Jay Adams: Skateboarding Legend, Gangster, Disciple

As one of the leaders in skateboarding’s pool riding and vertical revolution, Dogtown’s favorite son, Jay Adams became a worldwide legend. But he never cared about that; his goal as a surfer and a skateboarder was simply to have fun. Jay is portrayed as a leader in the world of skateboarding through Stacy Peralta’s award-winning documentary, “Dogtown and Z-Boys“ and the subsequent feature film, “Lords of Dogtown.“ After the death of his mother and grandmother, along with the murder of his brother, Jay, according to Zephyr team captain, Skip Engblom, had no other tools to cope except for using drugs and getting violent. The combined trauma from tragic events contributed to Jay’s years long struggle with violence and heroin addiction, something that culminated with several years in prison. Once he became clean and sober, Jay began spreading the word about his conversion to Christianity and his turning away from drugs, alcohol and inflicting pain on others. At 53 years old, while on a surf trip to the treacherous waves of Puerto Escondido (AKA The Mexican Pipeline) in August 2014, Adams surfed like a gifted teenager. Later in the trip, however, he suffered a heart attack and died. He is remembered worldwide as a gifted surfer, and skateboarder, an inventive pioneer who, along with Tony Alva and Stacy Peralta helped make vertical skateboarding and pool riding popular. Jay was regularly featured in such magazines as Thrasher. He is in the Skateboarding Hall of Fame and is widely considered to be one of the most influential skateboarders of all time. ================================================================================= As the creator of all the content on my channel, our purpose is to prevent addiction, and violence and inspire hope for change. Hi, I’m Chris Ahrens. I created the GodnGangsters YouTube channel to offer hope to those struggling with negative behaviors. As we all spent more time at home during Covid, this channel was my “pivot” from being a full-time author and writer to a YouTube content creator. If it weren’t for Covid, this channel wouldn’t exist. Thanks YouTube! GodnGangsters is an educational channel dedicated to creating engaging content with a clear AntiDrug, AntiViolence, and AntiGang message. We make content powerful enough that many viewers subscribe, because they don’t want to miss a single video. Please feel free to leave comments about how our videos affect you. I respond personally to all comments here on my GodnGangsters channel. Thanks for watching and sharing our mission. =============================================================================== #GodnGangsters #Skateboarding #Surfing #JayAdams Founder: Chris Ahrens Interview Conducted By: Chris Ahrens Narration By: Chris Ahrens Video Editing By: Chris Ahrens