MAJOR OVERSIGHT: Tom Sims, RIP

So here at Man's Ambition we're all about celebrating men who not only strive for greatness but who strive to achieve said greatness like nobody before. Innovators and iconoclasts, as well as just plain bad-asses. And of course there are the commentaries on today's values, on what it means to be a man, or in general what it means to be ambitious, X or Y, not trying to be misogynist but, yes, it's about trying to change the world. And at the same time about being the toughest, the smartest, the most able to escape the maddening hordes and accomplish something great with the short time we have on this earth. As such, the fact that I didn't write a thing on Tom Sims earlier, closer to his actual death on September 12, 2012 of a heart attack, is an egregious oversight I can only chalk up to a stifling case of political fever with a touch of the football papilloma virus.

I'm sure right now most of you are wondering "Who the fuck is Tom Sims?" Simply put - the most important boardsports pioneer you've never heard of.

Tom Sims grew up as just another skate-rat in the 50's and 60's in the skateboard mecca known as - New Jersey?

That's right, on the other side of the country from sunny California, where surfing took hold and then skateboarding was invented and idolized, Tom Sims skated through dirty jersey. But unlike his Cali brethren he was faced with the dilemma of what the fuck to do when it snowed and the concrete became an icy river with snow frosting, he had to come up with something new and creative. So in 1963, in his 7th grade woodworking class, Tom Sims came up with a wild idea - a skateboard that worked on snow.

This was one of the first snowboards, jostling with the snurfer and scandinavians standing on toboggans for who gets the right to call himself the inventor of the snowboard. But unlike those folks, Sims used this toy to begin and build one of the first skate / snow juggernauts.

You mighta seen the company Sims in LORDS OF DOGTOWN  - it's one of the big companies that offers the Z-Boyz boatloads of money to skate for it. That's right, one of the top companies in the 70's California skate explosion with arguably the best and biggest team of its time was invented by a kid who no doubt was heckled growing up as a skater in Jersey.

But it's really snowboarding where Tom Sims' legacy is monstrous.

Jake Burton Carpenter gets the most credit for being the father of snowboarding. And, admittedly, Burton was the first super snowboard company and the impact of his trailblazing is immeasurable. But just like Henry Ford didn't invent the car, neither did Jake Burton (he dropped the Carpenter for the sake of his company's name).

Jake Burton and Tom Sims, doin' the thing

Tom Sims was a hardcore rival of Burton, the only difference being he didn't have the corporate know-how Burton's shown himself to be a master of. Powell Peralta skateboards was rebellious but in a somewhat wholesome way, just like Burton. Sims was full-on punk rock, with gnarly monsters on the boards and drug-addled boozehound riders to boot.

But just to shore up his impact on the world and to show Sims and snowboarding in general could play well in the mainstream, he was a stunt double for a snowboard-riding James Bond in A VIEW TO KILL in 1984.

Tom Sims was just a kid from Jersey who loved cruising sideways. He didn't let anybody tell him his dream of starting a skateboard company and then inventing what is now known as the snowboard company was stupid; or rather, he didn't let that dissuade him. He invented the straps and highback binding that's now the snowboard industry standard. And he most epitomized the lifestyle by just doing it, getting out there, supporting the punks and the legends to be as they bombed hills on their boards.

What he lacked in business acumen he made up for with vision. And ambition. And really, in this world of sheep and trend followers, cowards afraid of doing something different and soulless captains driven only by the almighty buck with any innovation or legacy simply an ancillary benefit, the world needs a hero like Tom Sims. And, alas, for that reason he'll be missed greatly.

But at the least, all us skaters and snowboarders out there doing what we do with pride and full of enjoyment at the fact that it's possible owe the man a heaping debt of gratitude. Or at least a few drinks in his honor.

- Ryan