LLOYD BRIDGES
Lloyd Bridges was an accomplished actor of stage and screen (including “High Noon,” “A Walk In The Sun” and “The Rainmaker”), and becoming one of Hollywood’s busiest actors with such live TV drama as “Alcoa Hour,” “Climax,” “Playhouse 90,” and “U.S. Steel Hour.”
JACQUES-YVES COUSTEAU
A 1930 graduate of the Naval School, Jacques-Yves Cousteau left the French Navy in 1957 with the rank of corvette captain after having organized, with Philippe Tailliez, the French Navy’s underwater study and research group.
BEN CROPP
His first films - on shark hunting - proved to be highly successful, and sold worldwide.
ELLIS ROYAL (E.R.) CROSS
Starting his career in the United States Navy in 1947, Cross became owner and operator of the Sparling School of Deep Sea Diving in California, where he trained many commercial, open sea, research and other specialty divers. He also instructed many diving clubs and groups in safe diving procedures.
SYLVIA EARL, PH. D.
She holds degrees from Florida State University, and Duke University, and was a Radcliffe Institute Scholar, a Research Fellow at Harvard University, and Research Associate at the University of California, Berkeley.
BERNARD EATON
In 1962, Peter Small, co-founder of the British Sub-Aqua Club (BSAC) and the principal organizer of the Congress invited Eaton to help publicize the Second World Congress of Underwater Activities in London. Shortly afterwards, Small invited Eaton to become his partner in a venture to turn the BSAC’s magazine, Triton, into a meaningful diving publication for open market sale. In 1963, Eaton took over full control of Triton, after Peter Small’s untimely death in December of 1962.
EMILE GAGNAN
Emile Gagnan was born in France and after graduating from technical school, went to work as an engineer for a large gas-supply firm. Gagnan was a prolific inventor and had developed everything from mechanical razors to butane regulators for automotive fuel systems.
AL GIDDINGS
Never settling for off-the-shelf technology, Giddings constantly designs innovative camera, lighting and optical systems in film and video formats, from IMAX to high definition
HANS AND LOTTE HASS
Hans was fascinated with the underwater world he saw through his first goggles, and decided that he wanted to devote his life to studying it. Hans took his first underwater photos while free diving in Dalmatia in 1938; his first book “Hunting Underwater” was published the following year.
DR. JEFFERSON DAVID, M.D.
Through his research in the application of hyperbaric oxygen, he pioneered its use in the treatment of decompression sickness and air embolism in both military and civilian divers.
JACK W. LAVANCHY
In 1964, Lavanchy became the exclusive agent of the diving equipment La Spirotechnique in Switzerland, on the heels of seeing Jaques Cousteau’s film, “Le Monde Sans Soleil.”
JACK MCKENNY
A NAUI instructor since 1963 (NAUI 304) and a PADI master instructor, he moved to the Bahamas for three years where he helped to open the Underwater Explorers Club in 1965.
BOB SOTO
The Cayman Islands are recognised as the birthplace of Caribbean recreational diving, world-wide, a historic event that is attributed to Bob Soto, who established the Caribbean’s first dive operation on Grand Cayman in 1957.
RON AND VALERIE TAYLOR
Born in Sydney, Australia, Ron and Valerie Taylor began diving in the 1950s. Both became Australian spearfishing champions and Ron a world spearfishing champion, then turning from hunting to marine conservation.
ALBERT TILLMAN
Albert A. Tillman’s involvement in the diving community is legendary.
GUSTAV DALLA VALLE
Gustav Dalla Valle was born in Northern Italy. Fascinated by the sea, he started to free dive in the Mediterranean Sea in his youth. A citizen of the world, he loved to travel and pioneered diving tourism in Haiti. Representing the Cressi-line of diving equipment, he joined Dick Klein’s Healthways, helping to stimulate interest in championship spear fishing. Gustav was responsible for placing the “Christ of the Abyss” statue on the reefs of the Florida Keys.
STAN WATERMAN
Stan Waterman has been at the forefront of Scuba Diving since its inception as a recreational sport both in this country and throughout the world.