278. Wheelchair High Dive

February 28, 2011

Q: I’m trying to remember what issue a photograph was in where a man in a wheelchair was diving off the high platform. Until next time about this and he was laughing really hard about. I’m sure was in the National Lampoon maybe the April 1976 issue, but I’m not sure.

A: It was the Harvard Lampoon Sports Illustrated Parody from 1974. The article was titled “Off the Deep End”.

Comments

The wheelchair on the high board was from the Sports issue. '74 or '5, I think. Can look it up.

—Tim Williams

March 11, 2011 11:36 am

Thanks, Tim.

—Mark

March 11, 2011 4:29 pm

Actually, now that I look, it's not from any of the sports-themed issues from '74 or '75.

—Mark

March 11, 2011 4:38 pm

Sounds to me like a picture from the Photorama Picture News column (or its predecessor Hot Flashes) where they took unlikely but real news fotos and made up silly captions. Alternately, could it be from True Facts? That often filled pages with oddball fotos on a theme: Filipino buses, diving horses, suicides on building ledges, etc.

—Candy and/or Mandy

March 13, 2011 6:55 pm

Does anyone have the Harvard Lampoon Sports Illustrated parody? If this ad from the November 1974 National Lampoon is to be believed, the parody contained a "wheelchair diving" gag: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-a5H-Hv0w7tM/TX8baQsDYXI/AAAAAAAAB24/hn7Vi5JXSRQ/s1600/Wheelchair_Diving.jpg

—John F.

March 15, 2011 3:04 am

I think that may be it. I have a copy and it seems to fit the description, although it was from 1974. The article is called "Off the Deep End"--two pages, with text and a picture of the judges on the left page, and a full-page, full-color photo of a guy on a wheelchair in mid-dive over a swimming pool on the right page.

—Mark

March 15, 2011 8:58 am

That was the Sports Illustrated Parody. The cover had a baseball umpire and a girl catcher with her hat, halter top and boobs on backwards.

—J. Mahoney

November 25, 2013 11:41 am

Yep, it was the Harvard Lampoon Sports Illustrated Parody. Thanks everybody.

—Mark

February 9, 2017 9:03 am

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