Ambush
Timeline:
Friday June 13, 1997
Ambush is born in a small 1,200 square foot shop in Kennesaw, GA.
January 1998
Ambush is involved it its first trade show; The Atlanta Boat Show
April 1998
Ambush puts on its first wakeboard demo; The Double Up Experience with
Greg Nelson. About 20 people show up.
June 1998
Ambush throws its first wakeboard contest. Thanks Chris Denney!
September 1998
Ambush puts on its first skateboard demo with Este Clothing and Charlie
Wilkins.
October 1998
Ambush makes its first expansion a few doors down the strip from the
original location. The new storefront measures 3,500 square feet.
May 1999
Ambush partners with Liquid Force to make its first appearance at the
Masters Waterski and Wakeboard Tournament. This is the only Masters
Tournament that Ambush attends without something getting broken.
Friday, July 13, 1999
Ambush opens its second location in Gwinnett County. The new shop features
a marquee and almost 5,700 square feet.
October 1999
Ambush tears down one wall in its flagship Kennesaw shop and expands
into the adjacent store growing the shop to 5,500 square feet.
October 1999
Ambush employees go on the first shop surf trip and the store catches
fire while they are gone…literally!
January 2000
Ambush makes its first attempt at putting a pro shop in a skatepark at
Rampage Skatepark in Duluth, GA. Within a year Ambush is over it and
decides that skateparks are not their thing.
March 2000
Ambush takes its first shop snowboard trip with many more to follow.
Nothing burns down this time.
October 2001
Ambush launches Buywake.com, an online hardcore wakeboard shop. The watersports
industry doesn’t know what they ever did to deserve that.
April 2002
Ambush plays host to the Enjoi Skateboards team. The Enjoi team puts
on a demo on terrifyingly big, homemade ramps in front of nearly 1,000
frantic fans. Ambush was not prepared for that kind of crowd and the
shop is almost destroyed by the mob.
October 2002
Ambush puts on its first skateboard contest dubbed the Backyard Skate
Contest in the parking lot of the Gwinnett Ambush. Sixty-eight people
enter.
March 2003
Ambush puts on its first ever Game of S.K.A.T.E. with a $300 cash prize.
Phil Kent takes home the dough.
May 2003
Ambush and Buywake.com throw a party at the Masters Waterski and Wakeboard
Tournament (the fourth party at the Masters in as many years). Party
goers completely destroy Callaway Gardens. Ambush is banned from throwing
any more parties at the Masters.
June 2003 – August 2003
Ambush and Buywake.com put on their first ever wakeboard contest series.
The series consists of three stops all of which go richter. The INT
decides that they don’t want to compete and eliminate their contest
series in Georgia.
August 2003
Ambush decides to make its life easier and consolidates both of its strip
mall locations into one giant, free-standing building. Sales immediately
go through the roof and suddenly Ambush management actually has time
to skateboard, snowboard, and wakeboard again.
October 2003
Ambush throws their second Game of S.K.A.T.E. Nick Paolucci becomes the
youngest ever to win the game and pockets $250 in cash. Nick’s
mom says “I’ll take that for now”.
January 2004
The Emerica skateboard team visits Ambush. Throughout the course of the
night over 1,000 people show up. The team signs posters, cameras, shoes
and the like for over five hours. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome…ouch!
March 2004
Ambush puts on their third Game of S.K.A.T.E. The contest draws 181 skateboarders
from all around metro Atlanta. Cody Sosbee wins.
Summer 2004
Ambush and Buywake.com put on the second biggest wakeboard contest series
in the history of the sport (behind the Pro Tour) and call it the BYOB
Wakeboard Series. The series consists of five tour stops including
a nighttime slider contest with a multi-thousand dollar purse. Alliance
Wakeboard Magazine thanks Ambush and Buywake.com for finally giving
them something to write about.
June 2005
The Ambush Skate Team puts on its first demo in the sweltering confines
of Frontside Saktepark. Josh Butler, Dustin Hart, J.J. Patterson, Keel
Turner, and Frank Lee are propelled into the local spotlight as they
kill the Frontside setup. Nearly 500 kids cram into the park for the
show.
June 2005
Ambush and Buywake.com team up to bring the Atlanta wakeboard community
together with the Ambush/Buywake.com Wake Mix. Eighty wakeboarders
form around the metro Atlanta area swap rides on twenty different boats.
New friendships are born and new riding spots discovered during the
event.
August 2005
Ambush and Buywake.com change the face of competitive wakeboarding again
with the first ever Anti-Invert Challenge. In this contest, wakeboarders
are handicapped by taking away their ability to go upside down. Style,
amplitude, toeside maneuvers, and switch tricks are once again essential
in wakeboarding.
November 2005
Building on the merits of Buywake.com, Ambush launches Buysnow.com and
Buyskateshoes.com. Buysnow.com, a soulful snowboard e-commerce site,
and Buyskateshoes.com, an online skate shoe boutique, give internet
shoppers the complete Ambush experience.
November 2005
The Zoo York skateboard team pays Ambush a visit and totally annihilates
the Ambush street course. Donny Barley, Zered Bassett, Kevin Taylor,
Kenny Hughes, and Ambush team rider J.J. Patterson serve it up well
into the evening.
November 2005
Ambush releases its first skate team video in almost 7 years. Jon Imielinski’s
video, titled The Ambush Video, sells 500 copies nearly overnight. Solid
parts by Ryan Cooper and Josh Butler propel them into the local spotlight.
March 2006
Ambush teams up with Kennesaw State University to throw the coldest wakeboard
contest in Georgia history. The event, dubbed the Ambush Polar Bear
Wakeboard Contest, is held in 40 degree air temperature with the water
temp hovering around 48 degrees. Eighty-two nutcases enter the competition
with one psychopath braving the conditions in only a pair of boardshorts.
Ambush team rider Chase Andrews takes top honors.
May 2006
The Pro Wakeboard Tour comes to Atlanta for the first time in 8 years.
Ambush plays host to the wakeboarding world with two nights of raging
parties, illicit gambling, and drums of vodka and Rip It. Fuel TV films
a segment inside Ambush as dozens of the world’s top pros converge
on Atlanta.
June 2006
Ambush hosts the Liquid Force Slide Show. Keith Lyman, Gregg Necrasson,
Kevin Henshaw, Colin Harrington, and Shawn Watson spend the better
part of two days converting the Ambush parking lot into a slider park
complete with take-off and landing pools, flat bars, and kinked rails.
When the show begins, some riders get wrecked...others wreck s#!t.
Urban wakeboarding begins to gain popularity in Atlanta.
November 2006
The Flip Feast Tour rolls through Ambush with a vengeance. Bob Burnquist, Geoff
Rowley, Arto Saari, Rune Glifberg, Mark Appleyard, Rodrigo Tx, Lance Mountain,
and Shane Cross (R.I.P.) sign autographs for over five hours. An estimated
1,000 skaters show up for the event making it the largest autograph signing
in skateboarding history. Fuel TV films the signing for a television segment
giving Ambush nationwide recognition as one of the world’s premier skateboard
shops.
Friday, April 13th 2007
Ambush commemorates its 10 Year Anniversary with one of the most inventive
skateboard contests in skateboard shop history. The Friday the 13th
Freakshow employed a variety of obstacles (including modified automobiles
equipped with handrails) and ramps to create a street course where
the only option was to shred. WSB TV, The Marietta Daily Journal, and
a few other news outlets came out to cover the event. Sturgil Horn
wins.
June 13, 2007
Ambush celebrates its 10 Year Anniversary. The milestone thrusts Ambush
into Atlanta skateboarding history by becoming second longest reigning
skateboard shop in the metro area. To honor the achievement, Ambush
asks its customers to design their 10th Anniversary skateboard graphic.
Juan Alcantar’s art is chosen.
July 2007
Jamie Thomas, Chris Cole, John Rattray, along with nearly the entire
Zero and Mystery skateboard teams pay a visit to Ambush. The teams
sign autographs for over 500 skaters. Jamie Thomas forgets a Tupperware
full of cookies near his chair…which get devoured by a few lucky
fans.
August 2007
The Element team makes its way down the East Coast and drops by Ambush for the
night. Chad Muska, Nyjah Huston, and the Element crew chill with Kennesaw Mayor
Leonard Church in support of the town's dreams of opening a public skatepark.
Over 800 kids turn out to get their Element gear signed and show support for
the building of a public skatepark in Kennesaw.
November 2007
Ambush hosts its ninth and largest Game of Skate. The turnout is incredible with
over 170 skaters participating in the contest. Cody Sosebee wins AGAIN!!! Geez...let
someone else have a chance.
Future
Who knows…? Maybe Ambush will actually do something worth mentioning
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