Jim Fitzpatrick

Jim Fitzpatrick (b. 1948) was inducted into the Skateboarding Hall of Fame in 2022. He began surfing and skateboarding as a young boy growing up in La Jolla, California. In the 1950s he and his friends rode their steel-wheeled skateboards at La Jolla Shores in between sessions in the water on surf mats and balsa wood surfboards. In 1960 his family relocated to Topanga Beach in Malibu, CA, so his father could pursue his career as a producer/director of documentary films. Jim's father's ("Fitz") work began to diversify, and by the mid-60s, in addition to other projects, Fitz had published 'Surfing's Bible,' the "Surfing Guide to Southern California." He also began to produce television segments for the BBC's "Tops of the Pops." These segments featured the USA rock and roll performers popular in England. Working in Hollywood on these productions put young Jim in contact with Otis Redding, The Beach Boys, Gene Clark, Bobby Jo Gentry, The Mamas and Papas, and other recording artists of the time. In 1964 Jim introduced the skateboard to Europe when he arrived with 12 clay-wheeled Makaha Skateboards and two Dave Sweet Surfboards for a two month adventure, pioneering skateboarding and surfing across the continent and to England, Scotland, and Ireland. 25 years later Jim returned to Europe with the "Bones Brigade" as Promotions Manager at Powell Peralta Skateboards. In charge of professional skateboarders including, Tony Hawk, Steve Caballero, Mike McGill, Tommy Guerrero, and Lance Mountain, Jim found himself working alongside Stacy Peralta and Craig Stecyk in video productions that changed skateboarding forever. In those intervening 25 years Jim had married, become a Montessori educator, had three children, and was living in Santa Barbara, California where he and his wife had founded the Santa Barbara Montessori School. While on sabbatical Jim went to work for Powell Peralta Skateboards in the 1980s, reconnecting him with his skateboarding origins, and later setting in motion Jim's founding of skateboarding's non-profit trade association, The International Association of Skateboard Companies (IASC). In the mid-1990s, as IASC's founding executive director Jim successfully lobbied to change California's liability laws, thus establishing the opportunity for public skateboard parks to be built throughout the United States. The result of IASC's successes is more than 4,000 public skateparks in the USA, and even more around the world. Currently, Jim is thankful to be able to advise and volunteer within the skateboarding community to help develop and produce projects for communities and individuals interested in skateboarding.