biography:

Rick McCrank is a hard-charging skateboarder of the highest caliber. He’s a lightning fast projectile on wheels, a total demo and contest master, an attacker of all terrain and an all-around seeker of fun, laughs and good times.

Rick is a very busy guy these days, juggling time for numerous activities. He owns Momentum Wheels, co-owns a skate shop / art gallery called Anti-Social in Vancouver, and, most importantly, loves raising his young daughter, Kalea. During leisure hours, Rick enjoys eating vegetarian food, as well as occasional surfing, snowboarding and golfing: “I think there’s a lot of stupid stuff in snowboarding, but it’s still super fun to be up in the mountains with your friends jumpin’ off stuff,” Rick told TransWorld Skateboarding in September 2000.

You Don’t Say: Rick has had many nicknames bestowed upon him over the years, including: Crankers, Cranky, McKrills and Rex McDonald. Don’t forget them.

Rick started skating in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (100 miles West of Montreal) at age 11 back in 1987. After the usual formative driveway and sidewalk sessions common to us all, Rick began flicking high ollies off of little jump ramps, which were all the rage at the time. Noticing Rick’s extremely worn down boards and budding abilities, a local shop called SK8 City gave him his first free equipment. Occasional forays into Montreal provided a bigger wealth of street terrain, not to mention the infamous miniature concrete fullpipe / halfpipe with flat bottom.

Rarely viewing any videos or magazines, for the next several years Rick was blissfully ignorant of all skateboarding history, trends, ams, pros and even trick names. The poverty stricken McCrank skated for fun in a pure, unsponsored state, with his decks frequently resembling nose and tail-less logs of severe abuse. The giant clothes era of the early ’90s allowed Rick to finally fit in (at least somewhat, fashion-wise) with his dirt-cheap thrift-store duds, as it was easy enough for him to buy anything eight sizes too large.

The adult world first reared its responsible head in Rick’s life back in those days, when Colin McKay added him to the Plan B roster. A short tenure at Birdhouse followed in the mid ’90s, then a final settling at Girl Skateboards in 1998 and éS Footwear in 1999, where he’s been ever since. Rick has designed four shoes for éS, the McCrank, the McCrank 2, the Anti-Social and the Avers.

You Don’t’ Say: McKrills has won numerous pro events, such as the 1998 Slam City Jam and the 2002 Globe World Cup.

So, look for Rick McCrank in a video, magazine, demo or contest sometime soon, or don’t. He may just appear out of nowhere as a regular skater blazing by you in real life anyway, unseen in a flurry of tech wizardry…or maybe just a slappy.

Buy Rick McCrank’s Avers shoe right now at a shop near you.