Writer David Ebner of Canada’s Globe and Mail breaks down the Shaun White phenomenon in his story U.S. snowboarder at top of fame mountain. And it all comes down to one thing: Shaun is a comfortable, cool guy who is enjoying his life right now.
Whether it’s on the cover of business magazine Fast Company, or Rolling Stone, or in a new film about his visit to the remote Hokkaido backcountry in Japan for sponsor Red Bull, the energy drink, White is casual and never stiff, a relaxed Southern California style, where he grew up and lives, a guy you’d actually like to hang out with. Never mind that he’s a ridiculously amazing halfpipe rider, and is a double threat – a top-tier skateboarder in his spare time, with an eye on the 2012 Summer Olympics in London if skateboarding, as speculated, enters the Olympics.
While we’re not so sure about the snowboard fame lineage coming down from Jake Burton, Craig Kelly, and Terje Haakonsen (we’d put Shaun Palmer in there), it is true that Shaun White is doing the snowboard celebrity thing better than anyone before him has ever done. And a reported $10 million in annual endorsement money helps keep him right there.
[Link: Globe and Mail]
