Carroll's first sponsors were H-Street skateboards, Concrete Jungle and FTC skate shop in San Francisco. When Concrete Jungle closed in 1988, Carroll became a founding member of the FTC skate shop team along with brother Gregg Carroll, Jovontae Turner, and Rick Ibaseta. H-Street was a skateboard company founded by Tony Magnusson and Mike Ternasky. Carroll was featured in video parts on H-Street's Shackle Me Not, Hokus Pokus and This Is Not The New H-Street Video In 1991, Carroll joined the prestigious Plan B team that Ternasky left H-Street to form. After the foreclosure of H-Street and the death of Plan B owner Mike Ternasky, Carroll started Girl Skateboards in 1993 with fellow Plan B rider Rick Howard. Carroll explained in 2013 that, at the time, Plan B was continually "retiring" team members and he experienced a decrease in stress in regard to his future following the decision to launch Girl. Following his recruitment to the Vans skate shoe team in 1994, Carroll was often seen in his early team ads skating in Half Cabs. In 1996, Carroll released a signature model, a technically more advanced shoe based on the Half Cab with a modern internal looped lacing system, but left the company in 1997 and moved to DC Shoes. In 1998, DC Shoes released a Mike Carroll signature model shoe called the "Cosmo". Not long afterwards Carroll left DC Shoes in 1999 along with Girl Skateboards team member and founder Rick Howard and they started the shoe company, Lakai. Carroll is globally known for his skating at the Embarcadero plaza, in San Francisco, U.S. As of 2012, the area continues to be a popular location for skateboarders all thanks to a local skate crew which contributed to the locations notoriety today. They called themselves "EMB". Carroll is said to have discovered the famous San Francisco skateboard landmark 3rd and Army.
Sponsors
As of July 2014, Carroll is sponsored by FTC, Fourstar Clothing, Girl, Lakai Limited Footwear, Diamond Supply Co., Royal Truck Company, Glassy Sunhaters, Grizzly Griptape and Bones Bearings.
Awards
Carroll won Thrasher magazine's Skater of the Year award in 1994. In December 2011, Carroll was selected as one of "The 30 Most Influential Skaters Of All Time" by Transworld Skateboarding. Carroll was number 16 in the list, following Jamie Thomas and preceding Guy Mariano. In the corresponding interview with Skin Phillips, uploaded in September 2012, Carroll listed Jason Lee and Julian Stranger as the two skateboarders who have been the most influential in his life.
