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 ST. PETERSBURG — As delighted spectators watched on the beach, a man buckled into a harness and kite and flew 350 feet above St. Pete Beach.
Hal Elgin couldn't see them, however. By the time he was in the air he was stone cold unconscious.
Doctors would later tell him he had been flying with a broken neck, an injury sustained from a fall earlier the same day.
When his wife turned the boat, he failed to adjust and plummeted into the Gulf of Mexico.
A priest at Palms of Pasadena Hospital gave last rites. The hospital told Mr. Elgin's family that he had died.
That was 35 years ago. Since then, Mr. Elgin, the Tampa Bay area's pioneer of trick water skiing, hang gliding and parasailing, has been injured many more times and gotten back up.
On Sunday, Mr. Elgin , a St. Petersburg firefighter and daredevil, died for the second and final time. He was 75. His ripples of influence have spread as far as Europe and Japan.
"Basically anyone within a 150-mile radius of St. Petersburg who has skied professionally at Cypress Gardens, Sea World Orlando or any of the professional ski shows in the country at one time or another have learned from or skied with Hal in ski shows," said Gary Stout, a former top-tier water skier in California and Florida.
His legendary exploits include skiing 1,600 miles with nearly a dozen other skiers from St. Petersburg to the 1964 New York World's Fair. The St. Petersburg World's Fair Water Ski Team cut across the Cross Florida Barge Canal and up the coast. Skiers went over ocean swells higher than the boat, through fields of jellyfish and around debris that included floating logs.
After moving from Ohio in 1953, Mr. Elgin taught himself to ski. Following a stint in the Air Force, he opened a ski school in St. Pete Beach to help get through St. Petersburg Junior College. He founded an amateur team, the Aquamaniacs, and a business, Hal Elgin Holiday Water Sports. |
NEWBERRY SPRINGS • In a barren corner of the High Desert, near the end of a lonely desert dirt road, a water sports oasis is home to the nation’s leading water skiing trainer.
Horton: I want to start out this interview by commending you for your weekly blog. I think that in years past there has been a lack of transparency at USA-WS.