2B - October 31, 2011
The Michigan Daily- michigandaily.com
The legend of the Rocketman
ric Scott gripped the
handles on his jet pack,
waiting in the southeast
corner of the concourse, just out-
side Michigan Stadium's bowl.
Scott had never stepped foot
inside the Big House. His friend
had to tell him that the stadium
was even called the Big House.
But he had
the famous
Michigan
wings on his,
helmet and a
huge block 'M'
on his back.
Growing up
on a small TIM
ranch in Hel- ROHAN
ena, Mont.,
Scott didn't
have time
to watch football. There wasn't
enough time to watch TV, par-
ticularly on the weekends.
He'd wake up, feed the horses,
clean the chicken coops - maybe
kill a chicken, if his family needed
him to. In the fall, Scott and his.
four siblings were busy preparing
for the cold winter months. As he
put it, "TV was a privilege."
"There weren't a lot of pro
sports in Montana," he said. "And
for college, I probably would've
rooted for the Montana State Uni-
versity Bobcats. But they always
kind of sucked anyways. ... It
wasn't anything like Michigan."
Now, he was about to surprise
the 100,000-plus people seated
inside. They'd only remember
Rocketman for the 25 seconds he
spent streaking through the air,
inviting the usual did-you-see-
that or jet-packs-are-so-freaking-
cool comments. Always a very
calculated man, Scott wasn't
nervous for this flight. Nearly 19
years of flying his jet pack had
prepared him. It didn't bother
him that he didn't havea "prayer-
shute." He never had one.
"I just have to remember plan
B, which is don't fuck up plan A,"
Scott said.
He didn't have a planB when
he made a mistake during his
training in 1993. During a flight,,
he was about 40 feet in the air
when he made a critical mistake,
pushing the jet pack too hard.
It started shooting down - 60
miles per hour, righttowards
the ground. Luckily, he thought
enough to turn the jet pack off a
few feet from the ground. Still,
his shoulder had tobe recre-
ated. His knee was busted up.
Six months after the accident, he
went back and found pieces of
himself in the asphalt. It takes a
certain type of person to fly a jet
pack. Scott was always that type
of person.
"I grew up out in the country,
so there wasn't a lot for entertain-
ment, soI was always blowing
something up," Scott said. "Just
doingsomething stupid. Riding
my dirt bike and pulling off some
crazy stuff.... That's the story of
my life, I guess."
After high school, he joined the
Air Force, where he was a Para-
rescue special operations team
member for four years. His job
was simple, save "anybody from
anywhere in the world."
Oceans, valleys, cliffs. Behind
enemy lines. Anywhere. If some-
one needed a ride home, Scott
and his team provided it. Four
years later, he was starting his
family and found a less intense
job in construction. But by 1990,
a friend helped him get into show
business. There was a market for
people who worked in the mili-
tary because they made for great
stunt doubles. That same friend
introduced Scott to Kinnie Gib-
son, who was working at the time
as Chuck Norris's stunt double on
"Walker Texas Ranger." Gibson
was also one of the few people
who knew how to fly a jet pack.
And he was the first person in the
world to make a business out of it.
Gibson got Scott a part on Walker
Texas Ranger, where Scott usu-
ally played Bad Guy No. 1, 2 or 3.
"(I'm) usually always getting
my butt kicked," Scott said.
"I got to beat (Norris) up once.
But that was out of like 60 epi-
sodes I was in, in eight years."
In his spare time, Gibson did
promotional work with his jet
pack. He had asked Scott's mutu-
al friend if he'd be interested in
filling in when Gibson was too
busy. But the friend wasn't the
right kind of person. So Gibson
asked Scott. Scott's first impres-
sion of the jet pack was that the
pilots always made it look so easy.
"People call them jet packs -
Michigan wins
eighth Big Ten
championship
they're rocket packs, if you will,"
Scott said. "In the military, we
called them rocket belts."
Scott had never flown one
before Gibson taught him every-
thing he needed to know in a
three-month span in 1993. Gibson
had taught himself how to fly it
after he found it covered in dust
in a Bell Technologies lab in 1981.
Nelson Tyler, the inventor of the
jet pack, had built it, but even he
didn't fully know how to control
it.
"There's nothing easy about
it," said Scott, who's now fully
employed by Gibson's "Rocket-
man" business. "It's a total finesse
thing, and you have to learn not
to be too excited, too anxious.
"You find your mind racing
harder and faster than anything
you've ever experienced in your
life. If you've ever done a sport,
this thing is..."
His voice trailed.
"You know, I don't like saying
it, but if you're riding a bicycle
and fall off, it's not like falling out
of the sky. ... Some people work
well under pressure."
Scott was a pro by the time
Smirnoff called in 2004, look-
ing for a pilot to help promote its
new bottle label. In London, Scott
flew 152 feet in the air - a Guin-
ness World Record - getting high
enough to land on a 10-foot-by-10-
foot platform atop a castle turret.
In 2007, he set the speed record
when he reached 80 miles per
hour. Then, in 2009, he met a
"personal challenge," when he
crossed a 1,000-foot deep gorge
- the same chasm the 1,500-foot
Royal Gorge Bridge spans in Colo-
rado.
Standing outside Michigan
Stadium, Scott felt comfortable
with the 85-pound machine on
his back. Thirty pounds of force
were about to be exerted on his
hands. Scott compared the feeling
to standing on top of a ball, trying
to balance yourself, with two fire
hoses turned on. But there was no
reason to panic.
The PA announcer boomed,
"Presenting today's Homecom-
ing 2011 game ball, ROCKET-
MAN."
Scott shot straight up into the
air, appearing just above the mas-
sive luxury suites in the south-
east corner. The stadium erupted,
but Scott couldn't hear a thing.
Up that high, above the stadium,
Scott looked out and enjoyed his
view of Ann Arbor. Then he head-
ed towards the student section -
and fast. Everyone in the stadium
who was first witnessing Rocket-
man didn't know he was in con-
trol. But Scott smoothly turned
and glided towards the block 'M'
at the SO-yard line.
"When you land, there's all that
noise (from the jet pack), then
when it shuts off there's silence,"
Scott said.
For every one of his 15 to 30
flights he takes each year, it's
always the same.
"Then you hear the crowd
screaming for me," he continued.
"It one-upped every show that
I've done before. It just keeps get-
ting better every time. It was (my)
pleasure."
No, Mr. Rocketman. Thank
you.
-Rohan can be reached
at trohanlumich.edu
By DANIEL FELDMAN
For the Daily
The No. 7 Michigan field
hockey team clinched the out-
right Big Ten regular seasontitle
with a 4-2 victory over Indiana
on Friday.
The vic- INDIANA 2
tory MICHIGAN 4
marks the
second- STANFORD 3
straight MICHIGAN 0
confer-
ence title for Michigan and the
eighth overall in the program's
history.
The title is also the first in all
of Michigan athletics in the fall
season.
"I love trophies, I love for
our student athletes to leave
here with championship rings,"
said Michigan Athletic Director
Dave Brandon.
Added Michigan coach Mar-
cia Pankratz: "They worked so
hard all season. I'm just so proud
to win a championship for Mich-
igan."
Pankratz has coached seven
of the program's eight champi-
onship teams.
Sophomore forward Rachael
Mack, the team's leading scor-
er, scored the game-winning
goal. The contest was tied 1-1 at
halftime after freshman Emy
Guttman scored off a pass from
sophomore Ainsley McCallister
in the 21st minute.
The score did not remain
tied for long, as Mack scored
her 12th goal of the season off a
pass from senior Eileen Brandes
26 seconds into the second half.
Brandes would record her sec-
ond assist of the game in the
65th minute when senior Jess
Allen scored her second goal of
the season to put the game out of
reach at 4-2.
Though both Indiana and
Michigan tallied seven shots
each in the second half, Michi-
gan had eight penalty corners
compared to four for Indiana.
Michigan took advantage of
closer shots on net and scored
three goals in the final frame.
"Today was a tough one, and
we squeaked it out, and I'm real-
ly proud of them," Pankratz said.
On senior day on Sunday, the
Wolverines (5-1 Big Ten, 13-5
overall) fell to No. 9 Stanford,
3-0. The defeat was Michigan's
fourth non-conference loss of
the year.
Despite outshooting Stanford
10-3 in the first half and 9-2 in
the second half, Michigan was
held scoreless. Many of the Wol-
verines' shots were off target or
further away than their chances
were against Indiana. Only nine
of Michigan's 14 shots were on
net.
The result was simple: Michi-
gan's shots were consistently
deflected and saved by Stanford
senior goalie Ale Moss, who
recorded her sixth shutout of the
season.
"I think we need to be more
aggressive," Mack said. "We
didn't possess the ball as well as
we should have. We need to bring
a mental intensity to our next
game."
With a large presence of Stan-
ford fans in the stands, the Cardi-
nal (15-2 overall) took a 1-0 lead
with seconds left in the first half
off a corner. Sophomore Hope
Burke scored from the left side
of the post off a pass from junior
Becky Dru, who assisted on the
second goal as well, before scor-
ing the third herself.
The loss ended Michigan's
eight-game home win streak.
"We have to keep playing,
we've been doing it all year," Pan-
kratz said. "We just didn'ttoday."
By winning the regular season
Big Ten title, Michigan receives
a first-round bye in the confer-
ence tournament at Penn State
in Happy Valley. The Wolverines'
first game in the playoffs will be
Friday.
Hunwick proves himself
as best goaltender on ice
ALDEN REISS/Daily
The Wolverines celebrate one of their four goals against goalie C.J. Motte in a 4-0 win on Friday night at Yost Ice Arena.
'M'sweeps home series
By EVERETT COOK
Daily Sports Writer
The Ferris State hockey team
came into Yost Ice Arena on a
roll. The Bulldogs swept perenni-
al power Miami (Ohio) the previ-
ous weekend and rose all the way
up to No. 6 in the polls.
Fer-
ris State's FERRIS STATE 2
defense MICHIGAN 5
was doing
it all, allow- FERRIS STAT E0
ing just MICHIGAN 4
five goals
through six games, including
three shutouts.
But then the Bulldogs came to
Ann Arbor. On Thursday night,
No. 4 Michigan doubled Ferris
State's goals allowed season total
en route to a 5-2 victory.
Friday was supposed to be
different for the Wolverines,
though, with freshman goalten-
der C.J. Motte in net for the Bull-
dogs. Motte had allowed only one
goal all year, sitting pretty with a
.986 save percentage. Yawn.
Michigan (2-1-1 CCHA, 6-1-1
overall) blew past Ferris State
(2-2-0, 6-2-0) again on Friday
night, continuing its offensive
explosion and sweeping the Bull-
dogs with a 4-0 victory.
"It's a good weekend for us,"
said Michigan coach Red Beren-
son. "Those are games we had to
have. We had to establish ourself
at home and get back in the con-
ference race. I think we took a
step this weekend."
On Friday night, Michigan
struck first in the first peri-
od when sophomore forward
Derek DeBlois slid a backward,
between-the-legs pass to fresh-
man forward Alex Guptill, who
buried the shot in the top right
corner of the net.
After that, the Wolverines
were off to the races, scoring
three goals in the second period.
Offensively, Michigan moved
the puck, didn't try to beat any-
one one-on-one and waited
patiently for a chink in the armor
to present itself. The Wolver-
ines didn't force anything in the
offensive zone, but instead wait-
ed for rebounds and open scoring
opportunities.
Michigan's third goal of the
game came on a rebound off a
breakaway that junior forward
A.J. Treias cleaned up with
Motte on his back from two pre-
vious saves. A goalie is only able
do so much, and the Wolverines
never let up on Motte.
Earlier in the week, Beren-
son talked about beating a good
defensive team with even bet-
ter defense. Goals allowed are
even more valuable when scor-
ing chances on the other end are
limited. Leading up to the game
against the tough Ferris State
defense, Michigan wasn't focus-
ing on its offense. Instead, Michi-
gan was focusing on its defense.
Berenson got what he was
looking for in senior netminder
Shawn Hunwick, who recorded
24 saves in Michigan's second
shutout of the season on Friday.
Hunwick seemed locked in
from the very beginning, never
ceding an inch. Ferris State didn't
score on seven power-play chanc-
es. It also helped that four close
shots hit off the post - there's
nothing wrong with a little luck.
Scoring nine goals in two
games against anyone is impres-
sive, but doing it against Ferris
State's defense is a great sign for
a young offense that had so many
question marks enteringthe year.
With six freshmen getting sig-
nificant playing time, not even
Berenson knew how the offense
was going to play early on in the
season. So far, there hasn't been
an issue.
"(The freshmen) are just fill-
ing in for what we lost," Brown
said. "That's kind of what Michi-
gan does. We don't lose, we just
reload."
By MATT SLOVIN
Daily Sports Writer
Ferris State goaltender Taylor
Nelson failed to get the job done
in Michigan's series-opening 5-2
win over the Bulldogs on Thurs-
day. So all eyes were on his fresh-
man understudy C.J. Motte the
next night. Motte had one task:
shut down a Wolverine offense
fresh off a five-goal performance.
No one was happier to kindly
escort Motte from the spotlight
than Michigan's fifth-year senior
netminder Shawn Hunwick.
After the 4-0 victory on Fri-
day to sweep the series, Hun-
wick highlighted how important
a shutout can be - not just for
his morale, but for the team's as
well.
"It's a team thing, too," Hun-
wick said. "It's ahuge confidence
booster for everyone in the lock-
er room knowing we can go up
against a CCHA team and give
up nothing."
Michigan coach Red Berenson
likes to talk about "puck luck" -
the hockey gods' way of altering
the outcome on the ice.
Several times on Friday, it
looked as if the sixth-ranked
Bulldogs were ready to strike.
And when a few of their shots
found metal, not nylon, the
crowd's sighs of relief empha-
sized that "puck luck" was on the
fourth-ranked Wolverines' side.
"The goal posts, obviously,
were in our favor tonight,"
Berenson said. "(Hunwick)
played really well. The puck
didn't go in for them but it went
in for us."
Hunwick, too, was quick to
dismiss his 24-save performance
as little more than fortunate.
"I actually had probably one
of my worst games tonight,"
Hunwick said Friday. "Those
(shots off the posts) could have
4
0
ALDEN REISS/Daily
Fifth-year senior Shawn Hunwick made 24 saves in a series-clinching 4-0
shutout on Friday.
been game changers. Sometimes
it's better tobe lucky than good."
But Hunwick's role in the
second shutout of the season
for Michigan (2-1-1 CCHA, 6-1-1
overall) and its first sweep of
Ferris State since February 2009
cannot be overstated. With a
young defense skating in front of
Hunwick, Berenson mentioned
how crucial having an experi-
enced goaltender can be.
"I don't think he's ever been
in this kind of a role," Berenson
said. "He's such an important
player on the team and now he's
got to act like it. He knows that."
The Bulldogs (2-2, 6-2) are
now left to hope that the early
season play of their goaltenders
wasn't a fluke after deep attacks
like ones from the Wolverines
have made them appear vulner-
able.
But Hunwick was still
impressed with the performance
of Motte, who isstill adjusting to
the rigors of college hockey and
the unwelcoming home crowds
that await him in the CCHA.
"I thought he looked good,"
Hunwick said of Motte, whose
younger brother, Tyler, has com-
mitted to Michigan for 2013.
"Coming into Yost as a visitor is a
hard thing to do. The fans are all
over you. I'm just happy they're
on my side."
Junior forward Chris Brown
thinks no other goalie in the
country can provide the instant
boost that Hunwick is capable
of giving with a timely save or
clutch block.
"Our goalie is going to play
and stand on his head every
night," Brown said.
And for the Wolverines, that's
a talent that hardly goes unno-
ticed.
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