The King of the Road Curse

The King of the Road Curse

I'm not supersticious. I don't believe there's an actual connection between Thrasher Magazine's King of the Road Series and the untimely loss of several skaters and guests that appeared in the show. When I see posts about KOTR, there's often RIP's to some of the more well known participants and hosts like Ben Raemers and Jake Phelps.  I believe this is a complete list of those we've lost. I'm not going to get into the deep details of their passing but I'll link the Wiki/info when appropriate.

but first...

Thrasher's King of the Road is the brain child of now Editor in Chief Michael Burnett. It ran for 14 runs between 2003 and 2017 with some rumours of it returning in 2026. Zero and Birdhouse Skateboard companies are both 3 time winners. KOTR is described as a cross country skateboarding scavenger hunt road trip filled with surprises, cool cities and guest skaters. The winners get the cover of the mag. 

Here, let's have Phelps explain it from the into to the 2010 KOTR

 In 2014, KOTR dropped to 3 teams and production value increased in what I theorize was a pilot for the eventual Viceland run of 3 seasons.  

Unfortunately, as with anything that runs as long and involves so many people, we've lost some wonderful humans.

Jake Phelps - Jake's death in 2019 shocked the skateboarding world. Jake was a larger than life character, a walking encyclopedia of skateboarding.  He was a presence on KOTR, hanging with teams and hosting meetups. Jake was was always willing to take a slam or tell someone to 'get up there and try it again'.

Ben Raemers - Ben's suicide in 2019 was a shock to everyone. The happy Brit from Enjoi was on the second Viceland season where they came in first palce

Preston 'P-Stone' Maigetter - The Thrasher videographer who was on many KOTR's was killed in a motor vehicle collision in 2017.    He was honored in the 2017 Season of KOTR by the REAL skateboards team at Lower Bobs DIY Skatepark.

Shane Cross - Shane was killed in a motorcycle collision in 2007, two years after he was on KOTR with the Flip team.

Joe Hammeke - Thrasher photographer and writer passed in 2021 following a heart attack.  

Jeff Grosso - Grosso was best known for his youtube shorts 'Loveletters to Skateboarding.'  He appeared as a guest skater with the ZERO team in 2004, reportedly a week after a heroin OD.

Mike Davis - Davis was on Birdhouse's 3peat winning team, knocking out some of the most technical tricks in the book. 

Mark 'Monk' Hubbard - Monk, the founder of Grindline Skatepark, Grindline; the Band, Skatepark Builder extraordinaire appeared on the 2015 season of KOTR where he taught the Birdhouse team some of his signature tricks.  GRINDLAND, a doc on Hubbard and Mark Scott ends with a gathering in Hubbards honour.

Gangsta Boo - Lola Chantrell Mitchell, AKA Gangsta Boo of the Three 6 Mafia appeared in the 2016 season where she participated in the 'Do a trick over a twerker' challenge. Lizard King hit a crooks bonk on a board held by Jamie Foy over Gangsta Boo. 

This article sucks

RIP

hug your loved ones

im feeling sensitive today.