Not many can honestly claim to be epic in extreme and ESPN but… Mike V can.
Street prodigy
Mike Vallely’s had a long and storied career in skateboarding beginning at a very young age when he was discovered in 1986 by the Powell Peralta team during a demo at Mt. Trashmore in Virginia Beach. Vallely landed on the cover of Thrasher magazine that same year. In the wake of his fast track to skateboarding success, reknowned photographer J. Grant Brittain shot this epic photo of a young Vallely flanked by street skating icons Natas Kaupas and Mark Gonzalespointing to the new generation of progression. (Photo: Grant Brittain)
Man vs skatepark
Through the years, Mike Vallely has gained and maintained fans with his un-daunting ability to put on one helluva demo. Any skatepark, anywhere, anytime, Vallely will quiet the naysayers with an impassioned performance. He’s got tricks for all obstacles even if the park is a certifiable piece of dung like this one. (Marc Falkenstien)
Signature moves
Vallely broke out in skateboarding when street skating was just coming in to its own. Handplants borrowed from vert skating and various jump-ramp moves were incorporated early on and Vallely has carried some of those tricks into his new millennium repertoire. Here Vallely takes a classic airwalk down a modern-sized set of stairs. (Photo: Markus Paulsen/Shazamm/ESPN)
Stone cold stare
Vallely ran the bald-head for some time. In recent years he took on a more hirsute persona embracing long hair and a beard that went well with his side gig as a front man for a few agro rock bands. Longhair or shorn, it’s hard to get past that 10 mile stare. (Photo: SPF/Hawk Tour 2001)
Road warrior
Vallely takes his show on the road travelling and touring the world for large portions of each year. At 40-years-old, Vallely will be on tour this summer yet again for his "Glory Bound Skatepark Tour," which makes 26 stops in under two months time. (Photo:Marc Falkenstien)
Mike V hearts hockey
A longtime fan, sometime participant and recent player of professional hockey, Vallely had a longstanding relationship with the Anaheim Ducks until a scuffle over a hockey stick thrown by former Ducks player Scott Niedermayer meant for Vallely’s daughter ended up in the hands of another fan. The scuffle that ensued forced the Ducks to sever ties with Vallely. Here, Vallely poses for a shot with Ducks forward George Parros in more amicable times. (Photo: Getty Images)
Struck by lightning
Borrowing a page from the book of his idol, Elvis Presley, Vallely has held the lightning bolt as his symbol for some time. Early incarnations of Vallely-centric board companies, including Transit skateboards and Vallely skates, leaned heavily on the lightning bolt imagery for graphic inspiration. With tattoos on each forearm of the lightning bolts, Vallely’s ties to the imagery aren’t going away any time soon. (Photo: Courtesy of BNC PR)
No ifs ands or Blarts
With a memorable look, a built-in cultish-following and a bad boy demeanor, it seems like Vallely was made for Hollywood. Following some early stunt work in the 1989 skate movie, "Gleaming the Cube," Vallely shied from the big screen camera until 2000 when he took a role in fellow pro skater, Steve Berra’s fledgling film "7-Teen Sips." But it wasn’t until last year that the mainstream audience really got a load of Vallely in two speaking rolls in the major motion picture hits, "The Hangover" and "Paul Blart: Mall Cop." Here, he cajoles actor Kevin James portraying Blart at an awards show. (Photo:Getty Images)
