Stone-skipping champion who once held world record
The world of competitive sports lost a legend last week when former world stoneskipping champion Russ “Rock Bottom” Byars died of complications from cancer treatment. He was 54.
Russell Byars of Franklin, Venango County, was a longtime competitor in a global subculture that turned a common childhood playtime activity into a semi-professional sport. In stone skipping, the stakes are sweet — winners get a pound of fudge.
In 2007, skippers from across the United States and Canada gathered at Riverfront Park in Franklin.
Hometown favorite Mr. Byars hurled a stone that skipped 51 times across the Allegheny River, setting a Guinness World Records title for most consecutive skips of a stone on water. The record stood from July 19, 2007, through Sept. 6, 2013.
“He put Franklin on the map for that,” said his wife, Deborah Hasbrouck Byars. Married just 27 days, the couple had been together four years.
Some adult skippers worked since childhood to perfect their wrist-twisting, arm-flinging technique, while others study the physics of stone-andwater friction in actual peer reviewed papers on stone skipping published in the American Journal of Physics and Journal of Fluid Mechanics.
“Russ never did any of that,” said Mrs. Byars. “He didn’t keep at it since he was a kid and really didn’t practice much. He was a natural.”
Mr. Byars’ interest in stone skipping began by chance at an amateur competition at the Franklin Rockin’ River Fest.
“He didn’t want to do it at first until they told him the winner gets fudge. He knocked it out of the park,” she said. Afterward, she and Mr. Byars traveled to stoneskipping events worldwide.
“We were in China, Paris. This year he won the competition in Arkansas on Labor Day, and we went to Mackinac Island [Michigan] and he won that one July 4.”
In August, Mr. Byars, competition rivals and the stone-skipping culture were featured in the independent film documentary “Skips Stones for Fudge,” which was released at premieres in Boston and at Pittsburgh’s Row House Cinema in Lawrenceville.
“After the showing of the movie, we went down to the [Allegheny] River,” said Mrs. Byars. “He brought stones down, and Russ taught people, mostly kids, how to skip.”
Mr. Byars died before achieving his longtime goals of visiting Costa Rica and skipping a stone 101 times.
As a young man he served in the Marine Corps. He was married three times. Later in life he enjoyed rescuing homeless dogs and wild animals.
After moving to Franklin via Green Tree and, as a youth, California, he worked for 14 years as a calibrator at Franklin’s Liberty Electronics where his future wife, Deborah Hasbrouck, worked in production.
She survives Mr. Byars, as does his son, Derek Byars of Franklin, stepsister Marlys Litchfield of New Hampshire and stepbrother James Litchfield of California.
Funeral arrangements were handled by Huff Funeral Home in Franklin.
Memorial donations can be made to the Venango County Humane Society.