[September 23, 2011] 8-year-old skateboarding wiz gets bigtime parental support Tweet Sep 23, 2011 (The Kansas City Star - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Evan Doherty slid to the bottom of the 12-foot ramp on his knees, his skateboard running away like a lost dog. He'd just bailed on a fifth attempt to land a 720 -- two full midair rotations. He looked worn out. That's when the video guy yelled down from up top: "Once you do it, I want you to keep going" -- make another pass -- "and do a 540." Still on his knees, arms hanging limp, helmet askew and mouth open, Evan wearily raised his eyes to the voice. By all accounts, he's a shy sort of kid, but at that moment he looked like he really had something to say. But here's what the Greenwood fourth-grader did. All 4 feet and 60 pounds of him. He stood up, grabbed his board, climbed the wooden steps to the top of the ramp, took a moment -- then slammed his left foot down and busted a perfect 720. He's 8, by all accounts the youngest ever to do such a maneuver. He first did it Sept. 12. Since then a YouTube video posted more than a million hits, top skate magazines interviewed him, and he has won praise from the sport's biggest names, including Tony Hawk and Kansas City's own Sean Malto. Evan is still getting used to the fame at school. At first, the hoopla embarrassed him. "People think it's cool, so I guess I do, too," Evan said sheepishly this week as his mother and friends watched his latest 720. As for the feat itself: "When you're spinning, you can't really tell where you are, so when you do it, it's pretty awesome." So how does an 8-year-old do a 720? That question gets to the third big number in Evan's skateboarding career: $40,000, the amount that his parents spent on a 40- by 40-foot building, 24 feet high with a vertical ramp, in the family's backyard. "I know some people think it's silly," said Evan's mother, Patricia Doherty. "But our son has a dream. He wants to be a professional skateboarder. "How do you say no to a dream?" When she and her husband decided to go all in on Evan's dream, the closest "vert ramp" was hours away from their home in Lee's Summit. Fearing that Evan's training would take too much family time from his sister, Emma, 10, the parents decided to build their own. "My husband and I talked long and hard," Patricia said. "We wanted to keep the family at home." There was a two-fold problem: They couldn't afford such a building, and Lee's Summit wouldn't let them construct it anyway. So last year they shopped around for a city that would allow the structure and also one that had a cheaper house. The couple isn't rich. Patricia Doherty is a part-time real estate agent, and Evan's dad, Chris Doherty, is a nurse. Red tape first. Some cities refused. Then they asked Greenwood. "Just don't build it taller than the water tower," Patricia said an official told them. They sold their Lee's Summit home at a loss and bought a Greenwood house out of foreclosure. They spent what would have been a down payment money on the skate building. It was erected by Untitled Skateboards, a Christian skateboard ministry, and it's where Evan spends most days after school. Apparently his passion was born when the family lived in New Hampshire and would walk by skate parks when he was just a toddler. "I didn't notice at the time, but apparently he paid close attention," Patricia said. They got him his first board when he was 4. It wasn't long before people stopped and watched him in those parks. "You could tell early on he had special ability, and then he started adding things on his own," said Joseph Pollock, a family friend who shot the YouTube video. Evan, known as "Big E" on the circuit, started competing when he was 5. The more he competed, the better he got, often beating older skaters. Last month he took first in the "Vert" division at the 2011 State Games of America in Encinitas, Calif. He's also a good student. In his spare time he rides his bike, memorizes Bible verses, and draws correlations between math and skateboarding. "He'll shoot hoops with the kids in the neighborhood, but his feet are pretty much always on the board," his mom said. Helmet and knee pads are mandatory. He has never broken a bone. His only injury was knocking out a baby tooth. His goal all along had been the illusive 720. Evan's mother was fixing dinner the evening of Sept. 12 when her husband sent her a text video from the building in the backyard: Evan nailing his first 720. She ran out in time to see the second. "No question he is the youngest to ever do it," said Dan Askew, owner of Escapist Skateboarding, with three area shops. "He's the real thing." Juice Magazine blogged: "Check the clip of Evan Doherty busting a proper 720 on his own 12-foot ramp. Hailing from Missouri, the kid has speed and style and, believe it or not, is only 8 years old. Keep it up kid. You are the future!" Or as Tony Hawk tweeted after an earlier "Big E" milestone: "540, 8 years old, nuff said." To reach Donald Bradley, call 816-234-4182 or send email to [email protected]. ___ (c)2011 The Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Mo.) Visit The Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Mo.) at www.kansascity.com Distributed by MCT Information Services [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]