SK8MAFIA'S Marshall Heath Fulfills the Dream
a slight departure from art crit into skate culture (if, however, briefly)
I first met SK8MAFIA’s Marshall Heath when I was in fifth grade. We went to elementary school together in Burlington, Vermont, the land of Burton Snowboards, Ben & Jerry’s, Phish, and Bernie Sanders. We grew up idolizing pros and ams and the lofty but seemingly unattainable goal of one day becoming pro skaters ourselves. Back then, that was the east coast 90s thing, and it was either that or trying your hand at an art school in New York. It was during the heyday of N64, Tech Decks, PlayStation, Airwalks, Vans, and 1080. It was before the CKY and Big Brother crews blew up the scene into a global vlogging multinational brand and, before skating, transformed from a niche way of life into an international MTV cultural phenomenon with rockstar cachet. Marshall was a year ahead of me, but we used to hang out together after school. Back then, while most of us could barely ollie or balance on an 8.5, Marshall could churn out a switch kickflip or kickflip-50/50 with a shove-it fakie, no problem. It was no big thing.
Several of us made a pact to become pro skaters, myself included, and I remember heading down to southern Vermont to hang with Marshall on a Saturday or Sunday once. I was psyched to see his place. To the eyes of an elementary schooler, it looked fucking gorgeous, like a temple for any as-of-yet uninitiated skater. Barely twelve years old, he had installed a skatepark outside his parent’s place, mini-ramps, grind rails, boxes, and the works. He also had a collection of skate vids and various decks, paraphernalia, shoes, and tech deck equipment. It was super dope and, near as I could tell, the stuff from which legends were sometimes made. I remember we watched the Shorty classic “Fulfill the Dream" well into that afternoon and discussed Peter Smolik’s mind-bogglingly good and ahead-of-its-time performance in the video and our desire to join such a crew one day should we both be so fortunate. At one point, Marshall even gave me an old Shorty’s Smolik deck in exchange for a Moby CD.
Eventually, Marshall and I lost touch with one another, as so often happens, and I moved to Maryland, and Colorado, among other places. I stopped skating regularly after middle school, as did many others. Skating has a way of doing that, of weeding out the pussies and quitters. About ten years later, I was living outside Kansas City, Missouri, working in a kitchen at a local movie theater and restaurant, and I decided to look Marshall up. SHIT! What I had missed! Multiple video parts, sponsorships, skate wins, tournaments, the whole shitbang show. Back then, Marshall was an amateur riding for SK8MAFIA, headed by SK8MAFIA don Peter Smolik himself! No shit! And who else was on the team? Brandon Turner, also from the old Shorty’s crew, the stuff we grew up chilling to and emulating.
A friend told me that Marshall had once beefed pretty severely, so he came to rely on his technical finesse as an athlete and skater more than the big Andrew Reynolds and Jamie Thomas-style go-big or go-home stuff. Marshall was making a path for himself by skating on it, echoing the classically informed style of Rodney Mullen and the mind and board-flipping noodlings of Mike Carroll out in sunny San Diego. Over time his list of sponsors grew to include Paradox Grip, Slappy’s Garage, and Globe Brand, among others here and there. And his video parts did him justice as the precocious skater kid I had befriended nearly fifteen years earlier coming into his right. And yeah, while the rest of us flaked out and did other things, some of it super cool and righteous and some for our betterment, Marshall stayed dedicated and focused. He knew his path from the beginning, and hats off to anyone like him. His super slick style and sleek athleticism shined through with the immortal light of a legit skater’s muse. Today I’m still psyched for my old buddy Marshall, I’m happy for the dude, and I have been since I first saw him win a skate game at our old school in northern Burlington and watching him over the years, -- proudly chronicling his ascent. It’s fantastic, righteous even, to say Marshall’s out there - fulfilling the dream. Much love, bro.
~ alexej