• 17 years ago
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The year was 1992. I was in high school, and I learned from another skater that shorts weren't cool anymore. I also started saying words like "fresh" "hella," and I spent most of my time doing noseslides to "K-grinds." It was like one year I had cargo shorts and rails on my H-Street board, the next I had a World board with a nose that was bigger than the tail, bleached hair, and Blind jeans. I also really liked Souls of Mischief for some reason... sorry, I'm not trying to make this all "Memory Corner." The thing is, looking back, it was as if the EMB crew was sitting on the C-block issuing directives that all skateboarders were compelled to follow or risk being endlessly heckled or ass-kicked. Every little aspect of skateboarding at the time--every clothing trend and trick--began at Embarco and rippled out through the skaterverse. In the course of a single year the whole world changed. Tons of 80s pros were suddenly out of work and left with no respect. For better or for worse, what it meant to be a skater had radically shifted. Henry Sanchez was a key figure in the EMB scene, he invented so many tricks and took switch stance to a whole new level. He pushed skating in technical new directions without compromising the gnarlatude. Looking back now, a lot of skaters from that time seem pretty dated, riding slow and doing crazy triple flips. But Henry's old parts still hold it down. .