Phil Shao (December 28, 1973 - August 23, 1998) was a goofy-footed professional skateboarder and journalist from

Redwood City, California Redwood City is a city on the San Francisco Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay Area of Northern California, approximately south of San Francisco and northwest of San Jose, California, San Jose. The city's population was 84,292 accor ...

. Before his death, Shao was to be the next editor-in-chief of

Thrasher Thrashers are a New World group of passerine birds related to mockingbirds and New World catbirds. Like these, they are in the family Mimidae. There are 15 species in one large and 4 monotypic genera. These do not form a clade but are a phe ...

magazine.

Skateboarding career

Shao was featured in many skate magazines including

Thrasher Magazine Thrasher is an American skateboarding media brand founded in January 1981 by Eric Swenson and Fausto Vitello, who also founded Independent Truck Company, and officially launched as a skateboard magazine. Since the 1990s, Thrasher has expanded i ...

, Big Brother Skateboard Magazine, Skateboarder Magazine,

TransWorld Skateboarding ''Transworld Skateboarding'' (''TWS'') is an international magazine on skateboarding that was based in Carlsbad, California, United States. The publication also ran an accompanying website and video production company. In February 2019, the pub ...

. Shao graced the July 1996 cover of

Thrasher magazine Thrasher is an American skateboarding media brand founded in January 1981 by Eric Swenson and Fausto Vitello, who also founded Independent Truck Company, and officially launched as a skateboard magazine. Since the 1990s, Thrasher has expanded i ...

with a smith grind on the top rail at Fort Miley. Shao was known as a master of many different styles of skating including

street A street is a public thoroughfare in a city, town or village, typically lined with Building, buildings on one or both sides. Streets often include pavements (sidewalks), pedestrian crossings, and sometimes amenities like Street light, streetligh ...

and

vert Vert or Verts may refer to: * Vert (heraldry), the colour green in heraldry * Vert (music producer) (born 1972), pseudonym of Adam Butler, an English music producer * Vert (river), in southern France * Vert (sport), a competition in extreme versio ...

Jake Phelps James Kendall "Jake" Phelps (September 24, 1962 – March 14, 2019) was an American skateboarder and magazine editor. Phelps led the magazine ''Thrasher'' as editor-in-chief for 27 years. Early life James Kendall Phelps was born in San Francisc ...

refers to Shao as " Hosoi and the Gonz in one dude." Shao appeared in many skateboarding videos in his career, traveling the world to skateboard. His last video was "Dedications" from Think Skateboards, released shortly before his death.

Skate video A skate video is a movie of or about skateboarding typically showing new Skate tricks, tricks and a series of skateboarders in a Montage (filmmaking), montage set to music. History Released in 1965, the short film ''Skaterdater'' is credited a ...
parts

* 1994 - ''Just Another Day On The Range'' -

Think In their most common sense, the terms thought and thinking refer to cognitive processes that can happen independently of sensory stimulation. Their most paradigmatic forms are judging, reasoning, concept formation, problem solving, and delibe ...

* 1994 - Issue 8 -

411VM ''411 Video Magazine'' (commonly abbreviated as ''411VM'' or ''411'') was a skateboarding video series. 411 was created in 1993 by Josh Friedberg and Steve Douglas. ''411'' released four issues per year, until its last issue, issue 67 was release ...

* 1995 - High 5 -

Etnies Etnies (stylized as etnies) is a French-American footwear brand based in Lake Forest, California, United States, and is owned by Sole Technology, Inc. The company sponsors professional skateboarders and BMX riders, LAB more and releases signa ...

* 1996 - Jim's Ramp Jam - Deluxe * 1996 - Hitting The Streets - Thrasher * 1996 - Damage - Think * 1997 - Yellow - Emerica * 1998 - Portable Flat Bar
1998 - Dedication - Think

Journalism

Thrasher Magazine

In addition to skating, Shao worked at ''Thrasher'' magazine as a copy editor. Shortly before his untimely death, Phil was informed he was to be named Editor of

. After Shao's passing,

stayed on as Editor-in-chief.

Death

On August 23, 1998, Phil Shao died in a car accident in

Arcata, California Arcata (; ; ) is a city adjacent to the Arcata Bay (northern) portion of Humboldt Bay (United States), Humboldt Bay in Humboldt County, California, United States. At the 2010 United States Census, 2020 census, Arcata's population was 18,857. A ...

Phil Shao Memorial Skate Park

In the summer of 2003, Redwood City collaborated with Phil's friends and family to build a skatepark dedicated to Phil called the Phil Shao Memorial Skate Park. The park is a 13,000 square foot skatepark with 5 bowls, rails, and ledges.

Personal life

Shao had an English degree from the University of California at Berkeley.

References

External links

Remembering Phil Shao - ThrasherPhil Shao's "Tribute" Video - 2020
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shao, Phil 1973 births 1998 deaths American skateboarders Sportspeople from the San Francisco Bay Area Road incident deaths in California