Legends of Diving Weekend

Second Annual Legends of Diving 2007 Portage Quarry

Event Set for August 8-10, 2008

Many divers appeared for a rare opportunity to dive with Zale Parry.

Bowling Green (OH) – August 10 to 12th was the second annual Legends of Diving Weekend at the Portage Quarry in Bowling Green, Ohio. We greeted divers from 14 states and three provinces of Canada and Mexico.   The Friday night Meet and Greet was a fun time with Zale Parry and Sam Lecocq present. We had people lined up for pictures and autographs. Around 80 people were present and stories were told for hours into the night. Saturday was started by giving away prizes and going over the day’s schedule. There was an early dive and over $10,000 in prizes were given away through the weekend. Mares

gave away 150 silicone masks to the divers, as well as a complete set of top of the line gear. Dr. Sam Miller was unable to attend due to Los Angeles Airport delays. He sent his regards and regrets to all divers, due to circumstances out of his control.

Alec Peirce introduces Zale Parry on Saturday, following his memorabilia presentation.

Zale Parry was introduced to the divers by Alec Peirce, owner of Scuba 2000 in Toronto and the largest dive shop in Canada. He has acquired the largest collection of Sea Hunt memorabilia in the World. Zale greeted the crowd, assuring them she would talk with everyone and sign all their memorabilia during the weekend. She spoke of her achievements and her current passion of cleaning the waters in which we dive. At one time there were 50 people standing in front of Zale, getting every imaginable Sea Hunt and Zale Parry item autographed.

Sherry Lantz, friend of Sam and Debbie Lecocq for over 40 years, introduced Sam and told of how she had not seen him in years, until they reunited last year at Legends. She told of the time she spent working with Sam and how she appeared in the movie The Sportsway. The movie recounted the history of the making of the Waterlung regulator, which Sam recovered from his long time friend Nick Icorn. The movie was shown that evening, with Sam talking about the filming of it in the late 50’s. Sherry discussed Sam’s achievements and introduced him. They joked that it was the first time everybody could understand what was said about Sam, as he still has a strong French accent. Also in attendance from Atlanta, Georgia was Scooby Doo. Scooby gave out masks and snorkels to all children to enjoy their first underwater experience.

The highlight of Saturday afternoon was a dive on the rare Hansa airplane with the famous Zale Parry. Over 50 divers signed up and got their picture taken with her. She was very gracious and took a lot of time to get that special shot for each participant.

At 5:00 pm the record dive attempt was made, still holding at 300 total divers. The trip for two to Belize was given away at 7:00 pm that evening and won by David Breath out of Cleveland. Our thanks go out to the Belize Tourism Dept.

Saturday night was exciting with Sam showing the Waterlung story and Zale showing the damsel in distress, as well as footage of her in various movies. The main feature of the night was the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Everyone had their 3-D Glasses on, even Zale. At the height of the story, when the creature showed in the movie. Tom Briggle, a diver dressed up like the creature, appeared in the crowd along with other divers who were dressed up like the cast. Everyone in the audience enjoyed the surprise. It was a great night with free cashews supplied by vintage diver Richard Green of Indianapolis.

Sunday Alec Peirce brought a lot of his memorabilia and Zale made sure she was there to see his display. He showed and explained a lot of the details of these items. Zale was in awe of all the things he had. Her comment was, “You Sea Hunt Collectors are serious!” She spoke again to the crowd and was amazed at the different items displayed that she had never seen. She talked about Mike Nelson and the letters they got from the show.

Prizes were being given away through all of the afternoon and vintage dive gear was displayed and for sale. Bryan Pennington from Vintage Doublehose gave away a Doublehose Royal Aquamaster in the original box, with the sales slip. Zale continued to be the center of attention with people lined up and waiting to talk with her and get autographs. Zale sat for hours talking to every diver and answering lots of questions about her achievements in diving, and continued to sign autographs.

Pictures and farewells closed the afternoon. The highlight was a diver who drove a big Harley Davidson into the infield and had to have a photo with Zale on the Harley. One of the featured shots was 14 year old Shelby Berry and Zale with a Northhill reg, which was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1955. Zale held the Double hose and explained the reg to Shelby. Plans are being made for next year’s Legends in Diving which will be held the second week of August.

ABOUT PORTAGE QUARRY: Located just one mile south of Bowling Green in Northwest Ohio, the Portage Quarry Recreation Club is a complete recreation facility that caters to the Scuba diver enthusiast. The Scuba diver will experience some of the best recreational diving in Ohio with clear water visibility, wreck diving, and plenty of fish. The Scuba dive shop includes tank rentals, nitrox fills, equipment, and PADI instruction. There are three professional beach volleyball courts along with recreational swimming from a sand beach. In the summer the Portage Quarry Recreation Club is home to two music traditions, a music Blowout the first weekend of July and the annual SledgeFest. Also on the schedule is a Divers Alert Network (DAN) Barbeque and the Advanced Aquatics Steak Roast. Trademarks are the rights of the perspective companies.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Contact Jeff Rice at (419) 352-9203 quarryman@portagequarry.com for high resolution photos or interviews with any of the legends announced in this release.

2006 Legends Weekend
August 11-13, 2006