by Hayun Park

Widely known as the Editor in Chief of the popular skateboarding magazine Thrasher, Jake Phelps was an influential skater who died on March 14, 2019 at the age of 56. He was the Editor in Chief for 26 years and chose the Skater of the Year since 1993.

Jake Phelps was revered as a grounded and insightful person while also being down to skate with the professionals. He would host the King of The Road’s and do just as gnarly things with the other contestants. Even though he was a huge public figure for Thrasher he was a skater at heart and that’s all he wanted to do.

News broke about his death in an Instagram post from Thrasher’s account. The post was a goodbye to Phelps and how he will be missed by the skateboarding community. It did not say how he died and all the comments were people shocked about the news. No one was expecting this.

Days after the announcement many pro skateboarders like Chris Cole, Jamie Foy, and Ishod Wair mourned his death and shared their best memories with Jake Phelps.

There’s no argument that skateboarding won’t be the same without Phelps. He shaped skateboarding culture into what it is today. He brought skaters together and  gave talented skaters the limelight they deserved. He will missed.