The Life of ANDrew (DREW) GRABOWSKI...
Andrew (Drew) Grabowski was born Friday, September 27th, 1992 at 2:40 A.M. and left us on Friday, June 17th 2022.
He is survived by his Father: Jeff Grabowski, Sisters: Ashley and Abbey Grabowski, Nephews Ethan & Jasper Doyle, many Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, and so many Friends that were his "family" to him! (His mother Kelly Hagan was tragically taken from us by a hit and run driver in December 2022)
How to put 29 years of life in a few paragraphs is not an easy task when it comes to Andrew. All parents say their kid was a good kid growing up, but truthfully he was a real good kid. Like any kid he had his ups and downs, but one thing never wavered in his life, and that was skateboarding, he lived and breathed skateboarding. I miss the times I would take him to different places as he was growing up, the Everson Museum, Black Mamba skate shop, Red Planet in Oswego, Utica, Brooklyn, Tampa Bay, anywhere he wanted to go, and he took me to San Diego, CA. He won a competition in Rochester, NY in the ES Game of Skate back in 2006, and they flew him and I there for him to compete against 32 of the best in the whole world in the game of skate at the young age of 14. While there he got to meet a bunch of his idols, and even got to meet Nyjah Huston there when he was first hitting the scene, as both were same age competing against adults. That was one of my proudest memories of him. He entered many contests after that, he would compete in the Damn Am at Tampa every year, and local contests back home, or Albany, Ithaca, Utica, etc..
The family moved from Syracuse when he was 17 to Fort Myers, Florida, he stayed with us for about a year before he moved back to Syracuse. Florida was nice, but Syracuse was home to him, and he missed his friends, as well as skating at the Everson. So reluctantly we had to let him go to start his life as an Adult, but to me he was still just a kid, and I worried everyday. He struggled a lot with jobs, places to live, money, most of the time living at a friends house on their couch, and even under bridges. Even thru all the down times he made it work, and skateboarding was still everything. Always learning, and helping other to learn new tricks as well. He traveled all over, and filmed everywhere, (which is now apparent to me as I have over 100 hours of film of him). His love of teaching others to skateboard landed him a summertime job at Camp Woodward. He really enjoyed his time there teaching new skaters the "ropes", and the friendships he made. He would come back home about once a year and stay for a couple weeks sometimes even a month, but then he would go back to New York, leaving me missing him again. Those 12 years after he left went by way too fast. He reached his goal to be a Pro Skateboarder, and got his Pro Deck with the design he wanted. All while becoming quite the chef, as he found a love for cooking, and it paid the bills.
He also accumulated a few nick names and some people thought his last name was really Reynolds haaa. Growing up they called him LiL Reynolds, after the pro skater Andrew Reynolds, I believe? (The first Skateboard Deck to bear Andrew's nick name "LiL Reynolds" was by Black Mamba Skateshop) then just Reynolds, along with Drew, and Reynz later on. Personally I liked the name Reynz, it's unique, Just like he was, but I always called him Bud or Andrew.
He took pride in his sponsorships, and the skate shops he got gear at. So Shout Outs to Huff, Homegrown, Welfare Skate Shop, Seasons Skate Shop, Flower Skate Shop, Black Mamba Skatepark, Brotherhood Skate Shop, Pastimes Skate Shop, Krudco Skate Shop, Wool Skateboards, and a Huge Kudos to D.O.A. for making his dream come true, and not giving up on him! I have skipped a ton of info, or else it would be a novel in length. I Thank you for your time in reading this small excerpt of his life.
DREW FOREVER!
