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BUSINESS
WORDS. Michael Aufses PHOTO. Anthony Lalande
Leap Of Faith Skateboarding
Breaking through as a pro basketball player is a little bit like breaking through as a pro skater. Elton Brown, a power forward at the University of Virginia from 2001-05, knows a little bit about both. Having taken his game from the D-League to the Lakers' summer league squad, with stops in Germany, Greece and Israel to date, Brown has now added creating a business to his résumé. But rather than on the hardwood, his company is built from the streets and the half-pipes, on the wheels of some of the best amateur skateboarders in the country.
"I saw what Rob Dyrdek was doing, and I was like, man, that looks like a lot of fun," says Brown, now a 28-year-old center for Barak Netanya in the Israeli Super League.
From a young age, Brown knew basketball would be his ticket to suc- cess, but he never could have imagined that one day he would own a skateboard company. At Warwick High School in Newport News, Va., Brown was a classmate of Michael Vick. And on the court, he quickly became the top-ranked player in the state, receiving offers from Duke and Temple before choosing the hometown Cavaliers.
Brown's tenure at UVA was rocky, to say the least. The talent was definitely there – he scored 1,356 points and left as the 20th best scorer in school history – but whether it was his focus or his mental tough- ness, something was missing. The team struggled to be competitive in the ACC, and the Cavaliers never made an NCAA Tournament ap- pearance while Brown was there.
Over the next five years, Brown put it all together, gaining valu- able experience in each new league he played in. He was a D-League All-Star two years in a row, leading the league in re- bounding during that time, and helped take the Colorado 14ers to two straight D-League Finals. Despite participating in the Lak- ers' training camp prior to the 2007-08 season, and averaging 13.3 points and 10.0 rebounds per game for the Nuggets' summer league squad the next season, the calls never came. Not even a 10-day contract. Next stop, Israel.
"It's a political game," says Brown. "No matter how good you are or what some people may say, it's about who you know and politics. When I went to Europe, it was about whoever was going to help the team win. It didn't matter if you were the 15th man or the lowest paid player on that team, if you can help that team win you're gonna be on the floor. And that's what I respect about Europe so much."
By battling through the D-League and witnessing the gritty European game, Brown began to understand the determination and framework it takes to become a successful skate company: You have to build from the ground up. The whole drive behind Leap of Faith Skate- boarding is to find the country's best amateur skaters, put them
on the map, and take them to the top of the game. Tim Monroe, a journeyman in the skate industry, helped Brown come up with the initial marketing scheme for what would soon become Leap of Faith.
"Basically our approach with doing the whole 'am' style is that it's kind of a tough line in the industry to walk that's pretty unstable right now," says Monroe. "There's too much competition, there are too many companies doing the same thing – only trying to push pros, slamming them down everybody's necks and trying to go mainstream with it. We're trying to walk behind the scenes at the 'am' level, and bring a company up that eventually other pro companies will recruit."
"As you see now with a lot of the rappers and the singers, everybody's into the skateboard trend," adds Brown. "Everything is somehow all connected to skateboarding. You see the way the commercials are now and it was just like, 'Wow, I guess everything that I envi- sioned about skateboarding be- ing a big trend in the world is finally coming to life.'"
By creating a small team of amateur skaters known as the "Dream Team," currently com- prised of Ricky Fox and Alex Quintana, Brown and Monroe are figuring out how to impact the game without having the reputation – or the budget – of big companies like Plan B and Spitfire. And already an estab- lished pro ballplayer, Brown is
still searching for a way to impact the skating game.
"In basketball, some nights you might not be feeling it," says Brown. "Some nights you might not be having a good game, but you've got to be determined to find a way to impact the game somehow. Whether it's just getting a few rebounds, a cheap pick or a charge or something, you've got to be determined to takeover the game."
Now with his team of skaters in place, Brown is confident his leap of faith will pay off.
For more information on Leap of Faith Skateboarding, visit www.lofskateboarding.com.
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