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Jeff began skating/performing at a fairly young age in his old home town of Green Bay Wisconsin. Starting out playing bass guitar in a punk band before the age of 10. ..and switching to drums there after. The early punk scene went hand in hand with skateboarding, so he picked up a board and started riding.. and kept riding.. After moving to Arizona in 1984, ramp riding became the main focus, along with playing in several local bands. By the early 90’s several 7’ records were released by his band “COUNTER PUNCH” and in ’96 a CD by another outfit “STAND TO REASON”. Skateboarding had been going good, traveling all over the west coast competing, consistently landing in the top 10 in all the sponsored am contests. After several offers from skateboard companies, he wanted to hold out and see about getting on the company he always wanted to ride for, Vision Skateboards/Streetwear. It became a reality in 1988 and continued till 1991. Realizing contests weren’t as fun as they used to be, the next avenue to pursue was performing in demonstrations, joining the Bare Cover Trick Team, they showcased everything from Skating, BMX Bikes to Freestyle Frisbee’s. No pressure, just purely fun, riding with friends and showing the audience how great these sports are. Team manager and lifelong skateboarder friend Bill Robertson, one day handed him the microphone and convinced him he could be an announcer as well. Little did Bill know, he single handedly launched Jeff’s career as a professional announcer and gave him the courage to try acting and theatre. To this day he has been on stage all over Arizona and as far away as Edinburgh Scotland for the prestigious Fringe Theatre Festival. To date, Jeff has over 20 plays , Film and commercial projects under his belt. After the demise of the Bare Cover Team in the early 90’s, the existing team members wanted to keep the shows alive, building there own portable ramps and changing the name to the PRO IMPACT STUNT TEAM. Working with team owner and talented Flatland BMX rider, Lance Lyons the team traveled from Arizona to Rhode Island in 4 days. Reminiscent of touring with his bands, the 5 athletes drove there van and portable ramps all over the state and country together for over 6 years. In 1996, an opportunity arose for Jeff to buy the business of the Pro Impact Stunt Team and make a go of it on his own. Learning much of the business and show bookings from his good friend/partner Lance Lyons he set off on tour with a smaller group of athletes, BMX’ers Joe Tecca and Arthur Thomason. The trio hit 4 different states and over 15 show dates in just over a month. Dealing with breaking down on the road, sleeping in a truck and driving for hours on end, this mini tour appeared to launch the team to a higher level. Many of the original Pro Impact riders have gone on to compete and make a name for themselves in events like the X Games on ESPN and the Gravity Games on NBC. (www.proimpactstuntteam.com) In late 1997, a call came in for a tour of extreme sports, that was being produced by the California Milk Advisory Board, called the got milk? Gravity Tour. One of the event producers flew to Arizona to watch one of the teams infamous Anti-Drug Motivational school assemblies. A week or so later, it was a done deal, with Jeff leading the way, the team finally hit the road as the got milk? Gravity Team, kicking off the California state wide tour in 1998. After a 5 year run with that tour Jeff and the team have moved on and continue to perform all over the country as the original Pro Impact Stunt Team. So, as of 2003, Jeff’s life still revolves around the things he loves, from helping to discover a new type of UFO/ life form in 1994, to skateboarding, playing in bands and acting. He wants to thank everyone who has helped him get to this point and will continue pursuing all that he loves! (www.roswellrods.com).
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