Not Just Hot Air: The Forgotten Legacy of Jack Steadman

There is an old saying; you never want to meet your hero as you are bound to be disappointed.  It is no secret to those who know me personally that I have a great deal of respect, and in many ways “hero-worship” Jack Steadman, primarily because I view him as the father of Worlds of Fun.  For many years I had attempted to contact Hunt Midwest to set up an interview with him, it never ended up working out and sadly in 2015, he passed from this world.  Personally, there was some sadness, and a great deal of regret, but from what I have heard it is probably isn’t entirely a negative that I never got to meet him, as from what I have read and heard, his personality was shall we say “forceful”.

With that being said with recent events, specifically the removal of Steadman Plaza plaque from Worlds of Fun, and the recent comments that are best paraphrased as “who was he anyway?”.  I felt it is my duty to share what I do know about the man that was Jack Steadman, the best of Jack Steadman, in regards to Worlds of Fun. 

And the quite honest truth Jack Steadman is EVERYTHING to Worlds of Fun. 

Jack Steadman at the ceremonies for the 1974 "Grand Opening" (second year of operation)

It could be argued that Hunt Midwest hasn’t owned the park now for over twenty years and Steadman’s influence now almost fifty years ago doesn’t matter anymore.  I couldn’t disagree further, and to prove my point let’s look another Cedar Fair park, Cedar Point.  In the 1960’s Cedar Point almost became a residential subdivision.  The modern father of Cedar Point, George Roose, was a real estate developer that became an amusement park operator after visiting Disneyland and witnessing its own success.  George Roose quickly realized he had Ohio’s own Disneyland slated to become cute suburban homes… so he did the unthinkable.  He changed his mind and instead set on the road to make Cedar Point the Disneyland of the Midwest.  And he did.  Today, the depot at Cedar Point is named in his honor, the modern father of Cedar Point.  No serious Cedar Point fan would argue against his importance to the park’s history.   How then is Jack Steadman any less important because he has not been involved in his park’s operation for twenty years? 

A lot look to Lamar Hunt, the founder of Worlds of Fun, and let’s be honest; Lamar Hunt played a significant role in the development of Worlds of Fun. But it wasn’t his idea.  It wasn’t his brainchild, and for that story, we need to go back not to 1973, not even to groundbreaking in 1971, but to 1957.  In 1957, Jack Steadman went on a trip to Disneyland with his family, and to quote the Kansas City Star:

““Steadman told yesterday’s luncheon guests a thing like the theme park “doesn’t just happen” in informal comment after the meeting Steadman said he had continued discussions with Hunt about the possibilities of such a venture until 1966 when he got a go-ahead to develop it” Roberts, Joe (1971, Aug 4), “Worlds of Fun Work to Start” Kansas City Star, p. 1a

 One thing is certain, Jack Steadman wasn't the type to speak quietly, lord knows how he sounded (or what he said!) coming out of that bull horn.

The story even goes on to elaborate that between 1957 and 1966 the Steadman family continued its unofficially sanctioned research and visited parks across the country discussing between children and parents ideas and attractions they liked and thought should be included in the new park if it was ever to be built.

Then there were the trees, and Steadman had more than a few words to say on that, and for those that know me, his views feed my views and became a big part of why I am so protective of the park’s arbor development.  In a story from the KC Star Jack Steadman was quoted saying “Worlds of Fun will be designed to preserve and enhance the natural beauty of the heavily wooded park site” Roberts, Joe (1971, Aug 4), “Worlds of Fun Work to Start” Kansas City Star, p. 1a.  In a Clay County special edition regarding the opening of Worlds of Fun Steadman further elaborates that serious negative consequences imparted by Steadman himself awaited anyone that removed a tree from the site.

 Jack Steadman at the ribbon cutting of his last and latest "baby", Timber Wolf.

So many other stories could be used to elaborate his impact on Worlds of Fun, how he discussed obtaining investors for the park by using the “Hunt Name”, instead of Lamar Hunt himself, implies that even on the financial side, Steadman was very much in charge of pushing forward his own “World”.  Or for example, how virtually every quote or comment made by park executives during the park’s construction came from Steadman himself.  Then there is my personal favorite which can’t be found in newspapers and is a more personal telling of the story, that goes that Steadman himself pushed from a significant upgrade to many of the park’s star attractions, especially Tivoli, which was originally planned to be an outdoor theater.

However, no story about Steadman could be told without his last great legacy to the park, and that’s not the soda stand named after him (Big Jack’s), but one that though Cedar Fair has arguably made attempts to destroy, has refused to soar off into the sunset and that is THE landmark, the Worlds of Fun Hot Air Balloon.  Steadman states in his own words:

We chose the large, multicolored ascension balloon for our symbol because it represents fun, adventure and travel reminiscent of the movie “Around the World in 80 Days” These are the things we want Worlds of Fun to represent” Roberts, Joe (1971, Nov 11), “Gala Start to Fun World” Kansas City Times, p. 1a

Jack Steadman and his ascending hot air balloon.

It was never my plan to write an editorial regarding Jack Steadman, and instead to write detailing his extraordinarily large investment and endowment, in my forthcoming book detailing the history of the park that is currently in progress.  However, within a span of a few weeks, I saw the removal of “Big Jacks” sign and more notably “Steadman Plaza”, and to be honest what I saw dismayed me more than the removal of almost any other attraction at the park.   I saw the destruction and erasure of everything that formed the bedrock, the foundation of the park I loved. And you will forgive me for saying this… everything that is GOOD about Worlds of Fun.  It concerned me that Jack Steadman’s impact and devotion to making Worlds of Fun a world-class attraction so many years ago was being forgotten and lost.  Regardless of who owns the park, and who operates it, the simple fact still remains there would be no Worlds of Fun, whether past, present or future, there would have been no Forum concerts, no Zambezi Zinger, no Mamba, nor no Prowler, certainly no hot air balloon, and most importantly no memories without him, and for that I am eternally grateful.

20 Years Ago: Mamba Poised to Strike

September 11, 2017: As I am writing this I am in Orlando, FL awaiting a visit from my great-aunt Irma, (and realizing about half of the original photos I am going to share with you are somewhere in storage facility in Orlando too…) , for the last few months actually I have been thinking of this day and what I would say.  Today, or more importantly, 20 years ago, one of Worlds of Fun’s greatest coasters, and one of its current seven operating coasters was announced, Mamba.

General Manager, Daniel Keller at the Media Announcement

Besides its importance to history, both to the park and the coaster world as a whole, Mamba also holds uncountable numbers of personal stories.  In April of next year, I will write its official “historical” editorial, today though I thought I would share a few more personal stories with you, as I was once told those are the more interesting stories.

Jan Kiser, President of ACE at the announcement.  If you go here: https://www.facebook.com/pg/Worlds-of-Fun-dot-org-88851807796/photos/?tab=album&album_id=381621747796

You can see Jan Kiser speaking at the 10th anniversary of Orient Express a decade earlier.

Also, over the next eight months we will be doing a historical account of Mamba’s construction on this blog, Jeff took many of the official Mamba construction photos and I thought it would be fascinating to post them, individually, 20 years after they were initially taken.  Unfortunately, since all the photos were shot using film, I only have the development date, not the actually date they were shot, so they will be posted on their approximate shooting date, and I think that will sufficient to be interesting.   It will certainly be fun for me to re-live the memories myself.

Leslie Slaughter, Public Relations Director at Worlds of Fun.  Also, notice the Mamba logo in the background, the current Mamba logo we know today wouldn't be finalized until a few months prior to Mamba's opening.   Jeff tells the story of how he was asked whether he preferred grass or no grass in the background.  

For many, the construction of Mamba became the catalyst to become Worlds of Fun fans, or for those of us already so, become much more involved and buy season passes. Mamba had a massive impact on the park.  Jeff Mast's website (kcnet) was started to cover Mamba’s construction, and many fans, including myself, visited the website frequently for updated coverage.  In fact, it was about midway through construction of Mamba that I started my own personal website on Tripod too.  Fascinatingly enough, Jeff Mast had been asked by the park’s head of Public Relations, Leslie Slaughter, to monitor various fan sites for “unauthorized” coverage as not only was Mamba being built at the time but Zinger was being removed too.  Of course, this meant Jeff Mast started not only watching my site but several others.  Though we wouldn’t actually meet until eight months later, Jeff Mast and I would eventually become friends, merge our websites and then as if it was the natural conclusion to such a meeting… get married in 2002.  All thanks to a 205-foot steel coaster.

Artistic rendering, I apologize for how small this image is, the original image is buried in a storage shed right now.  (the vast majority of the construction photos are in a binder in our apartment)

Though Jeff vividly remembers the construction of Orient Express, and I also remember the mass advertising of Timber Wolf,  Mamba was probably the most vividly remembered new coaster events in my personal experience.  I was in college at the time, at Northwest Missouri State, and I remember driving down on the weekend, and seeing the silver pylons seemingly rising out the foggy darkness as if it they were some supernatural beings.  On opening day, cars were literally parked down Worlds of Fun avenue, people gazed, gawking out their car windows, no one had ever seen a coaster quite as tall as Mamba was.   The line for Mamba, snaked all the way down past the entrance to Nile, it seemed massive, and though I didn’t realize it at the time, it was for good reason.  Mamba was literally an eleventh-hour finish, with gates not even being added until after media day, on opening day there were no queue rails in the lines themselves, and of course only one train as Morgan (Mamba’s manufacturer) was even surprised by the fact that Mamba had opened on time.

Another artistic rendering.

Mamba opened for the very first time to the public on April 28, 1998, but today we celebrate its announcement, and celebrate one of the tallest, longest and fastest introductions to Worlds of Fun’s attraction headliners.  Continue to watch over the next several months as once again, like twenty years ago, Mamba is about the strike.

Dan Keller climbing into earth moving equipment for the breaking ground ceremony.  Supposedly, it was quite an experience, in that the tractor almost tipped over.

Kansas City Star Article Announcing Mamba 

Drop and Roll: New Coaster Planned for Worlds of Fun

Save it All vs. Tear it all out, is there a middle ground?

Almost twenty years ago an early dot org poster wrote an editorial entitled "Parks Change Get Over it", as pretty much an alternative view to the then "Save It All" view point many, including my (much younger) self were preaching at the time.  Keep in mind the year was 1999, in the previous five years we had lost an almost incalculable number of Worlds of Fun attractions, so the collective call to "save what was left" wasn't without a logical reasoning.  It prompted good discussion, but unfortunately did very little to change anything at the park itself, except get us pretty much disliked by every member of the permanent staff there.

Twenty years have passed, I have gotten older, it's a question mark on the wiser part.  There are one or two out there that are still around from those early years, and many more that continue to believe like I once did, that everything should be saved, that every removal that the park has made over the last two decades has been bad. On the flip side, there are those that are just wanting to know when the next big coaster is going to be added and could give less then a hoot about some forty-five year old derelict attraction. 

I have learned a few things along the way.  One is that never ever discount history and what has happened in the past.  The old saying "Those that don't know their own history are doomed to repeat it" is never more true than now.  Case in point, the removal of the Zambezi Zinger vs the Cotton Blossom.  People miss them both, at least those who were alive to remember them.  However, I would argue that removal of the Zinger has had a much more profound impact on the park then Cotton Blossom ever has.  People literally will not even visit the park because it was removed.  Cotton Blossom, while a sad loss, is at least vaguely understandable. What can we take away from that?  People are okay with SOME change, but if you try to change everything that they love they will rebel.

So what is my point?  My point is that there needs to be a middle ground.  We all need to strive for that, and this is true both with Worlds of Fun and the world at large. With Worlds of Fun it is important for ALL of us to realize that not everything can be saved, to realize that Worlds of Fun is a business first and foremost, but also to not forget what is truly important to what IS Worlds of Fun, what makes it our home park.

For current discussion I am going to use a few recent debatable points.  Octopus and Finnish Fling are a good starting point.  Fling is currently rumored to be removed at the end of this season.  Octopus was removed three years ago.  There was virtually no outcry over Octopus but there is over Fling.  Why?  They are both original rides correct?   Let's look at the facts, first, there is the reasoning that it is like Zinger and Express, you could argue that the park is removing to many rides to close together.  But I think its far more than that.  You could also argue that Octopus is much more of a common ride than Fling is, Monster rides are much more prolific in current years then Rotors right?  True, but I also don't think that's it either.  I personally think that the reason Fling is causing such an uproar is for the same reason that Zinger did.  The intangibles.  Look at Zinger, it wasn't the world's tallest, fastest anything, there was nothing special about it that you can put on a spreadsheet.  Yet, I dare anyone to argue that its removal did not have and does still not have negative repercussions on the park.

There are some things that will not fit on a balance sheet, and it is specifically THOSE things that should at least give one pause before one makes ANY decision.  That's true with life too, you know.  Those intangibles are usually the most important aspects of our lives when we look back on them, those things that WON'T fit on a balance or excel spreadsheet I mean.

Let's talk about another attraction at Worlds of Fun, Timberwolf.  I bet the folks at Worlds of Fun and even possibly in Ohio are grappling with that wooden terror.  It must look terrible on the budget, of that I am sure.  What do you do?  I for one do not think they would even spend one second in thought as to what anyone of us thinks about it.  I would however hope that they would consider how keeping it or removing it will effect the bottom line, and not just this year, but five, ten years from now too.  I would hope they would remember Zinger.  Now, with that being said I do think the status quo is unsustainable.  So where is the middle ground?  Keep it?  Termite dump it?  It is with Timberwolf that I think that the middle ground is as plain as the sun in the sky (except for yesterday...) RMC it.  Already two Dinn/Summers coasters have been RMC'd, Mean Streak and Texas Giant, take the old wooden track, and change it to steel rail, take an old coaster and make it new again, and I would even keep the name.  The park gets two for the price of one, saves face, and gets a new coaster to promote, because that is exactly what it would be. 

Seems easy right?  If there is one thing I have learned over the last twenty years its that there is never an easy answer.  I doubt when they were discussing removing Zinger that it was a quick, oh yep were removing it end of discussion, I am sure there was someone somewhere in that administrative building arguing to save it.  Sometimes, as the crazy Worlds of Fun fan that I am, I dream of winning the big powerball and buying the park and what I would do with if I did.  But then I stop to think that all of those decisions everyone critiques aren’t easy decisions, and no matter what I would do, or what decisions I would make someone would think it was the wrong one. So I get that.  Removing rides are not easy decisions.

With that being said, sometimes its important to NOT do the quick easy fix, or what is right today on the balance sheet.  Remember history, don't repeat it, and for goodness sake please remember who is lining those balance sheets because its not people from Ohio.  It’s people, REAL people from Kansas City... well and two from Orlando too.