George Willig (born June 11, 1949) (a.k.a. "The Human Fly" or "The Spiderman") is a
mountain-climber from
Queens
Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
, New York, United States, who climbed the South Tower (
2 World Trade Center
2 World Trade Center (2 WTC; also known as 200 Greenwich Street) is a planned skyscraper as part of the World Trade Center complex in Manhattan, New York City. It will replace the original 2 World Trade Center, which was completed in 1972 and ...
) of the
World Trade Center
World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association.
World Trade Center may refer to:
Buildings
* List of World Trade Centers
* World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...
on May 26, 1977, about two and a half years after tightrope walker
Philippe Petit walked between the tops of the two towers.
Life and climb
Before the stunt, Willig was a toymaker. At the time of the climb, 2 WTC was the
third tallest building in the world, behind 1 WTC and the
Sears Tower
The Willis Tower (originally the Sears Tower) is a 108- story, skyscraper in the Loop community area of Chicago in Illinois, United States. Designed by architect Bruce Graham and engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM ...
. It took Willig 3.5 hours to scale the tower. While the City of New York initially announced it would fine him $250,000 for "the inconvenience the stunt caused,"
New York City Mayor Abraham Beame fined him just $1.10, one cent for each of the skyscraper's 110 stories.
Willig visited the World Trade Center a year before the stunt and took measurements for the equipment he would need. He made special clamps that fit into the window washing tracks of the South Tower. The clamps he designed would lock into place when they were pulled down by his body weight. They would release when he decided to raise them. Once he built the equipment, he went to the World Trade Center 4 to 5 times at night to test the equipment. He began his climb at 6:30 a.m. that Thursday morning. As he was climbing, two police officers, one a suicide expert, were lowered in a window washing basket to try to get Willig to give up. Willig swung away from the officers so they could not grab him. Willig and the officers talked, and the suicide expert realized that Willig knew what he was doing and was not a threat. The officer passed him a pen and paper, and Willig signed it "Best Wishes to my co-ascender." Police helped him to the top of the tower by pulling him through a tiny window hatch at 10:05 a.m. and he was arrested. Willig said he could hear the crowd cheering from ground level. His climb received plenty of attention because it took 3½ hours to complete, allowing news cameras and spectators to gather. The only significant problem Willig ran into was irregularities in window washing tracks. However, he was prepared for this because he brought a small hammer to fix the irregularities. He signed his name and the date on a piece of metal on the observation deck of the South Tower, which was still visible until the tower was destroyed on
September 11, 2001
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...
.
The stunt paved the way for appearances on ''
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' was an American late-night talk show hosted by Johnny Carson on NBC, the third iteration of the ''Tonight Show'' franchise. The show debuted on October 1, 1962, and aired its final episode on May 22, ...
'', ''
Good Morning America'', ''
The Merv Griffin Show
''The Merv Griffin Show'' is an American television talk show starring Merv Griffin. The series ran from October 1, 1962 to March 29, 1963 on NBC, May 10, 1965 to July 4, 1969 in first-run syndication, from August 18, 1969 to February 11, 1972 ...
'', and ABC's ''
Wide World of Sports''. He also got jobs as a
stuntman on ''
The Six Million Dollar Man
''The Six Million Dollar Man'' is an American science fiction and action television series, running from 1973 to 1978, about a former astronaut, USAF Colonel Steve Austin, portrayed by Lee Majors. After a NASA test flight accident, Austin is re ...
'', ''
Trauma Center
A trauma center (or trauma centre) is a hospital equipped and staffed to provide care for patients suffering from major traumatic injuries such as falls, motor vehicle collisions, or gunshot wounds. A trauma center may also refer to an emergen ...
'', and ''
Hollywood Beat'
George Willig and Jerry Hewitt climbed the
Unisphere
The Unisphere is a spherical stainless steel representation of the Earth in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in the New York City borough of Queens. The globe was designed by Gilmore D. Clarke as part of his plan for the 1964 New York World's ...
in Queens in 1976.
In 1979, he published a book called ''Going It Alone'' ().
During the 1990s, Willig lived in
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
's
San Fernando Valley, working as a remodeler of commercial buildings.
After the
9/11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerci ...
that destroyed both towers of the World Trade Center, Mr. Willig publicly said he regretted climbing the tower, as his actions may have brought them to the attention of terrorists. But he later told CNN that was just an initial, emotional reaction and that he was still glad to have climbed the tower.
"America Remembers: The Significance of the World Trade Center"
Transcript of ''Larry King Weekend''. ''CNN''. October 27, 2001.
See also
* Harry Gardiner
*Dan Goodwin
Daniel Goodwin (born November 7, 1955 in Kennebunkport, Maine) is an American climber best known for performing gymnastic-like flag maneuvers and one arm flyoffs while free soloing difficult rock climbs on national TV and for scaling towering s ...
*Ivan Kristoff
Ivan Kristoff (born Ivan Hristov; June 6, 1968) is an aviator and rescue worker. He has helped improve the safety of vertical and aerial rope manoeuvres.
Early life
At the age of 15 Kristoff made his own improvised climbing tools and started rock ...
* Philippe Petit
* Owen Quinn
*Alain Robert
Alain Robert (born as Robert Alain Philippe on 7 August 1962) is a French rock climber and urban climber. Known as "the French Spider-Man" (after the comic character Spider-Man) or "the Human Spider", Robert is famous for his free solo climbi ...
References
* Gillespie, Angus K. ''Twin Towers the Life of New York City's World Trade Center'' Rutgers University Press 1999
* Glanz, James and Eric Lipton. ''City in the Sky''. New York: Times Book, 2003.
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Willig
Urban climbers
Living people
1949 births