User:Lebourdon/John Cardiel

John Cardiel (born December 9, 1973 in San Jose, California) is a professional skateboarder who grew up in Half Moon Bay and Grass Valley, California and currently resides in Sacramento, California.

He started Anti Hero Skateboards on Deluxe Distribution along with Julian Stranger in 1995.

His sponsors are Vans, Anti Hero, Spitfire and Independent Truck Company.

He is widely considered to be one of the greatest and most influential skateboarders of all time.

Accident
In 2003, at the end of a 4 week road trip from Brisbane to Melbourne in Australia to film the skateboard movie Tent City, John Cardiel was hit by a van and run over by its trailer. He injured his spinal cord and wasn't given any chance to ever walk again but after five months of rehabilitation in the hospital and a few months in a wheel chair he was able to regain the use of his legs.

Awards

 * 1992 - Trasher Magazine Skater of the Year