Don Kersten – Fort Dodge, Iowa. Don was a lawyer and an Air Force veteran (1948- 1952). He had been a licensed balloon pilot since 1965 and in this event flew a white Piccard balloon with two blue bands at the equator. Named Merope after his wife, this AX-6 Piccard balloon was fourth in the pack of Coyotes to launch. Incidentally, back then, everyone in the basket wore helmets. Don served as the BFA president from 1969 to 1971 and 1975 to 1977. As immediate past president and a delegate to the FAI in 1972, Don was tasked with searching for a site for the First World Hot Air Balloon Championships. He urged Sid and Tom Rutherford, at the time working for KOB Radio, to form an organization to bid Albuquerque as the host site. They formed World Balloon Championships, Inc. “It wasn’t until later that we learned that no one else had bid, or even been invited to bid for this event,” Tom recalled. Nevertheless, Albuquerque was secured as the host city for the 1973 championships. Sadly, Merope Kersten died in 1984, and Don died in 1998 at age 73. Above: Roadrunner clears the field, Coyotes soon to follow. Right: Don Kersten in Merope waves to the crowd at the City’s first modern hot air ballooning event. more than a decade. Beginning in 1971, he devoted the rest of his life to ballooning. Sid flew Roadrunner, a Raven AX-6, N1954R, the club balloon of the Albuquerque Aerostat Ascension Association (Quad A) that morning of April 8, 1972, from the northwest corner of Coronado Center. His co-pilot was Don Draper, Quad A’s president. Sid and Don of course launched first, and soon the chase began. At 7:30 a.m., Governor Bruce King fired the starting gun, and 12 competing Coyote balloons trailing advertising banners began lifting off before 20,000 spectators. Albuquerque’s first Balloon Fiesta was underway. Assisting as launch and chase crews were members of the fledging Quad A. As Roadrunner drifted north, Sid commented to his co-pilot, “Well, Don, we have finally seen a balloon race.” Sid held some of the highest aviation awards, including the 1975 Fédération Aéronautique Internationale’s (FAI) Montgolfier Diplome for service to sport ballooning and the 2009 FAA Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award in flight safety. He founded the world’s largest local balloon club – the Albuquerque Aerostat Ascension Association, or Quad A – in 1971, organized the first two World Hot Air Balloon Championships in 1973 and 1975, and won the National Hot Air Balloon Championships in 1978 and 1986. He was inducted into five Halls of Fame during the period 1983-2010. He was very proud of how Albuquerque took to ballooning like he did and how the community embraced an annual Balloon Fiesta. After a long battle with cancer, Sid passed away peacefully in his sleep on May 21, 2011. ® 54 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta