posted Jun 12th, 2025 - It did not take too long until the bad news on June 13th spread across the skydiving world. Skydive DeLand owner Bob Hallet had died in a car crash in the morning, on the way to the dropzone where he was scheduled to fly the jump planes. He was still very active as a pilot, besides the management of his skydiving operation.

It is not a surprise that his name appears in the very first NSL News update of SKYLEAGUE.COM on December 1998, even though the current design of the website was launched only in 2003. The NSL News has added earlier updates whenever there was time, as the archives reach several additional years back in the history of Skydive DeLand.

"Did you know that the DeLand Norgies - bronze medal winner at this year's World Cup - will compete at a couple of FSL meets in 1999? The team just finished their first three-week training camp of the new season at Skydive DeLand.

During this camp, the Norgies had a little fun/competition between their friends and supporters Bob Hallett, Irv Cullahan, Sally Winner and Edward "Bushman" Anderson. Each of them made the same jump in the front slot with three of the Norgies.

The sequence was Round 7 of the USPA Nationals 1998: E,7,B,P. Sally won with 22 points in time, Irv (who coached all Norgies when they were still competing in 8-way) placed second with 21, Bob Hallett third with 20, Bushman scored an 18. Close finish! They said that the pressure was high, and that they had the best skydives of their lives."

Shamrock Showdown 2002			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		12,H,2	J,L,G,D,P	6,Q,C,B	K,N,7,16	F,A,14,M	5,13,15	18,3,10	9,19,18	17,4,22	11,O,21	Total	Avg
1	DeLand Majik	US	19	34	31	23	22	20	17	21	18	21	226	22.6
2	Airspeed Vertical	US	19	34	28	24	23	19	17	19	19	21	223	22.3
3	Sebastian XL	UK	17	27	22	20	23	16	14	17	17	18	191	19.1
4	Sinapsi PD	IT	14	27	18	21	21	14	14	17	15	17	178	17.8
5	Punky Fish	NL	14	24	21	16	17	13	11	14	13	13	156	15.6
6	Phenix	SE	14	19	19	17	17	11	13	6	14	14	144	14.4
7	Blue Eye Majik	US	11	23	14	19	14	10	11	14	12	14	142	14.2
8	Space Center Teiwaz	US	12	18	18	12	10	13	11	14	9	15	132	13.2
9	Jetstream	US	11	15	15	13	13	10	11	12	11	11	122	12.2
10	Superfly	US	11	15	12	11	10	9	10	11	7	11	107	10.7
11	TBD	US	5	14	9	9	12	8	4	10	9	8	88	8.8
Rank	A Class		C,K,15	P,G,N	Q,D,H	A,4	L,E,O	M,J,21					Total	Avg
1	Quest	UK	6	8	12	9	13	11	-	-	-	-	59	9.8
2	Apogee	US	3	9	5	7	10	7	-	-	-	-	41	6.8
3	Pahokee 4play	US	6	8	8	4	5	7	-	-	-	-	38	6.3
4	Zero Tolerance Miami	US	5	5	5	7	7	6	-	-	-	-	35	5.8
5	Slow Motion	US	2	5	4	4	4	5	-	-	-	-	24	4.0
Rank	Rookie		E,P,K	E,A,H	E,D,N	E,M,Q	E,C,B	E,G,J					Total	Avg
1	Sebastian 8L	US	10	15	10	9	12	12	-	-	-	-	68	11.3
2	Obsessive Compulsion	US	4	10	6	8	5	8	-	-	-	-	41	6.8

Skydiving Magazine reported in December 1997 that the Florida Skydiving League starts its 2nd year, and Skydive DeLand was the place where it all began. Bob Hallet supported 4-way teams, as the news update in December 1998 explained, and Skydive DeLand became one of the first hosts of the National Skydiving League events.

However, the 4-way history of Skydive DeLand and owner Bob Hallet began even much earlier. He and his original co-owner Tom Piras had already generated the first 4-way world champions at the first FAI World Championship in Mali Losinj 1985 where the current format of 4-way and 8-way competition was introduced by FAI/ISC.

The DeLand Air Bears (Tom Piras, Guy Manos, Art Nepute, John Robbins, with Norman Kent on camera) were home at Skydive DeLand and won the first world championship title many years before the National Skydiving League was launched. Bob Hallet supported not only his first 4-way world champion team. DeLand Majik (2004) and DeLand Fire (2006) repeated the success that was based on the conditions that Bob Hallet set up for team training and competition. The first Shamrock Showdown was hosted by Skydive DeLand in 2002 and featured 18 teams in the three NSL categories (AAA - AA - A). The Shamrock Showdown has lasted into the present and will become the Bob Hallet Memorial Meet in the future.

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In Mermory of Bob Hallet: Skydive DeLand's 60-year Anniversary in 2020, Made by John Sox Rostoks

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Bob Hallet's legacy in the skydiving world and in support of formation skydiving competition will not only be preserved by the Shamrock Showdown events in the future. It is already documented in many ways, including a video that was created by John Sox Rostoks in 2020.

Bob Hallet was alive by then, of course, and the video was honoring his contribution to the skydiving community and to the sport in general. Reason for the documentary was the 60-year anniversary of skydiving in DeLand, which began earlier than Bob Hallet's arrival in Florida. He and his partner Tom Piras, 4-way world champion of 1985, then lifted Skydive DeLand to a different dimension, as the video documents the progress accurately.

The creators, John Sox Rostoks and Dean Nordstedt, have been locals in DeLand, John Sox Rostoks since the early 80's when he was the system mechanic for Mr. Douglas, the famous DC3 jump plane that Bob Hallet used regularly for larger formation events. John Sox Rostoks is of the same age as Bob Hallet was this year and helped to celebrate the history of Skydive DeLand in 2020. He has accumulated well over 5,000 jumps since 1971 and Bob Hallet acknowledged his value by offering him free slots in his jump planes as a gift. Bob Hallet has also sponsored teams and individuals with Skydive DeLand in the past, while the gift of free jumps has been even more meaningful. This acknowledgment of John Sox Rostoks' value was only one of many examples for Bob Hallet's generous support of the skydiving community. The next Shamrock Showdown and 1st Bob Hallet Memorial Meet will be scheduled for April 24/25 next year.