Comments on: Tom Butler, The Coach House Inn, and the Belly Flop that Soared https://evelazarus.com/tom-butler-the-coach-house-inn-and-the-belly-flop-that-soared/ Thu, 26 Mar 2026 23:17:47 +0000 hourly 1 By: Nick Kennedy https://evelazarus.com/tom-butler-the-coach-house-inn-and-the-belly-flop-that-soared/#comment-60537 Tue, 14 May 2024 09:27:59 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=7165#comment-60537 In reply to Alanna Fox.

I remember the Dog’s Ear T-Shirts stores in the Lower Mainland back then, and I met my Ex at Park Royal South in the summer of 1978! I was working on that mall renovation there that year. After work one day me and my foreman went across Marine Dr. to Frank Bakers for a few pops!

]]> By: Roland (Al) Morrison https://evelazarus.com/tom-butler-the-coach-house-inn-and-the-belly-flop-that-soared/#comment-58334 Sun, 26 Mar 2023 00:09:57 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=7165#comment-58334 At the time(1979) My Ex Brother in Law Don Bell was the Mayor of the DNV. He rented two rooms over looking the Pool at the Coach House for the belly flop contests. We had a great view of the contest. All the food and Booze we could eat and drink.

]]> By: Vancouver History Book Author and Writer Eve Lazarus Shares Her Story https://evelazarus.com/tom-butler-the-coach-house-inn-and-the-belly-flop-that-soared/#comment-9002 Sat, 06 Feb 2021 19:58:26 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=7165#comment-9002 […] that the World Belly Flop and Cannonball Diving Championship was held at the Coach House Inn for a couple of years in the 1970s. In 1979, Kamikaze Bill—a logger from Bellingham leapt from a hot air balloon into the pool to […]

]]> By: K. https://evelazarus.com/tom-butler-the-coach-house-inn-and-the-belly-flop-that-soared/#comment-5055 Thu, 17 Oct 2019 00:31:01 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=7165#comment-5055 Worked at the Coach House late 60s, the builder was Siggy, also had Siggy’s side door, forget the owner, but they were there every day, the BC Lions would stay and wreck rooms, always full at PNE, at first kind of classy, then went downhill.

]]> By: Fannie Annie https://evelazarus.com/tom-butler-the-coach-house-inn-and-the-belly-flop-that-soared/#comment-4985 Thu, 08 Aug 2019 19:08:04 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=7165#comment-4985 I am Fannie Annie the Vancouver Sun got my name wrong! it is Christy Russell. not Wilson!

]]> By: Trevor https://evelazarus.com/tom-butler-the-coach-house-inn-and-the-belly-flop-that-soared/#comment-4330 Wed, 25 Jul 2018 21:22:20 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=7165#comment-4330 That was my dad Bill Rowe jumping from the Balloon.
I was 4 yrs old at the time and remember watching the contest. He won second place that year. I would love to see more photos or find the old Wide World of Sports footage as they filmed the event.

]]> By: Alanna https://evelazarus.com/tom-butler-the-coach-house-inn-and-the-belly-flop-that-soared/#comment-4327 Tue, 24 Jul 2018 23:03:57 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=7165#comment-4327 You are right!

Sorry about that

]]> By: Andrea Butler https://evelazarus.com/tom-butler-the-coach-house-inn-and-the-belly-flop-that-soared/#comment-4326 Tue, 24 Jul 2018 21:54:47 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=7165#comment-4326 In reply to Alanna Fox.

I am Tom Butler’s neice, and for the record, he did not have a chain of stores called “Dog’s Ear T-Shirts”. I believe the person that Alanna is thinking of is Butts Giraud. Butts was a four time World Belly Flop contest champion. The two men definitely knew each other but had entirely different occupations.

]]> By: Alanna Fox https://evelazarus.com/tom-butler-the-coach-house-inn-and-the-belly-flop-that-soared/#comment-3849 Fri, 13 Oct 2017 18:53:42 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=7165#comment-3849 I worked for him in the 1970s at his chain of stores- “Dog’s Ear T-Shirts” he was quite a character.

]]> By: Canadian History Roundup – Week of May 14, 2017 | Unwritten Histories https://evelazarus.com/tom-butler-the-coach-house-inn-and-the-belly-flop-that-soared/#comment-3610 Sun, 21 May 2017 17:03:21 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=7165#comment-3610 […] Lazarus remembers an epic belly flop competition held by Tom Butler in 1979. And of course, the “divers” j…. This sounds like a recipe for a lawsuit, but hey, it was the 70s… Also, those things […]

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