The Flying Wallendas

Logo for the group

The Flying Wallendas is the name of a circus act and daredevil stunt performers, most known for performing highwire acts without a safety net. They were first known as The Great Wallendas, but the current name was coined by the press in the 1940s and has stayed since.

History

Carla Wallenda, Karl Wallenda, Raymond Chitty, and Richard Guzman (Carla's husband), c.1965

Karl Wallenda was born in Magdeburg, Germany, in 1905 to an old circus family, and began performing at the age of six. While still in his teens he answered an ad for a hand balancer with courage. His employer, Louis Weitzman, taught him the trade. In 1922, Karl put together his own act with his brother Herman, Joseph Geiger, and a teenage girl, Helen Kreis, who eventually became his wife.

The act toured Europe for several years, performing some amazing stunts. When John Ringling saw them perform in Cuba, he quickly hired them to perform at the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus. In 1928, they debuted at the Madison Square Garden. The act performed without a net (it had been lost in transit) and the crowd gave them a standing ovation.

In 1944, while the Wallendas were performing in Hartford, Connecticut, a circus fire broke out, killing over 168 people. None of the Wallendas were hurt.

In the following years, Karl developed some of their most impressive acts, such as the seven-person chair pyramid. They continued performing those acts until January 30, 1962 when, while performing at the Shrine Circus at Detroit's State Fair Coliseum, the front man on the wire (Dieter Schepp) faltered and the pyramid collapsed. Three men fell to the ground, killing Richard Faughnan, Wallenda's son-in-law; and nephew Dieter Schepp. Karl injured his pelvis, and his adopted son, Mario, was paralyzed from the waist down.[1] Dieter's sister Jana Schepp let go of the wire to fall into the quickly-raised safety net, but bounced off and suffered a head injury.

Other tragedies include when Wallenda's sister-in-law, Rietta, fell to her death in 1963, and his son-in-law Richard ("Chico") Guzman was killed in 1972 after touching a live electric wire while holding part of the metal rigging. Nonetheless, Karl decided to go on. He repeated the pyramid act in 1963 and 1977. Karl continued performing with a smaller group, and doing solo acts.

Karl Wallenda crossed the Tallulah Gorge in Georgia on a high wire on July 18, 1970.

On March 22, 1978, during a promotional walk in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Karl Wallenda fell from the wire and died. It was between the towers of Condado Plaza Hotel, one hundred feet high. He was 73. Nik Wallenda completed the walk on June 4, 2011, with his mother, Delilah.[2]

On March 5, 1993, Karl's grandson Mario B. Wallenda (not to be confused with Karl's adopted son) died from complications of AIDS at the age of 36.[3] He had tested positive for the disease in July 1990.[4]

On October 15, 2008, Nik broke the world record for the highest and longest bike ride on a high wire live on NBC's Today.[5]

Nik Wallenda became the first aerialist to walk directly over Niagara Falls on June 15, 2012, from the United States into Canada. Wearing a safety harness as required by ABC television, he crossed at the river's widest point.[6]

Nik Wallenda is the first aerialist to walk over the Little Colorado River Gorge at the Grand Canyon. The event was broadcast live on the Discovery Channel. He used a 2-inch wire and made the journey without a harness or safety net. The canyon is 1,400 feet (430 m) wide and 1,500 feet (460 m) deep.[7]

There are several branches of the Wallendas performing today, comprising mostly grandchildren of Karl Wallenda. They still perform regularly and have achieved recognition in the Guinness Book of Records. On November 2, 2014, Nik successfully crossed between two Chicago skyscrapers, the west tower of Marina City and the Leo Burnett Building. After accomplishing this feat, he successfully crossed the two towers of Marina City while wearing a blindfold in cold conditions with strong winds. He set two world records, one for the highest incline, 19 degrees, between the west tower and the Leo Burnett building and one for the highest blindfolded wire walk between the two towers of Marina City. Both crossings were broadcast live on Discovery Channel.

Notable family members

Family tree

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Engelbert Wallenda
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Lucy
 
Herman Wallenda
1901–1985
 
Martha Schepp
 
 
 
Karl Wallenda
1905–1978
 
 
 
 
 
Helen Kreis
1910–1996
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Willi Wallenda
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Gunther Herman Wallenda
1927–1996
 
 
Richard Faughnan
d. 1962
 
Jenny Wallenda
d. 2015
Mario Wallenda
1940-2015
 
 
 
 
 
Richard "Chico" Guzman
d. 1972
 
Carla Wallenda
 
Mike Morgan
 
Rudi Wallenda
 
Ingeborg Novak-Wallenda
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Olinka
 
Tino Wallenda
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Delilah WallendaTammy Wallenda
 
Valerie Wallenda
 
Rietta WallendaMario B. Wallenda
1956-1993
Rick Wallenda
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Robinson Cortes
 
Alida WallendaAndrea WallendaAurelia WallendaAlessandro "Alex" Wallenda
 
Claire Gabrielle Francesca Kuciejczyk-Kernan Wallenda-Zoppe
 
Nik Wallenda
 
Erendira Vasquez
 
Lyric
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Ysabella CortesLukas Cortes
 
ZairaMichael
 
 
 
 
 
 
Yanni WallendaAmadaos WallendaEvita Wallenda
 
 
 
 
 

Major League Baseball catchers Bengie, Jose, and Yadier Molina, who are all brothers, are known collectively as "The Catching Molinas" - a play on the Flying Wallendas' name.

See also

References

Further reading

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.