Tom Sims

Tom Sims (1950 - September 12, 2012) was an American athlete. Sims was World Snowboarding Champion (1983), World Champion Skateboarder (1975) and founder of Sims Snowboards and Sims Skateboards. He lived in Santa Barbara, California from 1971 until his death.

In 1963, he made what he called a "skiboard," for his seventh grade wood-shop class by combining his two favorite sports at that time, skiing and skateboarding, while in junior high at Haddonfield Central School in New Jersey.

Sims was the primary snowboarding stunt double for "007" (Roger Moore) in the 1985 James Bond film A View to a Kill. Since 2006, the Sims Snowboards brand has been managed by Collective Licensing International, though Tom Sims was still very active in the company. Tom continued to be personally involved in the design and testing of the new snowboard and skateboard equipment being developed under the Sims brand until his death.

Sims is credited with many of the most important innovations in both snowboarding and skateboarding including the first metal edged snowboard, the first snowboarding Half Pipe, the first freestyle snowboard, the first pro-model snowboard. Also Sims was credited with building and marketing the world's first longboards for skateboarding in 1975. Not surprisingly, a young Tony Hawk rode Sims skateboards in the 1970s.