How long was Iron Cross around?
From the end of ’88 until about ’91.
Whose idea was it to get the company together?
Art: Mine and Steve’s and Owen Nieder’s idea originally. We all used to skate together at McGill’s and came up with the idea and plan. It all came together real quickly.
Why leave a successful company like H-Street?
I was glad they gave me a chance when they put me on H-Street but at the time before ICS started the pros on the team weren’t being treated fairly, there was a lot of favoritism going on because the emphasis was turning more to street. Schultes had enough, Eddie Elguera was getting fed up, Planet Earth was starting up through them. Danny Way, who was always cool as hell was turning pro, we were into that but some of the others weren’t… so the major changes didn’t leave much hope for the old vert guys…
Why start a new Company? What was the idea behind Iron Cross that made it different?
At the time there were pics of skaters being gangsters or bringing other non-skate related, lame lifestyles into the picture. People making silly faces and acting really lame in ads, (no skate shots in ads) and making lots of money. The market was similar to today’s—young kids, 13–14, buying most of the decks and what kind of influence is a skater with a gun in an ad? Lots of the idea behind ICS was very serious. With all the politics going on internally pre-ICS with the companies we rode for, and the state of the industry at that time… the way Trans World was trying to clean up skateboarding and companies that didn’t stand for what we stood for, how could we keep riding for somebody else and co-signing all their stupid shit? This attitude goes back to the Zorlac days. Look at all the tattooed skaters today… that’s the way we wanted it. What happened to proving yourself with nothing else but skate merit?
How did the funding come together?
We met with Tony Magnusson and Mike Ternasky (the owners of H-Street who Art skated for at the time) and they said, “OK, we’ll produce and distribute and pay you guys a royalty until you get on your feet.” So they funded a lot of it…our board sales were never so hot and we didn’t have the cash to do something on a large scale, so we needed them. For advertising and distribution mostly.
Who were the pros on the team?
Art Godoy, Steve Godoy, Owen Nieder and Justin Ashby.
How did the others get on the team, what ams were on there?
People got on the team by us seeing them skate. They all ripped! The ams we had: Jeff McCowan, these two little kids-Brian Dvorak and Koby Newell, Tim Tillman, Jay Hitt, Dave Stanley, Carey O’Brien (Australia), there were more…they all got treated like pros…when they got on the board company, they were automatically hooked up with Airwalk shoes, Cutter Trucks (if they wanted ’em), Venture trucks, Spitfire wheels…we’d send ams to contests and give ’em $ to spend…
How many different decks did you make?
In ’89 we had 6 models: 4 pro models, a street deck and a mini ramp deck. Nothing in ’88 cuz thatwas H-street for me and Circle-A for steve. The next year, ’90, the ’89 models were still sold and we were waiting for the ’90 decks to start production. That was the soldier for me and the sickle weasel deck for steve. Those never got produced, nothing more than some rad prototypes. We had lots of other things planned, helmets with a spike on top, clothes, we were tinkering around with truck ideas…tours, we had some doors opening in South Africa for tours in which we’d surf cool spots, a video which would be totally un-rated because the content was gonna be crazy, showing the activities at the ICS headquarters.
