Description
Book SynopsisTrue Stories of Outdoor Adventure and Inspiration All fans of whitewater sports have been impacted by the Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC) in one way or another. In 1972, the NOC was the outgrowth of an idea that friends working together to pursue their outdoor passions could change lives for the better. Today, the center is a seminal Southeastern paddling hub. Compiled by Payson Kennedy and edited by Greg Hlavaty, NOC Stories is a collection of 62 entertaining stories by NOC staff veterans—memories that describe the center’s first 25 years. It approaches the story of the NOC’s inception, a time of exponential growth in whitewater sports and instruction, a time when the NOC’s contribution to paddling technique and instruction reverberated around the world. It is both a history of NOC’s leading role in the evolution of commercial river running and an overview of when kayaking, as a sport, exploded in the United States. The remembrances presented here blend history with adventure as they document the NOC’s singular vision.
Table of ContentsFOREWORD by Clay Courts INTRODUCTION TO THE NOC LEGACY: Changing Lives Since 1972 by John Burton HOW THIS BOOK CAME ABOUT by Payson Kennedy SECTION I: Life on the River In Service by Gordon Grant March 1979: First Day on the Job by Dave Perrin Running Down the Upper Nantahala by John Burton The Early Years at the Chattooga Outpost by Les Bechdel A Yankee Paddler Goes South: A Summer with Donnie Dunton by Charlie Walbridge Walkabout Beginning by Herbert B. Barks Donnie Dunton, An NOC Legend: The Other Side of the Man by Cathy Kennedy Dodging a Bullet at the Five Falls by Bob Tolford A Quiet Fighter by Greg Hlavaty Staring into the Eye of God by Eric Nies Apple-Eating Eddy by Joe Huggins Chattooga: Racing Down Section IV by Kent Ford NOC Pride by Dave Perrin Adventure Is Made of Adversity by Kevin “Taz” Riggs Project RAFT and Nantahala ’90 by Bunny Johns Rocked by the Cheoah by Ken Kastorff SECTION II: History of a Southeastern Paddling Culture A Brief History of the Nantahala Outdoor Center: The Growth of a Southeastern Paddling Hub by Payson Kennedy The Business of Whitewater Rafting: Growth and Concerns by Payson Kennedy A Legacy of Groundbreaking Paddling Instruction by Kent Ford and Bunny Johns SECTION III: Life Beyond the River Wild in Winter Wood by Cathy Kennedy Welcoming: Two Sisters Remember the Local Community by Florrie Funk and Allie Funk (Jones) Guests in the Old Days by Allie Funk (Jones) and Bunny Johns Snapshots from River’s End Restaurant by Florrie Funk Maintenance by Sue Firmstone Goddard The Old Store by John Barbour NOC Store Talk by John Lane Scenes from Wesser Creek by Allie Funk (Jones) Above Bone Ring Lake: For John Dolbeare (1957–1989) by John Lane Authentic Leadership by Betsey Lewis Upchurch Office Space by Susan Bechdel “Hello, Jerome” by Susan Hester with Ray McLeod The Lodestone by Heather McLeod Wall SECTION IV: Adventure Travel An Introduction to Adventure Travel at the NOC by Payson Kennedy A Thanksgiving Dayyenu by Dan Adams Americans Sneak into Mexico on Rafts! by Tom Gonzalez When Travel Was an Adventure by Villa Brewer Adventures with Christine by Bill Hester Mistaken Identity by Susan Bechdel Kind of like the Nantahala by Villa Brewer Río Upano Staff Trip: Adventure of the Millennium! by Leigh Boike Origins of Clinic Nepal by Payson Kennedy SECTION V: Life Changes at the NOC Never, Never Give Up by Tommy Yon From the Mouths of the Converted: Letters from NOC Guests and Staff from Barbara Holliday-Evans, Dick Graham, and Gordon Grant More than Paddling Instruction by John Lane The Lift by Joe Jacobi Transitions by Michael Inman Upper Nantahala, 1974 by Florrie Funk Learning to Leap by Arlene Burns A Son’s Tribute to Horace Holden by Howard Holden On the Eddy Line by Greg Hlavaty Relocation by Maggie Parkes My Accidental Community by Janet Smith Luck by Florrie Funk Memories by John and Margie Zubizarreta Family Matters by Heather McLeod Wall and Michael McLeod, Betsey Lewis Upchurch, and Jennifer Holcombe SECTION VI: Early Leaders of the NOC Horace Holden: An Appreciation by John Burton Payson Kennedy: An Appreciation by John Burton Aurelia Kennedy: An Appreciation by John Burton John Burton: An Appreciation by Gordon Grant The Other Side of the River: An Interview with Whitewater Pioneer Bunny Johns by Gerald Thurmond SECTION VII: Zen and the Art of Running a Rafting Company A Chautauqua on NOC Philosophy and Practices by Payson Kennedy Good Things Never End: A Poem for Payson’s 70th Birthday by Gordon Grant EPILOGUE APPENDIX: Chronology of Events: 1971–1997
