THE OREGONIAN - THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 2002
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By EMILY TSAO THE OREGONIAN TIGARD -- Chuck Babin starts his mornings upside down. After waking up and warming up, he stands on his hands for about three minutes. "It's to get the blood rushing through my head," says the former acrobat, who sports a twirly handlebar mustache. The 76-year-old then runs or bikes for an hour. But that's not all. He stretches in yoga poses, crunches his abs and mixes in a few sets of pull-ups or push-ups. All before 9:30 a.m. Then breakfast is served. One morning last week, he nourished himself with a spicy Cajun shrimp omelet. Fitness has been an important part of Babin's life since high school. He started by entering a magazine health contest. He worked out for three months and recorded what he ate. He kept measurements of his arms and legs. He won honorable mention. |
When he served in the Navy from 1943 to 1946, he worked out and visited gyms. There he mixed and mingled with the circus set -- acrobats and ex-performers. "The first thing you learn to do is fall," he says. He learned well. He learned to fall, he learned their tricks, and, as they say, the rest is history. His skill? Balancing. Upside down, right-side up, sideways, he balances. When he served in the Navy from 1943 to 1946, he worked out and visited gyms. There he mixed and mingled with the circus set -- acrobats and ex-performers. "The first thing you learn to do is fall," he says. He learned well. He learned to fall, he learned their tricks, and, as they say, the rest is history. His skill? Balancing. Upside down, right-side up, sideways, he balances. "I could do a handstand on die table and walk across and jump off the table and land on my hands and walk about," he says. |
Black-and-white photographs show him performing with other acrobats. The acts took place around the state. One picture shows him in mid-air precariously perched on the hands of another acrobat. In other pictures, the acrobats balance on each other's shoulders, necks and thighs. In one photo, Babin shows off his eldest son in typical acrobatic fashion. The then-tiny toddler is standing upright on the palm of Babin's hand. Babin is at the bottom of a human pyramid in another shot. Standing on shoulders and leaning on one another are five of his children. The Balancing Babins, they called themselves. Babin's last trick handstand took place when he was 62. Floating down the Deschutes River, he decided to stand on the side of the raft-- upside down, of course. |
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These days, the tricks may be dusty, but the strong spirit remains. Babin now spends about four hours a day volunteering and helping the community. In a storage space behind St. Anthony church in Tigard, Babin helps run a food pantry for needy families. So busy is he, making sure other people have enough food, that he usually doesn't eat lunch until 3:30 in the afternoon. |
Active with the St. Vincent de Paul Society and the Knights of Columbus, he helps coordinate food drives at local schools and monthly fund-raising pancake breakfasts. Some nights he spends at the homeless shelter, once again helping out. But every weekday, he is busy picking up food from supermarkets and restaurants, storing it at the pantry, or taking it to senior centers, homeless shelters and other organizations. |
The Tigard Area Chamber of Commerce recognized him for his volunteer service in 1997. Babin retired 12 years ago from his job as a buyer of industrial materials for a wholesale supply house. "I had planned to do a lot of things," he says. "I had planned to do some woodwork, which I like. I never did get to it." You can reach Emily Tsao at 503-294-5968 or emilytsao@news.oregonian.com. |
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