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Champion skateboarder Russell Howell was born on September 1, 1949 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Howell moved with his family to Long Beach, California when he was nine moths old. Russell was an avid surfer prior to getting his first skateboard in 1958 and was further inspired to dedicate himself to skateboarding after seeing the documentary short Skaterdater (1966). Following graduation from Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, California in 1967, Howell served in the US Air Force at age nineteen. Russell became involved in community parks and recreation while attending California State University as a Physical Education major. Howell was encouraged by several students at a community center he was teaching skateboarding at in the mid-1970's to enter the 1975 Del Mar National Skateboarding Championship contest which he subsequently won.
In the wake of this triumph Russell went on to finish first place at the Long Beach City Championships, California State Championships, and the United States National Championships all in 1975 as well as the World Invitational Championships in 1976. Moreover, Howell holds the Guiness World Records for most consecutive spins on a skateboard with 163 spins and longest handstand on a skateboard at two minutes. In addition, Russell not only has appeared in movies, talk shows, and TV commercials, but also has published a few books on skateboarding, launched his own line of skateboards, and has toured to promote skateboarding in such places as America, Belgium, France, Japan, England, Australia, Germany, and Canada. Howell was inducted into the Skateboarding Hall of Fame and Museum in Simi Valley, California in 2017. Russell lives in Taylorsville, Utah with his wife Shelley and continues to skateboard whenever he can.
