Pioneers of Sport Parachuting Reunion

[DSE 3]

this past weekend, Skydive Utah and Salt Lake City hosted the reunion of the Pioneers of Sport Skydiving.
So many folks came out, it was an incredible experience at a personal level, and a terrific story for our industry.
There were world champions from 1949 to 1968 present at the event, with some sweet presentations from Ted Strong, Jack Guthrie, Howard White, and a few others. One of the special guests (who made his first skydive as a freefall jumper this last Friday) was former Senator Jake Garn, who is also the only astronaut who was in the Senate before going into space. He flew on Discovery. Senator Garn came to our DZ unnannounced with his entire family and did his first freefall skydive, and first jumps since training as a Naval Aviator back in 1954. Senator Garn was so impressed by the Pioneers, he came to the dinner at a last moment invitation, and hung out listening to Ted Strong, Bullit Bob, Loy Brydon, Bill McCarthy, and others who had some great stories, including the history of the development of the tandem system.
Lotsa photos to sort through, as this was a super group to be with.
We put together a quick video of their jump. Many of those on the jump have not jumped in 2 years, a couple hadn't jumpd in more than 5 years.
From the camera perspective, I was a little surprised to see how low these folks went, but everyone landed safely, most everyone landed on their feet. I was in the saddle by 2100, and I was by far the highest puller.
It was pretty obvious that Ted Strong has some serious accuracy chops, based on how he landed and where he landed. Impressive group of people. I learned more about the history of this sport in one night than I could have imagined. Some super stories.
Howard White also has some rare Carl Boenish footage he shared, along with many, many old photos. Many of the early pioneers are no longer jumping, but some are. Jim Arender looks about the same today as he does in the World Meet photos from the late 50's and early 60's (he's also the guy in the Camel ads on the back of Life Magazine back in 1963). super guy, fun to talk with, as was everyone there.
Many thanks to Howard White, Linda Miller, and the others that made this event happen, and for allowing me the opportunity to be a small part of it.

[RkyMtnHigh 0]

That is so AWESOME!

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[diablopilot 2]

I'm rather envious of your being able to attend, I'd have liked that!

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You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

[billeisele 122]

these folks paved the way for what we have today - thanks

Give one city to the thugs so they can all live together. I vote for Chicago where they have strict gun laws.

[howardwhite 4]

Lots of fun, and the scenery from 13 grand looking at the lake and the mountains was in itself worth it, aside from the jump. And we were on local TV.
Like DSE, I have zillions of pictures and we'll figure out where to put them. One is a setup for Parachutist, with Jake Garn, DZO Jack Guthrie, DSE and me, with a copy of the magazine. And I sat in Jake Garn's lap on his tandem load.
Here's Jim Arender's Camel ad. He was also on a huge billboard in Times Square, with Camel smoke blowing from his mouth. He was also the color commentator for national TV coverage (Wide World of Sports, etc.) back when that happened in the sixties.
(There will probably be other posts in History and Trivia.)

HW

[Douggarr 6]

Sorry I missed this one -- glad to see Ted Strong and Howard White made it. The old farts still live -- most of us, anyway.

SCR-442, SCS-202, CCR-870, SOS-1353

[cosmo22 0]

Who is Howard White?Never heard of him.

[DSE 3]

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?username=howardwhite;

Visit the History and Trivia forum. You can't miss him. He's likely forgotten more about skydiving history than most folks will ever know.

[howardwhite 4]

Quote

Who is Howard White?Never heard of him.

Me neither...

HW (who never heard of you, either)