It was a windy Saturday afternoon on October 29th, 2011 when the Silver Skydivers began their traditional jump into Washington Grizzly Stadium, when tragedy struck.

The first man in the formation, veteran skydiver Blaine Wright, was blown off course by strong winds out of the Hellgate Canyon. As he attempted to avoid falling into the stands and possibly injuring the crowd, Wright's parachute snagged on a tree, and he fell on a concrete retaining wall, traveling  at between 25 and 35 miles per hour, causing devastating injuries.

Wright says he remembers nothing of the minute before the crash, but only that he did not think he was that badly hurt, until he realized that his arm and leg were both broken.

In fact, Wright's pelvis was completely crushed, his skull was fractured, in all..he suffered 19 broken bones. He found out later, that the injury to his pelvis nearly caused him to bleed to death internally.

Now, a year later, Wright is not only walking again, but he is hiking and swimming. In fact, at Saturday's Idaho State football game, Wright will walk onto the field during the pre-game festivities to, in part..thank all the thousands of well-wishers who sent him cards, letters and emails, but also to complete the journey he started almost exactly a year ago to the center of the bear, where he consistently landed as a Silvertip skydiver.

Skydiver Blaine Wright

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