Dan Wessell — better known as “Lorenzo Wessellini The Human Canonball” — makes his way down Campanile Hill in an attempt to fly on April 27, 1973. The homemade flying machine was the brainchild of Wessell, an art student who delighted in creating spectacles to entertain students. Several thousand people turned out for his attempt to fly. Although his glider never made it completely off the launching ramp, the University Daily Kansan reported that Wessell looked at the wreckage and remarked, “You don’t get destruction like this from not flying.”

University Archives, Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas Libraries