David Cole

David Cole

Ollie, photo: Hainault

I don’t know what to say about David Cole. I met the dude was I was 13 because we were from the same town, but at the time I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how I’d never skated with him before that. It wasn’t like we lived in a big town and there definitely wasn’t any ripping skate scene. But this dude was hucking himself off the hugest sets with the steeziest finesse of any 12-year old I’ve seen to date. Today, the steeze has only gotten better, the skills have improved, and I’ve come to find that David is one of the rarest breeds of human beings I will ever encounter. I still can’t quite figure him out and I’m not sure if anyone ever will. That’s why we call him Crave.

Originally, Crave was supposed to have first and last part and the video was supposed to be his sponsor me tape. While filming, David was working full time at Panera Bread manning the sandwich line while suffering from one serious injury after the next. David broke his elbow super bad and didn’t go to the doctor for over a month due to lack of health insurance. When he finally went, they told him his forearm was basically close to falling off if he didn’t immediately get an eight-inch bolt drilled into his bone to connect his elbow to his arm.

Crave’s back to full strength and can be spotted shredding the St. Helena park in the town he now resides in while working at a burger joint called Gott’s Refresher. I still know David is going to be a legend in skateboarding, whether he ever gets sponsored or not. To this day he’s one of my favorite skateboarders to watch and as anyone who’s met him can testify, he’s the best person in the world to be around. Watch what a day in the life for him is like here.—Walker Ryan

Filmed by: Ivery Turner, Nick Lamm, Cameron Sanchez, Eric Lesar, Corey Cabrera, Russell Houghten, Walker Ryan, Ryan Alvarado, Grant Schubert, Jacob Steinforth, edited by Ivery Turner

Song: Fourtops, Reach Out