San Leandro, CA – Skate Industry News: Tyshawn Jones Wins Skater Of The Year

Born in Manhattan, New York, Tyshawn Jones grew up splitting his childhood between New Jersey and The Bronx, New York. After playing S.k.a.t.e. with his brother and uncle at the age of 10, Jones was introduced to the world of skateboarding and purchased his first skateboard from Target. Although Jones’ older brother (Brian Jones) eventually quit skateboarding, Tyshawn remained persistent without letting failures discourage him. After moving back to the Bronx from New Jersey Jones focused on skating more due to a lack of friends. Encountering skaters that were better gave Jones a competitive drive which pushed Jones to become better. Jones was a fan of Lizard King in his early days and part of a photo op featuring Lizard King followed by “thousands” of other skaters. Jones watched skate footage growing up:

“I used to go home from school and watch Andrew Reynolds’ Baker 3 part. I would just rewind his frontside flip over the Hollywood 16 rail over and over and over. Brian Herman, Antwuan Dixon… I’ve never even seen Baker 3 all the way through, I’d just watch the parts.”

After being exposed to the idea of sponsorship Jones worked on getting clips of himself skating in New York City, he saw this as an opportunity to cut cost of skateboarding equipment and wasn’t so concerned about exposure. Initially Jones was under a flow sponsorship for Toy Machine. Jones first met Jason Dill (founder and CEO of Fucking Awesome) in 2011 in New York City. Dill was impressed by Jones’ skating ability which evolved into Jones getting sponsored and going pro under Fucking Awesome. Jones’ ability and style caught the eye of Supreme, which lead him to appear in several clips for the brand and eventually the store’s 2014 video, cherry by Strobeck. Jones’ passion and post-trick-hype punctuated his unique style. Following the cherry video, Jones co-founded his own hardware/apparel company, Hardies, with teammate Na-Kel Smith. Also in 2014, Jones signed with Adidas. He made his debut solo skate video part on Adidas’ full-length team video, Away Days. Jones’ first signature colorway with Adidas which came out in 2017.

In 2018, at the age of 19, Jones released one of the “most talk about parts of the year” in Supreme’s video “BLESSED”. Jones’ part opens with a switch flip into the fountain at Washington Square Park and earned him a 2018 Skater of the Year award from Thrasher magazine, awarded to him by then editor-in-chief Jake Phelps. He was also on the cover of the January 2019 issue.

In 2022, Jones left Fucking Awesome to start his own company, King Skateboards. Running multiple businesses such as the “Taste So Good” Caribbean restaurant, Hardies hardware, Brick Underneath underwear, and new board brand King, Jones ceaselessly showcased his multitasking skills while still keeping skateboarding very much in the forefront. 

Jones’ skating has too many NBDs this year, especially the backside flip gap over the subway train tracks to be denied. Amazing video parts, crushing spots and killing the game in general, Tyshawn has again won Thrasher’s skater of the year award for 2022!! Congrats Tyshawn on joining the ranks of only 2 other iconic legends (Chris Cole & Danny Way) to be named SOTY twice!!!