If you're still in junior high or high school and not a hardcore skate fan, you might not be too familiar with the name Dennis Martinez. That's because Dennis Martinez is an old school skateboarder from San Diego who was doing 360° flips and fakies way before Arto Saari or P-Rod were even born.

It was the glory days of the '70s and within a few years Martinez had gotten good enough to be sponsored by Bahne Skateboards, Gordon & Smith, Alva Skateboards and many others. Unlike most high school kids his age, Martinez was doing commercials for Pepsi and 7Up, touring the country and skating professionally alongside legends like Stacy Peralta, Pineapple, Tony Alva and Jay Adams. Just one year after turning pro in 1977, Martinez won the World Cup Skateboarding Championship in 1978 as well as the U.S. Skateboarding Championship.

But no sooner than he started making his dreams come true did his world begin spiraling into a chaotic nightmare. At the age of 16, Martinez was making enough money to rent his own apartment, and like so many others, became seduced by the excitement of fame and fortune. "You get the same treatment as rock stars. I was renting my own place even though you're supposed to be 18 years old. I discovered that I could get special treatment just because of who I was."

What Martinez discovered next sent his world into a terrible tailspin. "I started noticing that a lot of the same skaters were getting on the covers of the magazines and getting big photo spreads. I didn't know why this was happening 'cause I knew I was better than them," he says. "What I found out was that they were getting the photographers high. And I'm not just talking pot, I'm talking cocaine," he reveals. "I personally experienced this for myself. Almost immediately [after getting the photographers high], I was on the cover. That's how I know it's true."

Little did Martinez know that his method of getting on the covers of magazines was about to lead him on a 20 year path of addiction and destruction. "I started out with cocaine. I was scared, but I did it anyway. It was everywhere, wherever we went,” he confesses. "I thought it made me skate better 'cause I felt like I had no fear. I had to skate high – not just a little high, I'm talking extremely high. Even at the U.S. Championship in Florida, I probably did $300 worth of dope before the competition. Everything I've done is to the extreme and I've always been that type of person," he says. "Then my coke habit wasn't getting me high enough. That's when somebody introduced me to the needle."

Despite his aversion to needles, Martinez decided to inject the drugs into his body and from "the very first time" he was hooked. "My drug use continued into the middle of the '80s and by that time my career in skateboarding had gone down because of the drugs. It started out as recreational and then it consumed my life and became my life. It took all my money, everything I ever had." So much so that the one-time skateboarding champ even sold his beloved World Championship cup for $500 worth of dope. "And not because I really needed the money,” he says, “but because I wanted to buy $500 worth of dope."

Feeling as though he had hit rock bottom, Martinez became overwhelmed with the reality of his addiction and decided that his life was not worth living. "I felt like I wanted to die," he recalls. "I didn't want to wake up the next day and be the same person. So I took about 200 pills I stole from over the counter and overdosed. Nothing mattered to me, and more than that, I needed to pay for my drug habit. Skateboarding wasn't paying because I couldn't keep my word and I couldn't function." It was then that Martinez, barely in his 20s, made yet another ill-fated decision to turn to a life of crime.

"I was living on the streets of San Diego, I was living in my Volkswagen bus, and I was living from hotel to hotel. I remember crying because I just wanted to be a normal person and I didn't know how to beat this habit,” he recalls. “I did things that I never thought I would do; things that people read about in the newspaper or see in movies." Once again, Martinez overdosed. Only this time, it was unintentional and he ended up nearly dead in a hospital emergency room. Believing his life had been spared by God, Martinez slowly began taking his life into a new direction.

"I realized that if I would just give God a chance my life would change. And it has. I've been clean and sober now for 10 years on September 5, 2006. I got my family back, got married 5 years ago to my wife Charlene. I have two stepsons, Vincent, 17, Christopher, 15, and we had a little girl Cristiana who is 4 years old. A lot of people don't get to run the streets as long as I did and not end up dead or in prison,” he says.

“The word ‘dope’ spelled out is Death Or Prison Eventually. It doesn't matter where you go. People move from city to city to get away from the environment of drugs, but it's always there to find you. You have to change your life – who you hang out with, how you think,” he warns. “Four of my closest friends were murdered. One of them died in my arms after being shot in the neck and she was seven months pregnant. My best friend is serving a 678-year sentence in prison. I have a lot to talk about and I'm not ashamed to let people know."

Martinez is now a co-senior pastor along with Jason Shanley of Training Center, a Christ-centered drug and alcohol treatment center for men. “90% of the men come straight from prison and live with us for 4-6 months as they transition into society,” says Martinez, who is also a volunteer chaplain at a Level 4 maximum security prison at Calipatria State Prison. “Most of the men I minister to will never get out. But seeing people’s lives change means more to me than any championship I’ve ever won, more than any trophy, more than any money or sponsorships.”

Though his new outlook is the most remarkable change in his life, Martinez jokes that it’s his look that gets the most reactions from people. "People trip out on me 'cause I have a bald shaved head and I've got tattoos on my neck and I'm a pastor!”

 “D.O.P.E. – Death Or Prison Eventually,” a new film based on the life of Martinez, is scheduled for a summer 2007 release date. The film will feature actor Danny Trejo (of American Me fame), skateboarding legends Christian Hosoi and Jay Adams among others with a soundtrack from P.O.D.

Mar Yvette
Cover Story - Dispatch Magazine 
January 2007