GRACKLE SKATEBOARDS
‘We might come off like we have attitude, but we’ll share the Barbeque.’
Blue Wilson
Grackle Skateboards
March 2025
Can you tell us something about Texas that no one knows?
One would have to know to answer that question, right? I bet there are more Texas state flags flying here than other states flying their flags. Texas pride is real, Texas is the reason.
You hear about Texas pride all the time. Where does it come from? What does it mean?
Maybe because Texans fought for Independence from Mexico, or because people from everywhere came to a hard country to fight for a different kind of freedom. It’s in our blood. We might come off like we have attitude, but we’ll share the Barbeque.
You started skating in the 80ies and just recently started your own board company. What happened in between?
I started skating in 1983, like many other folks I saw the cool kids having a blast and rushed down to Walmart and bought a Nash Executioner. I was a kooky scrawny kid trying to learn on a crappy skateboard. Later I found a ski shop that sold good stuff and the first real skateboard I bought was a Caballero Flare tail. It was on sale and was the oldest deck in the shop.
Skating for me was finding a place to fit in, to be able to have friends that accepted me and most of all was about having fun. We skated Vert ramps, pools, ditches and whatever else we could find. I met a lot of people I still call friends. We had a few local legends, Tommy Koesel and Scott Moser. Both had been in Thrasher Magazine and were a huge influence to the local scene. We’re from East Texas (North East really), Lots of Pine trees. Mini ramps became a big thing. We probably had them in a dozen backyards in our little city at one time. We had to build stuff to skate. A friend came to me and said he got us a job building a skatepark. I asked him “why are you asking me? I’ve only ever built a little launch ramp”, he was like ”Yeah, but it was a good launch ramp!” See some rich guy opened a go-kart track, with batting cages, video games, pool tables and wanted a skatepark. So, my friend Duke Biggs and I built a huge 11 ft tall vert ramp, a 9 ft tall mini spine with a rollover, a concrete carving corner and some quarters, box and handrail. It was the first skatepark in the city. He hired us to run a skate shop and take money at the gate. We were only 19 years old. It was fun but we had no idea what we were doing.
I skated every day for a long time, but slowly started losing friends to skate with. Some were killed, some to drugs, some went to prison. I hurt myself when I was 32 and was on crutches for 12 weeks. I stopped skating for years, but I still would hear the sound of polyurethane wheels rolling on concrete in my dreams. We were in the covid shutdowns when I started skating with my kids. I started shaping boards that were what I liked in the 80’s at first. That’s how we got started with Grackle. We have been sponsoring events, building ramps, been in parades, making custom decks, making art, silk screening t shirts, collabs with other brands and just trying to have fun and get involved with doing something. Life is too short to sit around and whine about nothing happening.
‘I wish I could say skateboarders are all on the same side.’
Thanks to Covid you started skating again after an almost two-decade long hiatus?
After getting hurt, it jeopardized me supporting my wife and three kids. Life is too short, guess the Covid shutdown helped break a cycle of fear. That’s what happened.
‘Some were killed, some to drugs, some went to prison.’ You must be the lucky one. Were you living in the wrong part of town or was this common situation across the state?
Look, it might be a generational thing. It wasn’t just Texas. A lot of people drawn to skateboarding were untamed, wild and that was fun. A lot of the guys just started pushing in the wrong direction. Sometimes there are consequences for their choices, sometimes they were just hanging with others making bad choices. I loved my old friends and still do.
Which city would you consider the skate capital of Texas?
There isn’t one. The larger cities definitely have larger older scenes. Austin, Houston, Dallas/Ft Worth all have good skate scenes each with their own vibe.
Which part of Texas are you representing and what is the local skate scene like?
East Texas, Longview/Tyler area. We have a rich history, but the scene here has grown and disappeared many times since the 80’s. We are trying to grow the community now with events, supporting local shops, building ramps, supporting skaters, filmers, photographers, music and artists. Some friends have started a skate club at a local junior high. Several people have built private concrete parks, and Lou Statman from the area is going to Rome with the US team for slalom.
Is there some rivalry going on between the different cities?
I wish I could say skateboarders are all on the same side.
And the reality is?
It’s simple. Some skaters work with each other, some run each other down. Some Skate shops do the same. Some Brands the same. I think we’re better together. We have enough obstacles against skateboarding. If we all were pointing in the same direction and had the same goal, we couldn’t be stopped. It is what it is though, and it’s a damn shame.
What is the Texas skate community most proud of?
My generation probably would say Jeff Phillips, The Big Boys, and Zorlac. I would say there is a Texas style of skating, that is different than other places. That’s what I’m most proud of. The type of skaters we produce.
‘Life is too short to sit around and whine about nothing happening.’
Can you describe the Texas style of skating for us?
Okay, the first time I saw Jeff Phillips skate and saw his Power, or seeing Craig Johnson land something hard, high, and fast with his feet barely on the board, or seeing Scott Moser do a board slide on a hand rail a decade before I saw it in a magazine. That is Texas Style to me, just past Gnarly. Even the California guys recognized it. Check out what Queso and Cary talk about in their podcast “Won’t Shut up and Skate”. Maybe you’ll understand.
Who do you consider the godfather of Texas skateboarding?
Too many pieces of that puzzle. A lot of people played important roles. I probably don’t know them all. John Gibson in one way, Jeff Newton in another, but there were influences from guys like William “Boog” Cram and Al “Grindfather” Coker too.
Last Question. If you could interview any person in the world?
I mean, having to do with skate brands it would be Jeff Newton. He created the first Texas skateboard brand during a time when skateparks were being torn down. He had some of the gnarliest skaters and also put on backyard vert contests, and even wrote for Thrasher magazine. It would be interesting for me to hear how everything came to be and how it ended.