Awarded For Meritorious Service With Impressive Camera Work

Joe Jennings was awarded the Gold Medal for Meritorious Service by the U.S. Parachute Association (USPA). The award is for “outstanding USPA members who, by their efforts over a period of years, have made significant contributions to the skydiving community.”

The USPA board chose Jennings, D-13033, as the latest recipient of the prestigious award. Jennings began his career with a static-line jump in 1984, and he has since grown to produce an impressive body of camera work.

Jennings is probably known by most outside the skydiving world as the pioneer of skysurfing and filming his partner Rob Harris as he won multiple world championships in the 1990s.

In 1995, the sport was included in the ESPN Extreme Games, now known as the X Games, as he put the spotlight on skydiving as it had never been done before. Jennings and Harris won gold medals in the event and Jennings also received an Emmy for his exceptional work with the camera.

Jennings has flown camera for multiple feature films including “Charlie’s Angels,” “XXX,” “Baywatch,” and television series that include “Dateline NBC,” “MacGyver,” and “Top Gear USA.”

His film “Good Stuff” featured skydiving as the main theme and inspired both new and experienced jumpers. Its most memorable scene was seeing the Arizona Airspeed inside a junk car, maneuvering it through the sky as Jennings filmed it from below.

If his achievements in skydiving weren’t impressive enough for you, he has also been inspiring off the field, as it were, or actually, on the ground. He has spent a considerable amount of time raising funds and being a board member for an orphanage in Haiti.

Jennings was presented with his medal on December 16, 2024, by USPA Western Regional Director Joshua Hall. The inscription on the medal reads, “For being one of the most innovative skydivers to ever wear a camera, from his winning performance at the first X Games to filming cars and living rooms falling from the sky.”

FMI:  www.uspa.org/