Right after Drake Jones in Eastern Exposure Zero comes Keith Hufnagel: 360 flip, nollie heelflip; ollie, ollie; ollie. The clips are less washed out now than they were when I first watched that video on Christmas morning 1996. Huf had already done other more notable things on his skateboard—that kickflip at Black Rock, that hop 360 flip at Brown Marble—that I’d go on to appreciate. But it’s that dual-flip trick line from Dan Wolfe’s quiet masterpiece that first clicked. Foundational in a way that’s still tough to describe 24 years on from when it first hit me, Hufnagel’s influence in skateboarding is like a current drawing the act toward a more focused, purposeful place. His death at 46-years-old is a shock because even skateboarding’s old heads are still young. Let’s study what Hufnagel did on his skateboard, feet, arms and hands, wondering what it’s like to be unique, moving so deep.

- Mike Munzenrider

We’ve made reference to the Huf and Friends section of Transworld’s Interface video many times on this site and our Instagram, and now feels like a good time to explain why. Seeing this part as a youngster (albeit a few years after it originally came out) unlocked two things that would later prove to be priceless to me.

First, this was the part that showed me that not only was skateboarding possible in New York City, but that it was something with a completely different energy from what I saw in videos from California and what I saw around me in the Midwest. This was an energy that seemed to build in proportion to adversity (crowds of people, less than ideal spots, Midtown security), one that upon feeling it for the first time made me think long and hard about what I even found interesting about skateboarding—simply because it was so much more appealing to me than anything I had seen previously. At that point in my life, I’d never had even the slightest inclination to visit NYC (nevermind live here). That changed after seeing this part.

Second, this part gave me something aim for in skateboarding. As someone who knew early on that I was not going to reach the upper echelons of technical skateboarding simply because of the talents of those around me, this part showed me that value could be found in skateboarding outside of the stair hucking or technical wizardry that both rose to their zeniths during my formative skate years. Hufnagel’s approach to skating showed that style and trick selection were more important than being able to flip out of a tailslide or kickflip an extra 5 stairs. Seeing him compose a part filled with tricks done with effortless grace at interesting spots informed my own approach to skateboarding from there on, and showed me that a basic trick done well (and fast, speed was important to Huf) was something to be celebrated.

The adage ‘It isn't what you do, but how you do it.’ had no better exemplar in skateboarding than Keith Hufnagel.

- Mike Burrill