Local Acrobats Lose Teammate, Coach in Crash

By Alicia Dorr in News on Feb 28, 2007 8:06PM

A local tumbling team lost two of its members in a crash this week, and the whole story is seriously pulling on our heartstrings.

A van carrying the Chicago Boyz Acrobatic Team apparently crashed due to a fatigued driver and icy conditions near the Wisconsin-Minnesota border, killing tumbler Ricky Jones and his coach, Donny Samson, who were 15 and 27 years old, respectively. The advanced tumbling team has performed at Bulls games and on "The Ellen Degeneres Show."

We can't help wishing that all of the stereotypes we learned from Hollywood about acrobats and tumblers and ninjas basically being unstoppable were true. We wish the two could have tumbled their way cleverly and quickly out of the jam, landing in a soft pile of snow on the side of the road. Unfortunately, the tumblers were not real-life superheroes — though we're sure they will rightly live on that way in the hearts and minds of everyone who knew them. If you're interested in helping and if you have the means, a memorial fund through Washington Mutual Bank has been set up to help the families and with the funerals.

Image via Chicago Boyz Acrobatic Team website, where there is more information about the memorial fund.