On August 4, 1974, the baseball game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Cincinnati Reds had an unscheduled interruption at the bottom of the eighth inning. A 19-year-old college student, Alex Stein had smuggled his dog, Ashley Whippet into Dodger Stadium during the nationally televised game. What he planned to do next would go down as one of the coolest moments in sports history.
–by Anna Cooke Ashley Whippet and Alex Stein. Floating Free.
When the dog was just a puppy, Alex had a dream that Ashley Whippet would one day be famous. You see, Ashley had a propensity for catching Frisbees. So the Ohio State student packed it in, packed up, and headed for Hollywood, where he was sure they could break into show business. But, as often happens in Hollywood, Alex's dream turned into a reality of disillusionment as fame was more elusive than he had anticipated. So, des- perate times called for desperate measures. This
moment...at Dodger Stadium, Alex envi- sioned...would be their last shot at fame. The Dodgers were at bat. Just before the
leadoff hitter approached the plate, Alex and Ashley jumped over the fence onto the baseball field. He immediately began throwing multiple Frisbees. At running speeds of up to 35 miles per hour, Ashley was leaping nine feet in the air, con- tinuously catching the discs. The crowd went wild. Famed announcer Joe Garagiola, began doing a play by play of the dog's sprints, leaps and catches. The game was delayed for eight minutes while Alex and Ashley performed their gorilla Frisbee routine. Alex was eventually escorted off the field,
arrested and fined $250 for the stunt. During the scuffle, he was separated from Ashley. A 15-year- old boy sitting in the front row managed to lure Ashley off the field, taking him home to Long Beach that evening. Through an article in the Los Angeles Times sports page and announcements on local television, Alex was reunited with Ashley after several days. That unscheduled appearance at Dodger
Stadium brought the duo invitations to perform halftime exhibitions during LA Rams football games. That led to appearances on local and national talk shows, resulting in national prominence.
20 THE NEW BARKER Photography at the AWI World Championship by Anna Cooke
During the 36th AWI World Championship in Tampa, Lawrence Frederick and Easy Rider, both of Disc-Connected K9s out of Jacksonville, show off their winning style.
www.TheNewBarker.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112