The 1980s in Chicago. A time of Chicagofest, big hair, NO DISCO, Da Bears(and their Superfans), and many other things. One of the more surreal Chicago events from that decade came in 1981. First, on Memorial Day, a gentleman by the name of Dan Goodwin scaled the Sears Tower using (among other things) suction cups in an effort to call attention to the challenges of rescuing people from high-rise fires(a peril he knew firsthand from watching the infamous MGM Grand fire a year earlier in Las Vegas). His climb took seven hours, and aside from a few attempts by the Fire Department to stop him, he reached the top of the tower and unfurled the flag to honor his father.
Six months later Dan came back for Veterans Day. After having just climbed 56 stories in Dallas 4 days earlier, this time he had his sights set on the 100 story John Hancock Center. He started out, this time in a wetsuit made to resemble a Spider Man outfit. As he went, he swung across the building on a rope in order to elude firefighters who were trying to catch him with a window-washing machine. The firefighters then switched to using fire hoses in an attempt to blow him off the side of the building, while at the same time using axes to break the windows of the Hancock in order to deprive Goodwin of handholds. In addition to all of that, they also stuck poles through the windows to dislodge him. Finally, Mayor Jane Byrne stepped in to stop the madness and allowed Spider Dan to finish his climb unimpeded. Of course he was arrested at the top of the building, but he raised awareness anyway.
Over the intervening 33 years, Goodwin has climbed several more buildings, including the CN Tower, the North Tower of the World Trade Center, and even a building in Chile this past March, but Chicagoans will remember him as the man who took on the 2 tallest buildings in the city-and lived to tell the tale.
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