Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Presenting Billy Gillen, another 5-ball joggler

You've already heard about the amazing 5-ball joggler, Barry Goldmeier. Now here's an article from the mid-80s from Juggle magazine about another 5-ball joggler named Billy Gillen (pictured above on a joggle in Brooklyn):

Joggler Takes One Step More

If joggling
three balls represents a physiological step above running without juggling, is
five ball joggling a step higher still? Billy Gillen of Brooklyn, New York,
certainly thinks so.

He also acknowledges that it's lonely there
at the top. Despite his attempts to convince others to join him, he's the only
person who regularly practices this particular physical regimen. It has required
a great deal of practice and patience in the year that he's been at it, and will
require a lot more to perfect it.

Unlike three ball joggling,
during which a runner's stride is basically unchanged, five ball joggling
demands short, shuffling steps to keep up with the quicker hand movement of five
ball juggling. More hazardous still, the five ball joggler must keep his or her
eyes trained upward at the pattern, instead of forward watching for the changing
terrain underfoot. Considering that Gillen does most of his five ball joggling
along the potholed and heavily trafficked streets of Brooklyn, the feat becomes
remarkable.

In recent time trials on a smooth track, however,
Gillen proved that five ball joggling is for real. His fastest of three
quarter-mile attempts was I :55.8, which included time spent picking up three
drops. He joggled 100 yards in :20.1 with no drops. Since that time, he claims
to have managed a phenomenal 6:15.52 mile with 12 drops.

Comparing the relative speeds of juggling five standing still and
joggling five on the run shows that joggling slows down the pattern slightly.
For 50 throws with five balls while standing still, Gillen averaged 12.4
seconds. Joggling, the time slowed to a 13.9 second average.

Gillen has proven he has the determina­tion and eccentricity
needed to overcome obstacles and push back the frontiers of joggling. In 1980 he
joggled a stick, ball and baby carriage wheel (club, ball and ring) 30 miles
from Oakland to Berkeley, California, while balancing a bean bag on his head. He
admits interrupting the jaunt at the 26 mile mark to see a Fellini film.

In 1982 he trained for six months to run four miles around the
track at Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn joggling four five-pound
weights. It took 56 minutes to complete the feat, but a month for Gillen to
recuperate from the strain. It didn't make him famous, but "I gave myself a very
solid pat on the back!" Gillen said.

His fastest joggling occurred on the foot­wide elevated center
divider of the defunct West Side Highway in lower Manhattan. During a lightning
storm one summer's day, he joggled three balls along that narrow path for a mile
in 4:30. He thinks fear of electrocution had something to do with the fast time.

Gillen has been a runner since childhood, when he raced the bus a
mile through city streets to grade school. Wandering through Central Park one
day in 1976, Gillen was enchanted by the sight of a juggler. He learned of John
Grimaldi's lessons at Trinity Church near Wall Street, and learned to juggle the
next day. "I went home and juggled for 12 hours straight;" he said. "But I was
tossing the balls out in front of me and had to step forward to catch them. The
next day, I was joggling!"

For several years he joggled up to 10
miles a day with three and four balls, crossing the Brooklyn Bridge in his
Captain America suit and circling Washington Square before returning home. He
found out about the IJA convention joggling races and participated at the 1983
Purchase convention. He finished second in the five kilometer event with a time
of 20:07.6, but moreover was astounded to discover another dozen jogglers after
so many years of practicing alone.

A month later he began working on five ball juggling and carving
himself another lonely niche with practice of five ball joggling. Since that
time, he has rarely joggled three or four. Through last winter's slush and
snow, he joggled five around his usual long loop, stooping hundreds of times to
pick up his frequent drops. By March, though, he could go a city block without a
drop, and is now working on dropless quarter-miles. At next summer's Atlanta
convention, he plans to joggle five balls in the 100 meter and one mile events.

A former health food restaurant chef, Gillen now makes a living with
occasional work as a building renovator. He has also lately begun street
performing at neighborhood festivals in New York City. He credits joggling as
good training for his ability to tap dance, do a jig and break dance while
juggling five balls for an audience. He also includes club juggling, plate
spinning, magic tricks, balloon animal creation and story-telling in his street
shows.

"Joggling is a new athletic frontier, the same as running was several
years ago, " Gillen said. "I think it suits intellectual people who are studying
new age consciousness. These are people trying to integrate new challenges into
their practice of sport, to take it that little bit further... to do it with
style."

44 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's a great article. Nice find! I wonder what ever happened to Billy Gillen.

Anonymous said...

Billy G had many, many friends that loved him so much.... I count myself as one his dearest friends...
Without too much detail Billy G passed away many years ago at the young age of 34 to cancer....
I and many others miss his amazing energy and spirit....He was truly one of a kind and gave so much love to others.... With tears in my eyes I still miss him dearly...

Robaire

Michal The Joggler Kapral said...

I didn't know that - thanks for sharing, Robaire. I wish I could've met him.

Mike Hout said...

I knew Billy and actually competed against him at the IJA fest in St. Louis in 1991. It was my first big festival. Sadly, it was his last. I thought of him many many times after that as I got into 5 ball joggling and wish I could have chatted with him about it.

victoria said...

Billy G was my best friend. The first time we met we were both in whiteface at a public event. The funny thing is Billy G had scores or people who considered him their best friend. He had a heart of gold, said and did the funniest, most outrageious things and did everything with a passion. He taught children good values, baked cakes, posed for an artist friend who painted over lifesize paintings of him, and he joggled three or five balls to the top of the World Trade Center and got to the top undetected by security. He juggled on tape wearing about twenty tee shirts which he peeled off while he juggled. He juggled fire torches bare chested at a Jewish Temple show. Everyone went crazy. He always did what he wanted to do, and overcame incredible challenges. I realize I could write a lot about him. Near the end of his life he gave his friends who came to visit him hyacynth plants. He always left people with his genuine love. He told me he was a Native American Prince of the Oglala Sioux tribe. He loved Jim Carey and was like him and Earnest was his comedy hero."Hey Verne!" Some of the things Billy used to say were."You can't fool me, I'm a moron!" with the biggest smile on his face, with one eyebrow raised. "Vee shall see vat vee shall see". He had the spirit of a boy and the visions of a fearless genius. He also used to say,"Bye-zee bye-zee". After he passed, he used to visit me in my apartment and flip plastic forks and bottle caps off my table. That's how I knew he was there. Billy G... He suffered many ways in his life yet he gave thousands of people side-splitting shows, laughter and performed amazing feats. He always goaled for being the best. Billy G was the best.
If you knew Billy G feel free to email me.
victoriaontrack@gmail.com

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victoria said...

Hi again from Victoria,

Can someone tell me what info about Viagra has to do with a site about Billy Gillen the world's record joggler? Anyway here's another story. Not sure if I gave this one yet. Billy G was running some 10K race and was doing it juggling 5 balls. (or was it seven?) He stumbled over a dropped ball or bean bag, and ended up falling and hurting his forearm. He called me up and told me that he was waiting a day or so for the x ray the chiropractor took. He insisted that he only wanted a soft cast if it was broken SO HE COULD REMOVE IT AND KEEP JUGGLING... He seemed to be in shock, and not thinking all that straight, and who knows if the chiropractor had urged him to go to the Emergency Room at a hospital. I tell you that is where I insisted we go, convincing him that if he did not get immediate care he might not ever be able to resume juggling at all and that the arm could heal wrong without being set correctly and that people should not juggle with possible fractures and pain like he had. This was hard for him to acccept, so he finally agreed to get to an ER. They gave him a heavy, old fashioned plaster cast, and it was really hard for him to take that break from his beloved joggling and juggling practice which he would do for HOURS every day...He had so many friends that it was tough finding room on that cast, which I think might have been pink or green. Billy G recovered in record time using healing techniques, prayers and mind over matter, and resumed his passion with juggling balls, pins, hoops, and whatever he could try to keep in the air. He was certainly a "wild and crazy guy" that we all loved to bits, and he would say things like,"Thank you , thank you", and
when he was on his way to somewhere else would say,"By-zee, by-zee!" I get a sense that by now he may have reincarnated and who knows if he has gotten born into some European flying circus family or something where he could continue to wow people with his amazing talent and determination, and joy for life regardless of what life threw him. He just continued to toss stuff in the air and speak about his "personal best" with goals to break existing records. There will never be another one like Billy G. If there is some baby somewhere who juggles his bottles it just might be the reborn Billy G... Still love you Billy, Victoria

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