Each year the International Skydiving Museum honors a select few sport parachutists who have “defined, promoted, inspired and advanced the sport at the highest levels” by inducting them into its Hall of Fame. The class of 2022 is an international and diverse group: Five men, three women. One from Australia, two from Great Britain, one from Mexico, one from South Africa and three from the U.S. All are exceptional skydivers who excelled and contributed to our sport throughout their distinguished careers.

The Hall of Fame will be located in the International Skydiving Museum, which will be built on land already purchased in the Orlando, Florida area. With many interactive exhibits, it promises to showcase our sport to people who have never jumped out of a plane but perhaps will be encouraged to try.

This year’s gala and induction ceremony will take place from October 6-8 at Skydive DeLand in Florida, a central Florida mecca for teaching, training and high-level skydiving since 1982. The weekend will include the popular and fun no-show 10-way speed star competition–Star Wars—open to any team that pays the modest entry fee. There will also be a three-round classic accuracy competition featuring some of skydiving’s best. Throughout the weekend, several authors will hold book signings in Manufacturers’ Row, two forums will take place (including “50 Years in Skydiving” featuring Bill Booth) and the International Skydiving Demo Team will light up the sky with pyrotechnics on Friday and Saturday evening as it did during the event at Skydive Perris in California last year.

Another highlight of the weekend will be the presentations of the Path of Excellence Award, honoring the 2006 World Team that set the 400-way Fédération Aéronautique Internationale World Record for Largest Formation Skydive in Thailand; and the Pioneers of Excellence Award, honoring the 1970 Freefall Exhibition Team that showcased formation skydiving (then called relative work) in front of an international audience. In addition, Travis Flint will receive the Trustees’ Award to honor him for his service to the museum.

Of course, in addition to the full weekend of activities, the Saturday night banquet at the Hilton Daytona Beach Ocean Resort will include the ceremony inducting the new members into the Hall of Fame. Per tradition, they will don blue blazers signifying their achievement. The incoming members of the 13th class of honorees bring this exclusive group to a total of 97 outstanding representatives of sport parachuting.

In alphabetical order, the 2022 inductees are:

Pete Allum

After making more than 35,000 jumps over 43 years, Allum is unquestionably the most experienced skydiver in the United Kingdom. His resume includes international competition, mentoring and teaching. Allum dominated 4-way and 8-way formation skydiving competition in his home country for 18 consecutive years. He was on British National Champion teams every year from 1985 to 2003. He then competed for Italy, winning four national titles for that country. Allum also earned multiple international indoor skydiving medals, and became the U.K. National Champion in 2015 and 2016.

Allum has dedicated his life to the sport, founding Britain’s first AFF school, coaching national teams, organizing record events and coaching individuals. He has contributed to multiple training programs worldwide in formation skydiving, canopy piloting and body flight. During 2010 and 2011, Allum undertook a personal crusade to make the sport safer by touring more than 20 DZs throughout Italy and giving safety talks, briefings and canopy control seminars. He has recently established a green-energy initiative to try to make our sport sustainable for the future.

“My initial reaction was completely overwhelming,” Allum said, after hearing he was elected. “I was looking around to see if it was someone else who had been nominated. I feel imposter syndrome when something like this happens, as I consider so many of my peers more deserving than me. But I have to say, to be nominated by my peers is the biggest gift that I have had from 43 years in the sport.”

Amy Chmelecki

Chmelecki is a highly accomplished freeflyer who was instrumental in the development of vertical formation skydiving. Her competitive career includes multiple U.S. National Championships in VFS and freestyle with Arizona Arsenal and Team Resident Eloy. Her achievements are all the more remarkable because she was born with a hip that was not formed properly and spent the first few months of her life in a cast, able to move only her arms and head. This was compounded by 15 years of severe lung infections. Chmelecki now holds 19 Fédération Aéronautique Internationale World Records for large head-up and head-down formations, and was an organizer or event leader on most of them. She is currently co-masterminding Project 19, the attempt to set the FAI Women’s World Record for Largest Head-Down Formation Skydive. Chmelecki is also active performing demos and other high-profile skydiving activities. She has completed numerous projects with both the Red Bull Air Force and the Highlight Pro Skydiving Team, an all-female demonstration team. As a professional skydiver for more than 20 years, Chmelecki has been on a mission to involve more women in sport parachuting. She has skydived in several movies and commercials, continually showcasing our sport to the public and encouraging female participation. “Skydiving has been so good to me, I am so glad it chose me,” she said. “I love this sport and everyone in it. Being selected for the Hall of Fame truly is an honor of a lifetime.”

Dr. J. Scott Hamilton

Hamilton made his first jump in 1961 as a college skydiver at Arkansas Tech. He became a military parachutist and HALO (high-altitude, low-opening) trainer, and was manager, instructor, rigger and president of the Special Warfare Center Sport Parachute Club. Under his leadership, the club won the Ridgeway Trophy as the best military club in 1965. Hamilton has worked for decades to protect skydiving, including drafting the hold-harmless agreement that protected DZs from liability for parachuting injuries. He also obtained a Federal Aviation Administration waiver for tandem jumping and worked to combat a proposed federal regulation in the 1970s that would have greatly curtailed skydiving activities. Hamilton was USPA Assistant Director from 1966-1969, and later, after leaving the staff, he became a USPA National Director, serving for eight years, two as president. Scott wrote the script and produced the USPA film, “This is a Sport?” to promote skydiving. He was a prolific contributor to Parachutist and formulated many basic instructional and safety guidelines. Hamilton is also an experienced, multi-rated pilot, professor of aviation law at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and the author of a textbook, “Practical Aviation and Aerospace Law.”

Deanna Kent (posthumous)

Deanna “Sky Dancer” Kent (born Diana Marcela Olea Rodriguez) began jumping at age 15. She soon became a lieutenant in the Mexican Air Force, and the then-president of Mexico asked her to tour the country doing demo jumps before speeches, the only woman trusted with this honor. Years later, she was inducted into Mexico’s Aviation Hall of Fame. Easily the most experienced skydiver in Mexico, Kent created a new discipline, freestyle (or as she also called it, “sky dancing”). Her husband, Norman said, “She had no idea what the aerodynamics were. She began drawing stick figures, then she used a doll with an adjustable torso to design her jump routines. There was no way to dirt dive a balletic position. I thought it was a dumb idea and she should forget it. Thankfully, she ignored me. She just wanted to do poses, saying, ‘It’s an emotion, this is how I feel.’ She would improvise from there.” Deanna Kent’s radical freefall innovation added an element of creativity to our sport that had never been seen before. Her passion, self-expression and unshakable belief paved the way for other disciplines such as freeflying, skysurfing and angle flying, all of which sprouted from her creation. Norman had to relearn to fly his body just to follow her intricate maneuvers. He showcased her talent to the world through movies such as “From Wings Came Flight,” “Willing to Fly,” “Sky Dancer” and “Freefall.” Deanna Kent also performed stunt work for films and TV shows such as “Terminal Velocity” and “Baywatch,” and appeared in numerous ads and magazines such as National Geographic and Sports Illustrated. Tragically, Kent died from a rare disease in 1997 at age 40, but not before her classic compositions of art, athleticism, body flight and dance had radically changed the course of freefall and advanced our sport. “She didn’t want to change the world, she just wanted to dance,” Norman said, “and inspire others to be artists in freefall.” She is survived by Norman and their only son, Ramsey Kent.

Eliana Rodriguez

With more than 15,000 jumps over 26 years, Rodriguez is perhaps the most accomplished competitive female skydiver in the history of our sport. She started jumping in 1995 and less than six years later won a Fédération Aéronautique Internationale World Championship in women’s 4-way formation skydiving. She was also the first woman to win an 8-way FS medal at an FAI World Championships (in Croatia in 2004). Rodriguez has earned more USPA Nationals gold medals than any other female ... and the vast majority of men. She is one of the most decorated competitors in the history of the sport, with 13 gold medals at various international skydiving championships (nine in skydiving and four in indoor skydiving), three FAI World Championships silver medals, one FAI World Cup bronze medal and an additional three silver medals at other international competitions. She has also earned 21 USPA Nationals titles and has 17 additional podium finishes. In addition, Rodriguez has been on seven successful FAI World Record formation skydives, including the standing 400-way FAI World Record for Largest Formation Skydive. She is the only woman to have trained and competed on the storied Arizona Airspeed formation skydiving team (a recipient of the Path of Excellence Award). Rodriguez also cofounded the Arizona Skydiving Tribe to share knowledge, improve skills and raise money for charity. She is currently part of the Highlight Pro Skydiving Team, an all-female skydiving demo team whose mission is to inspire women and girls to live bold lives of their own design. “I feel incredibly honored and grateful to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. I’m completely overwhelmed to be considered for this honor. This sport and the amazing community have been such a gift to me,” Rodriguez remarked.

Laurie “Truck” Sams

During a long and distinguished skydiving career, Sams won 11 Australian National Championships in various disciplines, as well as multiple medals at Fédération Aéronautique Internationale World Championships. In 1981, he won the Australian National Parachuting Accuracy Championship by scoring 18 dead centers, a record that still stands today. Sams made his first jump in 1968 as a member of the Special Air Service Air Troops (SAS). During 1970-71 he was on active duty with the SAS in South Vietnam. After his tour, he was decorated with the Active Service Medal Vietnam, the Vietnam Medal, the Defense Forces Service Medal, the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal and the Infantry Combat Badge. He earned an Australia Day Sporting Medal in 1986 and 1987 and the Australian Sports Medal in 2001 for his many contributions to sport parachuting on an international level. Sams skydiving career ended when he sustained an injury requiring leg amputation after experiencing a main and reserve entanglement while instructing a tandem skydive in 1995. Landing under a partial reserve, Sams directed his student to adopt a fetal position and absorbed the impact himself. For his bravery saving the student’s life, he received the Star of Courage and a place on Queen Elizabeth II’s honor list in 2001. In 2009, the U.S. Army Golden Knights inducted him into its Hall of Fame as an Honorary Golden Knight. Recently, the Australian Parachute Federation bestowed him with its highest honor—Master of Sport Parachuting—for his leadership as an competitor and ambassador for the sport and for his dedication to sharing his expertise. Only six others have earned this award in the 60-year history of the sport in Australia. “I am extremely proud in hearing of the announcement and my inclusion with the class of ‘22 to be inducted into the International Skydiving Hall of Fame,” Sams said. “Words cannot express how much it means to me, not only for contribution to the sport as an Australian jumper but knowing I’d be the first Australian former military member and veteran to be inducted.”

Dave Waterman (posthumous)

Waterman was a pioneer in photography, journalism and competitive skydiving and a major force in developing the sport in Britain. In 1954, at age 17, he made his first jump while serving in the Army. Later, he found work as a photojournalist and won the British Sports Photographer of the Year award in 1974. His images of parachuting were featured in the special section of the World Photo Competition that year. This was the beginning of three decades of publication of Waterman’s work worldwide, promoting skydiving as the sport evolved. His scenes from the film “A Bridge Too Far,” his work on several Bollywood publications and his image of a skydiver riding a bike out of a C-130 caught the public’s imagination. Waterman was editor of the British Parachute Association’s magazine, then called Sport Parachutist, for eight years. Waterman improved its look and advanced its quality. He took almost all of the photographs in the publication, added color pages and contributed his own stories. As a competitor, his team won the first British meet in 10-man (as it was called before the term 10-way was adopted) and went on to represent his country internationally. When the new discipline of 8-way was introduced, Waterman formed a team with Symbiosis, the British 4-way team. This team finished fourth in the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale World Championships in Australia in 1977. Symbiosis later became one of the dominant teams of the decade.

Solly Williams

Williams first starred as a formation skydiving competitor and then became a coach, and is now also a partner at Skydive DeLand in Florida, the host DZ of this year’s induction ceremony. He won a continuous string of South African National Championships in formation skydiving from 1991 to 1997. Williams competed in numerous world meets for South Africa, culminating in the 4-way FS bronze medal at the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale World Championships in 1997. After moving to the U.S., Williams also earned three U.S. National Championships and four international medals for the U.S. in 4-way FS, as well as a silver in 8-way FS. Williams became an eminent 4-way formation skydiving coach when he moved to DeLand, helping to put the Norwegian team on the international podium for the first time in 1999 and then in 2001 and 2003. He coached the British team to an FAI Women’s World Championship in 2003, and the U.S. team to the 2016 world title, as well. Williams was a sector captain for two FAI World Record large-formation jumps—the two-point 202-way in 2017 and the four-point 222-way in 2019. In 2006, he was a co-sector captain on the 400-way FAI World Record for Largest Formation Skydive and also served on the Technical Review Committee. In addition, Williams was one of the pioneers in developing the “mantis position” for formation skydiving. He was also instrumental in formulating competition rule changes for the International Skydiving Commission of the FAI. Williams has promoted the sport by organizing high-profile skydives, included 50-way skydive in China—the largest ever built there—in 2017 and a formation spelling “blessings from the sky” in Chinese characters as part of the Chinese New Year celebration in 2018.