Marty Ravellette

November 23, 2007 4:31 PM

In 1998, he pulled a woman from a burning car. When I first saw him I was going through multiple cycles at a red light in heavy traffic and he was navigating a push lawnmower with no hands, or arms. Via con dios Marty Ravellette.
posted by Huplescat (12 comments total)

.
posted by Token Meme at 5:04 PM on November 23, 2007

When I was about 8 I was learning to ski. Even for a rubber-boned little boy hurtling down a sheer cliff (bunny slope) at at least 200mph (a slow jog) was horrifying. Of course everyone else was better than me, they picked it up 1-2-3 and flew down the sheer cliff, etc. So I gave up. Took off my skis and sat down, ready to walk down the mountain and go home to something more my speed. Shuffleboard perhaps.

And then an eighty-year old man tore past me at some substantial fraction of c with only one ski. Only one ski, of course, because he had only one leg.

Well shit. Put my fucking skis back on and figured I could give it maybe one more try.

The "Handicapped Person Of The Year" made me see red mist, but I guess you takes what you can get. At least nobody called him "brave."
posted by Skorgu at 5:36 PM on November 23, 2007

Oh, cool! I used to live in Chapel Hill, and every time I saw this guy I always wondered what his story was. Hooray internet!
posted by borkingchikapa at 5:51 PM on November 23, 2007

I was absolutely laid back by him using a chain saw with his feet. They are hard to control with your hands, and certainly not designed to be used with your toes (I assume he had to be bare foot).

Its a damn shame he died but what a life! I can only hope to live a life as full.
posted by stilgar at 5:55 PM on November 23, 2007

I am looking forward to more posts using the saltydog tag.
posted by dhammond at 5:58 PM on November 23, 2007

I find it interesting that this post follows the "buy handmade" one.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 6:13 PM on November 23, 2007

There used to be a lot of good stuff you could Google up on Marty, and I wish I could have found that stuff but, now that he’s died, it’s hard to get past the generic cliche roughage. In any case, The Discovery Chanel UK has scheduled a rerun of his show for the 26th and I suspect the US version will follow suite.
posted by Huplescat at 6:27 PM on November 23, 2007

We take a trip to Sea World in San Diego, where Marty's mother currently lives,

His mother is a seal?
posted by geekyguy at 6:34 PM on November 23, 2007

The Raleigh TV station had a story on him in Sept. A few weeks before it aired, I was talking with him in Sutton's Drugstore on Franklin St. (where some of it was filmed) and he was very excited about it. It was sad then to hear of his passing just a few weeks later. RIP.
(link is to a video player on the television station's site, which may or may not change your browser window size)
posted by cptspalding at 6:56 PM on November 23, 2007 [1 favorite]

Another guy with no arms, Alvin Law, was the uncle of a childhood friend of mine. He does inspirational speeches and plays the piano (among other things) amazingly well with his feet.
posted by Reggie Digest at 8:02 PM on November 23, 2007

HIs mother is a seal?

I guess that would explain why he had no arms... /badtaste

.
posted by notswedish at 9:48 PM on November 23, 2007

.
posted by msali at 7:48 AM on November 26, 2007