JEFF BRUSHIE

LEGENDARY INFO

DOB: 4/14/1971
Stance: Regular
Home Mountain: Big Bear and Bolton Valley, CA

Long before JP Walker donned a do-rag or Shawn Farmer waxed poetic on “My Way,” an unassuming kid from Hinesburg, Vermont paved the path for hip-hop in snowboarding. “And up on the mountain, there was snow/Caught big air like nobody know/Went back to the bottom, hopped in my 6-4/Got leather seats and a whole lot mo’” is the verse that VTSP (Vermont Slope Posse) poster boy Jeff Brushie made famous in Burton’s classic team video, Chill.

When Brushie wasn’t smoking dugans, drinking bappies, or hitting on Vicundis, he was ruling the chali. Melding the skills of Kelly with the style of Palmer, Brush set the standard by which all other pipe riders would henceforth be judged. He quickly earned a world title, a top-selling pro model, and the admiration of snowboarding’s first generation of new-schoolers. His Rastafied silhouette, tweaking well above the lip, was plastered on walls from Plattsburgh to Pemberton. Two-time US Open halfpipe champion Todd Richards felt Brushie’s impact first-hand, saying, “[He was the] best pipe rider for so long, and dreads came into fashion with him.” Even Brush’s longtime Burton teammate and podium companion Terje agrees, stating, “Brush had sick pop, big air, and a lot of style.”

When Mack Dawg needed reinforcements for the new-school insurgency, Brushie heeded the call and joined Noah Salasnek, Chris Roach, Bryan Iguchi, and the Summit County kids to justify jibbing’s first wave in The Hard, the Hungry, and the Homeless. Then, when snowboarding entered its Olympic era, Jeff became our sport’s first million-dollar man by signing a three-year deal with Ride.

Though a US Open title always eluded Brush, he never walked away from Stratton a loser. He always won the crowd over, and the fact that he appears on this list while other champions don’t is equally important, because it proves that he earned the respect of his peers and had an immeasurable impact on the future of snowboarding.