In 1976, skateboarding was transformed by the invention of the first modern skateboarding trick by Alan Ollie Gelfand,
THE OLLIE
It remained largely a unique Florida trick from 1976 until the summer of 1978, when Gelfand made his first visit to California. Gelfand and his revolutionary maneuver caught the attention of the West Coast skaters and the media where it began to spread worldwide.
The ollie was reinvented by Rodney Mullen in 1982, who adapted it to freestyle skating by ollieing on flat ground rather than out of a vert ramp.
Mullen also invented the ollie kickflip, which, at the time of its invention, was dubbed the magic flip.
The flat ground ollie allowed skateboarders to perform tricks in mid-air without any more equipment than the skateboard itself.
The development of these complex tricks by Rodney Mullen and others transformed skateboarding. Skateboarders began performing their tricks down stair sets and on other urban obstacles -
they were no longer confined to empty pools and expensive wooden ramps.