My friendship with Andy had nothing to do with skateboarding. From the moment we met in 1989 i knew i had a life long friend. Andy was one of the funniest people i know and one of the most loving. His friendship was unconditional and he was always there when i needed him. About 7 years ago we did a cross country trip from San Francisco to NYC and we camped the whole way across the country. We visited The Badlands, The Grand Canyon, The Tetons, the Black Forest just to name a few. After reading “Black Elk Speaks” we decided to summit Harney Peak in South Dakota and see if we could re-live Black Elk’s epiphany he had of the “hoops of the nation,” which would bring unity to all the Native American tribes and stop their destruction from the invading European presence that had been  encroaching on their land and their culture. The climb to the summit was difficult  but when we arrived we both felt as free as birds and felt we could accomplish just about anything.

Even outside of Andy’s accomplishments in the skateboarding world he touched so many people and in itself was enough to engender a legacy of love.  Like most of us, Andy had his demons in his youth and later in life spent so much of his time helping others cope who were going through the same experience. He was charitable, loving, honest, committed, and selfless. Like myself he loved being raised in NYC and in my eyes was the quintessential New Yorker.

In a 1999 interview with Masha Falkov Andy was asked what he would want God to say to him at the pearly gates? His reply was, ” You’ve done a good job but you’ve left a few things out, so we’re sending you back.” Andy my friend i will truly miss you.

If you are interested in hearing more of Andy’s story watch the video below.