Category:
Richest Athletes › Skateboarders
Net Worth:
$140 Million
Birthdate:
May 12, 1968 (56 years old)
Birthplace:
Carlsbad
Gender:
Male
Height:
6 ft 2 in (1.905 m)
Profession:
Skateboarder, Actor, Radio personality, Film Producer, Philanthropist
Nationality:
United States of America
Tony Hawk is an American professional skateboarder and entrepreneur who has a net worth of $140 million. Tony Hawk is by far the most decorated and highest-earning professional skateboarder in history. Outside of earning tens of millions of dollars during his career from endorsements, tournament prizes, appearance fees, and more, Tony has earned an enormous fortune thanks to his eponymous video game, which has generated billions in revenue worldwide. Hawk has been earning massive paychecks for decades. Even as a teenage skate star, he was earning over $100,000 per year between prizes and sponsorships. In high school, Tony made significantly more than his teachers. He bought his family a house when he was a senior in high school.
Tony Hawk was born Anthony Frank Hawk on May 12, 1968, in San Diego, California. He is the son of Nancy and Frank Peter Rupert Hawk, and he has three siblings. Hawk’s introduction to the world of skateboarding came when he was only eight years old, in the form of a used skateboard given to him by his older brother. His parents approved of the activity, as it gave him an outlet for his excessive energy. The “hyperactive” and “gifted” Hawk quickly discovered a knack for skateboarding, getting his first sponsor at age 12 from Dogtown Skateboards and turning professional at the incredibly young age of 14.
At the age of 14, Hawk signed with the Powell Peralta professional team, going on to star in the popular Bones Brigade videos. Though Hawk was always seen as a premier street skater, it was important for him to prove his skills as a “vert” (vertical) skater, which he did throughout the ’80s and ’90s. By the time he was 16, he was considered one of the top skateboarders in the world.
Tony went on to dominate skateboarding competitions, reigning for 12 years in a row as the National Skateboard Association world champion, winning more than 70 competitions over the years. He would also go on to invent many of the moves that are now standard in the sport, including the gymnast plant, the ollie-to-Indy, the Saran wrap, and the frontside 540-rodeo flip.
Hawk’s rise was synonymous with the ascent of skateboarding in the popular consciousness. He traveled the world competing and doing skating demos to raise awareness of the sport. However, during the early ’90s, interest in skateboarding had waned, and times became lean.
With the creation of the Extreme Games (later X Games) in 1995, interest in skateboarding began to increase. Tony has won Gold at 10 X Games, Silver at three, and Bronze at two.
At the X Games in the summer of 1999, Hawk achieved what has become his most famous and legendary feat: Becoming the first skateboarder to ever successfully land a 900, which refers to the 900 degrees that the skateboarder revolves while in the air on a skateboard. It took him 11 tries, but he finally did it, claiming afterward, “This is the best day of my life.” More than 12 years later, Tony was still able to land his signature trick, giving inspiration to people both inside and outside the world of skateboarding.
After completing the trip, Hawk decided to retire from competitive skating, though he has remained an active presence. In 2009, he became the first person to gain official approval to skateboard on the grounds of the White House, having been invited to a Father’s Day celebration by then-president Barack Obama. That year he was also inducted into the Skateboarding Hall of Fame in its first-ever ceremony. Hawk was named by “Transworld Skateboarding Magazine” as the second most influential skateboarding in the world, behind Mark Gonzales, in December 2011.
In July 2021, Tony briefly came out of his competitive retirement to participate in the X Games’ Vert Best Trick event and finished fourth out of nine competitors.
Tony’s net worth shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, given the large amount of products that bear his name. Even when skateboarding was not as popular, Hawk continued to gain success, starting the skateboarding company Birdhouse, which produced boards and accessories, as well as a distribution company for skateboarding products called Blitz. Hawk Clothing was launched in 1998, developing skating clothes for children.
In 1998, Hawk signed a deal with Activision for the video game series “Tony Hawk Pro Skater.” The game series released 18 different titles, reaching massive popularity. To date, the series has made more than $1.4 billion, making it one of the most successful video game series of all time.
In 2002, Tony started “Boom Boom HuckJam,” a traveling sports show that was part live concert and part sporting event. The tour combined popular musical acts as well as performances among up-and-coming vert skaters and BMX riders.
Hawk has appeared in many movies and TV series, including “XXX,” the entire “Jackass” movie franchise, “The Simpsons,” “The Masked Singer,” “Sharknado 5: Global Swarming,” and Nickelodeon’s “The Really Loud House.”
Tony is an investor in over a dozen ventures, including Birdhouse Skateboards, Hawk Clothing, and a production company called 900 Films. Birdhouse is one of the most popular skateboard companies in the world today.
He was one of a handful of early investors in Blue Bottle Coffee, which was acquired by Nestle in 2017 for $500 million.
Hawk has always been eager to give back and give more people the opportunity to skate. In 2002, he created the Tony Hawk Foundation in an effort to combat the lack of safe and legal skateparks in the United States. The foundation has awarded over $5.8 million and has contributed to more than 596 skatepark projects across the country. The Tony Hawk Foundation changed its name to The Skatepark Project in 2020.
The foundation even received the Robert Wood Johnson Sports Award in 2015. This award honors its recipients for innovative and influential approaches in using sports to aid local communities.
Hawk was also a co-founder of Athletes for Hope, which hopes to inspire athletes to volunteer in their communities and support their programs that can really make a change.
In 2023, Tony auctioned off a signed photograph of himself and Rick Thorne, with 50% of proceeds going to the Tyre Nichols Memorial Fund. He plans to build a skatepark in Nichols’ honor.
Hawk and Cindy Dunbar began dating in high school and were married in April 1990. They had a son together, Riley Hawk, in 1992. Riley followed in his father’s footsteps and is also a skateboarder–he is sponsored by Lakai Limited Footwear and Baker Skateboards. Hawk and Dunbar divorced in 1994. Tony and Erin Lee were married from 1996 to 2004. The couple had two sons, Spencer (b. 1999) and Keegan (b. 2001). Hawk and Lhotse Merriam were married from 2006 to 2011. They share one daughter, Kadence Clover Hawk, born in 2008. Tony married Cathy Goodman on June 27, 2015, in Ireland. Hawk and his family reside in Encinitas, California.
In August 2016, it was reported that Tony purchased a century-old house in Detroit. His wife, Cathy, is originally from Detroit. The building was once a single-family home before it was used as a hospital and then converted into apartments.
