Last Wednesday, snowboarding hero and founder of Burton Snowboards Jake Burton Carpenter passed away after a battle with testicular cancer. Carpenter was only 65-years-old.
It is with a heavy heart that we share that Burton founder Jake Burton Carpenter passed away peacefully last night surrounded by loved ones as a result of complications from recurring cancer. He was the soul of snowboarding, the one who gave us the sport we love. #RideonJake pic.twitter.com/8dChSsm54Y — Burton Snowboards (@burtonsnowboard) November 21, 2019
Carpenter was originally diagnosed with cancer back in 2011, but was deemed clear of the disease after treatment. Unfortunately, Carpenter’s cancer came back at the beginning of this month and was too much for his body to handle.
Carpenter, known as the United States’ Godfather of snowboarding, revolutionized the snowboarding industry. At its start, most didn’t even considered it to be a sport, but Carpenter’s creativity and persistence changed the minds of many.
In 1977 Carpenter moved to Vermont and started the now famous “Burton Snowboards”. From there, Carpenter was continually coming up with and editing designs of snowboards to make sure people who hopped up on the side of a snowy mountain would be able to control where they were going. Carpenter wanted to move away from how the original snowboard looked, and worked.
Carpenter had admitted that he originally started the company to try and get rich quick, but as time went on his focus shifted. Instead of focusing on his own needs and accomplishments, Carpenter became fixated on the world of snowboarding itself. Little did he know that this fixation would help turn the sport into a global phenomenon.
