he can skate freely without thinking about hurting his pride.
#4 BAM MARGERA – $45 MILLION NET WORTH
The nickname Bam was given to the skateboarder Brandon Cole Margera after his grandfather noticed that he kept bumping into doors. Brandon eventually changed his name legally to Bam so he is no longer Brandon. Bam was born on September 28, 1979, to parents April and Phil Margera. He was born and raised in West Chester, Pennsylvania where he attended East High School.
During his high school life, Bam began to make videos of himself and his friends while they were skateboarding. He eventually loved skateboarding so much that he only went to school because of his friend Chris Raab.
After his friend Chris got suspended for inappropriate conduct at school, Bam stopped going to school. Fortunately, his parents were able to convince him to get his GED regardless of his dislike for school.
The amateur videos that Bam made in high school eventually became a part of a series of videos called CKY (Camp Kill Yourself) and the boys could be seen doing some quite dangerous stunts. This series eventually became very famous and led to Bam receiving a role in the MTV show called Jackass. Bam was recruited to be a lead member of the cast where he would work alongside Ryan Dunn.
Because he did work in this television show, he was given a very prominent role in all 3 Jackass movies which were really just an extension of the TV series. He was also featured in a pornographic film during the late 2000s but he did not play a sexual role in this movie.
As it relates to his personal life, Margera shared a short engagement with Jenn Rivell but the couple split before they could have gotten married. Just about a year later, Margera proposed to Melissa Rothstein and the two had a reality series that followed them throughout the course of their engagement up to their wedding day.
Unfortunately, the union did not last very long as they divorced in 2012 after Melissa, also known as Missy, found out about Bam’s infidelity with women in San Francisco and West Chester. He is currently married to Nicole Boyd and they got married onstage at a raucous concert in 2013.
Like many other reputable skateboarders, Bam is featured in Tony Hawk’s video games. He also recorded the voice for a character in one of the Scarface video games and made cameo appearances in two movies – Destroying America and Grind.
Bam is also a budding entrepreneur as he has opened a bar/theater known as The Note. This business is located in his hometown of West Chester, Pennsylvania and it was opened in September 2008. He also has a published book that contains his private writings and pictures.
The book is entitled Serious as Dog Dirt and it was released in 2009. Margera was also the creator of a radio show called Bam Radio – a satellite show that featured him with his CKY crew. He currently owns a record label called Filthy Note Records which produces music for his band and the label has since signed on a Swedish band called Vains of Jenna.
Margera has also had a little trouble with the law after trying to pass through an airport security checkpoint with brass knuckles.
#3 RICK HOWARD – $45 MILLION NET WORTH
Rick Howard is of Canadian origin but moved to the United States when he was a teenager. He was born on August 31, 1972, and currently has an estimated net worth of $45 million. He was a very popular skateboarder in the 1990s and became quite famous because of his skills and natural talent as a skateboarder. Rick began his career in skateboarding with Blockhead Skateboards shortly after he moved to the USA and he was given professional status.
After skating with Blockhead, in 1991, Howard joined Plan B Skateboards. During this time he was a part of the second video that was released by Plan B and he became well known for the way he executed his tricks in that video especially the way he executed the switch-stance.
During his skating career, Howard saw many accomplishments. Of these achievements is the invention of the Rick Flip also called the Howard Heel. Contradicting this recognition, Howard has publicly stated that he does not think that he was the one who invented the trick so he does not think it should be attributed to him.
Rick has produced many skateboarding videos and even won an award for a video he released in 2007 called Fully Flared. It was dubbed the best video of the year by Transworld Skateboarding as well as the Skateboard Magazine.
As an entrepreneur, Howard formed a company in 1993 with Spike Jonze, Carroll, and Megan Baltimore called Girl Skateboards. He also created a shoe company with Carroll known as Lakai Limited Footwear. This shoe company was created after he had been sponsored by DC shoes and they had made a shoe line using his name for branding.
Throughout the years, Howard has received sponsorship from many sources. He has been sponsored by companies such as Spitfire, Independent Trucks, Diamond Supply Company, Glassy Sunhaters, Girl, Lakai Limited Footwear, and many others.
Howard has managed to keep his personal life out of the media and very little is known about him outside of his skateboarding accomplishments. As a matter of fact, there is not even a lot of information available about his role in the skateboarding industry. It is evident that he likes to work from behind the scenes rather than be in the eyes of the media.
Rick still resides in California today and continues to keep most of his life out of the media.
#2 ROB DYRDEK – $50 MILLION NET WORTH
Robert Stanley Dyrdek is a multimillionaire who wears several hats. He has been nicknamed Rob and in most instances, he is referred to as Rob. Born in Kettering, Ohio in the USA, Rob now resides in Hollywood, California, and stands at 5 feet 7 inches tall.
In addition to being a professional skateboarder, he is also an actor, reality TV star, producer, and entrepreneur. Rob started skating at the age of 11 after Neil Blender, another professional skateboarder, gave him his first skateboard.
It wasn’t very long afterward that he began skating as a professional skateboarder at the age of 12. At this point, he was able to get sponsorship and started to be recognized by other skaters as well as the public.
Eventually, Rob decided to quit high school so he could focus on his skateboarding career. He also made a very bold move by leaving his Ohio hometown to go live in California. Shortly after he arrived in California, he began skating for Doors Clothing which was formed by the skater Danny Way.
During his skateboarding career, Rob has set 21 different Guinness World Records and this has enhanced his reputation and overall ratings amongst his peers and strengthened his career strides. Because of these record-breaking tricks, many of which are showcased on Rob and Big, Rob is now considered to be amongst the most famous professional skateboarders of all time.
Some of the records that Rob has set include 46 consecutive front side ollies (2007), 15 heelflips in 1 minute (2007), 22 Nollie kick-flips in 1 minute (2007), and longest stationary manual (2007). Rob has also been the founder of the Street League Skateboarding (SLS), a skateboarding league that contains international but professional skateboarders.
There is some slight uncertainty as it pertains to Rob’s net worth. While some sources have estimated that he has a net worth of about $15 million, there are some that have estimated his net worth to be in excess of $40 million because he has a lot of business ventures.
A lot of this wealth has been acquired through sponsorship deals, his reality shoes, and his investments in Alien Workshop, Silver Trucks, and Monster Energy. He also owns a skating shop, a body spray line, a toy company, and a record label. His business interests are numerous and also include cartoons, Megahorse racing, and a foundation that he named after himself.
Rob is still a very active TV personality today and is most known for the roles he played in Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factory, Rob and Big and Ridiculousness. Just from one episode of his reality show, he is able to earn more than $30,000. How amazing is that?
All these income opportunities allow Dyrdek to finance his luxurious lifestyle including his multi-million dollar mansion in Hollywood and his fast cars. Since he has no children and is unmarried, Rob spends a lot of his time with friends and family. And unlike many skateboarders, he hasn’t had any legal issues to date. He is definitely doing very well for himself financially.
#1 TONY HAWK – $120 MILLION NET WORTH
Undoubtedly the richest and most memorable professional skateboarder to date, Tony Hawk has been nicknamed “The Birdman” because of his remarkable skills as a skateboarder. He was born in San Diego California on May 12, 1968, and was only 9 years old when he got his first skateboard.
Little did he know that he would become the most famous skateboarder to walk the earth. His wealth has been earned primarily through skateboarding and via making very wise decisions about investing in certain areas of the industry.
Tony had a natural talent for skateboarding and soon began to get a lot of spectators as he skated through the Oasis Skate Park. He quickly began to do very difficult tricks that were usually only performed by much older and experienced skaters. By the age of 12, Tony began winning a lot of competitions and was able to go professional by the time he turned 14.
Two years later, at 16, many persons considered Tony to be the best skateboarder that was competing in the industry. A few more years and Tony had 73 wins to his name after competing in 103 professional contests. At this point, he was only 25 years old.
For 12 consecutive years, Tony earned the title of Vertical Skating’s World Champion and his career only lasted for 17 years as he retired in 1999. During his career, Tony gained sponsorship from the best sponsors within the skateboarding industry. His sponsors included Birdhouse, Independent, Nixon, Bones, and Quiksilver.
As a matter of fact, Birdhouse was a skateboarding company that was created by Tony Hawk himself. In addition to competing in tournaments, Tony created a successful line of video games.
Life wasn’t always as smooth for Tony as he almost went bankrupt in the early 1990s. At that time, there wasn’t a lot of money being invested in the sport so his earnings easily and quickly got depleted.
It was only after creating his company, Birdhouse, that things began seeming more optimistic from a financial standpoint. Shortly after he started his company, he competed in the first X-Games competition where he regained some amount of fame and recognition.
Being the greatest skateboarder of all time, it only makes sense that Tony has invented a lot of skateboarding tricks. These include the most famous trick called the 900 where the skater makes a 900-degree rotation in mid-air. Although Tony still skates, it is mostly for demonstration or to invent new tricks as he remains retired.
Tony has been married on 4 separate occasions to 4 different women. His first 3 marriages ended in divorce after the couple had a child or children together. To date, he has 4 children from those unions, and none otherwise and his first child, Riley, has also entered the skateboarding industry as a professional skateboarder.
