Snowboardings First Reluctant Super-Pro: Kevin Jones | “I pour concrete.”
Kevin Jones was the biggest snowboarding star in the world. Then he pretty much disappeared. He was an innovator in more ways than just snowboard tricks as this Snowboard Mag interview goes into. Kevin helped usher in the world of agents to snowboarding and it ended up being his downfall.
This is a fantastic read into the darkside of the industry even if you don’t remember how epic Kevin Jones was….
I relate those things all the time–child actors and snowboarders. It’s hard for snowboarders to realize that they exist in the same way because they live in such an insular world. All we have to do is look outside of our own little bubble to see what fame, money and attention does to a person. Look at people like Macaulay Culkin and Lindsay Lohan.
I’ve never had anything compare to [fame]. That was the best drug there was in my time. It’s a weird paradox because it’s about what you want and what you need, but it’s not good for you. There’s nothing about it that’s healthy. You might be able to stay in a nicer hotel, you might be able to get laid more, but anything that is considered growth or any sort of quality that is going to help you in life, I can’t think of one thing it does for you. That’s why rock stars go crazy. Because they want something real, something tangible. You can’t have everything given to you. It’s fun for a few years, but at some point you realize it’s not reality.
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How much do you think an agent is responsible for the end of a snowboarder’s career?
That’s a good question. I had a team manager ask me, “what do you think, you’re just going to be a pro snowboarder forever?” And I was like, “yea.” At the time, I was like 32. I was like, “exit plan? I haven’t even had the video part I want yet. I have a trick list in Valdez a
lone that’s hundreds of peaks long. What do you mean I’m done? I’m not done. I still have tricks I want to do.”
You still had plans.
That’s what I’m saying. You have to be careful whom you listen to. You get enough of that negative energy around you and you might start believing it. In my career, I was used to people kissing my ass since I was 18 to my mid-30s. Then all of a sudden real life happened and I wasn’t really prepared for it. Child actors and musicians go through it. It’s no different [for snowboarders].
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