Featherston: Blue Devils Dive On The Drop Zone

DURHAM, N.C. ? Joe Alleva always wanted to try skydiving.

But when Duke's 54-year-old Director of Athletics stood in the open doorway of a twin-engine U.S. Army transport and saw the ground more than 12,000 feet below, he had a moment of doubt.

“When you are standing at the edge of the door on the plane, that's the worst part,” Alleva said. “Once you get going, there's no time to think.”

Duke's veteran Director of Athletics made his first jump Wednesday as part of a fund-raising effort for the Duke Children's Hospital. A total of 10 members of the Duke community ? five students and five faculty/administrators ? made tandem jumps with the U.S. Army's Golden Knights.

The all-day event, titled “Blue Devils Dive on the Jump Zone”, was the brainchild of Lt. Colonel Mark Tribus, a West Point graduate who now heads Duke's Army ROTC program.

“I was in a faculty meeting and we were having a discussion about student-faculty interactions and trying to find opportunities for that kind of event,” he said. “I knew there was some tremendous resource down at Fort Bragg ? the U.S. Army's Golden Knights. I surfaced the idea of doing a student-faculty kind of fun team jump.

“Dean George McClendon [who also jumped Wednesday] supported my initiative. We sent out invitations through the Dean's office and through the athletic office and we identified some students that represented the university well. Then we identified faculty ? a diverse cross section of academics, some sports and the admissions office. And we put our teams together ? with a student and a faculty member each. We ended up with a lot more requests than slots.”

The athletics department was represented by Alleva and Jack Winters, the Director of the Iron Dukes, and by two student-athletes ? junior Jessica Adam of the women's lacrosse team, and senior Chris Loftus, of the men's lacrosse team.

Among the other jumpers was Paul Slattery, the president of Duke's Student Government, and Terry Sanford Jr., the son of the North Carolina governor and senator, who also served from 1969-85 as Duke's president. Interestingly, the elder Sanford served in the 82nd Airborne in World War II and made a number of combat drops. It was the first jump for the younger Sanford.

It was also the first jump for Winters, who said that skydiving had never been his dream.

“I can't say I ever said I wanted to do that,” he said. “But how can it get any better than going with the Army Golden Knights.”

The Golden Knights ? more properly known as the U.S. Army Parachute teams ? have been making tandem drops with civilians for several years. Former President George W.B. Bush and golf star Tiger Woods are two former participants in the program.

However, Wednesday's event was unique in one regard.

“This is the first time the Golden Knights have ever jumped with university students,” Lt. Colonel Tribus said, explaining that it required special permission from the Army's high command. “So this is groundbreaking. This is what we should see happening at Duke ? some great student-faculty interaction.”

The 10 participants gathered at the Duke Center for Living at 8 a.m. Wednesday morning, where they received a 45-minute training session for the jump. Each civilian jumper was to be harnessed to an experienced Army jumper and two would ride down together.

The jumpers leapt from 12,500 feet and were in free fall at speeds up to 120-feet per second for more than a minute before the chutes deployed at approximately 4,500 feet. It took another two or three minutes to reach the ground. On this occasion, the target was the center of the running track at the Duke Center for Living.

The first jumper down was solo, however.

Lt. Colonel Anthony Dill, the commander of the Golden Knights, jumped first to test the wind conditions. When he landed, he spoke briefly to the audience of several dozen spectators who had gathered to watch the jumps.

“This is not a carnival ride,” he said. “This is a demonstration of the capability of elite troops.”

It was also a fund-raising event as Duke's Army ROTC cadets solicited donations for Duke's Children's Hospital.

“The initiative was designed to create a great student-faculty event that was good clean fun and show the university that the students and faculty can get together and have a good time together,” Lt. Colonel Tribus said. “[Fund-raising] was something we had thought about doing, but we weren't sure how until somebody mentioned the idea of donating to Duke's Children's Hospital. Our goal became $6,000. The fund-raising piece is really a cadet-led effort.”

The event went smoothly in near-perfect conditions ? a cloudless sky and light breezes.

“That was awesome ... that was incredible ... it was great,” Alleva said moments after landing.

He did mention one small problem on the way down.

“My guy said we caught a wind gust and we had to spin to get down,” he said.

Alleva was greeted on the ground by family members and friends. Adam, who made the jump at the same time, was greeted by several of her lacrosse teammates, plus the great majority of the men's lacrosse team, which had also come out to support Loftus.

Lt. Colonel Tribus suggested that the interest in the program was so high that it's likely that Duke will have a similar event in the near future.