Background
He was born in Hanover, New Hampshire, and raised in Hartland, Vermont before moving with his parents to Norwich, Vermont.
- Photos
- Works
- Photos
- Works
Kevin Pearce
Edit ProfileCareer
He competed professionally from 2007 before an accident in 2009 that left him with traumatic brain injury. He now lives in Carlsbad, California. He was also the first man to earn two Air & Style rings in one season, winning the Nokia Air & Style in Munich in 2007 and the Billabong Air & Style in Innsbruck in 2008.
He was also the first athlete in X Games history to compete in three medal events in one day.
Frends is a group of riders who turned their initial friendship into a formal alliance in 2007 to move the sport away from its recent competitive and business focus and return the sport to its grassroots, collegial beginnings. On December 31, 2009, Pearce was critically injured during training in Park City, Utah.
He struck his head above the left eye halfway down the pipe during a half-pipe training run trying a maneuver called a cab double cork. He was flown to the University of Utah Medical Center in Salt Lake City.
On January 26, 2010, Pearce was transferred out of critical care and in early February was moved to Craig Hospital in Denver, Colorado, a rehabilitation center that specializes in traumatic brain injuries.
By June, Pearce was back with his family in Vermont. In an August 23, 2010 interview, Pearce said he was lucky to recover and "..excited to get back onto a snowboard." However, in a December 2011 interview with National Broadcasting Company, he said he will not compete again but he did get back on a snowboard later that year. The 2013 documentary The Crash Reel by Lucy Walker documents Pearce"s preparations for the 2010 Winter Olympics games, the 2009 injury, and his subsequent rehabilitation.
Achievements
Membership
Pearce is a member of the Frends Crew (spelled without the "i" to emphasize the collective nature of the group) made up of snowboarders Mason Aguirre, Danny Davis, Scotty Lago, Keir Dillon, Mikkel Bang, Jack Mitrani and Luke Mitrani.
