Outsiders: Patti McGee

Patti McGee (1945-2024) a pioneering American skateboarder who became the first female professional in the sport during the 1960s. She gained national fame after winning the 1964 National Skateboard Championship. In 1965, Patti appeared on the cover of LIFE magazine riding a skateboard in her signature move – a handstand – helping to popularize the sport.

For Further Reading:

• Skateboarding Hall of Fame Museum - Patti McGee
• Skateboarding Heritage Hall of Fame - Patti McGee
• New York Times - Patti McGee, Skateboarding’s First Female Champion, Dies at 79
• FOX 5 San Diego - Patti McGee, first female pro skateboarder with ties to San Diego, dies at 79
• Patti McGee’s Skateboarding Hall of Fame Induction Speech

This month we're talking about Outsiders -- women who marched to the beat of their own drum and rejected stereotypes about what women "should" be. They are aesthetic pioneers, norm-benders, and often the only woman in their field.

History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn’t help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.

Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.

Womanica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, Sara Schleede, Paloma Moreno Jimenez, Luci Jones, Abbey Delk, Adrien Behn, Alyia Yates, Vanessa Handy, Melia Agudelo, and Joia Putnoi. Special thanks to Shira Atkins.

Original theme music by Brittany Martinez.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hello for Wonder Media Network. I'm Jenny Kaplan and this
is Womanica.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
This month, we're talking about outsiders, women.

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Who marched to the beat of their own drum and
rejected stereotypes about what women should be. Their aesthetic pioneers,
norm venders, and often some of the only women in
their field. In May of nineteen sixty five, a Life
magazine cover featured a blonde teenage girl performing an impressive
handstand on a skateboard. This was the signature move of

(00:34):
the first American professional female skateboarder.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
She helped push skateboarding.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
Into the mainstream in the nineteen sixties, breaking into a
sport almost exclusively dominated by men. Please welcome Patti McGee.
Patti was born in August of nineteen forty five on
an army base near Tacoma, Washington, but she spent her
formative years near the beaches of southern California. Her mother
was a high school teacher and her father worked in

(01:00):
the army as a medic.

Speaker 2 (01:02):
Patty's parents divorced when she.

Speaker 1 (01:04):
Was young, leaving Patty to be raised mainly by her
mother in San Diego. By the time Patty was a teen,
she'd taken to the waves, joining the Pump House Gang,
a surfing group of teenagers who later became the subjects
of a book by the same name. But surfing wasn't
always available.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
On gloomy days.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
When the weather wouldn't cooperate and the ocean played too rough,
surfers would turn to an alternative, surfing the streets, also
known as skateboarding. Patty's brother made her first board by
taking the wheels off of her roller skates and screwing
them into a piece of wood. Patty and her skater
friends spent their days coasting around the hilly streets of

(01:43):
San Diego. Her progression was remarkably swift. By nineteen sixty four,
just two years after stepping onto a board, Patty had
established herself in the sport. She competed in the National
Skateboard Championship at Santa Monica Park. The course was set
with cones in neat rows and a narrow figure traced
on the pavement. The crowd buzzed at the edges, half curious,

(02:03):
half skeptical. No one really knew what to expect Patty.
Then she dropped into her next move, the handstand, balancing
upside down.

Speaker 2 (02:12):
As her board rolled beneath her.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
It was the first time anyone had done it in
a competition. Those were the days when tricks were born,
she later said. Patty was the first woman to win
the competition that same year, riding barefoot at forty seven
miles an hour. As Patty would say, no helmet, no pads,
no shoes, and no brains, she set the women's speed

(02:35):
record for skateboarding. By that point in her life, Patty
was making approximately two hundred and fifty dollars a month,
making her one of the first professional skateboarders to be paid.
Her next opportunity came when Patty walked into a Hobie
surf shop owned by Hobart Altar, a renowned surfboard shaper
who'd expanded his business to include skateboards. It just so

(02:56):
happened that Hobart's wife was in the hospital and he
had to fly to New York that same day, so
he asked Patty if she could babysit his two children.
In exchange, he would use photos from Patty's skateboard championship.

Speaker 2 (03:09):
Win to promote the Hobie brand.

Speaker 1 (03:12):
Eventually, this led to Patty joining the newly established hobe
Super Surfers Skateboard Team and touring the country as their
Hoby Skateboards Demo Girl. These demos served as crucial introductions
to skateboarding for countless Americans who'd never witnessed this board
in person. During one of these tour events, a photojournalist
captured an iconic picture of Patty riding a skateboard in

(03:33):
her signature handstand move. Within a few days, the photo
was featured on the May nineteen sixty five cover of
Life magazine. The magazine cover propelled Patty's career to new heights.
Television audiences across America saw her showcase her talents on
popular programs like The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Perhaps

(03:54):
her largest audience came during a performance at Dick Clark's
World Team Fair in Chicago in nineteen sixty six, where
she skated before tens of thousands of enthusiastic young fans.
Through these appearances, Patty helped define not just women's place
in skateboarding, but the public image of the sport itself.
As the nineteen sixties drew to a close, Patty's focus shifted.

Speaker 2 (04:16):
To new horizons.

Speaker 1 (04:17):
The mountains caught her attention in nineteen sixty eight, and
she developed an interest in skiing. This passion prompted her
relocation to Tahoe in nineteen seventy with.

Speaker 2 (04:26):
Her first husband.

Speaker 1 (04:28):
They eventually divorced, and Patty moved to Cave Creek, Arizona,
where she raised her two kids and met her second husband.
During her hiatus from skateboarding, the sport underwent significant transformations,
including technical innovations like shock absorbent wheels and the emergence
of new skating styles. As her children were growing up,
Patty made her to pass on the sport to them.

(04:49):
One day, Patty organized a skateboarding event at her daughter's
elementary school. Among the skaters performing was Tony Hawk. In
an interview, Patty's daughter recalled, I think that was the
day I understood my mom was more special in the
skateboarding realm. Decades passed before Patty officially returned to the
skateboarding world. Two old skate peers, David Hackett and Steve Olsen,

(05:12):
encouraged her to get back on her board at fifty
five years old.

Speaker 2 (05:16):
Patty made her come back.

Speaker 1 (05:18):
Then, in two thousand and four, Patty and her daughter
collaborated to establish the original Betty Skateboard Company, a skate
apparel company aimed at supporting new generations of female skaters.
The company had an all girls skate team and included
members who would go on to compete in the Olympics.
In skateboarding culture, the term Betty became slang for female skaters.
Given Patty's pioneering role, many in the community came to

(05:41):
regard her as the first Betty, an acknowledgment of her
status as a trailblazer in the sport. The skateboarding landscape
Patty re entered had evolved dramatically from the one she'd left.
What began as a casual offshoot of surf culture had
developed into a global phenomenon, with professional competitions, corporate sponsors,

(06:02):
and international participants. Despite these advancements, female skaters still face
challenges regarding recognition and equal treatment, issues pattied encountered from
the beginning of her career. The skateboarding community formally acknowledged
Patty's historical importance in twenty ten, when she became the
first woman inducted into the Skateboarding Hall of Fame. Skateboarding
was officially introduced into the Olympics in Tokyo in twenty

(06:24):
twenty one. Patty passed away three years later in twenty
twenty four, at the age of seventy nine. Tributes poured
in from across the skateboarding community, and professional skaters spanning
multiple generations acknowledged her foundational influence in the sport. All month,
We're talking about Outsiders. For more information, find us on
Facebook and Instagram at Wamanica Podcast special thanks to Liz Kaplan,

(06:48):
my favorite sister and co creator.

Speaker 2 (06:49):
Talk to you tomorrow.