Ben Hay
Name: Ben Hay
AKA: Benbro, Benny
Current Sponsors: Basement skate, Orangatang wheels , Loaded boards, Kahalani trucks...Glyde :-)
Disclaimer: These pages have been maintained to celebrate the OG Hopkin Skate Team 2006 - 2013. If any information (current sponsorships) needs updating, please let us know, if you want this page taken down please contact Hop.
We throw around terms like legend when describing OG skaters or skaters on the old Hopkin Team, but Ben is certifiably 100% Aussie legend.
As a father, husband, business owner, he never had the time to travel overseas while on the Hopkin Team but he was always attended local races. This is why year after year he was one of the best local skaters on the aussie circuit. He was always at the top of the ASRA rankings.
In 2012, while at the Loaded offices in LA, I was asked who should be on Loaded's short list for an Australian ambassador. They did not want a young skater, they were not interested in a pure racer but they wanted a mentor, someone respected in the scene, who would grow the scene, represent everything their brand stood for. I thought, I've got this, ok the short list should be: Ben Hay, and .... mmm, did I say Ben Hay? There is also ahhh and I could thnk of other skaters like Adam Yates but they were locked into another brand or maybe not active enough. Literally after 10 minutes (felt like an hour) of me trying to think of other skaters, I said: I can only think of Ben Hay. The more I thought about it, the better the fit would be. Benbro has been a rock within our community. Always there for skater of every age. Parents needing assurance that there child will be ok in their sport. He has organised races, driving skaters to secret freeride spots and is respected by everyone. Add to this he is the nicest bloke you'll ever meet, and fricking fishes for a living!!
If I had to use one word to describe him it would be: legend.
Hop's favourite Benbro story
Ben is a fisherman. Not just on the beach throwing a line in, not fishing trawler style, but professional with is own boat. So I loved when Ben came down the coast to visit the shop, he would bring fish he had caught that day!! So I came up with this idea of a Team BBQ at my house. Benbro would bring fresh fish and Maga and Rob would make Peruvian ceviche. It seemed like all morning, Rob and Maga were squeezing limes, peeling sweet potatoes, cutting up fish...we were getting hungry just watching it all get done (we did help). When we sat down and ate all this fresh food, it was a lunch I'll never forget. Not a very gnar skate team story, but reflects what type of team we were, the respect and friendships and the diversity of all our backgrounds. Sounds like longboarding itself!!
Cooper (left) with Ben lining up at Newtons