It appears so. He announced it just a little while ago on his Twitter (yes, I feel dirty, but the ESPN Skateboarding is on Twitter and following him). I just spoke to Felix Arguelles yesterday about his split with Famous Stars and Straps, but I thought it might just be a phase. As of yet, he's still not off the Plan B page , but it seems certain he will be gone soon, considering he announced he will be holding a retirement party tonight at the club Area and he is planning to release an article in The Skateboard Mag to make it completely official. I hate feeding into these things, but it's hard not to turn away. I, personally, enjoyed having him around no matter how quirky he'd get.
As far as I'm concerned, there's nothing like a good cause, so when I got this release from Etnies about a collaboration with Thunder to make an Etnies RVL and a Thunder truck colorway in order to commemorate Johnny Romano and donate to his foundation JOHNNYKICKSCANCER, I had to put it up. If you need new shoes or trucks and want to donate to a good cause, buy a pair. Read what Jim Thiebaud wrote about Johnny and the collaboration by clicking read more.
This shoe, what it stands for, and how it came about is a perfect example of the effect Johnny Romano had, and will forever have, on skateboarding.
Johnny was a 10-year-old skater form Galveston, Texas whose love of skateboarding and courageous perseverance through his battle with Leukemia captured the hearts of the entire skateboard community worldwide. He never wanted to be known as 'Johnny, the skater with Leukemia.' He was simply Johnny the skater and we all followed his journey with our hearts on our collective sleeves.
Etnies
A few months after Johnny lost his battle with Leukemia, Sean Malto and Mikey Taylor approached me with an idea to do something with Thunder and Etnies to pay tribute to Johnny, as well as raise money and awareness for the JOHNNYKICKSCANCER Foundation that the Romano family founded. The result was the etnies / Thunder RVL as well as a matching colorway Thunder truck.
Johnny may have lost his battle, but he won the war. His memory and his impact on all of us in skateboarding will live forever. Thank you to everyone who was there for the journey and thank you to everyone who keeps it going.
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