GARLAND, Texas — A North Texas city has renamed its newest skate park after a hometown skateboarding legend following a request by both the local community and even Tony Hawk himself.
The Boneyard skate park in Garland was officially renamed after Jon Comer, who died in 2019 and is a native of the city. The change was made official during a city council meeting on May 16, according to Mayor Pro Tem Deborah Morris.
Comer was the first pro skateboarder with a prosthetic leg and was dubbed by X Games officials as the godfather of adaptive skateboarding. He was just a child when he had to have his foot amputated following a car accident.
He was also the subject of the 2004 award-winning documentary, "Never Been Done."
The local skateboarding community has been calling on the city to rename the skate park since it opened in October 2022. According to Morris, the request even dates back to 2019.
Pro skater Tony Hawk joined the initiative back in January 2023 when he made a video pitch to the city to memorialize Comer. "He was truly an inspiration to skaters. He was a pioneer in skating… was a huge inspiration to adaptive athletes, especially in skating and action sports," he said.
"After learning more about Jon Comer’s remarkable achievements and receiving a recommendation from the Parks Board to change the name to include Comer’s name, the City Council unanimously agreed to change the skate park name from 'The Boneyard' to 'Jon Comer Skate Park,'" Morris said in a statement on Facebook.
Morris said the city is working to order a replacement sign for the park.
