I started riding skateboards in 1975 on the flat as pancake plains of South Dakota on homemade wooden transition ramps with vert. After 8th Grade, my family moved to Nebraska and by 1980, I stopped skating altogether.
Fast forward 30 years, or so… While raising two daughters, a dog and three cats in New Jersey, Mr. Barnhart also owned and operated Mortgage Commitments, Inc. located in New York City from 1995 to 2008 when the firm became another statistic of the global systemic financial crisis of 2007.
Long and complicated story short and simple, Tom’s kids grew up, so he got a dog and when his dog grew old…
in 2009, he got back on board!
According to Tom Barnhart, not much has changed in “his” world of skateboarding except three things:
1. Gravity – Instead of the plains of South Dakota and Nebraska, he and his family now live on huge scary monster hills and skating isn’t the same without gravity!
2. Media and Technology – It’s funny how kids these days don’t know how expensive it was back in the day to take simple photographs as digital images hadn’t been invented yet and video recorders were hard to come by in most circles, anyway. And unless your family owned the local newspaper or national television channel, it was virtually impossible to get your message “out there.” Today, the number of photos are virtually unlimited in super high quality and videos recorded for no more than the cost of a unit and data chip or cloud to store the information and now anybody can be their own media outlet, evidenced by this site!
3. Passion – Everybody has to have a passion in life and it doesn’t matter if it’s religion or purple flowers, we all need something, not to just get us through the day but that actually turns us on and lights us up. In fact, some people believe that the essence of fulfillment is the process of sharing your passion and when somebody gets it, and you each know the other knows, fulfillment is created. Make no mistake about it, Tom Barnhart’s passion is downhill longboarding.
But don’t take our word for it, The New York Times captured and shared his passion http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/10/fashion/skateboarding-past-a-midlife-crisis.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 and a simple google search for “tom barnhart mid life crisis skateboard” will also serve as a testimonial.
As sad is may be, however, the only way to “really” get downhill passion is to get on board! Meanwhile, peruse the site, and we hope you get this guy’s passion!
About
Tom Barnhart
Bergen County Bombers
Better yet, why not let him know you know.
Addicted to Downhill 