I never knew Tim Brauch *. Only remember seeing him skateboard a few times.

He was professional skateboarder for Sessions * and would show up at local jams. I was about 15 years old and looking for ramps to skate. Other pros were often on hand. Some would throw their board or scream when they didn’t pull a trick — intimidating for a kid my age to want to skate around.

But Brauch never gave that impression, and was always cool to the reckless groms who had the privilege of getting in his way.

He left many kids with similar recollections before dying of heart failure on Mother’s Day, 1999 *, at the age of 25. And he left his and skateboarding’s mark all over the globe * — not just on the grinded ledges or paint-smeared curbs he hit at mach speed.

Fellow skaters will remember Brauch this Saturday and Sunday with the Seventh Annual Tim Brauch Memorial Contest at Scotts Valley’s skate park named in his honor.

Chances are Brauch allowed some of the young amateurs competing to take a run or two ahead of him at some point.

"It’s crazy the affect he had and the amount of people he actually touched," said Brauch’s longtime friend and skate photographer Jai Tanju.

With each year, Brauch’s contest grows. This year, the contest features the seventh stop of the World Concrete Bowl Series. Old schoolers like Steve Caballero * and Jeff Grosso * are rumored to be competing in the Masters division. There’s also a Pro division, pitting the area’s best against others from around the country.

Brauch, always loyal to those that helped jump start his career, is remembered for giving his all to skateboarding and life. For being an ambassador for his sport. For having the kind of energy and love of life that was hard to keep up with. Sort of how he skated.

"Jason Adams * said it best with his firecracker theory," said Matt Sharkey of Sessions, who knew Brauch well. "He said Tim would just come out of the gates of the skate park and would skate as fast as he could like a burning wick until he exploded."

Even after being diagnosed at a young age with Wolff-Parkinson-White, an electrical heart condition, Brauch didn’t slow down. He played every sport he could, even joining an indoor soccer team as an adult in his hometown San Jose.

"And he didn’t know what the heck he was doing," said Joan Brauch of her son, adding that "Once he got the hang of it, he was one to be reckoned with."

Tanju said Brauch’s sponsors often had him travel to events alone, but Brauch never had a problem with that.

"He’d go to contests by himself and would come back with stories and photos of people he met," said Tanju. "To this day, when I go places and mention his name, there’s people that have stories."

Maybe one of the best signs of Brauch’s impact on skating and beyond is his inclusion in the Smithsonian Institution’s traveling exhibit "Breaking Records, Breaking Barriers", which honors athletes who impacted American life over the past century and a half. It's reportedly coming to the Oakland Museum of California * in September of 2006.

There, somewhere amongst the memorabilia from Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan and Lance Armstrong, will be one of Brauch’s decks and a biography.

"It’s pretty unreal," said Joan. "You’d have to see it to believe it."

Since his passing, the eagle head logo from his and fellow pro skater Salmon Agah’s skate company, Este, has become a popular tattoo.

While Brauch liked to party and throw a few cold ones back with the boys, he also knew when it was time for business. He understood the impact he had on youngsters.

Looking back, that much was plain to see.

"When he knew that he was skating for a job he’d make it a job and would put on a show for the kids," said Sharkey.

Said Tanju: "I saw him give kids shoes, trade the shirt off his back."

The Tim Brauch Memorial Fund raises money to build parks and promote the sport in a positive way. It helped raise a large portion of the funds for Scotts Valley’s park, Santa Cruz County’s biggest and most advanced skate spot.

It's kind of ironic that Brauch died of a bum ticker. From how he’s remembered, that seems to be one part of him that worked as well as his feet.

This article was originally entitled "Recalling a skater who was much more than that" and was found at http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/ 2005 */September/22/sport/ stories/03sport.htm

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