#TBT: Sean Sheffey Soldier’s Story

Most throwbacks need some sort of context to be fully appreciated. I’m not sure that Sean Sheffey’s part in Soldier’s Story from Life Skateboarders really does. His power and style are timeless. Sure there are the random curb clips and a fakie nose manual that gets cut half way through, but then there’s the fakie ollie over a picnic table. And the back tail. And the hair! All pure gold. If you insist on context, the backside 180 over the parking lot divider was a pivotal moment in skateboarding’s collective realization of what was possible with an ollie when done right. In other words, it blew minds. Life was an offshoot of H-Street in the early 90s, and H-Street was the company that created the formula that Plan B later perfected. Life, although short lived, was rad while it lasted. This Sheffey clip is actually a throwback to a throwback that Thrasher posted a while back, with an introduction by Mike Maldonado. And no matter how far we come it demands another look. We’re talking about Sheffey, one of the greatest of all time.