I was surprised to see former Cal quarterback Joe Ayoob pop up in the news recently. I was even more surprised by the reason. Ayoob had the misfortune of following Aaron Rodgers as Cal's quarterback in 2005. That's a tough chore. Ayoob bounced around in the smaller football world and kind of drifted on until recently. A few weeks ago, inside a hanger at McClellan Air Force Base outside Sacramento, Ayoob threw a paper airplane 226 feet, 10 inches. The mighty throw shattered the previous record of 207 feet, 4 inches. Verification of Ayoob's throw would seem to be a mere formality, especially since one of the judges was the previous record holder, Stephen Kreiger.
The plane was designed by John Collins, a producer at KRON-TV, in San Francisco. He's designed planes since childhood and has also studied origami. Known as "the Paper Airplane Guy," Collins has been pursuing the record in earnest for three or four years. He's studied aerodynamics, trajectories and the all-important verification process for Guiness World Records. Collins knew that he needed aquarterback to provide the arm strength to challenge the record, so he sought the help of former Cal quarteback Mike Pawlawski and former Portland St quarterback Jimmy Collins. Both participated but Pawlawski had to bow out after neck surgery and Jimmy Collins had scheduling conflicts. Enter Ayoob, who had worked at KRON as an arena football broadcaster. Ayoob has thrown his share of paper airplanes. His quarterbacking skills helped achieve the balance, arm angle and strength needed for the mighty throw. Collins said that Ayoob has thrown his glider as far as 240 feet in practice and he thinks much greater distances are possible.
Joe Ayoob may not have matched the heights achieved by Aaron Rodgers as a quarterback at Cal but he he's now thrown a paper airplane farther than anyone ever has.
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