Everyone likes an underdog, right? The guy (or more frequently girl these days) who rips but for one reason or another hasn’t caught the public attention yet. Well, here are a few of my favorite underrated skaters for what it’s worth. Feel free to add some of your own.
Dennis Busenitz. Ok, after winning the 2005 Tampa Pro a few months ago he’s probably not what you could call underrated anymore, but up until then I kept watching footage of Busenitz thinking “Man, this guy is incredible” but he didn’t seem to be very popular. What I like about Busenitz, aside from his boyish and friendly demeanor, is that he does everything fast, has good style, puts lots of tricks together back to back regardless of the risk of ruining a line, and he rides pools. For any of you out there who haven’t skated a pool, it’s a lot harder than it looks and Dennis does it especially well. Check out footage of Busenitz at http://www.dlxsf.com
Jess McCraney. You may remember that Jess had an amazing part in 411VM 56. If you don’t know what I’m talking about you’ll just have to watch it. More on Jess McRaney here.
Ronson Lambert. I don’t think this guy will be underrated for long. Check out his tech skills.
Casey Rigney. Did you see Casey’s part in Digital’s recent release Sane? Go watch it. Switch kicklip to switch back lip on a full-sized handrail and plenty of other good stuff, all with a solid stomping style. Plus Casey gives a shout out to Jess in his interview in Slap.
Ronnie Creager. Now that the Blind What If? video is out, I think kids are catching on to who Ronnie Creager is. It’s not that he was ever gone, but he kind of dissappeared for a while. If you want to see how good this guy is then go to watch the DVD extras on the Blind video and watch his indoor and outdoor parts. Some of that footage is vintage early 90′s, and just about all of it would make for a good video part even today.
Jeremy Wray. Jeremy still kills it, but he don’t get no respect. Go watch the very first issue of 411. Jeremy could just use his tricks from back then and he’d still be an amazing skater.
Kanten Russel. This guy did a backside 180 heelflip down the famous San Diego doubles in like ’93 or something. He’s been underrated ever since. He’s never really been properly marketed, unfortunately. Maybe he likes it that way though, who knows. Basically Kanten got sucked into all those San Diego companies that didn’t get much play outside of SD. I can’t even remember who they are now…
Loading ...
dennis busenitz is actually overrated in my humble opinion although i do think hes got skills.
cant say ive heard of jess mc cranye although i read the article and he sounds good.
Ronson lambert along with wade disormo are the two most underrated skaters in the worls right now.
ronnie creager gets respect for what he does.
Knaten russel, yes he is massivly underrated, watch osiris-subject to change
YO Ronson straight up kills it! Give him a cheque…
The most underrated skater ever is Pat Brennen, RIP. Pat was the most technical street skater in 1991. He was like a hybrid of Mullen’s tricks and Vallely’s style. The stuff he was doing in “Celebraty Tropical Fish” for that time was like what PJ Ladd does now.
underated?ronnie bertino,gino perez,&armando barajas…
Brian “slash” Hansen! Ragdoll!
and all the other guys who where on the slaughterhouse video!
most underated is Steve Olson. holy crap he had the sloppiest style and the craziest hair, craziest tricks too. he would kf/ollie anything, and his handrail skating was super tech. No one really knows what happened to him though, i miss that guy