Seminal skater Jay Adams–a member of the Dogtown crew that revolutionized the moribund sport in the 1970s–is a free man again, the New York Times reports, having been released to a Garden Grove halfway house “where he will serve the final months of a four-year sentence for his role in a major drug shipment scheme.”

“Although he has enjoyed increased freedom, his schedule and movements remain strictly supervised.”

Uh, yikes? Depends–and if the whole thing sounds like a Hollywood movie, well, it has been twice. Remember 2001’s excellent documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys? Or 2005’s Lords of Dogtown? Same crew. Same story. In the latter, Emile Hirsch played a young Adams.

According to the Times, the hard-charging skater–who grew up in “a seedy section of Santa Monica and Venice known as Dogtown” is now, at 47, a changed man.

“Adams, whose fearsome appearance belies a soft-spoken demeanor, said his faith in God and the routine of work would help him remain drug free.”

“ ‘My ideal future would be to be with my wife and family and to be somewhere where I’m helping young kids not make the mistakes I’ve made,’ ” he told the Times.

The newspaper doesn’t skimp on his past, pointing out that Adams’ troubles began a generation ago.

“While hanging out in Hollywood after a concert, he taunted a gay couple, which led to a fight,” the newspaper reports. “Adams said that he fled, but that a crowd joined in and stomped one of the men to death.” As a result, Adams was convicted of felony assault.

“He spent the next two decades in and out of prison as he battled drug addiction and his own demons,” Times reporter Matt Higgins writes.

Now he’s out–sort of–Adams of course wants to attend the X Games, but doesn’t know if they’ll let him.

“We’ve got to make sure he gets on the bus and gets to work on time,” his agent, Peter Townend, told the newspaper. “If he gets too much too soon, he’ll go off the tracks again.”

Wow. That’s sad, on a variety of levels. Regardless of whether he can attend, Adams ought to get an engraved invitation to the X Games and a Town Car to deliver him. He invented half of this shit. With skating as big and self-referential as it is, you’d think they’d honor a newly re-risen hero.

We’ll see.

Tags: California, Dogtown, Dogtown and Z-Boys, garden grove, hollywood, Jay Adams, Long Beach, lords of dogtown, Matt Higgins, new york times, Peter Townend, Santa Monica, Southern California, The District Weekly, Theo Douglas, Venice, X Games