..By PAUL MOSER Special to AllAroundPhilly.com

After all, how could it be otherwise following close friend Bucky Lasek’s run in the Vert Finals during the ESPN 2001 Summer X-Games that included a seemingly insurmountable 95.5 out of 100 score? 

Answer: Burnquist had one more run.

"As soon as Bucky (Lasek) did that run, everybody was trying to go get a shot of Bucky because they thought he had just won," recalled Burnquist. "They didn’t even take into consideration that I could (beat him) but that’s just increased pressure and throws you into focus. I couldn’t wait to drop in."

What a drop it was as Burnquist threw down what he considers his best dive ever into the 13-foot, U-shaped vert. The Brazil native improvised his way to a 98.00 and his second X-Games gold medal, much to the shock of Lasek and camera crews. During the run Burnquist threw down moves that placed even skate idol and friend Tony Hawk in astonishment from the broadcast booth.

"I saw Bucky (Lasek) push it that far and he just gave me the energy to do what I did," remembered a humble Burnquist, who will compete in three skatebaord disciplines when the games return to Philadelphia this week. "I felt that was the most inspired run I’ve ever had. It was also one of the most difficult pressures I’ve had to overcome."

Burnquist’s run was arguably the highlight of the games, replayed numerous times on ESPN. When all is said and done, it could be the defining moment in his career … the athletic accomplishment of which legends are made. Hawk beamed following the competition that it was the greatest vert run ever.

"This was skating at it’s best," Lasek said. "As far as contests go, this one was the best."

So great, in fact, life for the personable Brazil-native would never be the same afterward. For though his career was already heading towards superstardom before the competition, the X-Games put the exclamation point on Burnquist’s rise to fame.

"There’s a lot of responsibility I have now that I understood about and saw coming," Burnquist explained. "A lot of things happened, 2001 was fusion in a lot of ways in my life. That exposure was just huge."

He had no idea.

Following his great weekend in Philly, Burnquist collected the ESPN Action Sports and Music Awards Skater of the Year honors, a nomination for an ESPY and Best Alternative Sport Athlete award at the Laureus Award Banquet – presented to him by Michael Jordan of all people.

You see, there are fringe benefits to fame.

"The best part about it was the handshake from Jordan," Burnquist said with a laugh. "We went backstage and he was like, ‘You deserve it dude.’ We ended up sitting next to him at the after party and chatted for a while.

"It was a neat symbolic thing that the producer chose Michael Jordan to present the award. It was like a symbolic welcoming to our sports."

The honors only confirm what many already acknowledge, Burnquist is the present and future of skateboarding. His will be the face seen on TV after Hawk decides to hang up his deck. He will be the one young skaters look toward for inspiration as so many – Burnquist included – have done to Hawk.

The attention did not stop there.

Sales of Burnquist’s ESPN X-Games Playstation title have remained steady, not to mention that of his action figures, clothing and shoes as well. Burnquist is a featured player on Tony Hawk’s Gigantic Skatepark Tour. Heck, the 25-year-old was even featured with girlfriend Jen O’Brien, also a pro skater, and their daughter Lotus in the June 2002 issue of Better Homes and Gardens.

If that isn’t a leap into the mainstream, what is?

"I got so many calls from it," Burnquist said with a grin. "It was neat because of the things happening around my life. Everyone who read it that I know got pretty stoked. I’m in a unique situation (unlike other skaters) so it’s a family thing. It’s like (my peers) kind of understand that I’m that kind of guy, a skateboarder and family man."

Instant celebrity is becoming a fact of life now for the Burnquist family, whether they like it or not. Burnquist, in particular, is attempting to take the fame in stride and use it in a positive way. Even as he sits in his office exhausted from his past week of touring and skating with Hawk, Burnquist can put the price of fame in perspective.

"It’s my responsibility to help the next generation, just like how Tony (Hawk) helped ours," Burnquist affirmed. "It’s a matter of understanding what it takes to keep skateboarders skateboarding. Everyone has to understand their own responsibility of what they have to give back to skateboarding."

Considering everything skateboarding has given Burnquist, he had no choice.  

"My business is skateboarding," Burnquist affirmed. "From it I’ve gotten involved in a lot of different things. All the things I do through promotion and merchandising is so I can make a living off of what I love so I can help my family."

Talking with Burnquist, it is no secret family is most important in his life.

Rather than blow his money on lavish presents, like so many youngsters are want to do in his business, Burnquist has moved most of his family from his native Brazil to Lucadia, Calif. He started a Brazilian vegetarian restaurant with his sister, Milena, called Melodia. He recently established Burnquist Organics with his father, Dean.

With O’Brien, Lotus and his family from Brazil, Burnquist has drawn strength that is key to his success on a vert ramp.

"Lotus coming into the world gave me so much focus it was just amazing," Burnquist said. "For a while I didn’t care about anything, I just wanted to learn about skateboarding when I was young.

"Lotus made me understand that if I liked skateboarding and wanted to provide for my family I couldn’t be dumb about it and it was time to grow up now."

He has.

This year Burnquist expects nothing less than the same from the City of Brotherly Love and the 2002 Summer X-Games. Burnquist will undoubtedly have eyes on him when he skates in the vert, vert best trick and vert doubles competition – which he will partner with Lasek of all people – this week.

There is one difference this time, though -- he is no longer just one of the names on the list competing, he is the name. At age 25 Burnquist has a beautiful home, ideal family and satisfying career that was rocketed into the stratosphere, when no one expected it, on a warm August afternoon in Philadelphia.
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