My Mark Radcliff story:
Sometime in the early 80's the Pittsburgh ARCS sponsored an AMA symposium with meetings at the Holiday Inn in Weirton and flying demonstrations at their field just a few miles into Pennsylvania. Dave Brown, who was near the height of his Pattern prowess at the time was supposed to do a Pattern demonstration, but his daughter was injured in a gymnastics accident and Mark stood in for him.
I'd never seen pattern flying before and I was just blown away by the smoothness and precision of it all. I remember like it was yesterday seeing Mark fly a rolling circle, three rolls to the outside, perfectly spaced, perfectly smooth, like it was the easiest thing in the world.
So it was a big deal for me, almost thirty years later, to fly in the same contest as Mark. Thanks for coming!