Ryan Sheckler

Ryan Sheckler started rolling on a skateboard in his driveway at 18 months, and by the time he was 4, he could do ollies. At 7, he got a mini-ramp in the backyard and began skating every day.

Once his incredible talents began to take form, so began the travels of Ryan and his intrepid mom, Gretchen. Between 1999 and 2002, Ryan took multiple podiums on the Vans Warped Tour. He was runner-up and winner at the U.S. Open of Skateboarding (in front of a hometown San Clemente crowd), chalked up another California Amateur Skateboard League State Championship, and gave runner-up performances in the Gravity Games Amateur Challenge and the Best Trick Contestagainst prosat the Jockey Core Tour. All that in addition to strong finishes at the Globe World Cup, the Tampa Am, and the Slam City Jam.

Then in 2003 he turned pro and busted out a season theyll be talking about for years. The 13-year-olds plethora of accomplishments that year included second place at the Scandinavian Open, first place at the Slam City Jam, first place overall for the Vans Triple Crown Street competition, a gold medal at the Gravity Games, and, yes, that astonishing win in Street at the 2003 Summer X Gameswhere he was the only skater to land every trick he attempted.

In 2005, Ryan was named the Action Sports Tours Athlete of the Year and overall Street Champion by the World Cup of Skateboarding. A year later, he was named both Skateboarder and Athlete of the Year at the Arbys Action Sports Awards as well as the 2006 Action Sports Tour overall Park Champion. In 2007, Ryan made history by becoming the first skateboarder ever to win an AST Championship three years in a row; in 2008 he once again took home an X Games gold medal and first place at Thrasher magazines Bust or Bail contest, a win he cites as one of his greatest to date.

Its no secret that Ryan dominates the contest world, but his talents also hold up in the streets. After dropping two doubt-crushing video parts in Almosts Round Three and Oakleys Our Life, Ryan had the skateboard media alivating over his skills and a cover boy was born. At 17, he made the cover of the May 2007 issue of The Skateboard Mag. One year later, Ryan worthily graced their cover again and the same spot on Transworld SKATEboarding magazine, where he was interviewed for a second time.

Now one of the leading members on the Plan B skate team, Ryan recently dropped a heavy hammer of tricks in their promo video Superfuture, letting his skating once again speak for itself.

Between the media coverage and the contest winnings, Ryans popularity fuse had just been lit. But when his reality show, The Life of Ryan, premiered on MTV in 2007, his fame exploded into international stardom. Even with many successes under his belt, Ryan still keeps a humble remembrance of the road he traveled to get there and who helped him along the way. He recently launched the Sheckler Foundation, a charity organization that aims to enrich the lives of children and fund programs that aid the health of action sports athletes. And in a gesture of personal charity, Ryan put up his own Ranger Rover for auction this year to benefit the Children's Cancer Research Fund. The deed raised almost $200,000 dollars.