Who Invented Snowboarding? The Story of Jake Burton Carpenter
Our American Stories
iHeartPodcasts
4.6 • 817 Ratings
🗓️ 24 February 2026
⏱️ 20 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this episode of Our American Stories, snowboarding grew from a niche winter activity into a global sport within a single generation. At the center of that transformation stood Jake Burton Carpenter.
As founder of Burton Snowboards, he played a central role in shaping the sport’s growth, guiding it from informal gatherings to professional events and eventually Olympic competition. Our own Greg Hengler shares the story of Jake Burton and the rise of snowboarding as both an industry and an international sport.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:02.3 | Guaranteed human. |
| 0:13.8 | And we continue with our American stories. |
| 0:18.1 | The sport of snowboarding skyrocketed when a young East Coast college graduate made |
| 0:23.8 | some innovative designs that have lasted to this very day. Here's Greg Engler to tell us the story |
| 0:30.5 | of Jake Burton and the sport that became a worldwide phenomenon. |
| 0:35.8 | Sean White for the gold. |
| 0:39.6 | Oh my Lord. |
| 0:42.0 | How perfect can you possibly land? |
| 0:44.3 | Delma McTwist, 1260. |
| 0:46.0 | Sean White, one more hit. |
| 0:47.9 | Will it be enough? |
| 0:49.5 | Frontside, 12. |
| 0:50.8 | Perfect. |
| 0:51.4 | That is the run that he needed and he put it down. |
| 0:55.0 | And the scores in. |
| 0:57.0 | It's the return of the king in the mid-half pipe. |
| 1:00.0 | Oh, Sean White takes the goal. |
| 1:04.0 | Snowboarding is now a well-established sport and has come in leaps and bounds. |
| 1:10.0 | White is the new gold. |
| 1:11.7 | With its own culture, superstars and equipment, competitions and events have become international |
| 1:17.1 | staples. |
... |
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