Kit Summers, Our Friend in Need

As I write, Kit Summers sleeps in a hospital bed in Somers Point, N.J. He has been in a semi-coma for over a month now since he was struck by a truck walking to work at Bally's Park Place Casino in Atlantic City.

It was the best job he ever had, the jumping off point for a career that surely included Las Vegas, European night clubs, and wherever else he chose to go.

The phrase on his calIing card is "Juggling with Finesse," and that's surely an understatement. I see him in my mind doing silken smooth double spin back crosses, head clicking back and forth, blond hair flashing from side to side, controlling three clubs as easily as a toothbrush.

He's one of the top jugglers in the IJA, the first true star that many members who've had the pleasure of meeting him at the last four conventions have known. He juggled five clubs, and was working on seven as you read in the last issue of this magazine. I'm happy to have printed a fine picture of him along with the "Numbers" article.

Kit was one of the jugglers that people loved to watch at conventions. I wish someone had been watching him walk through the rain storm outside of Bally's that day he was hit. But because he had an umbrella in front of his face and no one to warn him, he stepped in front of a truck. Now, Kit will have to work hard to simply walk and talk again. Now he needs our help.

His mother, Elizabeth, has been living at his apartment and caring for him since the accident. You can imagine the anguish of her vigil. She sits with him daily, rubbing his arms and legs to maintain blood circulation, patting him and talking to him, urging him to wake up. She says he rolls his eyes a little bit and screws up his mouth like he wants to talk, but can manage no more.

"I know he recognizes my voice and knows I'm there, .. she said. "And he tries so hard to respond. But it's like he's caught in a tiny paper bag and can't get out."

Visitors come from New York City, where he used to juggle at Brian Dube's studio. The entertainers and technicians from Bally's who used to run with him on the beach and star with him in the show do likewise. Elizabeth says they've been loyal and a comfort.

Soon, she plans to move him back home to San Diego. He should be there now as you read this. She's is certainly still by his side, waiting as Kit tries to regain his senses and become again the lively close friend he has been to her.

We must all pray for his recovery, and believe in his strength to manage it.

If you'd like to help Kit and his mother through this sorrowful and expensive ordeal, write to: Elizabeth Summers, San Diego, CA.

CONVENTION ACTIVITIES SCHEDULE

Open Juggling: Tuesday, July 13 through Sunday, July 18