Robert Doucet Boyce, known as Sluggo, is a professional skateboarder, snowboarder, break-dancer, gymnast, stuntman, and businessman from

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

Early life

Sluggo was born in

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Gre ...

where he started as a gymnast winning the Western Canadian Championships at age 13.McLaughlin, John P. (May 3, 2001). "Brothers take flight in 'boarding world", ''

The Province ''The Province'' is a daily newspaper published in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format in British Columbia by Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network, alongside the ''Vancouver Sun'' broadsheet newspaper. Together, they ...

'', p. B24. He also did breakdancing and won several competitions and placed 5th in a North American break-dance contest.

Skateboarding career

Boyce began his skateboard career at the age of 16 on the advice of a classmate. A friend of his suggested the name '''Sluggo because of his supposed resemblance to the character in the comic strip '' Nancy''. Sluggo honed his vertical skateboard skills at the Richmond Skate Ranch, owned by Kevin Harris, a local pro skater for

Powell Peralta Powell Peralta is an American skateboard company founded by George Powell and Stacy Peralta in 1978. The company rose to prominence in the 1980s as skateboarding began maturing as a sport. The company featured the Bones Brigade, a team featurin ...

. This is where he would also meet his future crew, best friends, and business partners

Colin McKay Colin McKay (born August 29, 1975) is a Canadian professional Skateboarding, skateboarder who is widely recognized for his involvement with the original Plan B Skateboards "superteam" as well as the subsequent relaunch of the brand in 2005. ...

, and Moses Itkonen. The crew came to be known as the "Red Dragons". Best known for his skateboarding, Sluggo was also the first person to perform a back flip to fakie on a vertical skate ramp. Sluggo shares ownership of a skateboarding distribution company, Centre Distribution, and oversees the day-to-day operations of RDS Skate Supply and Red Dragon Apparel. Sluggo caught the eye of Stacey Peralta, director of the Dog-town documentary, and owner of Powell Peralta Skateboards. Stacey introduced Sluggo to Henry Hester, a skateboard legend from Southern California who ran G&S. Sluggo rode for G&S from 1988 till 1990. Later Sluggo would ride for Real Skateboards owned by Tommy Guererro and

Jim Thiebaud Jim Thiebaud is an American skateboarder. Biography Thiebaud grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and during the 1980s was part of the San Francisco skate scene. Thiebaud not only participated in skateboarding during the early 1980s, but he al ...

from Peralta’s world famous "Bones Brigade". Sluggo turned pro in 1991 and traveled to the World Championships in Munster, Germany and competed for the first time against his childhood heroes Chris Miller,

Tony Hawk Anthony Frank Hawk (born May 12, 1968), nicknamed Birdman, is an American professional skateboarder, entrepreneur, and the owner of the skateboard company Birdhouse. A pioneer of modern vertical skateboarding, Hawk completed the first docume ...

and a long list of highly regarded veteran skaters. Sluggo placed 5th in his first international competition. Sluggo retired from snowboarding professionally in 2000 but continued to skateboard professionally until 2004. He came out of retirement briefly to compete in the Canadian Half-Pipe Championship in March 2005 and won the event.

Snowboarding

In 1992, Sluggo’s brother Dave Boyce introduced him to snowboarding, and he quickly became successful in the sport.

Stunt performer

Sluggo is now a full UBCP union stunt performer working within the Canadian movie industry. He started his stunt career doubling

Dean Cain Dean George Cain ( né Tanaka; born July 31, 1966) is an American actor. From 1993 to 1997, he played Clark Kent / Superman in the TV series '' Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman''. Cain was the host of '' Ripley's Believe It or Not! ...

in a

Wesley Snipes Wesley Trent Snipes (born July 31, 1962) is an American actor and martial artist. In a film career spanning more than thirty years, Snipes has appeared in a variety of genres, such as numerous thrillers, dramatic feature films, and comedies, th ...

production, ''Future Sport''. Sluggo has over 60 TV and feature credits to his name either acting or stunting. His daughter Araya boyce has recently started pursuing an acting career and has already featured in an independent film about girl skaters in the 90s. Boyce was skate coordinator on the NBC TV series '' Sk8''.(December 10, 2001). "Hello, Sluggo", ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', p. C14.

Personal life

Sluggo has two children, Liam and Araya.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyce, Sluggo Businesspeople from British Columbia Canadian skateboarders Canadian male snowboarders Sportspeople from Victoria, British Columbia Living people Year of birth missing (living people)