A student skateboarder in the 1980s [Photo courtesy of USF Special Collections]
By Paul Guzzo, University Communications and Marketing
In 1965, University of South Florida students made a bold declaration to a local newspaper: They invented skateboarding.
The claim isn’t true, but USF’s impact on Tampa Bay skateboarding is undeniable. Students embedded skateboarding into the area’s cultural DNA, designed the region’s first nationally known skatepark and helped the public recognize the sport’s historical value.
June 21 is Go Skateboarding Day, a global celebration of the sport. But in Tampa Bay, skateboarding thrives year-round, thanks to USF.
“Tampa Bay is known as one of the major skate centers in the country,” said Ted Barrow, a California-based skateboarding historian whose This Old Ledge video series explores the architectural and cultural history of famous skate spots for the four-decade-old Thrasher Magazine.
Tampa Bay Rays first baseman Yandy Diaz shows off the skateboarding-inspired uniform
[Photo courtesy of Tampa Bay Rays]
The area boasts pro skateboarders, the renowned Skatepark of Tampa—home to the prestigious Tampa Pro and Tampa Am competitions—and the internationally known nonprofit Boards for Bros, which donates skate gear to underserved communities worldwide.
Even the Tampa Bay Rays have embraced the culture with skateboard-themed game uniforms with bold, graffiti-inspired designs and a logo that mimics skateboard deck graphics.
“Skateboarding is an important part of our modern history,” said Rodney Kite-Powell, a Tampa Bay History Center historian who earned a master’s degree in U.S. history from USF in 2003. “It’s an incredibly important part of our social fabric.”
USF was there from the start.
USF student Luke Pair skateboards on campus [Photo by Andres Faza, University Communications and Marketing]
Skateboarding roots
Historians typically trace skateboarding to California as a surfing alternative for when waves were flat.
But there is no definitive proof of that, Barrow said. “There’s evidence that people were doing it in places like New York City and Chicago that didn't have waves or a surf culture.”
Is there any chance it began at USF?
No, said Andy Huse, curator for Florida Studies at the USF Tampa Library that has an archive of historic USF skateboarding photographs. “Skateboarding originated long before USF opened its doors.”
But, in 1962, newspapers reported that skateboarding had recently arrived in Tampa via USF students, specifically crediting sophomore and Jacksonville resident Harry Dickinson with introducing it to the campus.
“Dickinson, an avid surfboard enthusiast, found the roller-skating version a healthy pastime and a good way to stay in shape for regular surfboarding,” the Tampa Tribune wrote on Nov. 23, 1962.
Frank Meiners holds an old photo of him skateboarding on USF campus [Photo courtesy of Frank Meiners]
Frank Meiners skateboarding on the USF campus in 1962 [Photo courtesy of Frank Meiners]
Just days later, the Tampa Tribune published what appears to be Tampa’s first publicly shared photo of someone riding a skateboard: Frank Meiners, then president of the USF Student Association.
“I wasn’t very good,” Meiners, now a retired lobbyist living part-time in Florida and Colorado. “It wasn’t even my skateboard, so it’s funny the first photo distinction would go to me. There weren’t many who owned one. Maybe 5% of the students did.”
Still, those few early adopters began organizing contests modeled after downhill skiing, the Tampa Tribune reported. The fastest to the bottom of a hill won.
A student skateboarder races downhill in the 1960s [Photo courtesy of USF Special Collections]
Skateboarding began to receive mainstream recognition by the mid-1960s. Life Magazine covered the craze in 1964 and credited university students in California with inventing it. That’s the article that angered USF students, causing them to reach out to Tampa Tribune reporters for erroneous credit.
“I don’t think they meant to lie,” USF library curator Huse said. “They probably believed it. This was before the internet, so it was hard to know what was going on everywhere else.”
Campus skateboarding continued to trend and evolve.
“In 1975, USF students held contests that included tricks,” Huse said. “The winner performed a handstand on a burning board.”
That same year, a USF student conceptualized what would become a historic city skatepark.
Bro Bowl designer Joel Jackson celebrated by skateboarders at the famed skatepark in 2013 [Photo courtesy of Joel Jackson]
The Bro Bowl
Joel Jackson was earning a master’s degree in urban planning from USF while working as a parks and recreation planner for the city of Tampa. Inspired by kids skating dangerously on a Sulphur Springs hill, Jackson proposed creating a safer space.
“I wanted to design something special for the city,” Jackson said.
So, he designed a 6,500-square-foot skatepark with ramps and bowls that mimicked ocean waves. And unlike other skateparks from that era that charged for entry, its city ownership meant no admission fee.
A USF student skates the original Bro Bowl in 1984 [Photo courtesy of USF Special Collections]
The modern day Bro Bowl [Photo by Paul Guzzo, University Communications and Marketing]
In 1978, the city opened Jackson’s skateboarding facility as part of downtown Tampa’s Perry Harvey Sr. Park. Skateboarders named it the “Bro Bowl,” though no one seems to recall why.
It was the first public skatepark in Florida.
“I’d drive by and was amazed to see so many kids skateboarding,” said Jackson, who never skateboarded himself. “It was popular.”
A Tampa Bay History Center exhibit on skateboarding [Photo courtesy of Tampa Bay History Center]
The park became a hangout for local skaters and a destination for top talent nationwide. Its fame soared in 2003 after being featured in Tony Hawk’s Underground skateboarding video game.
“Any spot in a Tony Hawk game is iconic,” skateboard historian Barrow said. “Most skateboarders know about the Bro Bowl.”
In 2013, the Bro Bowl made history again—becoming the first skatepark added to the National Register of Historic Places. Shannon Bruffett, a USF undergrad at the time and avid skateboarder who later earned a doctoral degree in modern U.S. history from the university, led that push.
Just a year later, the Bro Bowl faced demolition as part of Perry Harvy Sr. Park’s redesign. Once again, members of the USF community stepped in. Before demolition, faculty 3D-scanned the skatepark. The scans were then used to reconstruct a near-replica in 2016 at the new Perry Harvey Sr. Park.
To further memorialize the original, USF alumnus Kite-Powell helped the Tampa Bay History Center acquire three of its concrete sections. One is now displayed at the Tampa History Center. The others are in storage.
Today’s campus
[Photo courtesy of UFS Skating Club]
While today’s students cruising campus on skateboards may not know the full history, they feel the connection.
“The university is very pro-skateboarding,” said Luke Pair, a mechanical engineering major who repairs bikes and skateboards at USF Campus Recreation’s Outdoor Resource Center. “So, it makes sense that’s always been the case.”
Pair, who graduates in spring, hopes to build and repair mountain bikes professionally—but skateboarding will always remind him of USF.
“If it’s been a part of USF since the beginning,” he said. “It should always be a part of it.”
The USF Police Department provides free helmets to students. While the campus is skateboard-friendly, they urge students to take their safety and the safety of others into consideration and to respect campus property.