Burton Snowboards Founder & President JAKE BURTON is
profiled by Tony Chamberlain in the BOSTON GLOBE. Burton,
"whose very name is synonymous with snowboarding, does not
even claim to be a visionary. Or creator. Or inventor.
Or, for that matter, revolutionary." Chamberlain: "Yet it
is hard to imagine that snowboarding would ever have
happened without Burton, who, despite his simple tastes, is
president of the largest pure snowboard manufacturer in the
world." In its first year, Burton said the company sold 300
snowboards and then "went up 100 percent" for "about" ten
years. Now, sales are going up "around" 25% a year.
Burton: "Eventually, boarding will be bigger than skiing."
Burton, on the sport being recognized by the Olympics, and
the Int'l Ski Federation's involvement: "Snowboarding isn't
skiing and it isn't a team sport. Accepting and recognizing
individualism is what the sport is built on. The concept of
an American snowboard team traveling around the world, year
in, year out, all dressed up in red-white-and-blue uniforms,
is enough to make me gag" (BOSTON GLOBE, 12/18).
