Passing the torch of a Humble Champion

Posted Wednesday, June 4, 2003

By Kyle Baker

The Rob Harris Foundation would like to announce an event and awards platform in memory of Rob Harris. The “Humble Champion” is no longer with us in body, yet Rob’s spirit is very much alive in the hearts and minds of those who knew him, and all of those he continues to inspire today. Next spring 2004, it is our goal to bring together the skydiving community in an event to remember Rob.

We will begin a bi-annual boogie in memory of Rob called The Rob Harris Boogie. We will converge for a three- four day event (depending on scheduling… a set date will be announced soon for either March or April 2004) involving friendship, music, and competitions in FreeFlying, Canopy Swooping and SkySurfing. We also plan on awarding the Rob Harris Humble Champion Award.

We are in the process of working with a team of glass artists in Eugene, Oregon, who are developing prototypes for a beautiful award in soft glass and dichroic. An image of Rob skysurfing at sunset, photographed by Joe Jennings, will be set inside a 70-pound glass base. An application called dichroic will be used to render the sunset; it will be brilliant, as dichroic’s properties allow it to transmit a number of color spectrums in deep hues.

A close friend of Rob, Daniel Lococo, is working with this team of glass artists giving creative direction. It is our goal to make this award a passing of the torch in skydiving. The award will be presented to a deserving individual who has had an essay submitted on his/her behalf by the skydiving community at large. If you wish to nominate someone, please do so to the Rob Harris Foundation website or the Rob Harris Boogie website. The person you submit should be made aware and if they wish to be considered must also register in the Rob Harris Boogie. The winner must compete in one of the sporting events, but need not win the event to receive the Humble Champion Award. It is based on merit and the individual’s character and what he/she does for our sport overall, not just one weekends performance.

During the year a panel of judges will review and select a winner. The 70-pound award will be showcased on the recipient’s home drop zone for a period of two years. It will then be brought back to the next Rob Harris Boogie in order to pass the torch on to the next recipient. Each winner of the award will be given a magnificent bronze and glass sculpture to keep which is to be created by Cherrie La Pointe of www.aplayofcolors.com from San Diego, CA. Cherrie will also be creating one of a kind awards, for the sporting events aspect of the boogie which will include competitions in SkySurfing, Freeflying, and Canopy Swooping. Brush up on your skills and take one of these awards home! Cherrie’s bronze and glass sculptures are beautiful!

The estimated cost of the Rob Harris Humble Champion Award is in the neighborhood of $3,000 dollars. The award that the recipient will keep is approximately $500. The first, second, and third place awards are in the range of $125- $500. We are commissioning awards that have a great deal of artistic merit and will be truly memorable. Because of this high cost, we are turning to the skydiving community to help raise money for these awards. We are setting up PayPal on the Rob Harris Boogie website http://www.www.robharrisboogie.com/ , where we will have Quicktime and Windows Media Player video clips of the awards being made by their respective artists next to an awards donation button. We will bring up commemorative t-shirts, pendants and posters as they are produced. Please contribute to the success of our endeavor of celebrating the memory of SkySurfer Rob Harris.

There will also be a sky board created by Tom Stanton of TS Skyboards, that will have a mural of Rob painted on it by PRES from Interobang Productions. This will be awarded to the 1st place finisher in the Sky Surf event. The following picture is an example of PRES’s artwork. PRES can be contacted through info@interobang.com

Please look to the website for weekly updates as to the development of the awards platform. Do not hesitate to contact the Foundation with any ideas you have that would make an event in memory of Rob a great experience.

We plan to have a three-day event next spring 2004 at Skydive Arizona in Eloy, Arizona. Including a video memorial to Rob, a time for friend’s of Rob to reflect and share stories, DJ’s spinning music throughout the night and hopefully an appearance by an L.A. band that was close with Rob. There will be other various fun activities and a number of different raffles, as well as the presentation of the Rob Harris Humble Champion Award and skysurfing, freeflying, and swooping competitions. The boogie will have a $10.00 registration fee for regular attendees and a $20.00 registration fee for competitors (The money generated from registration fees will be donated to the Rob Harris Foundation) which will allow you to jump all you want all boogie long for $16.00 a jump and the competitors will be allowed to jump for $15.50 the week prior to the event and all through the event. We will also have 16,000’ skyvan rides for $19.00.

Thank you for taking the time to read about what we are planning and we hope to hear from you. Any questions or comments can be directed to Kyle at skydivetheworld2002@yahoo.com

The following is a quote from aerial cinematographer Joe Jennings.

“An event in his memory I hope would be positive and inspirational. I think Rob's work inspired jumpers around the globe. He set a great example of style and finesse in his routines, and more importantly, he was a great example, to jumpers and non-jumpers, of what it takes to be a good
person. People often refer to him as a "humble champion", because when they met him, they felt no pretension, no arrogance. Rob was confident, comfortable in his own skin, and so he had close friends across a wide spectrum of sub-cultures. He could fly with any flock - the cool, the un-cool, whoever.

I think the recipient of the Rob Harris award should strive, not only To excel in their craft, but should consider the value of living in some ways like Rob did. Many of us live in a land of mirrors, concerned mostly with the reflections we see of our performances, what other people think of us. Rob wasn't stuck there, and so, even though his life was cut short, he lived and truly experienced life more fully than most of us will. Its nothing to do with imitating Rob, but more a reminder to us all to try to be more like he was, to "live while you live", as he put it simply.” (Joe Jennnings, Feb 2003)

The following is a quote from stuntman and ESPN X-Games Champion Troy Hartman.

“Having the privilege to know Rob personally is without a doubt one of the main reasons I am the person I am today. He was hands down my biggest idol, and I don't think there will ever be anybody else more influential to me in that way. To simply know of Rob and see his incredible achievements was inspiration in itself, but to have the opportunity to be in his presence enlightened many individuals with a deeper understanding of passion and the power of one's desires. He was the humble champion who I know would never have been beaten. “ (Troy Hartman April 2003)

SPONSORSHIP PACKAGES
After carefull consideration of our projected costs to bring this event together in the best way possible I have come up with a three, tier platform of sponsorship. After all costs have been covered (awards, judges, flyers, t-shirts, and everything else) we will donate the rest of the money to the Rob Harris Foundation, dedicated to keeping the memory of Rob Harris alive. We will make a concerted effort to show you where your money is going by keeping a detailed accounting and providing all of you with receipts from all of the different aspects being brought together to move this event along.

If you have any questions regarding the boogie or the donations…
Contact Kyle Baker at skydivetheworld2002@yahoo.com

Visit the Rob Harris Boogie web site

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