Tony Hawk Quotes

It was like falling off a building and suddenly, bang, you hit the bottom. The first time it happened was on an ordinary day at home. I was taking down some curtains. I took one step, turned around, took another step and then I fell and hit my head hard on the rowing machine.

I was hit by a car. I almost died. My show was taken away from me. I was frightened.

My lone concussion occurred in 2003 against Denver. I was spinning off block and right when I spun, I hit Clinton Portis with my head turned sideways. I hit him and I hit the ground. That was first big one where I was like 'Whoa.' Back then, it was no big deal.

When I woke up I didn't know why I was in hospital so I was asking 'Why am I here?' I was pulling all the tubes and my brother Eduardo tried to stop me so we had a fight. The accident was just so unlucky, but I know I am lucky to be alive.

When I broke my leg on the dirt bike, fear got the best of me that day. I hesitated. I didn't hit it as fast as I could have, and I came up short. It was the first time in my life I couldn't get back up.

I find skydiving really hard. I broke my back while skydiving when I was in the military, and for 18 months all my nightmares were about falling.

I spent four days and four nights just covered in blood, falling in the water.

I was shot from the funny gun.

I spent a day in a neck brace on a hospital trolley after falling from a horse and cart in Ireland. All the nurses thought I was a traveler, which made me laugh. Who else comes into a hospital saying they've fallen off a horse and cart?

The first time I rode a bike I was four or five. I crashed into the back of a car.

There's nothing funny the first time about telling a story about getting beat up and it makes you leave high school.

The end of the mid finger on my left hand is wider than normal, the nail distorted and a scar in the end. This was from when I managed to shove it in the path of a mower blade.

Sophomore year, I got hit in the stomach playing football, and I was out of school for four months. I was in the hospital for two and then out of school for two.

When I was a kid, we went to St. Augustine, Fla., and I was lying on the couch one night with a Q-tip, cleaning my ear out after I'd taken a shower. I hit my arm on something, jabbed the Q-tip through my ear drum, busted my ear drum and couldn't get back in the water the rest of the time we were there.

When I was a kid, I was at a bowling alley and I ran into a soda machine. I still have the scar on my right eyebrow obviously.

So I all knew was you lost your limbs and you died from it. I was scared silly.

I busted my chin open trying to be Evel Knievel on my bike. When it happened, you could see straight through to the bone, I thought my dad was going to pass out. It left a scar that I still have now.

At 17, the first time I saw a dead body, I froze. By 31 it was a natural occurrence for me, and no group of people should live like that.

When I started in professional baseball, I had what you might call a rude awakening. See this scar right next to my left ear? That's where the pitcher hit me the very first time I came to bat as a pro. I was out cold for about 10 minutes.

The downside isn't really injury, fear of injury or the process of fighting back from injury. The downside, the very worst thing in the world, is surgery.

I broke my nose and got a concussion when I was 13.

Sending your child off to school for the first time in their life is terrifying.

The release of 'Lungs' was so hard. It was terrifying, because it was the first time doing everything. The first experiences of media exposure were almost paralysing. I spent a lot of time crying on the floor of the studio - it sent me a bit mad.

Being a parent is not for the faint of heart. I may joke about knowing fear, but the fact is, the first time I ever knew real fear was the day Charlotte, my first child, was born. Suddenly there is someone in the world you care about more than anything.

My parents have a wonderful marriage, for many years. But I can't commit myself for such a long time.