Via Stacy Peralta, and via Boing Boing pal and skating/hiphop/punk photographer Glen E. Friedman, comes sad news today. American skateboarder Jay Adams, one of the original members of the Zephyr (later nicknamed Z-Boys) skateboarding team, is reported to have died. Friends say he suffered a massive heart attack last night, while traveling in Mexico. He was known as “The Original Seed” of skating as a sport, and known as one of the most influential skaters in history.
Jay Adams at the Venice skate park, Los Angeles, 2011: Glen E. Friedman
horribly sad news, I have lost an old friend and hero to many, certainly one of the most important Skate Boarders of all time JAY ADAMS RIP
— glen E. friedman Ⓥ (@glenefriedman) August 15, 2014
More on Adams’ life here.
Below, one of the iconic photos Friedman shot of Adams, in the mid-1970s when the sport of skateboarding was in its infancy.
