San Leandro, CA – Skate Industry News: Who Invented the Ollie?

 In 1978, Alan Gelfand, who was given his nickname “Ollie” by Scott Goodman, learned to perform no-handed aerials in bowls and pools using a gentle raising of the nose and scooping motion to keep the board with the feet. There are numerous references to Alan Gelfand’s Ollie with most notably pictures in the 1970s skateboarding magazine “Skateboarder”.

In 1982, while competing in the Rusty Harris contest in Whittier, California, Rodney Mullen debuted an ollie on flat ground, which he had adapted from Gelfand’s vertical version by combining the motions of some of his existing tricks. Mullen used a “see-saw” motion, striking the tail of the board on the ground to lift the nose, and using the front foot to level the board in mid-air. While Mullen was not initially impressed with his flat ground ollie, and did not formally name it, he realized it opened up a second, elevated plane on which to perform tricks.

Mullen’s flat ground ollie is now considered to have transformed the practice of skateboarding. Rodney won the Rusty Harris contest, was afterwards asked by many riders to demonstrate the trick, and later in the year it would appear with the name “Ollie-pop” as a “trick tip” in Thrasher magazine.

The flat ground ollie technique is strongly associated with street skateboarding; mini ramp and vert riders can also use this technique to gain air and horizontal distance from the coping, but half-pipe riders typically rely more on the board’s upward momentum to keep it with the rider, more similar to Gelfand’s original technique.

So, next time you pop up a curb, give a nod to our friend Alan. Thanks buddy.