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Image via Chris Allan / Shutterstock.com

Legendary pro skater Tony Hawk went on Instagram to announce the name change for the iconic trick “mute grab” in a bid to rightfully honor the inventor of the stunt, Chris Weddle.

The move is famously used in the video game, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2, but now, it will no longer be identified as its first title.

Hawk explained that the grab was named in 1981 after Weddle, who is deaf, introduced the trick.

The skateboarding community at that time “referred to [Weddle] as the ‘quiet, mute guy,’” which led to its original moniker. “So it became known as the mute air, and we all went along with it in our naive youth,” Hawk addressed on Instagram.



Years later, the 52-year-old approached Weddle to learn more about the trick and its creation. At this point, Weddle told Hawk, “I am deaf, not mute.” Weddle even suggested that naming it “deaf” would’ve been more fitting than the “mute grab.”

Upon hearing this, Hawk decided to tweak the name of the trick to be termed as “The Weddle Grab,” which the creator himself supported.

View this post on Instagram

For nearly 40 years, we’ve shamelessly referred to this trick as the “mute” air/grab. Here is the backstory: around 1981, a deaf skater and Colton skatepark local named Chris Weddle was a prominent amateur on the competition circuit. The “Indy” air had just been created & named so somebody proposed that grabbing with the front hand should be known as the “Tracker” air. Others countered that Chris was the first to do, so it should be named after him. They referred to him as the “quiet, mute guy.” So it became known as the mute air, and we all went along with it in our naive youth. In recent years a few people have reached out to Chris (who still skates) about this trick and the name it was given. He has been very gracious in his response but it is obvious that a different name would have honored his legacy, as he is deaf but not lacking speech. I asked him last year as I was diving into trick origins and he said he would have rather named it the “deaf” or “Weddle” grab if given the choice. His exact quote to me was “I am deaf, not mute.” So as we embark on the upcoming @tonyhawkthegame demo release, some of you might notice a trick name change: The Weddle Grab. It’s going to be challenging to break the habit of saying the old name but I think Chris deserves the recognition. Thanks to @darrick_delao for being a great advocate to the deaf community in action sports, and for being the catalyst in this renaming process. I told Chris tecently and his reply was “I’m so stoked!” And then he shot this photo in celebration yesterday. 📷: @yousta_storytellers_club

A post shared by Tony Hawk (@tonyhawk) on Aug 12, 2020 at 8:40am PDT

[via Polygon, cover image via Chris Allan / Shutterstock.com]

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