I was a wrestler when I was young, and that was the "legend" I best remember Paul for. Paul was three years older than me, so he was one of the wrestlers I looked up to, along the other greats like Wayne Wells, Dan Gable, and the Peterson brothers, all of whom (besides Paul) I got to wrestle, among others, at various wrestling clinics while I was in high school. Paul was definitely a multi-talented person and a great natural athlete. It is still sad to think that he was lost at such a young age.
Jim Brackenbury is another outstanding bowyer, archer, and human being who died in his prime while doing what he loved in the outdoors. Guys like Paul and Jim remind us that even the best among us are mortals and can be lost in the blink of an eye when things go terribly wrong like they did for Paul on the ski slopes and for Jim in the river.
I had a bad accident while skiing, like Paul did, but slowed to a much lesser speed before running head first into the hard plastic cover surrounding a snow making nozzle. I had a four inch gash in my head, two compressed discs in my neck, six broken ribs from the compression of my chest, a badly strained back, and two dislocated shoulders, but I still had far less severe injuries than Paul -- obviously. I wish he were still with us. He had a lot more to offer.
Allan