Jay Boy: The Early Years of Jay Adams

Skateboarding legend Jay Adams’s sudden and unexpected death at the age of fifty-three shocked the world. Media outlets including the New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN, the Hollywood Reporter, ESPN, MTV, the Telegraph, and People magazine to name only a few, paid tribute to Jay Adams; the broad coverage he received speaks to the immense influence Adams had on the sport of skateboarding and the subsequent culture he helped grow and shape. Universe is pleased to bring back into print the little-known book of photographs of Jay Adams’s earliest days as a surfer and skateboarder, taken by his stepfather Kent Sherwood. Sherwood is directly responsible for unleashing Adams’s talent on the world: he introduced Adams at a very young age to surfing and skateboarding. Sherwood, a self-taught photographer, began shooting the young Jay Adams at play, surfing, and skating with his friends, including Tony Alva, Wentzle Ruml, and Shogo Kubo, among others. Jay Boy is an endearing, intimate look at the gifted Adams and his friends, and includes sweet and revealing thoughts about his past, written in his own hand before he passed away. It is certain to appeal to any fan of skateboarding.