Tony Hawk Visited Iowa, and a MASSIVE Trend Ensued

Tony Hawk is widely regarded as the greatest skateboarder of all time.

There are many reasons Hawk is held in such high-esteem, but here are five to give you a solid idea of how the GOAT became the GOAT.

1. Of the 103 competitions in his career, he won 73 of them. He also finished his career with 16 X-Games medals. That is BONKERS.

2. He was the first ever skater to land a 900. For those unaware of the difficulty pulling off such a trick entails, Skateboardhere.com clarifies: "An air or ollie where the skater and board spin two and a half rotations." This is about the time that Hawk became a household name.

3. Tony Hawk Pro Skater revolutionized gaming and was another reason the San Diego, California native became known world-wide. He was fully involved in the development of the game and was sent demos before it was released. Over 20 editions and spinoffs of the game have been made after the first two editions of the sold 1 million copies.

4. He's a humble, good dude. When Tony was in high school, he was bullied for skating so much. He grew in fame when it was popular, lost it all, and came back as a champion of the sport. He's aware of his fame, but remains a kind, genuine guy. He often stops by skateparks and helps individuals he doesn't know improve. They're usually left starstruck.

5. His social media following is insane. On Instagram, Hawk boasts 7.1 million followers, and on Twitter, he's got 4.5 million.

A big reason for his following is the fact that his tweets are pure gold. Considering his gargantuan figure in pop culture and the fact that he's a name quite literally every person knows, he gets recognized in public a lot. Like, a lot a lot.

And frequently, he likes to have a little fun with the people who seem to know who he is. He also documents the encounters on the twittersphere for the world to see.

This tweet came out a little over a week ago:

This one, two weeks before the that:

And yet another from August:

And here's the thing -- this has been happening for YEARS. In fact, someone gathered 27 of these tweets and posted them on this website. They're worth the read.

Although I couldn't confirm, I'm about 85ish percent sure this trend started in Iowa. For real.

Take a look at this tweet from Hawk in 2014:

I mean, who was using that God-forsaken website before 2014? It has to be the first one of its kind. Thanks for putting Iowa on the map, 'dude at gas station in Iowa.' You're my favorite person now, too.