His sister, Kim, recalled their family's "endless summer" lifestyle, where their father, a passionate surfer, often encouraged them to surf rather than attend school.
During this time, he was a member of the Wave Trek Surf Team, alongside fellow Makaha skateboarder Rusty Henderson, in the early 1970s.
[2] Both Page and his brother, Greg, were active participants in aquatics at Redondo Union High School and worked as lifeguards at the San Clemente beach.
[6] After the introduction of the urethane wheel in 1972, Page saw potential in the sport as a career, so he focused primarily on skateboarding.
[6] Page took first place at the Santa Barbara Skateboard Championships with long nose wheelies, headstands, and 360s.
After two tours through Germany, Page was featured as the centerfold in the November/December 1977 German issue of Skateboard, the first U.S. skater to be so honored.
[citation needed] In March 1978, the California Free Former team was featured in Cal Jam 2, skating to Aerosmith, Heart, Ted Nugent and others.
Page skated to the Latin rhythms of "Black Magic Woman" as Carlos Santana performed on stage.
The show set a new record for the largest audience in the history of skateboarding – an estimated 300,000 people – and was aired nationally on ABC.
Page's half-pipe skating was highlighted on the cover of Wild World of Skateboarding Magazine in July 1978.
Page is credited with inventing over 50 new moves, including the Ty Slide, Ty Hop (pop-shove it), Half-Hop, Pay Hop, Daffy (also known as a Yeah Right Manual), Head Spinner (also known as a 360 Headstand), Foot Spin, Foot-Spin 360, Toe Spin, Toe-Spin 360, and many backwards footwork maneuvers.
[11] Mike Purpus said: "The reason the Z-Boys got more recognition was because they were loud and obnoxious, while the Makaha Team just skated great and went on quietly winning contests.
[citation needed] After trying many times to photograph his footwork, SkateBoarder magazine used a high-speed camera to catch him on film to publish in the August and September 1977 issues.