Tom Winter, 68-year-old skateboarding professor goes viral

The image of Tom Winter, a 68-year-old University of Nebraska classics professor, riding on a skateboard with a briefcase in his hand has gone viral online after it was posted to Reddit.

The picture of the professor skateboarding on campus is making waves with many blogs and news sites writing stories about him. The professor heard of Reddit for the first time when his students told him that his picture had gone viral on the site. He looked up Reddit himself and found to his surprise that he had become an Internet star. But Winter confessed to being confused by much of the "contemporary slang" on Internet. Winter's reputation got a boost on Friday when BuzzFeed ranked him first on the list of The 30 Best Teachers of All Time. Winter, speaking to Mashable, said: “You can roll, but you can’t hide.” Winter says there is nothing remarkable about a 68-year-old professor skateboarding. He loves skateboarding on campus. He says it is good for his aging joints. He said: “Walking sucks, so I get there on my wheels. I am 19 except [my] joints are all of 68. Walking is of discomfort. Once I get the board going, I can keep my balance and the joints are happy.”

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Tom Winter, skateboarding professor

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He once broke a rib attempting to wheelie on the board. Mashable asked the professor what he thought about the meme culture. But Winter was confused about the question. He thought the interviewer was talking about genetic "memes" discussed in Richard Dawkins' book "The Selfish Gene."