I met Manny when I was fourteen. He was one of my closest friends until he was suddenly taken from this planet on a cold January morning, the first Monday of the year. But I’ll spare you the mushy emotional language. That would have pissed him off to no end. Ask anyone in the D.C. area and they’ve got a story about something they saw him do. Here’s one of mine:

The first week of August 2009 was the last chance to film for Stop Fakin 1. Manny had been trying kickflip 50-50 on Gold the entire period we were filming for the video (and a little before that). He had gotten close, but still hadn’t rolled away clean. The Friday that week was his last day in the states because he was headed to school in Abu Dhabi for the next year. We had tried getting it that night but got kicked out a couple times. After getting booted a third time, and with reinforcements on the way, a couple people coming from a Fight Club party (now-defunct ramps housed next to the convention center) showed up. With a dozen drunks surrounding the rail, he landed it a few tries later. My favorite part about the photo is if you look closely at the bottom of the stairs, you can see the shoelaces he ripped off his shoes.

Manny would fly to the Middle East less than 12 hours later, so he didn’t get to go to the premiere and see his trick end the video. He did fight off a local gang who was threatening kids at the local Abu Dhabi skatepark, but that’s a story for another day.