Drew Newlin

What is your background with skating? How did this passion develop?

Oh, man. I on and off skated with, like, a plastic banana board from the 70s-90s (kind of what penny boards are now). I found one in my grandma’s basement when I was probably under five, and it was either my dad’s or uncle’s or something. I would cart it around in the basement when I was young. Then I just stopped caring about sports and stuff for a while. I think, once the whole Tony Hawk pro skater video game franchise came about in ’99, the early 2000s, I got back into that. I saw some street skating clips in there and the video game itself and thought it was pretty sweet. I went out to LA one year to visit my uncle, and for my birthday, he got me my first pro board setup. I had been messing around with a crappy board from Dick’s Sporting Goods, but this was the real deal. When he got me this brand new pro board, it was non-stop. I’ve been skating now for almost 20 years. 

I work for Mike Smith (I don’t technically work for Rabble Mill or the Bay), but on the for-profit side (Smith owns or has equity in other entities). Six or seven years ago, he started speaking at high schools, and I met him at the original Bay in Lincoln. A friend of a friend said I’d be a good candidate to help Mike schedule his stuff and manage his speaking career, so we started working together, and since then, I’ve been the business manager for Mike Smith Live, as well as other for-profit initiatives I help project manage. 

All of these places that are our closest neighbors are in the process of creating a booming outdoor park in their downtown and midtown areas. Why aren’t we on board with that yet?

Why are skate parks and spaces like this upcoming development in Omaha important to the community? What is your involvement with the project?

Outside of personal impacts, having an alternative space to go (to skate, ride BMX, whatever) and not be bothered and meet like-minded friends there, that’s great. Even today, there’s a negative connotation with skateboarders, because most of the times, they’re trying to skate on private or city-owned property and that doesn’t go over well. Having a park is such a great thing for cultivating and learning creativity for skating, but it’s almost a necessary thing to me now. To me, there are so many public parks in Omaha that have baseball fields and tennis courts, but I can count on one hand how many skate parks there are in Omaha proper.

Roberts is great outdoor park in central Omaha, but there’s nothing in our city center. When I think of a skate park in downtown I’m thinking of the skate park in Council Bluffs, IA. It seems to me that a city this size, with the parks and spaces we have for team sports and other activities, there should be more for skating. It’s a no-brainer to me at this point. Skateboarding has grown to be a lot more accepted—why would you not want to build a skate park downtown to give more kids an alternative outlet as opposed to other things they can get into?

I love Omaha a lot, but it takes a while for things to change here. Des Moines is currently building the second largest outdoor skate park in the country, which has the same model as Omaha—on the river, downtown—but the conversation here is just barely starting. 2.5 hours away, and in Kansas City, they have all these options for public outdoor skate parks with city approval. All of these places that are our closest neighbors are in the process of creating a booming outdoor park in their downtown and midtown areas. Why aren’t we on board with that yet? Hopefully we are going in the right direction with this new project.

Dave Nelson with Secret Penguin started an Omaha Skatepark Council and messaged a handful of core skateboarders with varying age groups and social groups. We formed an advisory board to ensure that if the city does decide to build a skate park downtown with the Gene Leahy revitalization—that they do it right. We formed that council to be that guiding voice for the mayor/city officials/contractors to be here and help if they want trusted skateboarders who have had a hand in building public and private skate parks. There are definitely people on this council who know what they’re talking about. We want them to do it in the best way possible once the conversation gets more serious. It’s kind of a slow process and they’re in the planning phases. Outside of a couple meetings with the council, there hasn’t been too much business yet, but I know there are council members who are in connection with city government and developers. The wheels are slowly turning. It’s a massive, massive project for the city to undertake, so the skate park portion of the project is low hanging fruit for them right now.

When they’re ready to start planning out what a skate park looks like, we’ll be there. And hopefully they listen.

How will Omaha be changed by the skate park and the renovation of Gene Leahy?

Having a skate park downtown would show kids from North Omaha, Little Italy, South Omaha, etc., it’ll allow kids to see skating as an opportunity. Unless they’re catching a ride to somewhere like Roberts, they have nowhere to go. It would be booming. There would be kids there everyday utilizing the facility, but it would inspire other kids to get interested in it. They could see skateboarding as an option. Skaters from out of town who are coming to visit to skate in Omaha for the weekend could be attracted to it. That brings in more revenue and more interest in the city. The biggest thing is that it’ll grow the skateboarding community. It might not manifest itself for another decade after its built, but I can guarantee it’ll get more kids on their boards—which is the coolest thing to me. Watching younger skaters progress is by far the coolest thing about skateboarding. That’s the biggest cultural community impact this project could have. That’s what I’m most looking forward to.

It’ll be great for me to have some place downtown to skate, and it’ll be a better-centralized place for my core group of skate friends, but it’s only going to do the same for younger kids who are trying to get into skating.

What is one action from someone else that changed your life and led you to this point? 

My family has always been really supportive of my skating. My dad’s banana board is the one I took as a kid in my grandma’s basement, and he was the one who bought me my first shitty board from Dick’s Sporting Goods. My uncle bought me my first pro complete. My mom was extremely supportive, especially once she realized in the middle school days how important it was to me. She would give me rides to the skatepark (so would my grandma), she would buy my board, take me to skate shops (or she’d go on her own to surprise me with stuff). The people at Next Generation Skate Shop knew my mom just as much as they knew me. She was super supportive and ran with it.

Aside from my family, I think Dave Nelson (who is the founder of the Omaha Skatepark Council) was always such a genuine, nice skater. He was never too cool to talk to anyone. As a young skateboarder, knowing and learning who these people were in my community, when I was learning to skate, you wouldn’t get the time of day from them. But with Dave, he was never like that. He was always very supportive and kind, and it’s one of my favorite qualities about him to this day. He was always a mentor in the local skate community, directly or indirectly. We could look up to him and emulate. Whether he knew it or not, the way he was just so kind to others without even really trying—especially to young skaters—Dave was always the nicest, most supportive dude. And that made me realize, not only do I want to be that sort of role model for young skaters when I get older, but that there are people in this niche, outcast community who are just down with skating, down with growing skating, and would support you and cheer you on as long as possible. It was cool to see someone who is really good at skating in person, but is also a really good person.

Also, Jeff Chase, who is on the Omaha Skatepark Council, has had a hand in building parks locally and regionally. I’m not sure if he knows or not, but I went into a BBB Skateshop when I was with my mom to get a flat rail (which is a metal rail that you can skate on). I wanted one that wasn’t a shitty Walmart-bought flat rail. Jeff welded me a custom little flat rail. I swear to you, if it wasn’t for that, I don’t know if I would be skating as much. Having my own obstacle I could skate reignited it for me. 

They said yes to a little kid who didn’t know what the heck he was talking about, and then Jeff Chase took the time to physically make that for me. It’s still standing to this day; I think one of my grandma’s neighbor kids has it now. I learned so many tricks on that single obstacle because of a core skate shop in our community (which actually just closed its doors just a while ago after 25 years of business) said yes to a little skater kid and his mom. Jeff Chase took time out of his work life, his skating, his personal life, to do that for me. 

That’s the sort of community building and relationships that can be grown and cultivated, not only through mom and pop skate shops, but that’s what urban skateparks can do as well. That’s a really good illustration of what the core skateboarding community can do to grow. I can go back to that memory and say ‘that changed me, that made skating more challenging and fun.’ I remember vividly skating on that thing every day when I came home from school. We would pick it up and carry it blocks for other neighbors to use it. It changed skateboarding for me; Just this 10-inch high flat rail made of five pieces of metal welded together. 

The only thing is that there’s a very big schism happening in skateboarding (nationally, globally) where bigger brands and chain stores are coming into skating because they see the profit and the business that can be had here. But I would challenge young skaters here in Omaha and Lincoln (and their parents) to be thinking about where they buy from and where they take their kids skating. Ultimately, DIY skateboarding and shops and public skateparks is the backbone of skateboarding, and that’s what’s going to grow skateboarding: the core skate community. Be mindful of where you are and the potential you have to be a part of a slightly bigger picture. It has come such a long way, and there are opportunities out there for it to grow from within. 

FYI Newsletter

Sign up for a behind-the-scenes look at these stories, links we find useful, and notes from the community.