Advocate For Women In Skateboarding, Jeff Grosso RIP.
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| Grosso at Vans 2014 ~ Photo Ian Logan |
If you aren't a female skater or perhaps a parent of one, you may not know this.
Jeff Grosso who at times came off so core that you weren't sure what he'd say next, was also a big softie. Grosso was always supporting girls and women in skateboarding, whether it was encouraging words at a contest, having top female pro's on his show "Love Letters to Skateboarding", or some behind the scenes moments that most never knew about, Grosso was making sure women got their due.
Grosso passed away this week, and for a moment it seemed like the skateboarding world was so shocked they were silent, when reality finally hit, the posts started coming, with everyone having a special memory of this larger than life man who knew just about every female skater, pro to AM.
Lizzie with Grosso on "Grosso's Love Letters to Skateboarding"
Some of those female skaters have been leaving their memories and sentiments on Instagram in recent days, showing just how much he meant to the skate community.
Girl is NOT a 4 Letter Word founder, Cindy Whitehead, remembers her first encounter with Grosso:
"It was at Exposure Skate contest at Poods Park. I was talking to another male '80s skater who Grosso was not too fond of. After I walked away from that conversation, a young boy walked over to me and said: "Grosso wants to talk to you". Uh oh, I thought, here it comes. Jeff was holding court sitting on top of a picnic table with quite a few people around him, I steadied myself for what I was sure was a confrontation. Instead, he said "Hey, Lizzie (Armanto) says that shirt the photographer is wearing is one of your shirts and I fucking love it! Can I get one? It was the tee-shirt we sell that says "Girls, Whiskey, Rock & Roll Skateboarding" I almost fell backward because this is not at all what I was expecting. At that moment I realized, that while he liked the shirt, his intention was to support the girls."
And that's what was so great about Jeff, he was never what you were expecting.
RIP Grosso, you will be missed.