Bucky Lasek sat outside at a park picnic table, looking to Mother Nature to explain skateboarding?s increasing popularity.
“Skateboarding?s like an ever-changing thing,” Baltimore?s skate icon said. “It?s kind of like these trees ? a branch could break off, and a new one sprouts up and goes in a totally different direction.”
He?s an aggressive risk taker on the board, but away from skating, the 35-year-old embodies the laid-back attitude commonly associated with professional extreme athletes. He?s made a long and successful career out of something he loves, more than comfortable being the face of Baltimore?s skateboarding scene.
The native of Dundalk who now lives in California returns home this week to skate in the AST Dew Tour?s Panasonic Open at the Camden Yards Sports Complex, the first of five Dew Tour events across the country this summer. Lasek?s professional resume includes numerous Dew Tour and X Games first-place finishes, but performing in Baltimore with 150 other action sports athletes is really “a dream come true.”
“To make it the way that I?ve made it in skating and to have it showcased in your hometown is like, ?See, I did make it,?” Lasek said during a recent stop in Baltimore to promote the four-day event, beginning Thursday.
Lasek started skating when he was 12 and grew to become one of the best vert (half-pipe) skateboarders in the sport, riding extreme sports increasing appeal in the mid-?90s, appearing on magazine covers and as a characterin Tony Hawk video games.
In 2006, Lasek won the AST Dew Tour vert skateboarding national competition. He came back last year with a second-place finish, largely because an injury prevented him from competing in the Baltimore stop.
“He had a knee injury last year, so I know he wants to do well this year,” said Chris Prybylo, vice president of events for AST.
Baltimore is home to about 6,500 skateboarders, and all look up to Lasek, said Jason Chapman, owner of Charm City Skatepark.
“We all stem from Bucky?s mentality ? you skate everywhere,” Chapman said. “We?re good at everything, which is why the Dew Tour is perfect for Baltimore.”
Skating started as a hobby for Lasek. More than 20 years later, he?s still skating two-to-five hours a day in preparation for demonstrations and events like the Dew Tour.
“It?s what keeps me not looking like the average 35 year old,” Lasek said. “I?m gonna stay with it as long as my body keeps up with it.”
If he wasn?t skating, Lasek said he?d probably be a professional race car driver, something he still has dreams of pursuing. He?s in the process of obtaining a professional driver?s license, but skating and his family ? Lasek is married with three daughters ages 10, 7 and 7 months ? take up the majority of his time.
“If you?re one of the top guys, it really is a 24-hour job,” he said. “But it?s important to be backed by a good family. If you have their blessing, you can conquer anything.”
During his return to Baltimore, Lasek said he?ll spend time with friends and hit up Costas Inn for some crabs.
“It?s like I never left,” Lasek said. “Everything about me is Baltimore. I think I carry the torch well when it comes to representing the city.”
