Jeff Piotrowski The man has a nose for tornadoes, period. His knack for always being on the best storms has always amazed me. And for the success he's had, he is one of the most down-to-earth people I've ever met. Would give you the shirt off his back.
Tim Marshall As a huge fan of keeping statistics and records, Tim has always inspired me to take the time and care to log my chasing experiences. Not to boast, but for posterity. I've always loved how he keeps such detailed accounts of his entire chasing career....a goldmine of knowledge and history, for whatever institution or individual ends up with it. I like to think of Tim as an old man someday, sitting around with tons and tons of video, images, and text to choose from when he wants to relive the past glory...something I think a lot of chasers will miss out on and perhaps regret, by not keeping detailed accounts of their chase happenings.
Gene Moore For the pure knowledge and understanding of the forecast and chase, and his willingness to share it. He made a huge impact on me in 2000 when I just happened to bump into him in a small southwest Iowa town, after we both happened to stay at the same motel. I knew virtually nothing of real forecasting, and had been surviving largely on dumb luck and persistence. He asked me what my target was, to which I replied "somewhere between central Nebraska and central Iowa"....feeling like an idiot. Here I was standing next to one of the legends of chasing, and I had no clue what was going on with the weather...but here I was 1000 miles from home out chasing. It was suddenly obvious to him, from my response, I had no clue what I was doing. Instead of shunning me, he simply shook his head, chuckled, and said "Man...if you're gonna do 1000-milers, ya gotta have some data. I've got a computer, I'll show you a few things I use." He showed me a few basic parameters, including some of his personal "bottom line" numbers to watch for...the one that sticks in my mind the most is '30kts @ h5 is doable'.....I think of that piece of advice every time I forecast. He also gave me one of the best compliments I've ever heard, when he said "If you learn how to forecast, you could be dangerous." That one comment lit a fire underneath me to really try and learn to interpret models and understand what their data means.
Jim Leonard The one chaser who has influenced and inspired me the most. The guy that showed the world you could live to chase, the guy who made me believe I could do it too. Jim called me out of the blue back in 2000, and I was totally floored. We'd never really spoken before, besides a few email exchanges. We talked for over an hour, just about chasing storms. At the end of the conversation, he simply said "I've been watching you online and seeing what you say, and I just figured I needed to call you so we could talk about storms." I guess he saw in me the same passion he had. I was (and still am) so floored that this guy, a legend of his game, would give that kind of time to a nobody. That phone call is one of my most treasured chase-related memories. But it gets even better. A few months later, in the early part of the 2001 season, Jim came to Norman on personal business. He called again, and asked if we could have lunch and talk more about storms. I was speechless, and eagerly accepted his offer. When I walked up to him in the resturant to shake his hand, he smiled and said "THE Shane Adams, we finally meet." Man, you can't imagine the thrill that gives a newbie, being acknowledged by his hero. I was flabbergasted. We had a great conversation over dinner, and I picked his brain and asked every question I'd ever wanted to ask....all of which he answered eagerly and with great detail. It was another moment that I'll treasure forever, and one that inspires me to this day.
So those are my four, the ones who've made the most impact on me as a chaser.
