Plan B Skateboards is a skateboarding company based in San Diego California, United States, founded by Mike Ternasky, Danny Way and Colin McKay. PlanB has been manufacturing and selling premium skateboard hard goods and apparel since 1991 .
History
1991-1993: Formation, Johnson's "super team", Questionable
The original Plan B Skateboarding team was founded in 1991 by Mike Ternasky who had departed from the H-Street company that he had formerly managed with Tony Magnusson. Ternasky, to the dismay of Magnusson, also managed to convince numerous team riders to assist with the development of the new brand. The company was formed as part of the Dwindle Distribution company, at that time overseen by Steve Rocco and Rodney Mullen, and Mike's intention was to create a "super team", with riders such as Way, McKay, Mullen, Mike Carroll, Matt Hensley, and Rick Howard.
Rocco explained in a 2012 interview that "The story of Plan B is a difficult one to tell. Everybody, you know, had a different idea of what Plan B was, or was to become, depending on, you know, Mike's vision that he was giving you at the time." Johnson's intentions have been compared to the "Dream Team" concept that came to fruition in the American professional basketball league, the NBA. At that time, riders were progressing at such a rapid pace that Mike was able to draw upon a pioneering movement to fulfill his aspirations. For example, Way quit his position on the Powell-Peralta team, a decision for a professional skateboarder at the time due to the reputation of the company, due to the inability of the company to support his rate of development. Way has stated that "Brian was one of those guys that he would know, you know, if somebody had that potential before anyone else could ever see it, you know?" Ternasky was dissatisfied with the skateboarding industry at the time, an industry primarily composed of older business owners who were no longer directly involved with skateboarding, and proceeded to initiate a "rebirth" of the industry, providing the team riders in his new company with a level of freedom that had not been witnessed up until the formation of Plan B. Rocco further explained, "People just wanted to be a part of it because it was so rad."
After forming the foundations of the Plan B company, Ternasky proceeded to exert a potent influence upon the team riders, with Mullen's relationship with Ternasky of particular significance. At the time, the origins and defining core of Mullen's skateboarding, freestyle skateboarding, was losing popularity at a rapid rate and Mullen was forced to seriously consider the viability of his future as a professional skateboarder. Both Stacy Peralta and Rocco had attempted to persuade Mullen to adapt to street-style skateboarding, but he was initially resistant; however, Ternasky expressed to Rocco that he believed that he could facilitate the transition, but Rocco replied, "Yeah right! You'll never get him to be able to do that stuff." However, a strong bond developed between the two and photographer, Jacob Rosenberg, explains, "So, what happened with Mike and Rodney was that he saw something in Rodney, and he made a couple of comments, and I think he saw like, "Holy shit, he could really do this if he committed to it.'" Mullen subsequently filmed street-style parts for three videos, Questionable (1992), Second Hand Smoke (1993), and Virtual Reality (premiered June 11, 1993 at La Jolla Museum of Contemporary arts), while Ternasky was at the helm of the company. Mullen also introduced two newly invented tricks in Questionable, the kickflip underflip and the casper slide. Rocco expressed the belief that Ternasky's work with Mullen was "just flat-out amazing" and "changed everything".
Former team rider Sean Sheffey has described his relationship with Ternasky in the following manner: If there was something that we were having a problem with, you know, sit down and speak with us about these things and "Why isn't this going on?", or "What's the problem here?", or "You need to get this out of your life". It's like a real steady father-figure, boss, big brother, you know, really great man. Professional skateboarder Pat Duffy who, like McKay and Way, was a member of the original team and has continued on as a Plan B rider for the company's second phase has maintained Ternasky's influence throughout his entire career, stating: