360 Sportswear Easter Classic at Oasis Skate Park

360 Sportswear Easter Classic at Oasis Skate Park

Posted on June 23, 2012 by Ozzie Ausband

360 Sportswear Contest Advertisement

On Easter weekend in 1978, skateboard pros descended on San Diego, for the greatly anticipated ’360 Sportswear/Oasis’ skateboard contest. Under a snarl of overpasses & concrete, in Mission Valley, the Oasis skate park squatted in the shade. Stories were later told of Bert Lamar being forced to stop riding in the middle of his contest run, as passers-by on the freeway ramp above, threw soda cans into the pool.

Oasis overview from the 805 overpass

360 Sportswear threw more than soda cans at the contest. They ponied up $10,000 in cash and prizes for the contestants. The money was a huge draw for the skateboard pros and it ended as a veritable ‘Who’s Who’, that showed up contest day. Dave Hackett ended in 1st place, Dave Andrecht in 2nd, Doug Saladino in 3rd and Steve Alba claimed 4th just one point behind Doug ‘Pineapple’ Saladino.

Oasis contest riders group photograph

Salba stated that he thought this contest was in 1979. He told me that the contests went as follows. “The Hester I series started in 1978. The first contest was Spring Valley and then Pipeline, Newark and Big O. In 1979, it was the ’360/Oasis’ contest, then Hester II started at Del Mar, followed by, Winchester, Lakewood and Pipeline. After this, the Gold Cup started.” Salba also stated that there was a half-pipe, bowl and obstacle course in the 360/Oasis contest. All riders participated in the three events.

Steve Alba- 4th Place

Salba remembered, “I did not like that pool (Oasis park pool) too much for lack of real vert. It had funky coping on it…when you rolled in you had to ‘Gordon Lightfoot’ over the back of the coping which was flat then rolled up and over the bullnose……it was like a long wait!”
“Layne Oaks did ‘shove-its’ for the 1st time…Pineapple did long rock -n- roll slides…….him and Chris Strople did the longest ones back then.” “I don’t remember much else. We did stay in ‘hotel circle’ and wished we could skate the hotel pools.”

Oasis Skate Park pool- relaxation before contest day

I laughed at Salbas comment. When I lived in San Diego, I would say the same thing to Rhino & Andy Mac. There are some crazy pools in Hotel Circle! Dave Hackett was definite about the 360/Oasis contest being in 1978, however. He pointed his finger into the air & recounted the events from that day.

Dave Hackett enroute to 1st Place

“The event was a combination of the Halfpipe and Pool. Andrecht was the points leader going into the finals followed by me, Pineapple and Salba. The day of the finals (April 14th, 1978) Andrecht tired out and made some mistakes.” I nodded and thought back to the images I had seen in the magazines. Dave continued, “I kept my runs fast and clean with no falls and ended up winning the overall and the Cross Country 3- man team (obstacle course relay), with Dennis Martinez and Steve Schisler.”

“I remember trying to create a new move on my initial drop in on the half pipe- which for me was front side- I would drop in and blast an Alley-oop Invert, which at the time no one was doing… but it was a weird twisty- kinda thing which not many people noticed.”

Dave Andrecht- 2nd Place

Doug Pineapple Saladino- 3rd Place

“I remember in the end, Andrecht and I tied in overall points for the Pool and Halfpipe- Pineapple in 3rd and Salba in 4th. When the judges looked back at the score cards, I had no falls and because of that… I ended up beating Andrecht at his own park! He came back the next year at the Marina Dogbowl Pro and beat me at my park!”

360 Sportswear Ad from Skateboarder Magazine

The final results of the 1978 Oasis Pro Bowl contest:

1st – Dave Hackett $1000.

2nd – Dave Andrecht $650.

3rd – Doug Saladino $450.

4rth – Steve Alba $150

5th – Dennis Martinez $50.

6th – Bobby Fraas

7th – John Walker

8th – Brad Bowman

9th – Layne Oaks

10th – Scott Dunlap

One must remember that this contest took place over 30 years ago! Also, these riders have ridden in countless contests over the years and -more than once- I was told that these contests started “blending together” in their heads. Memories & events become confused. Whatever the case may be, David Hackett, Dave Andrecht, Pineapple, Steve Alba & the others killed it & did so, before many of us. I thank them here & now! Thanks. Thank you to Jim Goodrich and David Hackett for the images. Skate- Ozzie