I’m a giant advocate for extra ladies in management roles all through the skateboarding business. Denise Downs Barter (who now goes by Denise Pehrsson) is a superb instance from the Nineteen Seventies of an individual who garnered lots of respect from skaters of that technology for her exercise in sports activities administration.
In Vicki Vicker’s six-page interview for Skateboarder in December 1979, she acknowledged that the one one who was elevating ladies in skateboarding was Denise, who had simply taken over as supervisor for the Sims crew. “Proper now, she’s received me an upcoming interview with Seventeen Journal. She’s completed fairly properly. She all the time retains up the ladies’ morale as a result of the ladies get so depressed so actually because we’re taken benefit of. And those which might be actually good, know that they’re good, they usually know that they need to be topic to only as a lot press” (Goodrich).
From what I can glean on-line, it seems to be like Denise was additionally the crew supervisor for Dogtown since there’s a photograph of her by Kevin Thatcher encouraging a really younger Christian Hosoi with Fb feedback speculating that it was taken in 1980 for the Gold Cup collection at Pipeline in Upland.
John Lucero acknowledged Denise as properly. He shared in an interview with Steve Olson for Juice journal (March 1, 2005) that he first received sponsored in 1980 at an ASPO occasion. “I used to be using 2A at 13 years outdated. I used to be at ASPO on the Reseda Skatercross, and I used to be using certainly one of your boards. I had some Blood Revolver wheels on and a few Indys. I rain into Denise Barter, and she or he was stoked I used to be using these wheels. She checked me out within the contest, after which she requested if I needed to experience for Dogtown… I used to be down, however I by no means received a telephone name again or something. I came upon later that Dogtown was going below.”
It seems that Denise had some severe talent as a supervisor and was receptive to all types of utmost sports activities. In a Fb put up by the legendary roller-skater, Fred Blood, he stated that Denise’s dad was linked with NASA and as an engineer, he invented a system utilized in huge rig vans. Much more attention-grabbing was his remark about Denise: “Harvard and Yale Grad earlier than she was even identified to the Motion Sport world.”
I discovered a 5-page article that Denise wrote for the November 1980 concern Motion Now journal, referred to as “Blood & the Boyz” (33) the place she celebrates Fred Blood, Jamie Ide, Randy Stahlecker, Marty Carter and Duke Rennie. Barter explains that this new motion was “drawing extra from hardcore skateboarding than disco rolling, Blood, Duke et al. have taken vertical 8-wheeling right into a radical new period.”
It then seems that her experience and curiosity lead Denise to BMX using, as she turns into the Director of Advertising for Premier Helmets and was quoted within the August 1982 concern of BMX Motion saying that “There’s a sport right here, for skateparks and freestyle ramp using too.”
Whatever the sport and the athletes she was advocating for, Denise was revered, and her vogue sense was particularly admired even going as far as introducing new-wave vogue to the highest professionals in BMX by 1983.
Based mostly on her LinkedIn account, Denise went on to be the President of Dynaflex Merchandise in 2012 to the current, working the corporate together with her son. The corporate was co-founded in 1972 by her father, Gil Contreras.
I’ll hopefully hear again from Denise and study extra about her story!
Reference:
- Goodrich, Jim. “Vicki Vickers.” Skateboarder. December 1979, p.48.
- Olson, Steve. “John Lucero.” Juice journal. March 1, 2005.