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85-year-old skydiver chases 1,000 jumps

85-year-old skydiver chases 1,000 jumps
WE’RE STAYING WITH THE SKY THEME HERE. APPARENTLY A SKYDIVER IN LANCASTER COUNTY SET A NEW STATE RECORD TODAY. UNBELIEVABLE. WITH AN INCREDIBLE AMOUNT OF JUMPS TO CELEBRATE HIS BIRTHDAY. YEAH, JEFF ETHERIDGE FIRST SET OUT TO DO 50 JUMPS TODAY AT DONEGAL SPRINGS AIRPORT IN MARIETTA TO CELEBRATE HIS 50TH BIRTHDAY, BUT HE THEN DECIDED TO SHOOT HIGHER MUCH HIGHER AND TRY TO BREAK THE STATE RECORD FOR MOST JUMPS IN A SINGLE DAY. HE STARTED AT DAWN AROUND 530 THIS MORNING AND JUST AFTER 730 THIS EVENING, HE MADE HIS 102ND JUMP. THAT BREAKS THE PREVIOUS STATE RECORD OF 101, SET TWO YEARS AGO. I FEEL LIKE I’M BUZZING. I’VE GOT A LOT OF ENERGY. YEAH. IT’S AWESOME. THIS GROUP OF PEOPLE, IT’S LIKE IT IS ALL FAMILY. I’VE GOT SOME FAMILY, BUT I GOT FRIENDS. BUT EVERYBODY’S SERIOUSLY. IT’S SKYDIVING FOR YOU. JEFF WENT ON TO DO A TOTAL OF 105 JUMPS. AND HOW ABOUT THIS? ON HIS 104TH JUMP, HE DID A TANDEM WITH HIS MOM, SISTER AND SON. A FAMILY EVENT AROUND 20 PEOPLE WITH THE MAY TOWN SPORT PARACHUTE CLUB HELPED WITH THE EFFORT. TODAY ALL THE INFORMATION IS GOING TO BE SENT TO THE UNITED STATES PARACHUTE ASSOCIATION TO VERIFY THE RECORD. I DID GET TO TALK TO JEFF THIS EVENING. I SAID, ARE YOU TIRED? HE SAID, I’M EXHAUSTED. SO I HAVE A QUESTION. DO YOU EAT? OH YEAH, OF COURSE YOU HAVE TO, BECAUSE THEN MY STOMACH WOULD BE LIKE UP TO MY THROAT. YOU KNOW. OH MY GOSH. WELL, IT’S MY FEAR OF HEIGHTS THAT WOULD NOT WORK WITH. INCREDIBLY IMPRESSIVE. AND THAT’S AN ENDURANCE. YOU KNOW A GOOD DAY TO DO IT TODAY. OH GORGEOUS. YOU KNOW I’VE SEEN FRIENDS DO IT. I’VE HEARD FROM THEM. THEY SAY THEY LOVE IT. I FEEL LIKE I NEED TO TRY LIKE MAYBE THE INDOOR SKYDIVING AND MAYBE WORK MY WAY UP LIKE BABY STEPS. BABY STEPS. YEAH, I HEAR YOU. YEAH. I WANT TO DO IT. AND ACTUALLY, THIS GROUP SAYS THAT THEY’LL THEY’LL TAKE REALLY. SO I’M GOING TO DO IT. I’VE BEEN I’VE BEEN SAYING THAT’S AWESOME. I KNOW GUYS, I SWEAR I’M GOING TO DO IT. THAT
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85-year-old skydiver chases 1,000 jumps
Have you ever been skydiving? How about more than once? Could you fathom doing it a thousand times? One 85-year-old woman from Cadillac, Michigan, is more than halfway there."In my mind, it's just I'm gonna jump, I'm gonna jump. It's coming you know," Kim Emmons Knor told WWJ.Knor says the excitement never goes away while she's strapping up to get ready for her 689th jump. That's right, at the time of this posting, she has 688 jumps logged.Related video above: Skydiver sets new Pennsylvania record for most jumps in single dayKnor's first jump, as logged in one of her several booklets seen in the video above, was 65 years ago, when Knor was just 20. Hundreds of jumps later, she's chasing 1,000."A thousand is what I need for Gold Wings and back in the day when I started jumping in 1959, the epitome of success was Gold Wings," Emmons Knor said.After her first jump, she was hooked. So much so, she made a run in 1962 as a member of the first United States Women's Parachute Team, taking home gold."To stand under the American flag and get a gold, it's really really something," Knor said while choking up.Related video below: Meet the Professional Skydiver Who is Afraid of HeightsWhile recalling some of her fondest memories, she turns back to the present day, in Ray, Michigan at Midwest Freefall Skydiving.Knor's trip here comes just days after a stop in Ohio for multiple jumps but this time around, she's had to wait for the weather to clear up."To me it's part of it and because I'm retired you know, tomorrow's another day," Knor said on awaiting jump 689.The 85-year-old skydiving Michigander also shared some advice to those on the fence about skydiving."If you've raised your children, raised your grandchildren, whatever and don't sit around and watch TV or get on a computer, or go have lunch with all your friends, get outside and do something that keeps the blood moving and you'll be healthier and you'll eat better and you'll sleep better and jump out of airplanes," Knor said.

Have you ever been skydiving? How about more than once? Could you fathom doing it a thousand times?

One 85-year-old woman from Cadillac, Michigan, is more than halfway there.

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"In my mind, it's just I'm gonna jump, I'm gonna jump. It's coming you know," Kim Emmons Knor told WWJ.

Knor says the excitement never goes away while she's strapping up to get ready for her 689th jump. That's right, at the time of this posting, she has 688 jumps logged.

Related video above: Skydiver sets new Pennsylvania record for most jumps in single day

Knor's first jump, as logged in one of her several booklets seen in the video above, was 65 years ago, when Knor was just 20.

Hundreds of jumps later, she's chasing 1,000.

Knor says the excitement never goes away while she's strapping up to get ready for her 689th jump.
WWJ via CNN Newsource
Knor says the excitement never goes away while she’s strapping up to get ready for her 689th jump. (WWJ via CNN Newsource)

"A thousand is what I need for Gold Wings and back in the day when I started jumping in 1959, the epitome of success was Gold Wings," Emmons Knor said.

After her first jump, she was hooked. So much so, she made a run in 1962 as a member of the first United States Women's Parachute Team, taking home gold.

"To stand under the American flag and get a gold, it's really really something," Knor said while choking up.

Related video below: Meet the Professional Skydiver Who is Afraid of Heights

While recalling some of her fondest memories, she turns back to the present day, in Ray, Michigan at Midwest Freefall Skydiving.

Knor's trip here comes just days after a stop in Ohio for multiple jumps but this time around, she's had to wait for the weather to clear up.

"To me it's part of it and because I'm retired you know, tomorrow's another day," Knor said on awaiting jump 689.

The 85-year-old skydiving Michigander also shared some advice to those on the fence about skydiving.

"If you've raised your children, raised your grandchildren, whatever and don't sit around and watch TV or get on a computer, or go have lunch with all your friends, get outside and do something that keeps the blood moving and you'll be healthier and you'll eat better and you'll sleep better and jump out of airplanes," Knor said.