Jay Adams, an original member of the Z-Boys skate team whose low, sweeping, surf-like style profoundly influenced skateboarding but couldn't lift him from a path of addiction and prison, died of a heart attack in Mexico, TMZ reported Friday. He was 53.
Emile Hirsch played Adams as a feral, natural skater in The Lords of Dogtown, Catherine Hardwicke's 2005 film based on the Venice, California, skate scene where modern skateboarding began. SEE ALSO: 9-Year-Old Skateboarder Successfully Lands a 540 After 75 Tries
'TMZ reported that Adams was with his wife on a three-month surf trip in Mexico when he was stricken Thursday. The celebrity news site also said he'd been sober for months.
Adams joined The Z-Boys in 1974 when they were still a surf team, but by 1975, with a serious drought leaving pools empty all around Southern California, they were riding a massive concrete wave of popularity for skating. Adams was the first to enter the Del Mar Nationals in '75, taking third for junior men's freestyle.But internal tension over their exploding popularity and external sponsorship money soon found the Z-Boys soon going their separate ways. Adams ( below, left, with fellow Z-Boy Tony Alva) followed their skateboard manufacturer, Zephyr, to a new team, and was the face of its Z-Flex deck; but a handful of years later, while many of his former teammates were about to cash in on a second swell of skateboarding interest nationwide, Adams' life took a dark turn.
Image: J. Shearer/WireImage
In and out of legal trouble as he struggled with drug addiction, Adams spent significant time in prison for drugs and assault, lost much of his family and became addicted to heroin. Lords of Dogtown briefly won him some endorsement money during a brief time after his release, but he relapsed into drug addiction and went back to prison for orchestrating a methamphetamine deal.
TMZ said the Mexico trip was the first time he'd been allowed to leave the country in some 20 years. Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.
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