Kevin Harris

Kevin Harris (born August 14, 1962) is a professional skateboarder from Vancouver, British Columbia. He specializes in "freestyle" skateboarding. Harris is known for his fluid style, which incorporated complex manual variations with exceptional footwork. Stacy Peralta has called him "the most natural skater I knew." He was most active in competitions during the 1980s but is still involved with the skate scene. He owns and operates Canada's largest skateboard distribution center and continues to perform demonstrations.

Harris was born in Richmond, British Columbia. He began skateboarding at 13 years old and like most skaters of the 1970s, he started on a mass-produced, plastic "banana" board. At first he rode all types of terrain and built what most local skaters agreed on as the best half-pipe in the Vancouver area. Even with a ramp in his backyard, he eventually focused on flatland freestyle.

Harris was first sponsored in 1977 by Nippon Cycles, a Vancouver bike and skate shop. Sponsorship meant more than discounted merchandise—wearing a Nippon team shirt was like walking around with an Olympic medal hanging off your neck. He began skating demonstrations with the "Ripping Squad," a group of Canadian skaters that rode a portable half-pipe painted with the Yin/Yang logo.

By 1979 Harris’ skills caught the eye of Steve Cathey, a professional skater from California. Cathey, who represented the Gordon & Smith skateboard company, offered Harris amateur sponsorship. This was particularly ironic because Harris would eventually crush Cathey's world-record for two-board “daffy” 360s. Cathey managed to rotate almost 400 times while Harris stopped spinning from exhaustion after twenty minutes and 1,032 spins later.

In the early 1980s skateboarding was destitute, viewed as an embarrassing fad by non-participants. The Canadian contest circuit dried up and Harris often drove over 24 hours to California just to remain involved in competitions.

In 1982 Harris competed in the freestyle competition in Del Mar, California as a sponsored amateur. There weren't enough amateur contestants so he skated against the pros and finished in third place. Stacy Peralta, Harris' idol stopped him in the parking lot and asked him to ride for the Bones Brigade, Powell Peralta's skate team. The Brigade quickly became the most dominant team in skateboarding and Harris found himself teammates with Tony Hawk, Lance Mountain, and Rodney Mullen among others.

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