Thankful For John

Photo by Max Hull

Last year, on the eve of America’s day of thanks, we paid tribute to our dear friend Keith Denley. We realized that this day of gratefulness is not about what parts Keith didn’t film after years of claims, but about friends.

As the year comes to a close, it is important to celebrate those who keep us smiling with their skateboarding and their laughs. This year, we would like to commemorate John Choi, a man kept sane only by the boys and hucking.

Like most things in skateboarding, footage falls short of communicating John’s total brilliance. You have to be there to see him huck, fall in six different ways that would make any other human break their board and go home, land it perfectly, and then decide he might as well try a switch varial flip down a ten stair because he’s already rolling switch on the rollaway and it just so happens to be fifteen feet away.

A few winters ago, at a time of night focused on decadent beverages rather than skateboarding, John found himself with a dilemma: he needed to get home. Uninterested in a $25 Uber, disgusted with the thought of dealing with a late-night J train, and realizing Max Hull was headed the same way, only on a bike, John came up with a solution.

“I’ll just run with you over the bridge,” he told him. We laughed and forgot, knowing that no sane human was going to run to Bed-Stuy at 2 A.M. in the winter.

The next morning, a text arrived. “Did you watch Max Hull’s Insta story?”

On it, was John, diligently jogging uphill behind Max’s bike, under the icy red beams of a February Williamsburg Bridge.

Thanks John. We love you ♥

Edited by Jesse Alba. Filmed by Johnny Wilson, Aaron Chilen, Max Hull, Sean Dahlberg and Jesse Alba.

Previously: Thankful For Keith