Mickey Reyes

Mickey Reyes, known across skateboarding as Mic-E or Big Mic, was a San Francisco street skater, longtime Deluxe Distribution team manager, and later a Portland bar owner. Thrasher Magazine announced his death on September 16, 2026. He was 59. The San Francisco Chronicle confirmed his age. No cause of death was made public. He is survived by his daughter, Dakota.

Reyes came up in the Bay Area generation that made San Francisco one of street skating's world centers. He rode for Santa Cruz and appeared in Mack Dawg Productions' 1988 video Sick Boys, a career-defining part that still circulates among fans of that era. His influence widened once he moved behind the scenes. As team manager for Deluxe brands including Real, Anti-Hero, Krooked and Spitfire, he became a constant presence around teams and tours: half enforcer, half mentor, the person many riders trusted when they arrived in the city. Thrasher's tribute called him an icon of an era defined by San Francisco's concrete and said that if Mickey had your back, you knew you were solid.

That reputation reached beyond board sales. Skaters including Dustin Dollin later described how Reyes took them in and steered early careers. He was also remembered for a harder edge from earlier years, including a period when he worked as a San Francisco police officer, before he became known as one of skateboarding's steadier father figures. In 2005 Nike SB honored him with a signature Blazer colorway; in 2015 he helped shape Mission Blazer designs tied to his San Francisco roots.

Later he relocated to Portland, Oregon, and opened Cat's Paw Saloon on Southeast Division Street, a neighborhood bar filled with skate memorabilia that Willamette Week called a refuge of old Portland grit. The bar collaborated with Nike SB on a Cat's Paw GT Blazer in 2018. In 2023 he joined partners opening The End cocktail bar nearby. For customers who never knew Deluxe, he was the familiar face behind the woodgrain bar, proof of what Thrasher called life after skateboarding.

Tributes after his death came from Thrasher editor Tony Vitello, from Route One and Spanish outlets AS and MARCA, and from skaters and shops across the culture. Thrasher closed its farewell with support for Dakota and the line Big Mic FOREVER. Exact funeral arrangements were not announced with the first obituaries.