Skateboard star
Marietta resident makes the pages of Rolling Stone magazineBy Kate York, kyork@mariettatimes.com
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Alpha Omega Ramps Pig Bash, 1307 Williamstown Pike, starting at 1 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 16; featuring bands, skating, on-site tattoos, $5 for a "plate o' piggy;"
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» Alpha Omega Ramps and BoardsThere were skateboarders from all over the world at Skatopia in Rutland, Ohio, on a recent summer day, and hundreds of photos snapped at the 88-acre skate park and party spot.
But it's the face of Marietta's Evan Hendershot that made it into the lead, full-page photo on the Skatopia story in the Aug. 7 edition of Rolling Stone magazine.
"I think the facial expression made it," said Hendershot, 21, pictured skating at Skatopia's barn bowl in the shot, and looking pretty intense. "It's surreal, just crazy. There are so many big names up there, and they picked this kid from Marietta."
A new edition of Rolling Stone is hitting newsstands any day now but the issue with Hendershot, which has the Jonas Brothers on the cover, has been impossible to find locally since right after it came out, said Shawn Sorrie, owner of Alpha Omega Ramps and Board Shop in Williamstown, which sponsors Hendershot's skating.
"It's insane that he's in there," Sorrie said. "I hope it will expose him and help him work his way up."
A skateboarder since the age of 12, Hendershot spends at least four hours a day on his board and has been visiting Skatopia, the site of skating, drinking and anarchy, according to the article, for about six years.
"All the people in the pictures are my friends," Hendershot said. "It's a really crazy place - just pure freedom."
Skatopia attracts skateboarders from as far as Japan and Finland, but Hendershot is well known there.
"People can just sit and watch him forever, he's so good," Sorrie said. "A lot of times people come to skate with him and end up just sitting and watching him. He's got such a good style and flow. He just charges it. He's not scared."
Hendershot said he's as passionate about promoting local skateboarding as he is about skating. He's been working with Skaters United for more than five years, raising money to renovate Marietta's skate park at Indian Acres.
"If we actually had somewhere nice to skate, imagine the talent we could get here," he said. "It's not like any other sport."
Hendershot said his family and friends have been "just as speechless as I am" about his magazine photo, part of a six-page spread on Skatopia.
His twin brother Jeremy is also a skateboarder and easily could have been the Rolling Stone star, Hendershot said.
"He was with me that day, but he lost his board and couldn't skate," he said. "I was just in the right place at the right time."
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ladynoogs
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08-08-08 1:33 PM
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awesome.... i'll be sure to try to get that issue.
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byebyeconstitution
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08-08-08 12:57 PM
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Marietta is decent, but we have to get you to Cali. You think Tony Hawk practiced the 900 in his backyard half pipe? PS - Do you need a manager?
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MttaOpin
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08-08-08 12:43 PM
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Excellent publicity for Skaters United and a halfway respectable skate park for Mtta. Does his twin brother Jeremy skate equally well? I'd like to see em' skate together!
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