Skateboard Hero

Each time an airborne skateboarder spins 360 degrees before landing back on the pavement, one of Steve Caballero’s contributions to popular culture gets replayed. Caballero got his start in 1976 when skateboarding was being reinvented in the parched pools of drought-plagued San Jose. Sponsored by age 15 and turned pro in 1980, he racked up championship titles and aerial ramp records throughout the 1980s, inventing and perfecting the “Caballerial” skateboard trick at Winchester Skate Park in Campbell. A member of several San Jose punk bands, he’s also been a video game character, a Vans shoe promoter and an action figure.