Steve Steadham Collectors Items

by adminFebruary 27, 2017

Written by: Peter Köhne

In all my years of skateboarding and following skate culture I had never heard of Steve Steadham, which is surprising because after doing some research I realized he was one of the more influential skaters during the ’80s. Not only was Steve one of maybe three professional African American skaters during that time (other than Ray Barbee or Peanut brown), he also skated alongside other well-known Pros such as Tony Hawk, Mike McGill, Steve Cabbelero, and Lance Mountain to name just a few.

The first time I had heard the name was when we received an email at Longboarding SA from someone who had found some original Steve Steadham Industries decks, trucks, and wheels that had been lying in storage for almost 30 years! After we had discovered what a legend Steve is, we wasted no time in getting these collector’s items to the store where they can be fully appreciated for what they represent in the history of skateboarding.

Steve Steadham grew up in Las Vegas and moved to California in 1981 at the age of 18 where he got sponsored by Powell Peralta in ’82, turned pro in ’84, and was a member of the famous Bones Brigade. Not long after that, he left Powell Peralta since the company wasn’t treating him with the respect he had earned as a professional skateboarder, despite his pro model being the best-seller at the time. He left just before the filming of The Search for Animal Chin. Had he stayed on for that he would have been a lot more famous!

Here’s a Bones Brigade video of Steve shredding a pool with Tony Hawk in 1984.

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After leaving Powell and Peralta, Steve started up his own company with Suregrip (a roller skate company) and named it Steadham Design SGI. The company still exists today under the name Stedmz. They still make boards and wheels with the various Ace of Spades graphics and Rasta colours that is Steve’s signature. Steve was also in a couple of bands during this time “Shredded Steel” and “Citizen X” which he continued to pursue into the early ’90s.

Steve Steadham has an amazing story and I was happy to find out about this skate legend. We hope you enjoy his Story as much as we did. Drop us a comment down below if you have some other info to share about this legend. If you’re interested in owning any of these collector’s decks for yourself, drop an email to info@longboardingsa.co.za with your offer. We’re quite keen to keep them as a piece of history for the store but we’ll let them go for the right price. They’re brand new and still in the shrink wrap from 1988. We also have Rasta 63mm wheels in black and 153mm Invader Trucks.