Waiting for Lightning Page #3

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when you get punched in the face,

so it didn't alarm me.

I had gone to work.

Danny called me

and said,

"Mom, Damon's eyeballs

are in the back of his head".

And I hurried home,

and Damon was

in full-blown

epileptic seizures.

When we arrived

at Tri-City hospital,

the doctor said,

"Give or take 15 minutes,

we're gonna lose him".

His whole left side

had been paralyzed.

When Damon was

going through that injury,

I just remember Danny just being

really focused on skateboarding.

He was just ripping

harder than ever.

It's almost like he put

all his pain

or whatever he was going through

100% into skateboarding.

Danny was on a mission

to turn pro

for the both of them.

When I first

got introduced to Danny,

it was through

a friend of mine.

He goes, "There's this

little ripper kid

"named Danny Way,

and he should be on Hosoi.

"He's got guts

and he's just crazy.

He just goes for it". And I was

like, "Really? All right".

And then I meet him,

and he's this little blond kid

with braces

and, like, freckles,

and a little guy, and I'm like,

"This kid's crazy?"

You know what I mean? Looking at

him, you would never think...

You know, he looked like

Dennis the menace.

Next thing you know, we're

going to this demo in Arizona,

and we go to this hotel,

and he just... boom!

Front-flips off the bed

onto the ground.

I was like,

"This kid's crazy.

What can he do

on a skateboard?"

I was skating some miniramp

by myself or something.

My brother comes up,

and he's like, "Yo!

Danny Way is here!"

I had my idea

of what skateboarding could be

and how far a kid like myself

could take it at that age.

That whole perception

just got shattered on the spot.

When I think of a trick

and I'm sitting at my house,

I come down here

and learn it.

He would

just think about tricks,

and then he would

go out and do them.

Between 11 to 13 was

like a game changer.

I remember seeing Danny doing stuff

that doesn't even have names.

Just a clickety-clack blunt this

to board to shuffle to revert.

I don't think there's

ever been a 13-year-old kid

that would go after

the tricks

and just skating in general

the way Danny did.

I remember realizing

there's something about

the way he's skating

that I'm not gonna be able

to keep up with,

and here I am

in my first couple of years

of being a professional skater,

and I'm thinking,

"I'm done".

Yeah, Danny!

# Had no future #

# Remember youth #

# No pop culture #

There have been

a few people in skateboarding

that have truly been able

to not just spot talent

but allow that talent

to be the best it can be.

Mike saw talent,

but then he also was able

to bring it out of people.

Mike would take kids

under his wings

and help them along.

He could get you to do things

that you didn't want to do.

I mean, he would push you

to get you to go

to another level

that you're not

comfortable with.

But yet he could see it and say,

"Oh, yeah, you can do that".

Mike

was a character.

Big-ass fanny pack

and this ponytail

and his voice...

I can still hear it.

You know how you don't see

somebody forever

and you kind of lose their...

lose their face?

I can hear his voice.

Yeah, John.

Yeah!

I felt really close to Mike

almost from the get go.

Come back

over, Matt.

Yeah, Matt.

He always had my back.

I just felt like

this was different.

This wasn't some guy I was

calling every once in a while,

like, "Hey, man,

I need a sticker".

He was, like, in your grill

every five seconds,

and not in a bad way,

just close to you,

making sure things

were going your way.

Next up, we got

a local boy from Vista.

Yeah, man. Whoo!

Mike really cared

for everybody

and was trying

to make it all work.

Ripped it! That was it, dude.

That was it.

There was

so much new young talent

that was coming along in this

new wave of skateboarding.

We were right

in the middle of it,

and it was being created

right then and there.

Mike and I were talking,

and Mike's like,

"Have you heard

of this kid, Danny Way?"

I go, "Yeah, of course.

Yeah, he rides for Powell".

He's like,

"That kid's phenomenal.

It'd be great

if we had him".

I go, "You're not gonna

take him from Powell".

Powell's the number-one company

at the time.

This became

a challenge for Mike,

you know, just personally,

because Danny was on

and then he was off.

It took us a while.

All of a sudden a contest

comes up in Houston,

Shut Up & Skate,

big, big vert contest

on the metal ramp back there.

Danny was upset

because Powell

wouldn't pay

for him to go there.

And Mike said, "No problem.

I'm gonna have you go there,

but by the time you do,

you're riding for me".

For me to leave Powell

to join a start-up company

was a big deal, but Mike

was the reason why.

Mike just had a...

had a calmness about him,

had a rational disposition

that made Danny comfortable.

He couldn't do

what Danny did,

but he could cultivate

that out of Danny.

Okay, in first place,

you already know this guy.

His name is Danny Way,

got first place

in sponsored AM this morning.

It never occurred to me Danny

was gonna be a pro skater.

I just thought

it was kid's stuff.

I didn't really know

that what was going on

with Danny

was gonna go somewhere.

Mike took Danny

under his wing,

and Danny really liked

being associated with Mike

because he just had

that ability to get you

to want to be involved

in what he was doing

and believe in

what he was doing.

- I'll go like this.

- Wave like that.

- Cut.

- I gotta stop.

- I can't look at Danny...

- Get over something.

Start back.

Get back a little ways.

Get back a little ways.

Back right here.

There you go. Okay, now go in,

now go crazy.

Mike, Tony,

let me in!

Mike obviously understood the

situation with Danny's home life,

and it was an instant

connection between those two

and immediately took on a sort of

father-figure type relationship.

- Hey.

- Hey, Danny, what's up?

I want to get a part

in the video.

Hey, look, man,

video's already done.

It's all done. There's

no more room in it.

Maybe you can be

in the next one.

But if you need

a board or something,

- talk to Tony.

- Watch! Watch this.

Tim wasn't

around that much

after him

and Mary split up.

It was becoming

more difficult to figure out

a way to still be

part of their lives.

And him and Danny,

I think, grew apart.

You need a father,

and so if you don't have one

you're looking for one,

and if there's somebody

that can be that for you,

you grab on.

Mike reassured me

that Danny would go somewhere

in the world

with his skateboarding.

He didn't know

where or what,

but he said, "He's got

a lot of potential,

and I'd like

to see him use it".

Here comes Danny Way.

He is really hot.

This kid is 15 years old.

He's the youngest pro

on the tour.

He took a real bad spill

this morning.

He is doing a lot

of flashy tricks out there.

He hurt himself

in practice,

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