The Golden Rollers and the Birth of Roller Dance Movement

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Step into the rich heritage of roller skating with Richard Humphrey, a true skating legend with over 65 years of wheels beneath his feet. From his first pair of metal skates in 1957 to pioneering the roller dance movement and creating the first lace-free signature skate, Richard's journey offers a rare glimpse into how roller skating culture has evolved across the decades.

Richard takes us back to a time when roller rinks prohibited skating in the center floor and when his dance crew, the Golden Rollers, created their own distinctive style without the influence of social media or cross-country skating exchanges. He explains how they forged what would become known as "roller dance" through disciplined choreography and a determination to always stand out from the crowd.

What makes this conversation particularly valuable is Richard's insights into the technical aspects of skating that often go unnoticed. He breaks down the origin and proper execution of classic dance steps, shares knowledge about skate construction gained from years working in a skate shop, and explains the critical differences between seemingly similar styles. His creation of RollerDance.com in 1996 and subsequent instructional videos established a foundation for preserving authentic roller dance techniques.

Beyond the technical knowledge, Richard shares a philosophy about skating that transcends the activity itself. His emphasis on finding your unique style, putting in the necessary time to master fundamentals, and creating something original rather than simply copying others serves as powerful advice for skaters at any level. As he puts it, "If everybody's just doing that one little step, you don't know one from the other... Set yourself apart."

Whether you're a seasoned skater curious about the roots of roller dance or a newcomer wanting to understand skating's rich cultural heritage, this conversation with the self-described "Roller Dance Man" offers both historical perspective and timeless wisdom from someone who has truly dedicated his life to the art of skating.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hey there, welcome to how Do you Skate, the ultimate
destination for all skatingenthusiasts.
We cater to everyone, frombeginners to pros.
Whether you love inline and iceskating or prefer quads and
skateboarding, we have it allcovered, and we bring you
exclusive interviews withprofessionals, talented amateurs

(00:30):
and influencers in the industry.
So sit back, relax and getready for an exciting journey
into the world of skating.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Welcome to how Do you Skate.
I'm your host, sean Egan, andmy guest today is Richard
Humphrey, who's got quite thelong history of skating.
So welcome to the show, thankyou.
So when did it all start foryou, how old were you and what
were your humble beginnings inthe world of skating?

Speaker 3 (01:00):
Well, you know, back in the early 50s there wasn't a
whole lot to do.
So around 1957, I remembergetting my first pair of skates
and we had the old metal skatesand we had the skate key which,
believe it or not, that's whatwe skated on back then.

(01:24):
And you know we did that for afew years because that was
pretty much one of the fewthings to do was roller skate.
It wasn't a whole lot of otherthings going on.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
Now, back then did they have roller rinks?
Because I'm not quite sure thehistory of when roller rinks
started.

Speaker 3 (01:39):
You know if they did.
I never saw any roller rinksbut they did have a rink that
was located in San Francisco atOcean Beach, but I think that
was more like in the 60s.
Ok, but as a kid never went toa roller rink.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
So now, how did it progress?
Like, when did you get yourfirst pair of non-metal skates?
I mean, you're one of my fewguests that have a long history,
and if you said 57, that's60-something years, isn't it?
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (02:15):
Wow, yeah, I'm telling my age, right.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
You don't look a day over 39.

Speaker 3 (02:21):
Oh, thank you, I appreciate that.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
So, but I mean, mean, how was the transition?
Was it just skating and thenyou became, had more of a love
for it as you got older?
When, like when, was thattransition to it becoming a
serious thing for you?

Speaker 3 (02:38):
well, um, probably in my early teens, one of my
friends that I used to bowl with, which is an older gentleman,
he got into skating.
He was definitely skating inthe 60s.
I remember so well because itwas the first time he actually
took, the first time that Iactually went to a roller rink
and of course, you know skatingwith, you know rink skates and

(02:58):
stuff like that.
And that was at Ocean Beach inSan Francisco, ok, and.
And that was at ocean beach insan francisco, okay, um, and all
I remember was we skated aroundand I do remember the hokey
pokey.

Speaker 2 (03:13):
Sad part is okay, I don't know if it's sad, but for
the general sessions with thekids they still do it yeah, I
know they've tried they've triedmany times to get me to jump in
and and I'm like no, I used tobe addicted to the hokey pokey,
but I turned myself around, soI'm good now.

Speaker 3 (03:33):
Yeah, so we went a few times and then believe it or
not right next to the bowlingalley because bowling is another
one of my huge sports anyway,since I was a kid and one of the
supermarkets closed down andmade it a roller rake, okay, so
I would go in and skate thereevery now and then and stuff
like that.

(03:53):
I was like in the 60s, uh, late60s, um, early 70s, and then,
um, in the early 70s, like like73, 74, people were just the
buzz, was like roller skatingfor some reason, and I was like,
oh man, I hadn't done that in alittle while.
And so went to this roller rinkin South San Francisco and it's

(04:16):
called Grand Arena and I neverlooked back Nice and then so
you're pretty much a.

Speaker 2 (04:26):
Would you consider jam or artistic, or what would
you consider yourself?

Speaker 3 (04:30):
I consider myself not a jam skater, not an artistic
skater, more of an RV type ofskater.
Okay, because the distinctionis so different?
Because when I got into it wepretty much just went around the
rink a lot.
You know, that was like thething, and for those that don't

(04:52):
know, it took a while before themiddle really opened up to the
way it is now.
Yeah, roller rinks didn't allowpeople skating in the middle.
Even when I started working atthe rink, nobody went in the
middle.
That just was not the thing todo.
I always had to keep peoplestuck, because I started working

(05:13):
there too, and the whole timeduring the sessions we were just
keeping people out of themiddle.
So we just skated around incircles all night.
So that's what we did.
You know, there was no middlegame.

Speaker 2 (05:24):
Yeah, so the Golden Skate in San Ramon was my home
rink.
Ok, so back when the thing andit's funny because now they call
it artistic and jam skating,but I remember when we called it
rexing.

Speaker 3 (05:37):
So Well, for some reason it's just an FYI for me.
I never liked that name, itjust never applied for some
reason.
Rexing, it just didn't compute.
And jam skating never heardthat until pretty much after the

(06:09):
pandemic or prior to, when alot of kids start battling and
doing that you know type ofskating.
Nobody really called it jamskating.
Um, because in the early 80s,late 70s, we looked at more like
roller dance.
Yeah, because that's what,that's what we really got into
and nobody really even used thatphrase roller dance.
It was not a, it was not a wordthat anybody used, but for some
reason it applied to what wedid, so much that I got locked

(06:35):
on it.
So roller dance has been mything since the late 70s and to
the present, and that's you know.
And of course, the internet1996, I started
wwwrollerdancecom and I've hadit ever since.

Speaker 2 (06:53):
And now is that?
I already looked it up, but Iwant to hear it from you.
So now is that likeinstructional videos on learning
how to roller dance, and I knowyou've got your own skates and
wheels, so you, you've expandedit since you've started it, but
tell people more about what it'sabout well, you know, for us,

(07:17):
um, since we didn't have socialmedia and nothing like that,
back then, all we pretty muchdid was focused on our own
creativity.

Speaker 3 (07:28):
We had nothing else to look at and we just totally
we were so in tune to what wedid.
You know, the guys that Ihooked up with, they were
already skaters, dancers.
The guys that I hooked up with,they were already skaters,
dancers.
I was more of the skater, eventhough I loved to dance, but

(07:51):
once we put it together, we justworked hard, like any other
group, dance group or whatever,and all we tried to do was set
ourselves apart from whateverybody else was doing, had to
do was set ourselves apart fromwhat everybody else was doing,
because back then, late 70s, wedidn't know what they were doing
in new york, what they weredoing in venice beach or
anywhere.

(08:11):
We didn't see none of that yeahso all we could do was just
focus on what we did, and wedidn't have video cameras and
all that stuff.
All we had was a camera wherewe got shots.
And, um, 1982 was pretty muchour breakout year as far as
seeing ourselves on video,because we had a tv show called

(08:34):
evening magazine.
And when we did that, man, itwas like, wow, you know, people
knew us all over the place, youknow, because they saw us on TV.
So our thing was, like I said,just creating us.
You know what I mean.
Like the temptations we alwayscall ourselves the temptations

(08:54):
on wheels.
Yeah, you know, because we wewere just doing things nobody
else did.
You know, there was nothingtrendy to look at that we
followed, like they do today.
All people that do now just pullup a video and go like, oh yeah
, I want to learn how to do that.
And before you know it, you act.
They act like they're the onesthat created it all.
So, um, the beautiful thing isis that I do have some old video

(09:19):
that I that I keep in my vault,that I break out every now and
then to just let people knowthat, hey, this is where it
began, regardless of whetherpeople want to admit it or not,
and that's a hard thing forskaters today is just admitting
that.
Oh wow, you know I'm 72 yearsold.
And probably in 1979, a lot ofthe skaters like today, a lot of

(09:43):
them weren't even born.
So this is the only way that Ihave tried to keep what I do,
what our group did, alive andpassing it down now to the new
generation.
So the beautiful thing is thatthe two guys that skated with me

(10:05):
no longer skate.
I love all the video stuff.
I've learned how to play withInstagram and make videos and
make them cool and fun, andthat's just my way of saying to
the now generation of skatersthere was a before.
Yeah, you know, whether peoplewant to admit it or not, you
know because it's veryinteresting, because a lot of

(10:27):
times people keep saying, oh,there's nothing new under the
sun.
That's not true.
People are creating andinventing and doing different
things every day.
I felt like back then we createdsomething that nobody else had
and it was unique and theinteresting thing for those who
are listening, we never sharedwhat we do.

(10:48):
Yeah, because if we did,everybody else would have got
whiff of it and you know whoknows where it would have went,
you know.
So that's kind of my message tothe skaters.
Today is like, yes, there was abefore.
Today is like, yes, there was abefore and another interesting

(11:10):
thing about, like skating backin the day when I mentioned
about no middle game.
You don't see any videos ofpeople in the middle in the 70s,
60s or whatever, because a lotof the rinks did not allow it
yeah that's real important forpeople to know.
They didn't allow it.
So if it wasn't allowed to doin the rinks, where were people
doing it?

(11:30):
Nowhere, yeah, you know.
So, not until the late 70s or70s, when venice beach and they
started skating there and peoplestarted seeing things is when
it kind of really opened up.
So we always looked at it like79 was the breakout year because

(11:50):
of the wheel.
The wheel changed the game andso because of that, more people
started going outside that usedto skate inside, and that's how
this whole skating thing hasblown up since then.

Speaker 2 (12:04):
Yeah, because I mean I remember skating in Golden
Gate Park and that that was lateeighties, early nineties and
just to see the transition.
So like Terrell Ferguson's, oneof the OGs for the Venice beach
scene, you're basically a Bayarea legend.
Then you and your crew, fromwhere you guys started and I
know still have a lot of friendsin the bay area and the bay

(12:26):
area used to be have a lot ofgood roller rinks and now it's
kind of died down and I'm indenver, colorado, now and I've
got seven rinks within drivingdistance well, what's what's
very interesting about theskating rinks in san francisco?

Speaker 3 (12:45):
because a lot of people don't know a lot of the
history.
When Ocean Beach Rink closeddown, the last official roller
rink that was in San Franciscoopened up in 1980 and it closed
in 1981.
It was called Le Parc because Iworked there.
I worked there from the day itopened to the day it closed in

(13:05):
1981.
It was called la park because Iworked there.
I worked there from the day itopened to the day it closed.
So officially that is whatwe've always called the last
official roller rink in sanfrancisco.
Yeah, so you know, from oceanbeach to uh, la, that's it.

Speaker 2 (13:25):
Yeah.
I mean because, like I saidearlier, golden Skate was my
home rink but back when I wasyounger, livermore had one
called Roller Odyssey on FirstStreet.
Hayward used to have the woodenfloor on Mission, and then they

(13:46):
even used to turn the Hall ofCommerce at the Alamedanta
county fairgrounds into a rollerrink there for a while too.
So we've had roller rinks, butit just seems like golden skate
and I guess there's one in sanjose.
Um, that seemed to be kind oflike the longest reigning roller
rinks.
As I skated it at golden skate30 years ago and I thought it
was closing, and to find outit's still open.
I mean that's part of myskating history right there.

(14:07):
So it's kind of exciting to seethat it's still going on and
just the fact that you come onand you've been skating since
the 50s, so that's that's.
That is awesome, so, and it'scool to get the different
stories and you learn history ofskating from the numerous

(14:28):
guests that I have on.
So I mean, you're kind of ourskating historian now, aren't
you?

Speaker 3 (14:34):
Well, you know, I've saved all my VHS tapes, my eight
millimeter tapes.
I recently had a eightmillimeter reel tape that I
actually had for 40, let's see,42 years and just so happens, I

(14:57):
kept looking at it, I keptlooking at us.
Well, let me just take it toWalgreens.
Yeah, I took it to Walgreensand they did it, and once they
did their little magic to it, itwas like two minutes, three
minutes, but it was magical forme because that was some of the
only footage of the goldenrollers where we actually were

(15:18):
skating and you know, back inthe early days, where we can
actually like, oh, wow, Iremember that, you know, like
yesterday, so, and that's whyit's kind of cool.
So, yes, I kind of considermyself a skating historian, and
only in a lot of ways, not onlyjust because I've skated.

(15:38):
I've traveled, yeah, I'vetraveled a lot of different
places in the world.
I've been to Brazil, I've beento Germany.
I've been to Brazil, I've beento Germany, I've been to London,
I've been to Spain.
I've really gone to some really, really cool places other than,
you know, going to New York,skating at the world famous
Empire, stuff like that.

(15:58):
I've been there.
I have footage of all theplaces that I've been.
Yeah, I've been there.
I have footage of all theplaces that I've been.
Yeah, and it's kind of nice tolook back on that, because if I,
as a skate historian, don'thave it to show people, they
don't have anything, you know,they just have like, oh yeah, I
think he used to, you know, butthe cool part is I actually have

(16:21):
it.
I got pictures when I was ingermany or you know places like
that where we done some reallycool things with roller skating,
you know so.
And the crazy part is, like,once the video cameras came out
because the vhs, yeah, um,camera that I used, but I used

(16:43):
to like sneak it, you know, outand use it, and I pretty much
try to videotape everything Ican.
So every time I started going toskate parties what we call
skate parties, like traveling todifferent states one of the
first big parties was atlanta,what we call skate-a-thon.

(17:05):
So that was 2005.
So prior to that, 2005 was kindof a breakout because there was
no such thing as skate parties.
It was one here, one there, butnow you're bringing skaters
from everywhere so everybody cankind of see all the different
styles of skating and stuff likethat.

(17:28):
That was cool, that was verynice.
So 2005 was kind of a breakoutyear for a lot of traveling
skating.
For a lot of skaters that don'tknow or because a lot of
skaters to this day have nevertraveled they just go to their
home rink and that's it.
So they don't know what's goingon other than what they see on

(17:48):
Instagram and YouTube.

Speaker 2 (17:50):
Exactly so.
What is one of your favoritecountries that you've skated in?
I know Spain's got a really bigscene, london and I've even had
a guest on from Colombia andjust learning about the
different skating culturesaround the world has been
amazing.
But what is one of yourfavorite places that you've
skated?

Speaker 3 (18:10):
I have to say Spain has been pretty much one of the
most fun over the last few yearsbecause they have this event
called Skate Love Barcelona.
Yes, and a young lady, michelle, put it together and it
literally brought skaters fromall over the world into one spot
, not like a national skateparty where you just go from

(18:32):
state to state.
Yeah, this was people from allover the world, and one of the
coolest compliments that I thinkI got is, like young lady said
to me we love you in the CaymanIslands.
And I'm going like the CaymanIslands and I'm thinking that
little spot out there in theocean, you know.
And so it just goes to show youthat people are looking all

(18:55):
over the world.
Because a lot of places don'thave a skating scene.
So Instagram and YouTube andTikTok is that scene, because
they have something to look at.
But the cool thing about Spainis that we're all there those
that people follow and stufflike that and to them we're like

(19:16):
skating stars.
Yeah, you know what I mean.
I was just looking at myself asjust being me and just sharing
what I love to do, but Spain, Ithink, has been the highlight
for the last few years oftraveling.

Speaker 2 (19:33):
Nice, yeah, eventually I had a previous
guest on and that was her firsttrip was to Barcelona and she
actually accomplished doing aspin on the beach.
That was her goal, so she gotto do it in Spain.
So I mean you don't get betterthan that, Right.
But now, what led you to createroller dancecom?

(19:55):
I mean you've had that since,like the beginning of the
internet.

Speaker 3 (20:00):
Well, only because I I felt like, like I said earlier
, the style of dancing on skates, it just all made sense.
Back then everybody was roller,disco, disco, skating, this,
and that I'm going like, well,for some reason, I always said,

(20:20):
I said we're dancing on skates,so we're on roller skates and
we're dancing Roller dance.
And it's interesting becausenow so many people use the
phrase roller dance.
Now, yeah, and I'm going like,wow, I said how do you

(20:41):
differentiate one from the other?
You know, and we always lookedat it because of the dance
choreography and cause that'swhat we were known for, our
dance choreography.
So we always call ourselvesroller dancers and and that
hasn't changed.
You know, I always just feltlike I was a dancer on skates.

(21:02):
What sets us apart?
We're roller dancing and that'show my first video came about
roller dancing or workout onskates.
What sets us apart?
We're roller dancing and that'show my first video came about
roller dancing or workout onskates and because of that, it
was the first instructionalroller dance video on the World
Wide Web, whether people knowthat or not, and even to this
day, people are like oh, Ididn't know that.

(21:23):
People go like oh, I didn't knowthat, because people have taken
a lot of the moves andrecreated and guess what, you
never get credit for anything,yeah, you know.
So I fight to this day.
I literally fight because Ifeel like if you create

(21:43):
something, whatever it may be,it's sort of like a respect
thing.
Give some props, even if youchange some things.
That's okay.
But the one thing that I'vealways fought for, especially in
the video and I actually say itin my video and a lot of people
never bought the video it saysthat people will change some of

(22:07):
the names of the steps.
I said that, but what I alwayskeep the original form, that
don't change.
It's just like today you got alot of artistic skaters or you
have a lot of people that havecome from different forms of
skating into that circle ofdance jam skaters.

(22:30):
I just saw something recentlywhere they call the jam skaters
roller dancers.
I'm going like no, that's notwhat they do.
We never looked at it as thesame.
Yeah, uh, and I'm going like soand so now everybody is this
roller dance, that roller dance,blah, blah, blah.
And I'm going like, wow, that'sso.
Now everybody is this rollerdance, that roller dance, blah,
blah, blah.
And I'm going like, wow, that'skind of messed up.
It's sort of like, not a, not areal disrespect, but it's.

(22:54):
It's like, come up withsomething else.
That's all I want to say.
You know, the only thing is theword roller dance is one of
those.
It's a generic word.
The only thing is the wordroller dance is one of those.
It's a generic word.
That was the only reason why Idid not trademark it.
It's just like saying skatingyou can't trademark the word
skating.

(23:14):
So that's just something that Ihave to live with, but I will
continue to fight it.
Just so people know, my videohas 13 steps.
The first video and those steps, like are forever.
And now I see all these skatersworldwide doing variations of
the step, but nobody has reallylearned the original dance.

(23:38):
It was always an original dance.
It didn't focus on a particularstep or name and, for those
that are listening, it has neverbeen called the downtown Never
ever.
I don't have a step called thedowntown Never ever.
That came from somebodysomewhere else, who.

(24:02):
And what I try to explain isthat, okay, downtown is one name
, but if I got 13 steps, thenwhat does that move?
What does that move?
How do you distinguish one fromthe other?
So I always figure like theeasiest way to distinguish is

(24:25):
something by name.
Your name is, my name isRichard, your name is Charles,
your name is.
So when I call a step regular,long, short, triple it makes
sense If I gave it a number andeverybody go like well, in this
dance we call it number one, wecall it number this and
everything is a number.
It's kind of confusing.
So it was always easy to calleverything by a name.
So every time I createdsomething new I literally write

(24:48):
it down yeah, I call it this, Icall it that, so that it has a
distinguished name.
And I've always taught that inmy classes since the late 80s to
now and everybody knows whatthose names are.
They know it, you know.
And everybody knows what thosenames are.
They know it, you know.
But, like today on the Internet,I saw a young lady go well,

(25:08):
this is, this is a differentvariation of the downtown, but
when you look at the step, assoon as I see it, it's a, it's a
half turn.
That's what we always call itSame move.
Yeah, people look at it and itjust changes.
So that's always just been mything, you know.
I mean for me, you know, andfor those that don't know, I

(25:29):
mean I have a long list of allthese names of stuff and they're
going like oh, wow, so now,crab Legs, crab Walk to us was
always a shuffle.
You know stuff like that, youknow what.
And then I, and then what Ilike to do every night is just
pull up a video, 1982, we'redoing that same move that you

(25:51):
guys call a slow walk, but wejust call it a shuffle because
that's what it was.
So we always tried todistinguish or name something by
based on what we did or what wedo.
So and as a group coming up,everybody used to be, you know,
those who love to dance, allthese fancy the twist or

(26:13):
whatever the dance was, weincorporated the latest dances
into our moves, into ourroutines, and that's how we kind
of it built off of you know,yeah and that's how we kind of
it built off of you know.

Speaker 2 (26:29):
Yeah, so I was gonna say that's awesome, because I
don't think a lot of peopleactually understand where
especially now with the modernday with the internet and being
able to follow people, I don'tthink people know the origin of
a lot of these moves.
So they see somebody do it andsometimes they give credit to
that person because I've talkedto people and they're like oh, I
saw this guy do this move andso I'm trying to learn how to do

(26:50):
that and I don't know all thetechnical names, just like I do
hvac for a living, and I don'tknow all the technical
scientific names for stuff.
But I can fix it.
So.
But it's the nice thing aboutwhat you do unlike what I do,
like speed skating or hockey orstuff that we actually have the

(27:11):
rules where we have a thing tofollow.
You guys get to create stuff,like your crew created all these
moves.
And even with freestyle skatingwe get people out there that
are just creating new moves.
I mean, I was at the X Gameswhen Tony Hawk did the 900 for
the first time out in SanFrancisco.
So it's the nice thing aboutskating is you have that freedom

(27:34):
and you've come up with a lotof moves that people can, that
people can add to and createtheir own style, but still use
your moves.
So, create their own style, butstill use your moves.

Speaker 3 (27:45):
So that's and that's all really what I've always said
.
I mean, it's like it's okay tosay that you learned it from
so-and-so, you learned that fromso-and-so, that's okay, but for
some reason, a lot of peopledon't want to say that, you know
what.
I mean Because this is what Itell everybody Everybody wasn't

(28:09):
always a good skater.
Everybody had some kind ofbeginning and because of that
things take time.
So, as a spinner, for example,people hold spinning classes.
Right, I'm going to teach youhow to spin.
Spinning don't work foreverybody.
That's not just that move that,because that person does it

(28:36):
very well.
And you say I'm going to do aworkshop and teach people how to
spin.
So you think you're going towalk in there today and walk out
spinning?
No, I don't teach spinning.
I've never taught spinning atall because it just wasn't
something that I got into.
But there are some skaters whoover time have developed into
really good spinners and if youask that person who did you kind

(29:01):
of emulate that from, theycould probably tell you.
I would probably say and Icould probably say this for a
fact that almost any skater, ora lot of skaters today that
they've watched somebody,somebody caught their attention.
Just like people watch StephCurry shoot a three or LeBron or

(29:23):
whoever it is, somebody'swatching and they're learning
how to do those crossover movesor whatever.
Something caught theirattention.
It's OK for people to say, hey,I learned that just watching.
I kind of got an idea watchinghim or her whoever it is that
was doing something cool, kindof got an idea watching him or

(29:44):
her, whoever it is, that wasdoing something cool.
So, just like we were sayingabout names, my only thing was
is that I can figure.
I've used figure for a perfectexample because I follow all
that stuff.
I love ice dance, I lovewatching ice dance and certain
things and figures that I andfigure skating.
They've had names that areforever locked in.

(30:07):
I got books.
I got some books that tell youabout all these moves and the
names the sow cow and this andthat and people were like,
what's a sow cow?
You don't know that.
It's actually somebody's namethat they actually got that move
from.
That's why it's called and it'sactuallyow.
If you look at the way it'spronounced or spelled, it's not

(30:27):
Sao Chow, sao Chow.
So I got books and I read themand I'm going like back in the
day, the 12 or the 23 orwhatever they called it they got
these diagrams.
You don't know what they'redoing.
That's what they called it.
So my thing was always beenlike when I first did the

(30:49):
instructional video.
The reason why I did it was sothat if I ever traveled
somewhere.
We got together.
It's like do you know regular,long and short and triple?
Yeah, man, I love that kind ofstuff and that was really my
goal from day one, day one.
That video is sort of just putother things in place.

(31:10):
For me that was just a mainvideo, but a lot of skaters
worldwide are doing it and notknowing the history and why that
name is this.
Like I tell people, for example,like well, how did you come up
with that?
Okay, if you listen to what I'mgetting ready to say, it's
going to make sense to you.
Regular was just a basic step.
How do you take regular andmake it something else?

(31:32):
So, okay, added this step,added that step, then it becomes
long because it is the longestmove.
I'm doing a longer move andthen I shorten the move, so now
it's the shortest move.
So I call it short, regular,long and short.
Triple became left, right, left, that's three.
So if you add it up, it justbecame a formula.

(31:54):
So that really became my formulaof how I create dead steps, and
so the whole idea was that Ican go anywhere.
So you know long or you knowshort.
They go like oh yeah, I knowthat you know.
But now they go like oh, youknow the downtown I'm going like
no, because there's so manyvariations of it that you don't

(32:18):
even know what the actual nameof step is.
Yeah, so it's that kind ofstuff that I just try to get
people to see in a differentlight.
That's all you know.
If you're doing a shuffle, ashuffle versus a walk, we have a
different variation.
A walk, if you look at thedefinition of a walk, you lift

(32:39):
your heel when you walk.
Yeah, you shuffle your feet,never come up.
See, people never look at ittogether.

Speaker 2 (32:48):
Just the technical stuff.

Speaker 3 (32:52):
Just the technical, but they make a big.
If you're doing a triple sowcow, that's different from doing
a triple toe loop.
Right, you get marked down forthat.

Speaker 2 (33:00):
Yeah, a lot of people focus on the move but not like
the technical aspects of themove.
So I know a lot of people Iknow I'm not gonna say a lot of
people, I know a few people thatyou know we get the technical
stuff down and I have a friendthat was on the show and he just
, he just skates and his feetmove all over the place, but he

(33:22):
doesn't, he just does it.
It's like he doesn't have namesfor it or anything, he just
does it.
No names.

Speaker 3 (33:29):
He just do what he feels.
Yeah, and that's the differencebetween freestyle versus
choreography.
Yeah, and if you notice, in theskate world, the roller skate
world, that is that's why youdon't see a lot of competitions
and contests of somebody justdoing dance choreography Hardly

(33:51):
at all.
Even when they just had RollerJam on, I watched it.
I was just waiting to see whatwas going to happen.
So many different variations ofskating, it's hard to pinpoint
one over the other.
Like there's artistic, you gotfigures, you got jam, then you

(34:14):
have dance, so you got fourdifferent styles.
So when people say, well,they're the best on a roll, I've
been watching on a roll sincethey started, before that whole,
when it all started, yeah,because I always said everything
it all looked the same to me.
It's just that they just diddifferent variations of staying
on the floor and stuff like that.

(34:35):
And there's some things that ifsomebody's standing on their
head and spinning, that's notroller skating to me, you know.
So I'm just keeping it real.
You know it looks great andeverything, but if your feet not
on that floor doing something,because you can do that as a
gymnast or something to thateffect and incorporate the two,

(34:58):
cause a lot of them do that, um.
So there's a lot, a lot ofarguments about it.
But to say this style is bestover, that style is, is very
difficult to do.
You're either going to put alljam skaters together and let
them battle and stand on theirhead and flip and jump and dah,
dah, dah, dah, dah, and thenyou've got this group over here

(35:19):
that are actually doing dancemoves and choreography.
That just kind of has adifferent flow.
Even jam skating has variationsof it, but there's a
distinction between the two.
Absolutely.
So that's just kind of.
I mean I literally for thosethat don't know I really watch

(35:40):
and study roller skating.
I see all aspects of it.
When somebody say a name, Icould pretty much tell you about
that person what I've seen,style wise is he original?
Is, is he an offshoot ofsomebody else's style, or a
state style, where a lot ofskate styles now are kind of

(36:04):
similar, because that's kind ofwhat everybody in that state
does versus out here.
So people say, for example oh,you're from Cali, I go.
Yeah, I'm from Cali, but stylesare totally different.
Yeah, not the same.
We might do some variations of,but we're not quite on that
same page.

(36:25):
And so, like I said, my thingwas how do we get on the same
page, you know, instead offighting with each other?
You know, the thing now withroller skating is that people
have opportunity to make money.
Yeah, whereas before, you know,when I started doing workshops,
there was no such thing as aroller dance workshop.
All of a sudden, where I look,now everybody's doing a roller

(36:48):
dance workshop and I'm goinglike you're doing the basics,
you're doing, you know, andthere are a lot of basics,
there's no one over the other.
So when people say oh yeah, I'ma roller dance teacher now.
Oh, I just got certified as aroller dance instructor.
I'm going like how long youbeen skating?
A year, two years.
Maybe you watch the videos, youknow what I mean.

Speaker 2 (37:12):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (37:12):
You don't just become something because you watched a
video or because you took alittle test, you know.
We just look at the longevityof what you're doing, style wise
, you know.
It's not for everybody, youknow, and it is not to discredit
people that are trying to learn, that want to be teachers or

(37:34):
whatever, but there are thingsthat take time, you know.
And so my thing is that,because you have a lot of people
now that want to do it, how doyou set yourself apart from
somebody else?
Because if you're doing with 50other different groups of

(37:54):
states are all doing the samething, then you're not
separating what you do comparedto everybody else.
So, with that being said, I'vealways just liked to be
different.
I like to if everybody's doingthis.
I'm definitely going to be doingthat, yeah.

Speaker 2 (38:13):
And I teach my students Find your niche.

Speaker 3 (38:15):
Yeah, and I use that word a lot you find your niche
and I've told somebody that,like a whole bunch of times, I
found my niche a long time ago,and how can I pass that down and
create along the way?

(38:36):
That's different from whateverybody else is doing.
So I keep telling people findyour own niche.
It's okay.
You know what I mean.
There's nothing wrong with that.
That's just how it works.

Speaker 2 (38:50):
Yeah, and I know it's like with bodybuilding you
learn the basics, but if you'regoing to want to compete, you're
not going to go to your localgym and work with the trainer
there.
You're going to go to HannyRambod or you're going to go to
Charles class, you're going togo to the people that have
trained champions and spend thatextra money.
It's like you make thatsacrifice.
So if I wanted to learn how toroller dance, I would definitely

(39:12):
come to you.
So, and since my mom's inLivermore, I just when I come
out to visit, I would just callyou up and say, hey, but I don't
have quads yet.

Speaker 3 (39:22):
So well, you know what I, what I've, what I've
told a lot of people is that,like I, I've, I've had a lot of
students come in and out of myclasses over the years and you
always get one or two who stickswith it thick and thin because
it's like going to JuilliardMaybe you just put it that way,

(39:44):
if I had to make a comparison.
You just can't walk intoJuilliard and just become this
super well-known dancerovernight.
Yeah, you got to go through theprocesses, you got to go
through this, you got to gothrough that.
It's like you have to prove tome that you are worthy of being
person of Juilliard.

(40:05):
So my students I've hadstudents four, five, six years,
I mean religiously.
They've learned the game,they've learned the terminology.
I put them through the.
I just put them through theropes only because they want to
learn it.
I teach them my lingo, I teachthem hand language or certain

(40:29):
things on how I do it, so thatit carries on to the next group
or generation of skaters, sothat the roller dance Academy,
for example, it has a name builtaround a foundation of
longevity, of doing a lot ofthings.
And so when I choose one of mystudents to, let's say, take the

(40:57):
lead.
That's just a way for me tojust test them to see where they
are now.
Can you call it?
Can you do these dances?
Can you do them the exact thisway every single time?
Can you teach the next personexactly the way I'm teaching?
So you have that's how greatfigure skaters and teachers.
Tiger Woods he's teaching hisson, right, I mean, he looks

(41:21):
like Tiger.
Yeah, you know, and that's howI kind of do my program.
So what I do, instead ofcertifying people, I give them
my blessings.
Okay, I say I give them myblessings.

(41:41):
Okay, I say I give you myblessing, you're going to.
I have a friend now that livesin oh man, he's overseas
somewhere, sweden.
Okay, he said I'm going toSweden.
Mark Sowers was at my classesevery week, did miss a beat, he
learned so fast forward.

(42:04):
He said, richard, I'm moving toSweden.
I said, hey, man, you got myblessings to do your thing when
you go to Sweden, and so I lovedit when I saw him doing a class
or teaching people how to dothe steps, and I'm going like,
wow, that's what I'm talkingabout.
Right, he didn't have to have apiece of paper at all you know.

(42:26):
I mean he could take that withhim wherever he goes, because
he's kind of specialized in that.
So my students are specialistswithout having a piece of paper.
So my students are specialistswithout having a piece of paper.
Yeah, so they can go anywhereand say, hey, you know what?
If you know anything aboutrichard humphrey, the good part
is now you can go online and youcan watch it and see it.

(42:47):
It's like, oh, I didn't knowthat.
I've been looking at thosevideos for years, or something
that I have never known you know.
So when people go like, yeah, Ilearned that from him.
Well, that's, you know, I likethat.
I mean, it's just it's nicethat people give you that homage
, yeah, and that's what I do.

(43:07):
I just I just give people myblessings to to carry on the
journey.
So I have people that, like Isaid, they're coming to me for
years.
They can't come like they usedto, but they can skate on
Tuesday night or Wednesday nightin their area and people go
like, hey, are you teaching orcan you teach us?
I say, hey, I can't be overthere on Tuesdays and Wednesdays

(43:29):
, do your thing.
Yeah, and because I know it'sin good hands, they're going to
keep it going.
Those are the ones that arereally serious about it.
You know, and it's just that'show I do it.
You know what I mean?
It's just because it tells methat people are serious about
the craft.
They're serious about the artof the dance, because I always

(43:52):
called it an art form.
Oh, absolutely, you know what Imean.
And so when you watch a, a group, and everybody looked like one,
that didn't just happenovernight.
That's critiquing, that'smessing up, that's not getting
it right, that's forgetting,that's, um, putting in the time.

(44:14):
You putting in the time wheneverybody else is doing
something else.
You in your living room, whenyou're in the time.
You're putting in the time wheneverybody else is doing
something else.
You in your living room, whenyou're in the kitchen.
It's like I got to get thatmove.
I got to.
You know what I mean.
Those are the ones that I'mserious about, you know I see a
lot of that now.
But that's just what my programand what I've always just been
about is just keeping the artform of what I created alive and

(44:38):
for other people to see it.
And that's why, like I said,that's what RollerDancecom was
all about.
It was just simple, it wasn't alot.
But I and you know, and it wasreally interesting because when
I said, when I came up withRollerDancecom, I said to myself
I hope it's a name that peoplewill always remember.

(45:00):
And so now everybody saysRollerDance.
So I guess it's working.

Speaker 2 (45:04):
Yeah, and they type in RollerDance.
You probably should be right atthe top right.

Speaker 3 (45:07):
Well, it's the first one that usually pop up.
Nice, that's the one thing Ilearned about the web.

Speaker 2 (45:23):
It was like, oh wow, that type in roller dances of
richard humphrey.
I was like, oh wow, how cool isthat?
There you go.
I saw a thing a while back onthe internet.
It was, uh, I guess they callit a meme, but it wasn't like a
funny meme.
But it said, um, it was aboutpiano, learning how to play the
piano.
And someone said, oh, I wish Icould play the piano like that
and the.
No, you don't because you'renot going to make the sacrifice
to do it.
So it's, it's.
People don't realize how muchwork and we're in an age where
everybody wants a quick fix.

(45:44):
People go to the gym once andif they haven't lost 10 pounds,
they're done.
It's.
Everybody's looking for thatshortcut, and especially with
skating there is no shortcut.
And the guy that first taughtme how to skate with skate, when
I got my first pair of inlines,he spent the first three days
just knocking me over, just so Igot used to falling.
So once you get past that fearof falling, then everything else

(46:07):
came easy.
I wasn't afraid to try stuff.
I'm 52.
I actually turn 53 tomorrow andI still fall.
I've got a scar on my shin fromspeed skating practice.
So it's one of those thingsthat if you really want to get
good at your craft whether it bespeed skating or dance skating

(46:27):
you got to put in the time, yougot to practice.
You got to show up when nobodyelse is showing up.
So I think that's the mostimportant part.

Speaker 3 (46:35):
And that's it.
You know, like now skaterssomewhat have some opportunities
to do some things.
You know people that areskating with Usher.
Now that was an opportunity forpeople who just went to the
rink and you know they do whatthey do, you know, and it's like
Usher's going on tour.

(46:57):
I need some skaters.
You look for the best skatersat the rink to feel what you're
looking for and it kind of flowsfrom there.
You know what I mean.
And so, yeah, you got to put inthe time, because I remember in
my early years, especially inthe early 70s, when I would go
to the roller rink when there'sa kid session, I said, no, I'm

(47:20):
learning how to skate, I don'tcare nothing about these kids.
And so I always just put thetime in and then I would
practice like all the time.
I mean, I was always justtrying to create different
things for roller skating.
So in the late 70s I had a pair.
In one of my pictures that Ihave, I'm in all white tuxedo

(47:44):
with white patent leather bootsand I always said to myself it
would be cool one day to have myown boots.
I just and I was in 1978.
So when you ask that storyreally about like how did that
come about?
Well, 30 years later, I justhappened to um talking with one

(48:05):
of my friends at the road at theum at the skate shop.
His name was legal.
Oh, they had a skate shopcalled skates on hate.
That was forever in SanFrancisco.

Speaker 2 (48:15):
I remember that, yeah , and so I said to Lee one day I
said, francisco, I rememberthat, yeah.

Speaker 3 (48:18):
And so I said to Lee one day I said, lee, I got this
great idea.
I said a boot with no laces.
What do you think he saidreally?
I said I got this concept, youknow, and I got this idea.
And he said, well, let's talkto Rydell.
So talked to Rydell and justgreat, meeting and everything.

(48:39):
And you know, they said that wehave never made a boot with no
laces in our 60-year history.
So I literally became the firstperson with a skate with no
laces.
And that's how I came up withthe Richard Humphrey no Strings
Attached.
I had to give it a cool name.

(49:00):
It all kind of fit inAbsolutely.
That's how that boot came aboutthe Richard Humphrey.
So it felt really good to knowor to have a product, because a
lot of these skate companies donot have names associated, like
Jordans with their boots andstuff.
They have names like the17ordan's.
Yeah, their boots and stuff.
You know they have names like172 or 120, but man, it sounds

(49:22):
really good when somebody said,well, you got you some richard
humphries.

Speaker 2 (49:24):
Huh, you know that's kind of nice, you know it has a
nice ring to it and you wouldthink they would do that because
in the skateboarding side ofskating, um, tony hawk has his
boards, bam margera had boards.
A lot of the skaters had theirown boards that people would buy
to be like them.
So to see that, and uh, one ofmy, my actual first guests was

(49:47):
chris edwards, freestyle inlineskater x games competitor.
I call him a movie star, but itwas minor roles but he was
still in the movies, but he hashis own freestyle inline skates
too.
So it's cool to see that peopleare getting their names and, um
, I'm most likely going to endup buying a pair of your skates
eventually here skating as longas you wear by chains 13s no, I

(50:15):
have something up there in theshop.

Speaker 3 (50:18):
Um, I know I got some 12 and a half, so I know I have
a 14.
I got some 11 and a halves.
I had to look at that 13 though, but yeah, you know it's.
It's.
The whole skate world isinteresting that a lot of people
just don't know a lot about the, the vaccines of a lot of this
stuff.
You know, the same thinghappened with my wheels, the

(50:41):
Richard Humphrey roller bones.
You know it was like hey,richard Humphrey got some boots.
How about?
What do you think about a wheel?
And I was like oh man, thatwould be like off the hook to
have wheels and a boot.
So I do so.
Thank you, roller bones, formaking it happen over the years.

(51:01):
So I have the Richard Humphreygolden roller bones, the golden
rollers.

Speaker 2 (51:05):
Cause you can actually buy this boot by itself
on there on your site and thewheels.
Or you can buy a whole skateset up.

Speaker 3 (51:12):
You can get the whole skate set up.
Yeah, and it, uh.
And since we're on the subjectof like, well, let's just put it
this way of creativity 2006,working at Skates on Hate, we
created a skate called the QuadLine.
Have you ever heard of it?

(51:33):
Uh-uh, never.
No, the Quad line.
It's on YouTube.
It's on.
If you type it in, it'll pop up.

Speaker 2 (51:43):
Is that the one that can switch to inline, to quads?
Okay, I have heard of it, Ihave seen it too.

Speaker 3 (51:49):
So the only thing is is that the axle needs to be a
quarter of an inch longer thanyour standard axle, otherwise it
doesn't fit because of the waythe wheels are set up.
So we came up with matter offact, it was the first skating
infomercial, one of the first ohwow.

(52:10):
And the quad line took off.
It was our number one sellingskate, number one.
Quadline took off.
It was our number one sellingskate, number one.
So for a lot of skaters thatdon't know, if you ever take
your regular quad skates and puton an inline wheel, the outdoor
rolls is amazing.
Ok, people just don't knowbecause they figure you know

(52:34):
what is that?
If you see mine, I have a I of100-millimeter wheels underneath
my boots and that's onlybecause I custom build skates.
So it's called the StreamlineOnly because it looks.
Everything just looks like aquad and the quad, the quad line

(52:55):
, is actually wider, so it has awider base, has like a seven
and five eighths wide base on itso that you can navigate a
little differently on certaintypes of terrain, if you just
want to do that.
That was pretty hot and sobacktracking, uh, back to 2006,
germany we actually introduced askate.

(53:15):
Um that it.
It almost reminded us of oldschool metal skates, except we
did it with.
It was like plastic, you knowyeah but it was called the
scorpion.
Look that one up, the scorpion.
Okay, that became hot, oh it.

(53:36):
You know, just working at thestore every day, I was like a
kid in the candy store.
So I got a chance literally tolook at everything, measure
everything and the concept like,wow, it's amazing when you are
working with stuff like thatevery day.
Yeah, I measured every boot, Imeasured every insole.

(53:59):
I could tell somebody, oh, yeah, this is what you would wear.
So, for those that arelistening, if you're ever
looking to buy a skate,especially if you're doing it
online, the first thing you dois measure your foot in inches.
I don't care what your foot is,those inches are going to tell
you everything you need to know.

Speaker 2 (54:21):
Okay.
Yeah, it's since you've workedat the skate shop.
Other than that, what elseshould people know when they're
looking to buy a skate Buy?

Speaker 3 (54:35):
a skate that's going to last you for a while.
You know, there's a lot ofskates out there that look
pretty.
I'm not going to even mentionnames.
There are a lot of them.
They look pretty, oh yeah, butwhen you start wearing them they
start coming apart.
Stuff start falling off.

(54:57):
You can't find replacementparts.
I can tell you for a fact.
Shoe grip has everything.
Shoe grip parts are like a 302engine.
When you go into the shop andyou say, have a 302 at the auto
shop, oh yeah, we got that Withroller skates.

(55:18):
You can't do that.
You only can do it on certainskates.
You know, because if somethingbreaks on certain type of models
, you got to buy a whole newplate or a whole new skate or
something to that effect.
But get a boot, especially aleather boot, leather boots.
You can't go wrong.
Not pleather they got a lot ofpleather but get some leather.

(55:41):
And the way I look at it is likeone good time, because if you
buy a really good pair of skatesand you love them, you can have
them for 20 years or 25 years.
Yeah, and just go to show youhow some people love their
skates.
I mean, I've seen skates out ofChicago, chicago skates, and so
people like them so much.

(56:02):
Just because they like them,they duct tape them.
I like them so much, justbecause they like them, they
duct tape them Even when theycome apart.
That's how much people lovetheir skates.
Sometimes they don't care howthey look or how scuffy they are
or whatever.
But if you're going to invest,spend a couple hundred dollars,
because, if you think about it,if you spend $200 and they last

(56:24):
you for 20 years, man, that'sminimal.
Yeah, one good time, you know.
Buy a good pair, get some goodwheels, get some good bearings.
Bearings Skaters really don'tunderstand that bearings are the
heart.

Speaker 2 (56:40):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (56:43):
You can put any kind of wheel on a skate if you put a
really good pair of bearings,some bones, reds, bones, swiss,
just something high I call ithigh octane.
Yeah, you feel the difference.
As soon as you change, itchanges everything about skating
.
Spend a few dollars and get yousome decent bearings.
You know, I know people have,you know, a lot of different
wheels and stuff light up andstuff like that, but people

(57:06):
don't realize you're working sohard because they roll and stop
because of centrifugal force,the way that they're made.
Yeah, I went through thatexperience one time just to see
how the next day I was like whyam I hurting so bad?
Because you're working so hard?
Yeah, with skating youshouldn't have to work out.
You know, think of somethingthat you don't have to work so
hard.
With skating you shouldn't haveto work out.
Think of something that youdon't have to work so hard in.

Speaker 2 (57:28):
Yeah, I got junk ceramic bearings.
I love junk wheels and junkbearings and so I completely
understand on that and I agreewith you.
A lot of people don'tunderstand that bearings are
important and a lot of peopleare like, oh, I just use
whatever.
And I actually had somebody Ithink it was last week at the
rink they got new bearings.

(57:49):
I think they got bones and theywere flying around the turns.
They're like I'm going wayfaster than I'm used to and I'm
like that's good so yeah, true,so for, like me, for me to go
down a straightaway, I do likethree strokes and I'm like right
on top of the people that aredoing 200 strokes to go fast.

(58:09):
It's just because of my styleof skating.
I do the speed skating so youlearn how to control more.
But definitely it's one ofthose things that I've been
thinking about too.
It's kind of like I wanted todo an episode, at least for
someone to figure out how to buyskates and stuff.
So I kind of want to expandthat side of things and start me

(58:30):
, you know, getting differentmanufacturers on and different
people that are on the theproduction side of things to
kind of bring their products andtalk about their products too
and what they have also just tokind of expand away from just
the interview side of things too.

Speaker 3 (58:49):
The difference is like with some skates, for
example, you have skates thatare full sizes.
That just means that seven,eight, nine, you'll be close.
Yeah, when you start gettingmore higher end skates, like
with Rydell Sells and stuff likethat, when you get seven, seven
and a half half make all thedifference in the world.

(59:10):
I will not lie to you that halfan inch I.
What I always tell people is Igo by the half an inch rule.
You're within a half an inch,you're good.
Anything after that you'reworking.
If your foot is moving up anddown and stuff like that, you're
working a little hard.
You know what I mean.
But, um, insoles change a lot ofthat too, and you know, and
there's certain models, modelsof skates.

(59:31):
Some are more wide, wide widths, stuff like that.
Some skates, that man I'vetried on some skates I feel like
I'm in high heel shoes, youknow.
So you have to just kind of doa little bit of research, you
know, to see what a lot ofskaters are wearing.

(59:51):
You know you can ask questions,you know, and most skaters will
probably live and die by whatthey have on, you know, I mean
whether it's a jam boot.
So for those that don't knowthe difference between a jam
boot versus a dance boot.
It's the heel, because the jamboots are flat.
So you tend to sit back on yourskates, which feels really,

(01:00:13):
really uncomfortable for me,don't work, whereas that heel
lift, that tilt, changeseverything about your stance and
how you move and navigatearound the floor and doing moves
the same thing thing.
You know, some people havenever tried anything else.
So sometimes, you know, I havethis thing that I always say to

(01:00:35):
people you got to try it, yeah,something different, just try it
, because you don't know if youwheels make a big difference.
You got the big wide wheels,you got the little bitty wheels
and some people got these littlefiberglass wheels that's just
bigger than a bearing right, thesliders, the sliders and stuff
like that.
So you have to find what worksfor you in your style.

(01:00:58):
You know, yeah, just becausesomebody else uses it and
they're good at it, don't meanthat you're going to be good at
it.
I've built skates with forsliders.
They come back the next day andsay please put these back on
because they're not foreverybody.
So every boot isn't foreverybody.
You know what I'm saying.
I don't like the high, highboots.

(01:01:18):
You know what I mean?
Yeah, it just over the years,my feet, my foot, has gotten
used to a certain feel.
It hits you on the back of yourfoot a certain way.
It's like you know what I mean.
So and then you have to look attextures of boots, for example,
like you get Rydell boots andthe numbers people don't realize

(01:01:39):
.
The numbers indicate thehardnesses of the leather.
So when you go from a 120 to a220, the leather thickness
change.
You go to a 375, people areusing this 3200 boot.
That's like rocks.
You know that's super solidbecause style skating wise, it

(01:02:02):
works for what they do, whetherit's spins or being on the floor
or whatever jumps and thingslike that.
You've got to have somethingsolid, so people need to also
understand that that's how itworks.
So when they see numbers on aboot, certain numbers ask and
read what those numbers indicate, because that's usually what it
means it's the leatherhardnesses of a lot of the boots

(01:02:22):
.
Okay, that's how it works.

Speaker 2 (01:02:25):
Yeah, that works.
Now, was there ever a time,like in your storied career of
skating, that like you justwanted to take a break or you
got tired of it for a while?
Or To be real honest, no, nice.
So, and now, how do you think?
Because the one thing that Isaw was To be real honest no,

(01:02:46):
nice.
And now, how do you think?
Because the one thing that Isaw was, with the pandemic,
there was a huge resurgence ofskating so because we weren't
allowed to go to the gyms andstuff, so people were looking
for something to do.
Has the pandemic helped?

Speaker 3 (01:03:07):
your business.
Let me just put it like this myclasses have been steady since
1990.

Speaker 2 (01:03:15):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (01:03:15):
My classes were still going on doing COVID before
COVID and it's just been aprogression, been a progression
progressive of years.
That has not stopped.
Um, it's just, you know, I meanI always kind of feel like I
was bringing something kind ofcool to the table.
Yeah, it kept people's interest, you know what I mean.

(01:03:37):
So people come and go, but I'vealways had a steady group of
people who've who've always justbeen there thick and thin.
You know, the good part is like,over the years always treated
myself to studios, regardless ifit was me or 20.

(01:03:57):
That was my treat to myself,because I always felt like the
coolest thing in the world wasjust having a studio where I can
go in and just create and justcome up with things, and my
camera was always with me.
If you look at my YouTubevideos, you'll see a lot of
videos of just me standing there.

(01:04:19):
I have a lot of them and that'show I create.
I just always had this thinglike try it, just try this, try
that, I mean just see how itgoes.
And then, the more you do itand you kind of create a flow
and then, before you know it, Istarted creating dances and

(01:04:39):
that's that's how it works.
So having the studio has alwaysbeen like my biggest treat,
because when I bought my firsthouse, the first thing I did was
put a wood floor in the studiohas always been like my biggest
treat, because when I bought myfirst house, the first thing I
did was put a wood floor in thegarage.
Okay, I used to have my classesin the studio, I mean in my
house, and I had every week.
I had people until I eventuallyhad some extra money to to get

(01:05:05):
a studio.
But the thing that took a whilewas people allowing me to come
into the studio with rollerskates.
Yeah, that was a huge thing.
People don't realize that you,you see people now in the
studios and in the gyms and allthat kind of stuff.
I look back the first time andevery time I call I say, oh yeah

(01:05:29):
, you know what do you do?
I said I teach roller dance.
They go, oh no, no, skating onmy floor.
I got that so much until oneday one studio said, hey, why
not, you know?
And everything just happenedfrom there and I've had studios
since 1990.

(01:05:49):
Okay, into this, you know, Idon't now because I'm outdoors.
Yeah, and the space that I haveI rent.
Actually, I rent the outdoorspace so that I can actually
have a place that we can havethe skate, uh, without having to
go through all the craziness ofpeople saying oh you out there
skating on tennis courts andstuff and people don't realize

(01:06:13):
that a tennis court, whateveryou want to call it, the
material is almost made out ofthe same things as your wheels
are made out of.
Yeah, I fight thick and thin.
I've told people say, look, youknow what.
You can argue with me all youwant, because that's you don't
know.
I says I'm telling you what Iknow, not guessing.
I says I've been there, donethat, you know.

(01:06:35):
I used to tell people all thetime I says, oh no, skating on
your floor.
I say, well, look, let me justgive you a little background
about me.
My background is facilitymanagement, been there, done
that, taking care of wood, this,and that I'm a specialist at it
.
You can't tell me what I don'tknow.
Yeah, you know what I'm saying.

(01:07:07):
So I've always fought throughthick and thin.
So now it's beautiful to seepeople in the studios now and
they're opening up the doorbecause they finally got it.
You know what I mean, becausebasically what you're doing is.
You're turning away business,you're turning away money.
You're going like, hey, here'san opportunity.
I got 100 people to be comingin and fill this place up and
you're going to be making moneyevery week, you know.
It's a mindset, because peoplehave been told that for so long
that we're tearing up stuff havebeen told that for so long that

(01:07:29):
you're tearing up stuff, askateboard will tear up the
surface before a roller skatewheel will, based on what you do
.
Yeah, it's just how it works,you know.
I mean that's just keeping itreal, because I'm going like,
well, why can?
Why do they skate and we can't?
You know?
So they build a skateboard parkbefore they build a roller
anything.
You know why is that?
You know?
So we have fought and it's beengoing on a long time.

(01:07:52):
For those that don't know, it'sbeen going on a long time.
So now that you've got yourfoot in the door, I think some
of the people who worked hard toget past that.
So now you can just come andsay, hey, I teach a skating
class now and I'd love to beable to use your space and
they're gonna, let sure, come onin yeah so, um, but yeah, my

(01:08:13):
classes have been going non-stopand, like I said, during the
pandemic, um, it opened up thedoor big time.
Right after they kind of openedit up a little bit, you know, um
, but I've always had to.
You know the spaces and stufflike that.
We were constantly just movingaround, jumping around from part

(01:08:35):
to part and then the minutethat, covid, they shut, it
opened everything back up.
They started putting all thenets back up and all the
basketball players.
Then we started having issues.
Then it'd be like, oh, we'reout there skating Basketball
players show up and they're like, oh, wow, we want to play
basketball, we're already here.

(01:08:55):
You know that kind of stuff.
Yeah, so it opened up some bigdoors and people jumped on the
bandwagon.
A lot of skaters have, but as ofnow, a lot of skaters have
quieted down.
Now it is quieted down, I'll bethe first to admit.
You know, people are like, yeah, that was fun and that was.
You know, they're just doingother things and that's great,

(01:09:16):
but it did open up the door.
But, as we always telleverybody, skating never went
away.
Yeah, you know, they sayskating is back.
I say, well, maybe for some,but for me it never, it hasn't
stopped at all.

Speaker 2 (01:09:30):
Yeah, it just kind of the pandemic kind of helped
people realize that, hey,there's more than just the gym
out there, Exactly so.
But now, since you, being thelegend you are, who was I mean
mean, because it's hard to say,because you started, you were
like in the 50s skating who wassome of your biggest influences

(01:09:52):
for skating?

Speaker 3 (01:09:56):
oh man that's why, it makes it a hard question and
and only because I didn't reallyemulate anybody- you know, what
I mean.
This is what I like to tellpeople.
I've always been athletic, veryathletic Track, football,

(01:10:17):
racket sports.
I'm a racket junkie, I'm asports person and I've always
pushed myself to limits.
So with roller skating it justhelped me, push me doing other
things.
You see a lot of my videos.
I'm always doing the splits.
Well, that was from runninghurdles, yeah.
So to do the splits.
It all worked and then it tiedinto roller skating and then it

(01:10:41):
became like showing off moves.
You know what I mean.
I could stretch, I can go allthe way down, I could do a limbo
under 20 inches or somethinglike that.
You know, it was just cool,cool moves and stuff like that.
What I will say is that in the70s we had some skaters because
we never saw anybody else.
You know, we never travelednowhere, so there was nobody to

(01:11:03):
really watch.
But you got a chance to seeskaters who were really, really
good at what they did.
And I skate with a couplepeople to this day who still
skate Like they're close to 70.
I'm 72.
But when you watch them skatethey don't look it at all.
They look like they've beenskating effortlessly for many,

(01:11:25):
many moons.
So I've watched, I've beeninspired by other skaters, but
not anyone in particular, andonly because, when I say that
because people always say I'mnot a skater I said I'm a skater
first.
It's just that you never see meskate.
Yeah, I said I can skate, I cando that stuff, but I'm 72 now

(01:11:51):
I'm not going to do the thingsthat I used to do going around
the rink, kicking my leg up,flying all the way down the
floor, not looking, jumping intoa split and jumping back up.
Those days are gone.
We did all that stuff.
You know, when people talk aboutJB style of skating and stuff
like that, people have to alsounderstand is that, yeah, jb

(01:12:12):
style is a style of skating thatpeople relate to.
Now, what I tell people is thatI grew up on James Brown.
I went to James Brown concerts.
Everybody did James Brown.
So, whether it was at the rink,whether it was at the club or
whatever, everything related tothe camel walk to.
You know, james Brown justdoing his thing Right.

(01:12:33):
A lot of that is, to this day,still incorporated in roller
skating.
People don't realize that, yeah.
So, but yes, I've had somereally, really cool people that
I love to watch.
There's a few people in theskate world that I literally
watch, I'll be like I like that.
He's got his own style, he'sdoing something unique.

(01:12:54):
He may not be doing what I'mdoing, but he just do unique
things.
And people need to understandis that you can watch people all
day long.
You're not going to ever getthere.
You can watch all day.
You'd be like man, I'd love tobe able, but of course you got
to put it into time exactly.
You want to even just partiallyget there.
But there are some skaters outthere that I really do watch

(01:13:17):
because, like my thing, I'vealways looked at myself or style
wise, it's just being smooth,not hard, just making it look
easy.
So when I watch people whoskate or who dance, I'm going
like, wow, I love the flow, Icould watch that all day long.
So those are the kind ofinspirations that I have.

Speaker 2 (01:13:35):
Okay, cool.
And now, what is the advice tothis new generation of skaters?

Speaker 3 (01:13:45):
You know, my advice is simply this Keep doing what
you're doing, but try to createyou, that's all.
Just try to be you.
You don't have to try to belike some of the top notch
skaters that are out there rightnow.

(01:14:07):
That's great.
Like I said, you're inspired byyou, watch them, and stuff like
that.
But what can you bring to thetable?
What are you going to bring tothe table 10 years from now, 20
years from now?
That's going to set you apartfrom what everybody else is
doing, because if everybody'sjust doing that one little step,
you don't know one from theother.

(01:14:30):
It's like yeah, everybody doesthat.
Set yourself apart, put thetime in to reach goals that you
want to reach and stop worriedabout what everybody else is
doing.
So what if you don't get achance to be on a commercial or
any of that kind of stuff?
Because the one thing thatskaters especially a lot of the

(01:14:53):
OG skaters when I just hear thechitter, chatter, you know
Internet, stuff like that weskated because we just love to
skate.
We're not skating to try toplease other people or try to
show off for other people.
We do it because we just lovedoing what we do.

(01:15:13):
That's it.
We always look to skating asjust a great exercise, way to go
out and exercise.
And, along the way, if you wantto get good at it, you got to
try some things.
You can say, okay, yeah, Ithink I can try that.
Okay way, if you want to getgood at it, you got to try some
things.
You know, you say, ok, yeah, Ithink I can try that.
You know, ok, well, once youfall and break your head a
couple of times, you go like, no, that's not for me.

(01:15:34):
So somebody used this termrecently stay in your lane.
Stay in your lane.
You don't have to alwaysventure out.
You know what I mean.
So, yeah, that's what I wouldsay to the younger skaters today
just kind of create you.
You know.
Kind of like, just think aboutif you do something unique or

(01:15:58):
something like that, focus onyour uniqueness and let that
flow, because you know like I.
I like to tell the story becauseI remember I used to say to my
godfather that I was good atstuff.
I'm good at that.
He said, boy, don't brag onyourself.
Let other people say it for you, let other people talk about

(01:16:21):
you, let other people say thatyou're good.
You don't have to do it,because if you're good in
anything, people will recognizeit without you even saying a
word.
You go to the rink, you go tothe park or whatever.
You just out there just doingyour little float.
Trust me, people are watching,they're looking and they'd be
like, hmm, because I've saidthat's like I was over there

(01:16:43):
standing on the sideline goinglike I like that, and my mind
says I like it.
But I'm going to change it alittle bit.
You know, that's my thinking,you know.
So that's what I say to skaters.
You know, just try to beyourself, try to create you, and

(01:17:03):
then that's it.
You know, because it should beall about the fun first.
You know, because some of thesefolks now are just taking it
way, way too too serious andthey don't have to get to that
point.
You know, because when they getto that point, that means you
know really you're not lovingwhat you do.
It's like when I go bowl.
I love to bowl and if I have abad day bowling, well, I just

(01:17:25):
look forward to the next timeI'll get ready to go back and
bowl.
I look at it the same way withskating, trying to do moves or
trying to tune or trying tocreate new dances or whatever
it's like.
Ok, that ain't working today.
I'm going to go back tomorrowand grind it out and see what
happens, because I love it thatmuch, you know, and hopefully

(01:17:50):
that's what the next generationof skaters will do and carry
them on into the future.

Speaker 2 (01:17:57):
Nice.
And now, how can my listenersfollow you on the internet?

Speaker 3 (01:18:03):
Well, I'm Placid on Instagram and my name is richard
humphrey.
On instagram I don't want nohidden names, you know.
I want people to know my name.
Say my name, like beyonce willsay say my name there you go on
ins on youtube I'm the rollerdance man.

(01:18:24):
Okay, I always liked that name,it just fitted me.
I gave myself that name.
You know, people give names.
I said Roller Dance man is me,so I'm the Roller Dance man on
YouTube, and so those are thetwo platforms.
Like with YouTube, youtubestarted it all for me, so
everything I used to post wentto YouTube.

(01:18:47):
So to this day, I tell people,go to my YouTube page and you'll
see 150 plus videos of me doing150 different things, whereas
Instagram they give us a minute30 seconds to do whatever we do.
You know, they give us a minute30 seconds to do whatever we do,
and that's it which I like.

(01:19:16):
That was OK, because I onlylike that, because then that way
, people just not totally juststealing your content, you know,
instagram allow, allows me totease people, you know, people,
you know.
But most importantly, what theycan get from me is, uh, cause
I've kind of upgraded technologywise on my Instagram page, not
Instagram, but even with my uhuh, roller dance Academy and

(01:19:38):
roller dancecom.
They tie it together, they justlink with each other.
So I have all my videos there,um, and I also offer MP4s.
So the MP4 is really coolbecause MP4, you can just plug
it, plug and go.
You can go wherever you go,plug it and and learn something
and watch it.

(01:19:58):
And I break it down.
All my instructional videos areare MP4s and they can get them
through roller dancecom androller dance academycom.

Speaker 2 (01:20:10):
Nice.
Well, I appreciate you comingon the show today and can't wait
for my people to hear you.
Oh, anytime, man.

Speaker 3 (01:20:17):
Anytime, it'd be nice .
I enjoy talking.
I enjoy talking RollerScape.
Thank you, thank you.