SkateAlabama.com – The Andy Spinosi Award
Named for legendary late 1970s/early 1980s Alabama skater and long time Birmingham radio personality Andy Spinosi, The Andy Spinosi Award is given out each year at the PWB by SkateAlabama.com for the person or group did the most to promote skateboarding in Alabama for the prior year.
2012 Mark Eddings
Mark Eddings is a true ambassador of Alabama skateboarding. He is always spreading the love
at every event and often seen helping younger skaters develope the correct technique.
One of the original crew of 70′s Alabama skaters, Mark was a member of the best team of the
time. The Pipe Dreams shop team. Always a transition skater, Mark also excelled at slalom
and downhill racing, being the Alabama slamon champ for over ten years, in the 70′s and 80′s.
Mark is still very involved in Alabama skateboarding, being a local at Veterans S P, still
competing, and consistently promoting Conspiracy Boards and Wheels. Now in his 50′s,
Mark credits his long skateboard life to his Mom’s support in the early years. The Alabama
skateboard community is truly lucky to have Mark. Thanks bro.
2011 Tom Kinkle
Tom is from Florence, Alabama and has been skateboarding since 1975. A couple of years ago, Tom
was asked by the Mayor of Florence to be his personal advisor on building a new pool at the skatepark.
Tom agreed. He wrote the request for proposals and supervised the bid process. He then worked with the
designer and builder on behalf of the city. Tom turned out a rad right hand kidney with tile and pool coping.
And did it all for free.
Tom is also very knowledgeable on skateboard history. Chris Yandall described Tom as one of the best
skateboard historians out there. Tom hosted Pat Wachter’s Skate Trivia game on skatealabama.com for
several years until losing his sight. But that hasn’t stopped Tom, he still skates. Tom has developed quite
a following of kids that come out to skate the pool with him on Satudays. Stop by.
2010 Jason Green – Green Skateboards
Jason Green of Green Skateboards in Cullman Alabama was given the Spinosi award in 2010. Green Skateboards has hosted a series of small contests throughout the year including the famous Old Guys vs Young Guys contest. Green has also recently begun sponsoring it’s first round of Alabama skaters with signature decks.
2009 Chris Solomon – ArtofSkateboarding.com
In 2009 the Chris Solomon of the artofskateboarding.com was given the Andy Spinosi Award for his continuing support of the Alabama skateboard scene. Chris has personally sponsored dozens of events in Alabama as well as chronicling these events his Art of Skateboarding and Team Ping websites.
2008 Greg Siegfried – Ozark Alabama
The 2008 Spinosi Award was presented to Greg Siegfried of Ozark Alabama. For several years Greg has taken it upon himself to oversee the public skatepark in Ozark. He’s regularly made much-needed repairs and frequent course resets. Also as owner of one of the only two full sized half pipes in the state, Greg’s yearly Ozark Weekend Skate Jam’s have been instrumental in building Alabama’s skate community.
2007 Pat Wachter – Pat Wachter Bowl/Pat Wachter’s Skate Trivia
2007 saw the founding of the Pat Wachter Bowl skateboard contest returning professional skateboarding to Alabama for the first time in more than twenty-eight years. Since Pat Wachter was the first professional skateboarder to come out of Alabama the contest was named for him. In 2007 Pat was honored with the Andy Spinosi Award.
2006 Peter Karvonen – Faith Skate Supply
In 2006 Peter Karvonen of Faith Skate Supply was presented the Spinosi Award for the release of Faith’s second Alabama/Birmingham based skate video Reason to Believe. Reason to Believe was filmed entirely in Alabama featuring Alabama skaters and was ultimately released nationally.
2005 Brian Kelly – Ride skateboards
In 2005 Brian Kelly was given the first Andy Spinosi Award for spearheading the first taxpayer funded concrete skatepark – Veterans Skatepark in Alabaster – in the state of Alabama. Veterans Skatepark features a state of the art skate pool and is the permanent home of the Pat Wachter Bowl.
