Editing Rodney Mullen (section)

==Early life==
Mullen was born and raised in [[Gainesville, Florida]]. His father was a dentist and property developer while his mother was a child [[Child prodigy|prodigy]] and accomplished pianist who graduated high school at the age of 14. He and his family lived on a farm.<ref name="wired.com">{{cite magazine | url=https://www.wired.com/2015/01/rodney-mullen/ | title=Silicon Valley Has Lost Its Way. Can Skateboarding Legend Rodney Mullen Help It? | magazine=Wired | last1=Koerner | first1=Brendan I. }}</ref> As a child, Mullen slept in boots designed to correct a severe [[Pigeon toe|pigeon-toe condition]]. Despite Mullen's condition, "He had an incredible dexterity with his feet," said Phil Chiocchio, former owner of the Florida skatepark, Sensation Basin.<ref>{{cite web|author=wmillward|date=8 March 2012|title=Rodney Mullen: Chairman of the Board|url=http://magazine.ufl.edu/2012/03/chairman-of-the-board/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130721022716/http://magazine.ufl.edu/2012/03/chairman-of-the-board/|archive-date=21 July 2013|access-date=22 July 2013|work=Florida Magazine}}</ref>

Mullen began skateboarding at the age of ten, on New Year's Day of 1977, after a neighborhood friend introduced him to a skateboard. He promised his strict father that he would cease skateboarding the first time he became seriously injured:

<blockquote>
My dad wouldn't let me have a skateboard. He thought I'd get hurt and never get good, and the culture was bums, and I'd turn into one. He was a dentist, but before that he was military, and there were times you'd call him, 'Sir.' New Year's Day he had a drink and felt better, and the skate shop was open. I learned to skate in our garage. We lived in the country in Florida, it was sort of farmish, and there was no cement anywhere else. Vert skating was the kind of skating that was done in pools, where you could get airborne and be weightless. The other style, which is what I did, was called freestyle, which was tricks you could do on flat ground.<ref name="New">{{cite magazine|author=ALEC WILKINSON|date=26 November 2012|title=RODNEY MULLEN SKATES CENTRAL PARK|url=http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2012/11/rodney-mullen-skates-central-park.html|url-status=live|magazine=The New Yorker|publisher=Condé Nast|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121213062234/http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2012/11/rodney-mullen-skates-central-park.html|archive-date=13 December 2012|access-date=21 December 2012}}</ref></blockquote>

Mullen practiced in the garage of the family home while wearing a comprehensive protective pads setup, a precaution that was part of the deal with his father.<ref name="New" /><ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite web|author=maninagreensuit|date=3 September 2008|title=RODNEY MULLEN - FROM THE GROUND UP 1/3|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERFChONGLWQ|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110329220500/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERFChONGLWQ|archive-date=29 March 2011|access-date=14 August 2012|work=YouTube|publisher=Google, Inc|format=Video upload}}</ref> He also spent time with his sister's [[Surfing|surfer]] friends who skated on weekdays.<ref name="New" /><ref name="ReferenceA" /> He became obsessed with the skateboard and practiced for many hours on a daily basis.

Mullen graduated from [[P. K. Yonge Developmental Research School]] where he had a 4.0 GPA and studied [[biomedical engineering]] at the [[University of Florida]], where he majored in mathematics, although he later dropped out due to his daily schedule. Although talented, he was pathologically shy and suffered from [[anxiety]] as well as [[anorexia]] as a teenager; while on tour, he ran away from the Bones Brigade van during a rest stop in [[Maryland]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.gainesville.com/story/news/2005/07/10/gainesville-native-rodney-mullen-was-a-pioneer-in-skateboarding-today-he-is-a-legend/31698038007/ | title=Gainesville native Rodney Mullen was a pioneer in skateboarding. Today, he is a legend }}</ref><ref name="wired.com"/>