San Leandro, CA – Skate Industry News: Guy Mariano Is Still The Guy To Beat

Guy Mariano (born March 31, 1976) is an American professional skateboarder. Mariano first gained recognition at the age of 14 for his video part in the Blind Skateboards video Video Days (1991). Val Surf, a Californian retail outlet, was Mariano’s first ever sponsor. Mariano’s first skateboard deck sponsor was Powell Peralta and he appeared in the company’s video “Ban This”, alongside Paulo Diaz, Rudy Johnson, and Gabriel Rodriguez.

Together with Mark Gonzales, Jason Lee, Jordan Richter, and Rudy Johnson, Mariano appeared in the Blind video, Video Days, considered a classic achievement in skateboarding history. Skateboarder magazine brought together all of the video’s members for a reunion article that celebrated twenty years since the video’s release, while Gonzales has since been named the most influential skateboarder of all time by the Transworld Skateboarding magazine. Professional skateboarder, Paul Rodriguez explained in 2003 that he first saw Video Days in 1999 to better understand why his generation skated the way it did and also because the video inspired him to skateboard. Following Blind, Mariano joined the Girl Skateboards team and appeared in the video Mouse (1996). Since joining the Girl team, Mariano has appeared in every major Girl video production since the company’s inception.

Following a hiatus related to illicit drug use, Mariano returned to professional skateboarding in 2005. Mariano contributed a part in Lakai Limited Footwear’s skateboarding video Fully Flared and won the “Best Street”, “Best Video Part”, and “Readers Choice” awards at the 2008 awards event that is presented annually by the Transworld Skateboarding magazine—the video itself won the “Best Video”award. Mariano did not present a pre-written speech after receiving any of the awards and was quoted as stating, “I’m older than most of you so I’m going to cry.” after his “Best Street” accolade and “I love everybody! I love skateboarding” following the announcement of the “Best Video Part” decision.

In 2012, Mariano appeared in Pretty Sweet, a collaborative video between the Girl and Chocolate brands, and received the closing video part, a symbol of a video part’s excellence (often referred to as the video’s “ender”). Initially, Mariano was merely going to be featured in a montage section, but after he was encouraged by the video’s filmer, Ty Evans, to “focus more” on his “stuff”, Mariano eventually assembled enough footage for a full video part that features a number of tricks that were filmed in China. Mariano revealed in a 2012 interview that the filming process for the video was very physically intensive and “ice baths, massage therapy and chiropractic adjustments” were factors in the completion of the part. Following his Pretty Sweet video part, a level of anticipation developed in regard to the awarding of the Skater of the Year (SOTY) trophy to Mariano by Thrasher magazine and Gary Rogers, from the Internet show, Skateline, was a significant contributor to this momentum—the award was eventually given to David González. Despite not winning, Guy is still one of the most popular skaters today. 

Guy has continued his path as one of the most technical and influential skaters on the planet. He is continuing that reign with a new promo from Dickies that is eluding to a new video part coming soon!! We can’t wait Guy!!!!