Man That Dove 173 Feet Into A Lake Left People Breathless After Hitting The Water
For most people, a quick jump off a backyard diving board is about as thrilling as swimming gets, but not for Rick Charls. The elite diver wanted to take his extraordinary talent to new heights — 172 feet, to be exact, a world diving record. Whether he would break the record or break his back, he wasn't sure — evidence certainly suggested the latter. What he did know, however, was that whatever happened when he made his attempt would surely leave onlookers in awe.
A Storied Past
Rick Charls has been a health teacher for over 25 years. He raised his son as a single parent, and he is an avid golfer. Understandably, the people who pass him in the street have no idea about his incredible past.
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Unlikely To Be Matched
See, almost forty years ago, Charls attempted a monumental, world-record-breaking feat that was unlikely to be matched — ever. The attempt, he knew, would easily end life as he knew it, or lead to triumph.
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Best Shape Of His Life
In 1982, before his record-breaking attempt, Charls described being in the best shape of his life. In a recent interview on the podcast Innovator Diaries, he explained he was a 6-foot-tall recent college graduate with 4 percent body fat. He had been on Ohio State's diving team.
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Competitive Edge
He loved the sport so much that he continued to dive after college. He often participated in diving shows and contests hosted by theme parks like Marineland and SeaWorld in California. At one competition, he was surprised by his peers.
Not Quite As Good
Most of them were much older than him and seemed to be in sub-par physical form. However, they were completing some very impressive dives and traveling the world with a good income. Charls wanted this, too.
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Shooting For The Record
So, he made a big decision: He wanted to hold the world record for the highest dive. This would require the then-young athlete to dive from a height of 172 feet into a pool below him. Certainly not your average pool day.
Practice Not Possible
Training for this epic attempt proved to be very difficult. You can't really practice this jump because of the massive toll it takes on your body, so he completed 100-foot dives in preparation for the big one.
It's All Mental
And Charls was surprised to find his physical preparation actually paled in comparison to the mental element he was up against. To avoid grave injury or even death, he had to remain calm.
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Subliminal Thoughts
His methods involved listening to an audiotape laden with subliminal messaging. The messages were simple things like, "you will remain calm" and "you will be safe." The night before the dive, he crept up to the top of the ladder he would be diving from.
Atmospheric Heights
He described his nervousness as he peered down from what seemed like the surface of the moon to the pool below him. Its size seemed dwarfed from his elevated vantage point. Then, the sun rose on the morning of his dive.
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No Nerves
But once the day came, Charls wasn't nervous at all. He was ready and focused to complete the mission he set out to accomplish. Instead of sweaty palms, a determined grip pulled him toward the top of the 172-foot ladder.
The Big Moment
In perfect form, he dove from the tiny platform in the sky. He completed his rotations and landed at incredible speed, splashing into the water below him. However, the crowd couldn't explode into cheers just yet.
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Previous Failed Attempts
Many of the divers before him who attempted this record had to be rescued from the water after suffering a broken back or leg upon landing. Charls had yet to resurface after he hit the pool like a meteor crashing into Earth.
Record: Shattered
Finally, he emerged triumphantly from the depths of the pool. He swam to the edge and stood tall, grinning from ear to ear. He was thrilled that he beat the record and knew the future ahead was bright. However, his path was not as he expected.
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Opportunities Arise
After enjoying congratulations from many of the divers he idolized, he was offered a chance to beat another record overseas. He took the opportunity and began to train. He soon realized that something was off. He wasn't the same as he was before.
'Like Getting Hit By A Train'
For his own mental and physical health, he decided to not go forward with pushing the boundaries of the human body. He likened the effects of diving from such a dizzying height to getting hit by a train.
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Pursuing Another Goal
But his life took another noble path when he pursued teaching. This was another goal he worked hard to accomplish, and soon he was working in the inner city of Los Angeles as a single father with a two-year-old son.
Star Teacher
Because he wanted a better life for his son, he devoted his time to securing a job interview at a school in a better neighborhood. He aced the interview before he even secured his proper teaching credentials. And 28 years later, he still loves his job.
Getting Recognized
Although his current position lacks the adrenaline rush of diving from over a hundred feet in the air, he cites the students as a wonderful influence on him. When the video of his dive resurfaced on social media, he was excited to obtain recognition from his students.
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Coming Full Circle
Rick Charls still holds the record for the highest dive so many years later, but more than that, he has lived a life that he's proud of. His sports career means everything to him, but for other athletes, their success at their sport can be both a blessing and a curse. The more success you achieve in your sport, the more vocal fans get - going so far as to critique your every move. For one young track and field star, she would learn just how much her success would cost her.
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Family of Athletes
Growing up in family of athletes, Allison seemed primed to follow in her brother's footsteps and become a nationally ranked competitive gymnast. But instead of swinging from bars, the talent young athlete chose instead to hop over them.
Vaulting Champ
Pole vaulting became Allison's passion from the get go, and by the time she was 15, she was already breaking records. With a vault height of 12 feet 6 inches, she set the national record and walked away with the U.S. title in 2004.
Records Smashed
Despite breaking her leg in high school, Allison continued on her record-setting pace, setting a new freshman record with a vault of 12 feet 7 3/4 inches. She then followed up with a new sophomore record, vaulting an impressive 13 feet 5 3/4 inches.
National Star
Her senior year saw her become the second-ranked vaulter in the nation, and her vault of 13 feet 6 3/4 inches became her new personal best. Finishing eighth at the national junior championships that year, Allison seemed poised to become one of the country's next great young athletes.
A Seemingly Harmless Photo
But 2007 brought with it a new set of challenges for the 17-year-old, and it all began with this innocent picture. The journalist who snapped it thought nothing when he posted it online, though no sooner did he click "upload" that it found its way onto With Leather.
Online Misogynists
A male-oriented site known for objectifying female athletes, With Leather was quick to flip the narrative about Allison from her on-field performance to her good looks. Under the headline "Pole Vaulting Is Sexy, Barely Legal," Allison's photo immediately attracted attention from the site's readers.
Legal Threats
Unhappy with the fetishization of his photo, the original photographer threatened to sue With Leather's founder Matt Ufford unless he removed it. By this point, however, it was already too late: the image had gone viral.
Toxic Fans
Fan groups dedicated to the young pole vaulter began popping up left and right, each one attracting thousands of followers. One fan even started a tribute site featuring dozens of images of Allison at her competitions.
Eye of the Storm
As her newfound fame continued to grow, Allison and her family reasoned that the internet's infatuation would eventually wane. Surely another online craze would come along and allow Allison to return to a normal life.
A Growing Issue
But as weeks passed, Allison's celebrity only grew larger, with her name generating over a million online search results. Soon, publications like The Washington Post, The New York Times, and even Germany's Der Spiegel began penning comment pieces on the teenager's unwanted fame.
A Media Expert
Allison tried to manage the situation as best she could, though when the media attention became too much to handle, she decided to hire a consultant. Together, the two devised a plan to shift the internet's focus off her appearance and back onto what really mattered: her talent.
Showing Off
Taking to YouTube, Allison shared a video of herself giving an interview on pole vaulting technique; within days, it was viewed over 100,000 times. Unfortunately, the video did little to stifle the online community's obsession, as most of the comments remained geared toward Allison's looks.
Stokke's Struggles
The situation began taking a psychological toll on Allison: in the words of Der Spiegel, the 17-year-old had become a "sex symbol against her will." She felt men ogling her everywhere she went, and when closing doors, she now made sure to always lock them behind her.
"Really Demeaning"
"Even if none of it is illegal, it just all feels really demeaning," she told The Washington Post. "I worked so hard for pole vaulting and all this other stuff, and it’s almost like that doesn’t matter. Nobody sees that. Nobody really sees me."
College Recruitment
Fortunately, the recruiters at the University of California, Berkley did see Allison and offered her an athletic scholarship. Flanked by photographers even here, Allison was able to tune out the distractions of her persisting fame and broke the freshman record with a vault of 13 feet 5 3/4 inches.
Falling Short
Despite this promising start, Allison's performance on the field declined as her college career took on more of an academic focus. Even after earning All-American status her senior year, she failed to qualify for the NCAA Championships and was not highly ranked amongst other college-level athletes.
Olympic Hopeful
But that didn't stop Allison from making a run at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. The 23-year-old set a new personal best with 14 feet 3 1/2 inches as she trained for the games, though after failing to clear the opening height at the qualifiers, her Olympic dreams came to an abrupt end.
Her Continued Fight
Still, Allison continued competing regularly in national-level meetings, placing eighth in the Chula Vista OTC High Performance Meet in 2016 and third at the 2017 Austin Longhorn Invitational. And ironically enough, Allison has now come to embrace the attention that so troubled her during her teenage years.
Finding Love
In 2018, Allison announced her engagement to pro golfer Rickie Fowler, whose enormous fan base quickly took to the brown-haired beauty. Together, the couple regularly provides updates on their high-performance lifestyle to an audience of over two million shared followers.
A Proud Woman
Since then, Allison has worked as a fitness model for brands like Nike, Athleta, and Uniqlo, showing off her athletic prowess and physical appearance in tandem. This time around, however, she's not about to be objectified by men hiding behind computers — this time, she's calling the shots.
Yet Allison's situation isn't totally unique, as a handful of other high school athletes have had their own careers derailed by something completely out of their control. Erin Cox of North Andover, Massachusetts had a bright future ahead of her, but then one fateful night in 2013 threatened everything she'd worked for.
Word spread throughout North Andover High School about a huge party going down that weekend. It was going to be epic: there would be no parents, no rules. Erin decided right away that she wasn't going. She had to have her priorities in check.
After all, it was right in the middle of volleyball season! As the captain, Erin needed to keep her wits about her. Plus, if the party turned out as wild as everyone said, some serious trouble could arise.
Instead, Erin spent a quiet night at home, but her peace of mind vanished when her phone started blowing up. The volleyball star got a text from a friend who was at the big party. She needed Erin's help — badly.
Without telling her parents, Erin sped over and saw that the party indeed lived up to the hype. Teenagers packed the house, and there was alcohol everywhere. But where was the friend who called her?
Erin finally located her friend, but she was in rough shape. She couldn't even work up the strength to get in Erin's car and ride home, so Erin had to wait for her to recover. Erin nervously looked around as the party grew rowdier and more out of control.
The good mood evaporated when the whine of police sirens approached. A number of partygoers fled, but Erin couldn't leave her friend alone. She gulped as officers entered the house and scoped out the empty cans that littered the floor.
Having busted their fair share of parties, the police knew underage drinkers when they saw them. They arrested eight North Andover students, though Erin was not among them. However, they weren't done with her yet...
Other students told police that Erin — the last person anyone expected to get in trouble — had in fact shown up at the party. It was bad enough when authorities informed her she would receive a court summons. Then, the school punished her too.
North Andover High School didn't just suspend Erin. They also went after her volleyball credentials, banning her for the next five games and stripping away her captaincy. Suddenly, everything she worked for was gone.
The decision broke the heart of Erin's mom, Eleanor. She felt the athletic suspension was excessive and unfair — wasn't her daughter simply trying to help a friend in need? Eleanor opened up the phone book to find a good lawyer.
Eleanor got in touch with experienced attorney Wendy Murphy, who took on Erin's case. Wendy said that she wanted to do more than just challenge the school's decision with a lawsuit; she wanted to take Erin's story public.
After all, the school went far beyond giving Erin a slap on the wrist. As an aspiring college volleyball player, every game counted toward making her dream come true. Aside from that, had she really done anything wrong?
Wendy honed in on North Andover superintendent Kevin Hutchinson's judgment. She characterized his stance on underage drinking as a "zero tolerance" policy. In addition to the rule itself being unfair, no one actually said Erin consumed alcohol at the party.
Police officer Brian Neeley chimed in to support Erin's defense. He said she "was polite, articulate, steady on her feet, and very remorseful for her decision to go into the residence but was only helping a friend out that had called her for a ride."
Furthermore, Wendy argued Erin's discipline violated Title IX guidelines, which banned gender discrimination in educational settings. Specifically, male athletes in Erin's class broke similar rules, and their punishments were nowhere near as severe.
Wendy implored North Andover to reconsider their policies, as Erin only showed up at the party to come to her friend's aid. To Wendy, it seemed clear that Erin's name needed to be cleared.
After all, did the school really want to encourage their students to drive drunk rather than break the rules? By doing this to Erin, the administration was setting a dangerous precedent.
All eyes turned to Judge Kevin Gaffney. The resulting decision shocked everyone. Gaffney ended up tossing out the entire case. Erin would simply have to wait out her suspension and hope for the best when it came time for college recruitment.
Weeks later, Erin finally made her grand return to the court. She felt stunned when a huge wave of applause greeted her. Through it all, the North Andover community stuck by her side. Erin only hoped the controversy wouldn't hurt her volleyball career.
Erin rediscovered her groove almost immediately. As a matter of fact, she stood out the rest of the season and accomplished her number one goal: the next year, she earned a spot on the Southern New Hampshire University team! No judge could take that away from her.
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