From the Half Pipe to the Full Arch

When Frankie Hill was little, he loved watching his stepfather, Jim Smitley, work at his in-house lab in Santa Barbara, CA, and always imagined he’d follow in his footsteps.

But Hill’s real passion was skateboarding and in 1987 he went pro with the team from Powell-Peralta, a skateboard company. In a short time, he developed a reputation—one that he maintains today, decades later—as a standout skater. He was featured in seven Powell-Peralta skate videos, appeared in the skateboard documentary Ban This alongside Tony Hawk and even had a role as a skateboarding extra in the movie, Hook, starring Robin Williams.

Unfortunately, in 1993, a catastrophic knee injury ended his professional skating career.

“While I recovered, it seemed like a natural step to enroll in Pasadena City College’s two-year dental technology program and, after graduation, work for my stepfather’s laboratory,” says...