- Tony Hawk says being a grandfather is “probably the most fun you can have”
- Riley Hawk, the skating legend’s son, has “really embraced” fatherhood, Hawk tells PEOPLE
- Hawk says his grandson Ronin lights up when he visits his grandparents’ house
Tony Hawk is loving life as a grandfather.
The skateboarding legend, 56, became a grandpa last September when his son Riley Hawk welcomed his first child, Ronin Walker Cobain Hawk, with his wife Frances Bean Cobain.
“It’s been a blast,” he tells PEOPLE while promoting his fun new partnership with Pilgrim’s chicken nuggets. “I understand why people gush about being grandparents. It’s probably the most fun you can have.”
Probably one of the most brag-worthy grandparents a kid could have, Hawk says Ronin is catching on to how cool his grandfather is. “There’s this look that Ronin gets on his face when he arrives at our house where it’s like, ‘Oh, this is the fun place. This is my domain to just enjoy myself.’ Not that he doesn’t, but there are less rules here.”
Watching Riley, 32, become a father has been another blessing for Hawk. “He’s been great. He’s really embraced it. You can tell that it gives him the most joy, and so if anything, that makes me very proud,” he shares.
Ronin has already been on his grandfather’s skateboard, says Hawk, but doesn’t own one of his own just yet. “If he really likes it, he can just have that one that he’s riding, which would’ve been mine,” Hawk tells PEOPLE. “So I would say any day now, if he asks for it, it’s his. Let’s put it that way. Once he starts to talk, and if he requests it, then that’ll be it.”
Hawk’s house is full of more than just skateboards and fun vibes for Ronin, though. The iconic skater also keeps his place stocked with Pilgrim’s chicken nuggets — for eating and for fun. Hawk says he’s been a fan of the chicken nuggets for a while.
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“They asked me about doing a collaboration to show that eating chicken is not so boring and how to incorporate that into what I do, so I actually ended up doing some of my tricks that I’ve created through the years and adding some Pilgrim’s flair to them.”
But Hawk admits of his moves: “Honestly, they weren’t that easy.”
He was expecting a “fun experiment” — which it “absolutely” was, says Hawk — “But there was a moment where I was like, ‘Oh, I have to actually remove these nuggets from the microwave mid-trick and come back into the ramp with them.’ It looked good on paper, but it was actually kind of difficult.”
In a more “fantastical” move inspired by nuggets, called the “Freehand Nugget,” Hawk says viewers will “have to see for themselves,” but promises the trick “defies gravity.”
Despite the complexity of his chicken-dipping tricks, Hawk says the takeaway is: “You don’t really have to land the trick to enjoy eating it. You can still eat it.”
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