guest
December 1st, 1999, 05:35 AM
Wow...
A few months ago, in New Zealand, I saw a television programme about BASE jumping where mainly one man was interviewed. He was seamed to be a great guy with a great attitude and his words didn't sound like normal words but more like real wisdom about BASE. I don't really know why, but I thought that somewhere in the program they said this jumper was Todd Shoebotham.
For quite a while I have been really following everything I could get my hands on that was related to BASE, resulting in an ever bigger desire to get into the sport. One of the things I knew for sure was that I wanted to meet that man I had seen on television one day.
Yesterday a friend of mine brought me a videotape on which he had recorded part of a program about daredevils on the Discovery Channel. He told me there was also some BASE on it and they also showed "that guy on that other BASE tape you got".
Here came the surprise.
The great guy I had seen on the other tape, the one with all those wise words, ethics and spirit in him was not introduced as Todd. He was introduced as Frank Gambalie... And that was the moment that my mouth fell open and a shiver ran through my whole body.
This was FRANK! I will never be able to meet that man again... Nor will anyone. Nor will he be able to spread his BASE spirit around anymore...
And as the program continued more and more about Frank was shown, resulting in a final stills photo and a text scrolling over it, telling me what I already knew, and what the rest of the world should know; the tragic way this great man has died.
After the program I logged onto the internet and did a search on Frank's name, and so I did find a photo as well as an impressing resume of Frank (on the Team Obermeyer website www.obermeyer.com). So this was Frank...
Now I felt that strange feeling again that I had already felt when I read about Frank's death, only this time the feeling was a lot stronger because this time it felt like I knew him a little bit.
I don't really know how I am going to conclude all this, or even what I wanted to accomplish by writing this on the Board, but it feels good to at least let you people know what the name Frank Gambalie does to me.
Robert
A few months ago, in New Zealand, I saw a television programme about BASE jumping where mainly one man was interviewed. He was seamed to be a great guy with a great attitude and his words didn't sound like normal words but more like real wisdom about BASE. I don't really know why, but I thought that somewhere in the program they said this jumper was Todd Shoebotham.
For quite a while I have been really following everything I could get my hands on that was related to BASE, resulting in an ever bigger desire to get into the sport. One of the things I knew for sure was that I wanted to meet that man I had seen on television one day.
Yesterday a friend of mine brought me a videotape on which he had recorded part of a program about daredevils on the Discovery Channel. He told me there was also some BASE on it and they also showed "that guy on that other BASE tape you got".
Here came the surprise.
The great guy I had seen on the other tape, the one with all those wise words, ethics and spirit in him was not introduced as Todd. He was introduced as Frank Gambalie... And that was the moment that my mouth fell open and a shiver ran through my whole body.
This was FRANK! I will never be able to meet that man again... Nor will anyone. Nor will he be able to spread his BASE spirit around anymore...
And as the program continued more and more about Frank was shown, resulting in a final stills photo and a text scrolling over it, telling me what I already knew, and what the rest of the world should know; the tragic way this great man has died.
After the program I logged onto the internet and did a search on Frank's name, and so I did find a photo as well as an impressing resume of Frank (on the Team Obermeyer website www.obermeyer.com). So this was Frank...
Now I felt that strange feeling again that I had already felt when I read about Frank's death, only this time the feeling was a lot stronger because this time it felt like I knew him a little bit.
I don't really know how I am going to conclude all this, or even what I wanted to accomplish by writing this on the Board, but it feels good to at least let you people know what the name Frank Gambalie does to me.
Robert