Russ Howell

Russell Wayne Howell is a professional skateboarder, born in September 1949 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, who moved with his family to Long Beach, California when he was nine months old. While working towards his degree in physical education he competed in and won many freestyle skateboarding competitions. He first skated at nine in 1958, entered the United States Air Force at nineteen, and after service earned a two-year mathematics degree at a junior college and a bachelor's degree in physical education at California State University, Long Beach in 1979. Encouraged by students he taught for free, he entered the 1975 Dyno Championships at Huntington Beach Mall, placing first in the men's freestyle event and being judged second-best overall, the first of a string of freestyle wins that included the senior men's freestyle event at the 1975 Bahne and Cadillac contest.