Jack Halpern wrote:
>I think Alberto got it just right. I was the first to think of it, and Daniel
>was the first to actually do it. But if I’m not mistaken, I did learn how to do
>the same day. So let “history” credit us both.
Let history credit Daniel, who used it in performance at the 1982
National Unicycle Meet. Is this where the two of you learned this mount?
I don't know of any time before this when the two of you were in the
same place. Bill Karbo and others also picked up the kick-up mount by
the end of that weekend. Later that year, I went to Germany and met
Peter Rosendahl (who later became the first IUF Men's Individual
Freestyle World Champion). He learned the kick-up from me, and that
Christmas, had photo cards made, showing him doing a kick-up, while
juggling torches, in the Sweden snow! Talk about a great unicycling
skill flashing its way around the world!
>Speaking of history, wouldn’t it be great if we could start an archive
>recording the stories of the genesis of major unicycling skills
Yes, but this raises issues such as:
-
who thought of it first
-
who did it first
-
who did it in front of people first
-
who performed it in a show or competition (widely seen) first
Who, of the above people, gets the credit? For the kick-up, I would credit Jack with invention, and Daniel with the first execution, and performance, of the tr-- uh, skill. In my book, Daniel Dumeng gets credit for the kick-up. However, the story may be different for different skills, such as the 450 to hopping on wheel. Javier Ruiz claims to have executed this skill first (having done so within the past year), yet it is listed in the IUF Standard Skills List from 1988, which is perhaps where he got the motivation to work on it in the first place. The trick was already invented, but had not yet been done, at the time of writing.
>I think that John Jenack, who has his father’s extensive records, could
>probably contribute there. I wonder if he is email accessible…
JeanPaul (John) Jenack is not yet email accessible. Also, his father’s records
are not readily accessible, and are not a likely source of information in the
near future.
John Foss, President International Unicycling Federation unifoss@cerfnet.com