Jay Adams / In Memoriam 1961-2014

Jay Adams had every aspect of what makes a skateboarder great; he was aggressive, he had amazing form and technique, he was fantastically inventive, he was spontaneous and unpredictable to the highest degree, he was incredibly stylish and really knew how to position his body beautifully, and he skated with intense emotion and fury. But the greatest thing about Jay as a skater is that he wasn’t great. He wasn’t great at anything in particular; he wasn’t the greatest pool rider or bank rider or freestyler and that is what was so great about him. Had he been the greatest at any one of these aspects of skating it would have diminished his true gift, which was his purity. Jay was so pure, he might very well be the purest skater we’ve seen to date. I know he was for me and I’ve witnessed so many of the very best. He was absolutely a pure skateboarder. He was skateboarding incarnate. He wasn’t trying to be a skateboarder, he was a skateboarder - 100% inside and out. He was the spiritual and physical embodiment of what a skateboarder is.
He will be terribly missed by all but his spirit and what he was and what he helped create will continue to play out in every kid that ever picks up a skateboard. - Stacy Peralta

Thank you to William Sharp for the images. Thank you to Stacy Peralta for his thoughts. Skate and remember where we come from - Ozzie