Alan “Ollie” Gelfand did not invent the skateboard ollie in 1978 and he did
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An ollie is a skateboard trick that allows the rider to jump in the air with the board with no hands on the board.
Alan “Ollie” Gelfand is officially the first skateboarder according to HIStory books credited for inventing the “ollie” on a vertical ramp. They named the trick after him. Rodney Mullen is credited with performing the first ollie in 1982 on flat ground. I am not trying to take away any credit from Alan “Ollie” Gelfand or Rodney Mullen, but somehow information didn’t travel from 1976 to 1982. Rodney Mullen is an amazing pioneering freestyle skater way ahead of his time. Alan “Ollie” Gelfand was from Florida and the documentary was filmed in California. Information did not exchange too fast back then.
I always assumed Alan “Ollie” Gelfand from Florida invented the ollie, until I watched the following video titled, “The Magic Rolling Board – MacGillivray Freeman Films” from 1976! Advance to around 1:15, 1:40, 7:52 and 9:00 and you will see young skateboarders performing ollies on flat ground and from a ramp in 1976. They don’t perform an ollie vertically so Alan “Ollie” Gelfand definitely deserves credit, but who knows what they called this trick back then since the term “ollie” had not been coined yet. We may never know who truly invented this trick. It’s strange how Rodney Mullen is credited with this trick on flat ground in 1982, but apparently amnesia occurred and the timeline skewed and those guys performing the ollie on flat ground in 1976 before it was invented was an alternate reality. We somehow have retrieved a film from another timeline possibly. It does showcase iconic California professional skateboarder, Ellen O’Neal. I am positive that is her, the credits are not legible.
