Snowboarder From Brat Pack Turned Into King of the Hill

More than 200 of the world’s top pro and amateur snowboarders from 10 countries will be on the slopes of Big Bear Mountain this weekend.

But only one of them idolizes Frank Sinatra and collects vintage Cadillacs.

All of the pros vying for a $40,000 purse during the Swatch Boardercross World Tour event will come in loaded with ability and brimming with confidence.

But only one will do so having been dubbed the “World’s Greatest Athlete,” ahead of such as Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and John Elway.

Granted, the dubbing was done by the dubbed, as well as by a writer for USA Today, who was impressed by this athlete’s accomplishments in sports that are way out of the mainstream but require as much skill and courage as any that involves a ball or bat.

The athlete is Shaun Palmer, 30, three-time Boardercross champion of the ESPN X Games, five-time snowboarding world champion, champion mountain bike racer, Supercross competitor, snowmobile racer and . . . golfer?

“No, I can’t handle golf,” Palmer says, wondering how that got listed as one of his hobbies in his press bio. “I can throw my clubs farther than I can hit the ball. I have a really bad temper when it comes to golf.”

He has no such problem in Boardercross, an event that features snowboarders racing down a steep, twisting downhill course in six-person heats, because he’s usually way ahead of the pack.

Sal Ruibal of USA Today, in an article last May, called Palmer “your teenager’s favorite hero and your worst nightmare.”

Palmer shrugs at this description, but he can’t argue that his “bad-boy” image is part of his identity and at least partly responsible for his popularity among the Generation X crowd.

Snowboarding, after all, had always been (and still is by many) considered a sport practiced largely by rebellious sorts--and Palmer was once as anti-establishment as they come.

He had a troubled childhood, smoked his share of pot, dabbled in psychedelic drugs, hit the bottle and was himself a hit--usually before intoxicated audiences--as lead singer of the punk band Fungus.

Like snowboarding, however, Palmer has come a long way.

“I’m not proud of all that stuff, but I am proud of the fact that I turned myself into a champion,” he says.

A champion with more tattoos than Dennis Rodman, but a champion nonetheless.

Remarkably, Palmer is especially proud of a motorcycle event he did not even come close to winning: his first professional Supercross race at the Coliseum a year ago.

Despite his inexperience, he survived the early-round heats and qualified for the main event.

“I finished dead last in the main event,” he says. “But all I wanted to do was qualify. That was an accomplishment in itself.”

And, yes, he did it his way.

WHITE LIES

A portion of Ski Sunrise in Wrightwood will be closed to skiers and snowboarders Saturday to accommodate players competing in the “Ice Bowl.”

The Ice Bowl is part of a flying-disc golf tournament held annually at courses around the country “as a day of disc golf solidarity in the gloom of winter” and to benefit the needy, Sunrise event director Tom Bant says.

Proceeds--$20 gets you into the tournament and a canned-food donation gets you into the raffle--go to the Second Harvest Food Bank. Registration is at 10 a.m. Details: (760) 249-5897.

NO PLEASURE CRUISE

Arlene Solis knew Rodrick Thompson wasn’t coming in for crab.

The 38-year-old boatwright left the Long Beach area late last Friday night on a 15-foot inflatable raft, developed engine trouble and spent the next 36 hours adrift, finally washing ashore Sunday morning near Point Mugu.

Weary and haggard, he stumbled through the door of Neptune’s Net, a popular seafood restaurant on Pacific Coast Highway near the Los Angeles-Ventura county line about 9 a.m.

“He was still holding his life jacket,” said Solis, the restaurant manager. “It looked like somebody had thrown him overboard. I thought to myself that he must have really upset somebody out there.”

Thompson couldn’t be reached for comment and the U.S. Coast Guard, which Saturday launched an unsuccessful search for him, was of little help.

Said Petty Officer Jim Roache, “You pay taxes, we’ll come out and try to find you. We search for somebody pretty much all the time.”

Had Thompson been carrying a radio or flares, perhaps some tax dollars could have been saved.

POLARIS MISSILE

Maury Newton, 60, of Huntington Beach, was pulled overboard recently by a giant yellowfin tuna during a long-range trip to Mexico’s Revillagigedo Islands aboard the Royal Polaris. Earlier, friends had had to hold him by his belt to keep him from going over.

Said fellow angler Don Corrigan of Cerritos, “We all joked that we should tie a rope to his belt with a grappling hook at the other end so when he goes overboard the hook will catch the rail and it’ll be easy to bring him in.”

In Newton’s defense, the tuna in question weighed about 150 pounds and the yellowfin at the islands reach 400 pounds. Corrigan’s wife, Joyce, won the jackpot with a 228-pounder.

SPINNING YOUR WHEELS

Off-Road for Hope ‘99, an event to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Assn., will be held Saturday at Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area east of Anza Borrego Desert State Park. Entry fee is a $25 per-vehicle donation for those 16 or older and $10 for those 15 and under. Trail-riding, desert exploration and raffles are on tap. Details: (619) 492-9792.

TO THE HUNT

Youth hunters will gather Saturday at Mike Raahauge’s Shooting Enterprises in the Prado Basin near Norco.

The Greenwing program event, co-hosted by the Rio Hondo Chapter of Ducks Unlimited and other organizations, is aimed at teaching children about waterfowl and wetland habitat projects in the basin.

Youngsters also will be taught gun safety and how to hunt from blinds. Those 17 and under will be admitted free. Cost for adults is $10. Details: (562) 921-6755.

BOAT SHOW

The annual Southern California Boat Show will run Saturday through Feb. 14 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. More than 900 models will be on display.

Hours are 1-9 p.m. weekdays, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturdays, and 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sundays. Cost is $8 for adults. No charge for children 12 and under.

FOWL PLAY

California Duck Days, billed as the largest wetlands festival in the West, will be held Feb. 12-14 at Veteran’s Memorial Center in Davis, Calif. Central Valley field trips, displays, demonstrations, workshops and waterfowl viewing are scheduled. Details: (800) 425-5001 or https://www.yolobasin. org/duckdays1.htm.

DERBY DATES

The annual Marina del Rey Halibut Derby will be held March 27-28. The angler who catches the largest halibut weighing 43 pounds or more will win a truck and a five-day trip to Alaska. Other prizes include fishing trips to Baja and mainland Mexico.

Cost is $40 a person and an additional $15 for those wanting to pair up in teams to compete for cash prizes. Details: (310) 827-4855.