Sunshine Superman: BIFF

Overcoming childhood polio to live a life of unbelievable physicality, Carl Boenish, along with his wife Jean, invented BASE jumping in the late ‘70s, a hair-raising sport that was illegal almost everywhere—but caught on like wildfire among athletic adrenaline junkies. Donning 16mm camera helmets, Carl and Jean became publicity magnets, defying death over and over again in illegal leaps off towers, skyscrapers and even El Capitan. They created a whole society of people who, at that point, didn’t yet exist, but who now jump in a recently invented, chute-less free-fall form in special suits like flying squirrels. “Always follow nature’s laws,” Carl once said, grinning,” but not necessarily man