Alumni's company skates for the greater good

By Molly McGonigle

Skater kids dream of getting promoted, becoming professional boarders or otherwise entering the skating industry.

For a few Santa Clara alumni, former skater kids themselves, the death of a family friend inspired just such a professional career in the skateboard industry.

Kirk Fonseca, Jonathan Barbarin and Zach Knight, who graduated from Santa Clara in 2005, came together to start ADM Skateboards with their friends Dawn Strzepek, Garrett Stanton and Ben Myers. ADM is a professional company with a nonprofit twist.

Myers, a Colorado native, decided to found the company a year and a half ago after the death of his brother, Austin, whose initials give ADM Skateboards its name.

"Austin was 21 years old, an art student at Boulder," said Knight. "He died of a heroin overdose. Ben was pretty torn apart about it, and was trying to think about how to make a positive impact out of the whole situation."

Not long after Austin's death, Myers cleaned out his brother's garage and found one of his brother's last art projects.

"Ben found three skateboards his brother had painted on and about 15 blanks he hadn't got to paint yet before he died," Knight said. "So the idea he came up with was to start a skateboard company and initially use his brother's paintings -- sort of immortalize his brother and his art."

ADM Skateboards is still in the beginning stages of development. The goal is that it will become a large-scale company that is something more than just a money making consortium.

"Every one of us has a separate job that we do to pay the rent," said Knight, who works with the five other founders on ADM as a side job. "We want to promote positive expression of athleticism and creative expression."

A major help to the company has been the nonprofit organization called The Five Percent Fund.

The organization donates money to skateboard industry-specific organizations.

The main interest in this nonprofit is to create places for kids to skate.

"Skate parks provide a playground for all dedicated skaters and get them off the street," said Knight.

"We have a goal of raising $100,000 for The Five Percent Fund by the end of 2009, and right now we have about $600," Knight said.

"So it's a lot of money for a small company, but you have to start somewhere. And you know, the fact that we have nine different decks in production, five different artists including Austin and a nonprofit makes us feel successful."

Each board costs about $60, five percent of which is donated to the nonprofit fund.

The colorful, surreal images on each deck make for one-of-a-kind boards that are sure to draw attention, whether at the skate park or on the wall as decoration.

"The thing that's really amazing about our product is that our skateboards stand out like a sore thumb because they are very eclectic and one graphic isn't like the next graphic," Knight said.

For example, Austin Myers' design "Elephant" looks like a scene out of "Alice and Wonderland," putting the viewer under the foot of a vibrantly red elephant in the midst of a swirling sky and tree.

Knight hopes that people who view their Web site take away more than just the desire for an awesome board.

"I hope people take away from our company a product that's like a double-edged sword," said Knight. He hopes they will see the product and think it's cool, and learn from Austin's story, too.

"I hope people really learn about the company and see what a 21-year-old with a lot of potential lost," Knight said.

"What happened out of that situation is a really beautiful effect because we actually really want to help people."

ADM skateboards and apparel are available via their Web site, ADMskateboards.com, or check them out in various retail stores throughout the United States in San Francisco, Colorado, San Diego, Boston and Maryland.

Contact Molly McGonigle at (408) 551-1918 or mmcgonigle@scu.edu.