Mid-Eastern Skateboard Series

MESS #1, June 11, 1983, Squid Ramp, Fairborn, OH

From Skate Attack #9, by Marty Jimenez (part of a MESS '83 retrospective)
After weeks in the planning, the time had come for the opening contest of the first ever Mid-Eastern Skateboard Series. Now remember, this spectacle was completely thought up, organized, and run by us, the skaters. All of us skaters involved helped push our sport a giant step forward, and although we did have some ups and downs, in the end we prevailed and had a hell of a good time.

MESS #1: After a full day of practice at the Squid Ramp on Friday, things seemed to be fine for the next day's activities, but that was to change drastically. Saturday morning came and all of us guys scraped our bodies off the floor and headed for the ramp. A little later we had the contest underway but the rain came and it prevented us from going on. That night a bunch of us went to Columbus to see a gig. Being that we were skaters, we did not have to pay. Once inside we had our way also. The rain lasted through Sunday, so this event had to be postponed.

MESS #1: This time around, good ol' Mother Nature came through with plenty of sunshine. We had another good turn out, so with the sun a-blazing it was time to put all our time and effort to work. Mr. Ray Underhill and Mr. Doug Walker skated very good, good enough to eliminate everybody in their prospective divisions and thus a first place for each. Ray guy wasn't content with 1st place in the sponsored division, so he decided to outfly everyone in the highest air event. Finally, it was over and all of us felt relieved. We were doubly so when Momma Hill flowed the Joes and other tasty critters. With our bellies full and our bodies bruised, we slowly disbanded to our homes for that much needed recovery time. Wow, it was great. I could hardly wait for the next one. Or could I?

Excerpt from The Monthly Shredder #9, by Bryan Ridgeway
MESS #1 Again
June 9: It was a Thursday night and I had no idea how I was going to get to Dayton for the MESS contest since the wimps here in Huntington doned out on me with plenty of unexcusable excuses.

12:34 a.m. My dad enters my room and states, "Well, go check the oil. And get you some gas tonight too." I was so stoked that he gave up his ride to me for a full-on weekend. I got back to the house at 2 a.m.

Friday: I got up at 5 a.m. to go to work. I only went half a day so I would get to Hill's ramp during the day. Three-and-a-half hours later, I drove past three of the Tennessee skaters who were standing in the street. I kept on going just to see if they noticed who was driving. When I returned, they said they thought it was the Ridge. We all went to the ramp to find the Indiana ensemble blazing full force. There was something different from the last time I was there. It was totally blue sky, which we would have for the next few days. No rain out this time.

By nightfall, most of the skaters had arrived and were skating to get some practice. It wasn't long before everyone decided that Brett Martin's house was the pad to stay since his folks were gone for the entire weekend. We stopped and got some beer…

The night drug on for quite a while until Lyle Donoho did his bug zapper imitation. Brrrrrrenchchc!!! He had it wired. After all the excitement, most opted for bed or the trek to someone else's house.

Sat. morning: Brett's sister entered the room and I pretended I was asleep. She had a few bags of doughnuts for our breakfast. When she left, I dove for the coffee table to sample a few. I got a little carried away after my first six. The others started stirring around so I crashed out on the floor not saying a word until I heard the first yawn. I then pretended I was just waking up also. I was clueless to the max. Everyone was up in no time but no one had spotted the bags. Well, I had to scam some more of the thangs, so I just said, "Oh! What do we have here—donuts?" We then engulfed the rest. I think I had a dozen total.

Results

Sponsored:
1. Ray Underhill
2. Mike Hill
3. Bob Pribble
4. Marty Jimenez
5. Brett Martin

Unsponsored:
1. Doug Walker
2. Britt Parrott
3. Mike Bennett
4. Kevin Dickmann
5. Jay Cabler
6. Chip Jones
7. Jon Kulp
8. Brian Beauchene
9. Lyle Donoho
10. Steve Gee
11. Joe Bowers
12. Mike Taber
13. Bryan Ridgeway
14. Jeff Austin