Gymnastics team parachute performance, c. 1963

[1963?]

This photograph shows the gymnastics exhibition team doing a parachute performance outside of Judd Gymnasia. A circle of gymnasts was made underneath the parachute, while one female and one male gymnast remained in the center of the circle. There are members of the team also holding up the parachute. The photograph is said to be taken around 1963. Invented in 1963 by legendary SC gymnastics Coach Frank A. Wolcott when the exhibition team became co-ed, “the Parachute Number” replaced the dangerous fifteen foot high ladder and parallel bars men’s pyramid building number in the exhibition team performances. The original forty-by-forty nylon parachute was homemade by women on the team, but was soon manufactured by the JayFro equipment company using Wolcott’s design. It was later modified to twelve feet and used throughout the country in physical education classes for elementary schools. In a few years there were a hundred thousand sold!