Education Fund Honoring Howard Du Bose
Dear CCC members
Some of the older members will remember Howard Du Bose who ran River Runners Emporium in Durham for many years (I bought a new gyromax C1 from River Runners in 1990 which shows my age). Howard passed away recently and a donor (Ted Jackson) contributed $2000 to support canoe and kayak education as described in the agreement below. A fund has been established and others are welcome to contribute in Howard’s memory and to support the club’s education program. If you wish to donate, please use this link:
or use the QR code below:
Note the CCC is a 501(c)7 not a 501(c)3; donations are not tax-deductible.
Howard Du Bose is one of the most illustrious names in early Carolina Canoe Club history. Du Bose served in Vietnam and like many veterans, came home hardened and blunt. He owned a canoe shop in Durham, River Runners Emporium, and eventually opened others in Chapel Hill and Charlotte. Howard taught many area paddlers river skills and he did it with the gusto and verve of a Marine drill instructor. He was not a “river whisperer.” More like a “river shouter.”
He paddled canoes, solo and tandem, but when his paddling partners became leery of sharing a boat with him, he switched to the new craze: C-1’s and kayaks. He was skilled with them all and soon began running bigger rivers and taking promising paddlers with him. Dennis Huntley said Howard taught him how to roll a kayak in one day on the New River Gorge. Howard paddled Chattooga IV, the Upper Gauley and the Grand Canyon. If you could weather his tirades, Howard was a person who could teach you something.
Paul knew he didn’t know anything and needed a good teacher. Howard was the man and putting in at Chicken Bridge on the Haw, they would proceed downstream, on command catching eddies and executing strokes. “Run this. Do a harder draw.” In fact, Du Bose preferred to be called Commander. Or more fully, Commander Greenstreet. The Greenstreet referred to his address in Durham. Witness this excerpt from a CCC Paddler:
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Thanks as always and SYOTR
Mort