Lewis Marnell
Lewis Kristian Marnell was a professional skateboarder from Melbourne, Australia who was Slam Magazine's 2008 "Skater of the Year". Marnell died in January 2013, following complications related to type 1 diabetes, a condition that was diagnosed when he was 10 years old. Numerous tributes were published following Marnell's death and his longtime skateboard deck sponsor, Almost Skateboards, continues to use the hashtag "#LewisMarnellForever"—on 15 and 29 July 2014, the company published the hashtag with 2006 video footage of Marnell skateboarding in Japan.
Early life
Marnell was born in 1982 in Melbourne, Australia and grew up in both Australia and Sweden. His parents were Janet and Jan, his brothers were Andrew and Jonas, and his sisters were Jessica and Ebba Louise. Marnell's older brother Jonas was an early skateboarding influence.Marnell dropped out of high school in Sweden and moved back to Australia to pursue a career in professional skateboarding. In 2008 Marnell provided his perspective on leaving school: "I actually do wish that I just did it, straight up and got it out of the way. I ended up just dropping out. I went to a bunch of schools and was always behind. It became really repetitive, go to year 10, drop out, start year 10 again, drop out." Marnell continued to travel between Australia and Sweden before finally settling in Australia in 2002. Dustin Dollin, Marnell's friend at the time and now a popular professional skateboarder, provided Marnell with skateboard decks from the Baker company during his early years skateboarding in Melbourne.
Marnell also spoke about his time living in Sweden with his father, who was a television and film producer at the time, a role that Jan Marnell continues to fulfill:
Sweden, I moved to Sweden in '96. My dad is Swedish, he moved over there from Australia, lived there for 6 months and after 6 months he asked me if I wanted to come out there and live there for a bit. It was only supposed to be a year but it ended up being 7. I ended up staying there for a while, did some school, did some skating, and tried the Swedish food. It was good.
Marnell also discussed the Swedish climate in relation to Australia:
Sweden has long winters, but their short summers are amazing. Australia is easy living, but so far away from everything... It's pretty hard for anyone to deal with long cold winters, but being a skateboarder and dealing with it is way harder. I used to play a lot of video games and skate the local indoor park. But you get bored of skating the same old park every day for like nine months. I tried snowboarding a couple of time; it was pretty fun. My homie's dad owned a house in the hills and I would get to go kick it there sometimes and snowboard.
Professional skateboarding
Marnell was initially sponsored by Menace Skateboards and Axion Footwear, before signing with Nike SB, Volcom and Almost. Prior to his promotion into the professional ranks of global skateboarding with the Almost company, Marnell was featured on the inaugural cover of the publication Pop Magazine.Marnell was featured in the Volcom videos Chichagof, a part that he shared with Dollin, and Let's Live. Marnell was also a resident at a Volcom-owned house that was located in Newport Beach, California. Australian skateboard photographer Andrew Mapstone wrote a series, entitled "Now and Then", for the Volcom website, in which he recounted: "Joe , Lewis, Shane and I spent months away from home in California's Newport Beach living at the Volcom Surf House on the sand. We had the most amazing time and we really lived life to the fullest." In 2004 Cross, who died in 2007, and Marnell filmed together in Melbourne at the time that the Globe World Cup was held.
Marnell was one of the first skateboarders to be sponsored by the Nike SB brand and, in 2007, he was the only 'official' Australian skateboarder on the international team. Marnell explained that he was recruited to the team when "they kinda rang me out of the blue one day when I was in Melbourne in 2004, asking me if I liked the shoes to skate in and it all just blew up from there." Marnell remained with Nike SB for the entirety of his time as a sponsored skateboarder and explained his experience with the brand in an interview:
You get treated like a professional athlete with Nike. And that's a good thing. Its weird cos I'm just a skateboarder….but I guess we are athletes in one way or another. The fact also that they are a massive company allows them to give us a lot more support than most others. Things are always sorted and there are very little hiccups when we're on the road or at events.
Marnell was featured in a promotional Internet clip for the re-engineered Nike SB 'Dunk' shoe, a model that he favoured and frequently wore in skateboard video footage. A print advertisement for the re-engineered model was also released and featured Marnell performing a trick at the Melbourne Museum, a famous international skateboarding location that had been used by professional skateboarder Daewon Song in his Skate More video part. In 2008 Marnell appeared with fellow Australian professional skateboarder Alex Campbell in a promotional video for the Australian Nike SB team that was filmed by Middlebrook. Marnell appeared in the Nike SB videos Nothing But The Truth, Don't Fear the Sweeper and SB Chronicles Vol. 1.
Marnell's inaugural video part for the Almost company was in the Song/Chris Haslam miniramp video project Cheese and Crackers—Marnell was introduced as a new team member through the inclusion of his part in the "Bonus" section of the DVD release and Curtis Mayfield's "Move on Up" is the soundtrack to the part. Marnell achieved professional status for the company in January 2008 and Song and longtime videographer Socrates Leal filmed a spoof video part to welcome Marnell. The video, entitled "Almost Filmer Asshole", is shot through the lens of a "poacher" who throws Marnell's first professional Almost skateboard deck into the view of the camera, upon being caught by Song and Leal; the video was published on the Almost website and YouTube. Marnell's first board graphic featured a lion waving a Rastafarian flag.
Marnell appeared in numerous promotional features for Almost, both in video and print form. In August 2010, he was interviewed in relation to an Almost advertisement that appeared on the back cover of Transworld Skateboarding magazine, in which Marnell executes a switch frontside flip at the Melbourne Museum location. Marnell explained that the trick happened during an informal skateboarding session, at which filmers or photographers were not present, and revealed that the trick was filmed by Japanese and Australian friends. Marnell's closing trick from his part in the first instalment of Nike SB's Chronicles series was also used for a Transworld back cover in 2011—Marnell executes a trick known as a "nollie 360 flip" over a model of picnic table that is typically used in the US.
A cameo appearance from Marnell is featured in Song's 2011 solo part New Year's Dae that was released through the Berrics website, and a full video part from Marnell is featured in the 2012 Almost video 5 Incher.
Marnell was sponsored by the Deluxe Distribution company that is based in San Francisco, and rode for Deluxe's Thunder skateboard truck and Spitfire wheel brands.
Marnell was the first sponsored skateboarder for an Australian skateboard ointment product "The Cream" that was started in late 2012 by Duncan Ewington and Kris Whiting. Marnell produced a promotional video for the product in which he predominantly skateboards in Sweden.
Sponsors
At the time of his death in January 2013, Marnell was sponsored by Almost, Thunder, Spitfire, Nike SB, Modus and The Cream.Post-death
Lewis Marnell family memorial fund
In late April 2013, a public announcement revealed the problematic financial situation that remains following the death of Marnell. The news emerged together with a fundraising initiative for the "Lewis Marnell family memorial fund" that involved the musician Ben Harper, who reunited with The Innocent Criminals—a band that Harper recorded and performed with for numerous years—for a special re-recording of the song "Jah Work" from the 1997 album A Will To Live.The organisers of the initiative explained that all of the proceeds from the iTunes sales of the song would be donated to a fund that will financially assist Marnell's family. A YouTube music video was also released at the same time and Harper is featured playing a guitar that was owned by Lewis Marnell—as another fundraising initiative, the guitar will be auctioned in May 2013. As part of the announcement, Harper stated: "Lewis was a brilliant artist and athlete not to mention a truly beautiful soul. We loved him and his contributions to skating, and we thought a song would be a wonderful way to celebrate his life and help his family".
Additionally, Almost released a skateboard deck onto the retail market specifically for the memorial fund in mid-2013. The deck design features a photograph of Lewis Marnell riding a bicycle with two skateboard decks strapped across his back—"Never Forgotten" is written above the image and "Lewis Marnell 1982–2013" is written below. On 4 June 2013, skateboard photographer Seu Trinh appeared in an Instagram post holding the skateboard deck.