Fortunately during the Dark Side Skates era there were cameras and filmers to capture a lot of the skateboarding and the shenanigans that involved the shop riders, friends of the shop, and the locals/regulars.
The following is all of the footage from the shop computer. Some of it has been seen, some of it has not. Enjoy the small dose of Oklahoma skateboard history.
Chris Kurr
Chris Kurr was well known for his rail chomping abilities. At one point in time he was the unofficial best rail skater in Tulsa. Besides his ability to skate any rail, he was well known for his jock-like competitiveness, tre flips, and was according to himself “a badass golfer.”
Kenny “KJ” Jones
KJ hailed from Sand Springs, OK and let his skating speak for him. He kept to himself most of the time, making his transition into full a yoked bro and motorcycle enthusiast even more shocking.
Edward “Shred” Sednev
The tall lanky Russian was another talented rail skater. Unfortunately Shred suffered a few broken bones that really slowed him down. The combination of injuries, heavy pot smoking, and lackluster motivation robbed Tulsa of a stylish ripper. He now lives in Seattle.
Paul Yeakey
Paul was one of the first original shop riders. His relationship with the shop owner and other riders eventually became sour after a few years for a number of different reasons. I once somehow saw an amateur sex tape of his. And yes, the carpet matched the drapes.
Jason Dowell
I only skated with Jason a handful of times. The only real conversation I remember having with him was when he complimented my girl pants. Before he quit the team he allegedly screwed some shop riders out of a lot of rent money and bounced to Ohio to avoid his debts. Oh, and he has a pentagram tattoo on his ballsack.
Ray Henderson
Ray was another one of the original riders for the shop. He was sort of the transition and park guy of the team. A lot of his skating was cut short due to a bad knee injury in OKC.
Friends
Sometimes other skaters in Tulsa would join in on the Dark Side filming missions. At one point a few Joplin heads even met up to skate (albeit mainly to film with Randy Rush). I do remember one Tulsa skater that goes by the name of a bird saying “Man fuck those Joplin fools. All they care about is how they look. Fuckin’ pirate wannabees.” He kind of had a point.
Locals/Regulars
The locals and regulars were a huge part in what made the shop special. Unfortunately a good majority of them never got to skate street or film with the shop team.
Terry Ferkey
Originally hailing from Minneapolis, Terry brought a more stylish manny and tech kind of skating to the team. He was/is heavily influenced by Mike Carroll and a slew of others from the 90s. His skating was definitely unique and different at a time where everyone was trying to look and skate like Corey Duffel.
Josh Burns
Burns still skates and films a lot. At the time a lot of people thought of him as Matt Allen 2.0. He had salads on lock and wasn’t afraid to jump on some rails.
Shawn Ryan and Zero
Shawn had a pretty deep bag of old school skate tricks that for whatever reason never got documented. But he ripped and gave Oklahoma one of the best skate shops ever. Zero on the other hand was just a dickhead.
Joshua “Ming Ling” Lay
Not a lot to say here. I was a dirty kid who loved kickflips and tight pants. The slam in the alleyway is when I broke both of my wrists at the same time. Enjoy the awkward school project.
Michael “Mike Who” Hendricks
Mike’s generic name often made people go “Who?” whenever he was mentioned. Mike could skate just about anything and could literally crook anything in his path.
Myles Shupe
Myles was easily the best on the team. He had the most sponsors all together, the best kickflip, and was the most looked up to by the different kids at the shop. It’s a shame skateboarding is so damn hard to be successful in.
King of the Rodeo
Dark Side decided to host its own King of the Road contest. It started out strong but ultimately ended up being a failure. A lot of the participants sort of flaked out and a lot of the footage got lost. Bummer.
Seattle/Vancouver
Some of the shop riders took a road trip to Seattle and Vancouver for Myles’ 19th birthday in order to take advantage of the lower drinking age. I think this trip is what kick-started Myles’ drinking career.
Riverside Skatepark
Back in the day Riverside was one of the only skateparks in the Tulsa area. Most week nights were spent at Riverside until the lights shut off. Good times.