NOC Stories
Menasha Ridge Press Inc. (Verlag)
978-1-63404-141-6 (ISBN)
True 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.
Payson Kennedy enjoyed a fifteen-year academic career at Longwood College, Hampden-Sydney College, the University of Illinois, and Georgia Tech. He worked at the new NOC in the summer of 1972 and then began year-round work at the NOC in June of 1973. He served at the NOC as President and later as CEO, Chairman of the Board, and CPO (Chief Philosophical Officer) until his retirement from full-time work in 1998. He returned to full-time work at the NOC as CEO and CPO from 2004 through 2006. While working at the NOC, he also guided regularly on six rivers, taught canoeing and kayaking courses, worked as a ropes course instructor, and led extended trips in Central America, the Cayman Islands, and Nepal. Since retiring from full-time work, he has continued to serve on the NOC Board, guides a few trips on the Nantahala River, and especially enjoys regular bicycling, working in his pond, and continuing to do adventure travel trips. Greg Hlavaty worked in NOC Rentals for four years. He believes in combining nature experience with written reflection, and his essays have appeared in various magazines and literary journals, including Arts and Letters, Barrelhouse, Yale Anglers' Journal, and Bird Watcher's Digest. He has taught survival skills classes and led outdoor trips in North Carolina and Alaska, and his writing and teaching are founded on the belief that outdoor adventure and nature connection changes people for the better. He lives in Graham, North Carolina, with his family. Find his website at greghlavaty.com, or contact him on Twitter @greg_hlavaty.
FOREWORD 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
| Erscheinungsdatum | 14.06.2018 |
|---|---|
| Mitarbeit |
Zusammenstellung: Payson Kennedy |
| Zusatzinfo | B & W photographs throughout |
| Verlagsort | Birmingham |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 228 x 152 mm |
| Gewicht | 544 g |
| Themenwelt | Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Sport ► Segeln / Tauchen / Wassersport |
| Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte | |
| ISBN-10 | 1-63404-141-0 / 1634041410 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1-63404-141-6 / 9781634041416 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
| Informationen gemäß Produktsicherheitsverordnung (GPSR) | |
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