Tony Hawk urges Garland to name skate park after hometown skating legend

Professional skateboarder Tony Hawk has made his pitch for the late Jon Comer. Now, it’s up to the Garland City Council to decide whether to rename the city’s new skate park after the hometown hero, who was the first pro skateboarder to compete with a prosthetic leg.

The city opened the Boneyard, a 46,000-square-foot skate park in October. The park is the second-largest of its kind in Texas.

On Jan. 13, Hawk chimed in with a request: “I believe it would be in your best interests to memorialize his name in association with the skate park in his hometown,” he said in a video directed at city leaders.

“It would solidify his legacy and it would be an inspiration for other skaters in years to come.”

X Games officials have long called Comer the godfather of adaptive skateboarding, a variant of the sport in which skaters modify their equipment to overcome physical disabilities.

“A lot of skaters seeing his videos and photos in magazines in the ‘90s didn’t even immediately notice the prosthetic leg,” said Daniel Gale, the organizer for adaptive sports at the X Games, in 2019. “The stuff that he was doing on vert ramps on a prosthetic leg when nobody else was, was as good as just about any other pro skateboarder at the time.”

Comer was the subject of the award-winning 2004 documentary Never Been Done. He was four years old when he was hit by a car while riding his bicycle in an alley behind his south Garland home. He underwent numerous surgeries before his foot was amputated three years later by doctors at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital.

He died in 2019 at 43. The cause of his death has not been disclosed.

Garland District 5 councilwoman Margaret Lucht introduced a motion on Jan. 17 to gather additional information on Comer’s connection to the city. She predicted the item would make the council’s agenda for one of its scheduled meetings in February, on either Feb. 7 or Feb. 21.

Lucht said over the years the city and the Texas Skate Syndicate, a local skateboarding organization that competes in events, had discussed a graffiti wall, statue or plaque to recognize Comer.

“I really love the skate park,” Lucht said. “It’s really a wonderful thing to be involved with, and I’ll do anything I can to bring the city and skate community together.”

Michael Beasley, who leads the Texas Skate Syndicate, said he’s heard from other skateboard enthusiasts who favor changing the name.

“[Comer] was the most famous adaptive pro skateboarder and, incidentally, created a sport on his own,” Beasley said. “They can keep the [current] name if they put up some kind of memorial.”

Comer’s mother, Denni Washington, told The Dallas Morning News she questioned her son’s grasp of what would happen during surgery as a young child. But Comer, despite his age, understood.

“Sure, Mom. They’re going to cut off my foot. After this, I’ll be able to run fast like I used to. Not that big a thing,” she recalled him saying.

Comer told The News that he kept things light after the surgery, telling people he’d lost his foot in the war, that his father nailed it to the floor or that it was bitten off by an alligator.

“To honor him in his hometown of Garland, Texas, would be huge,” Hawk said in his video pitch. “I encourage you to do so. And I promise you will not regret it. His friends and family will thank you for it. Please keep his legacy alive.”