50 years ago in Expo History: A determined daredevil wanted to try again after nearly drowning in his ‘crude inner tube raft’ over Spokane Falls

A “daredevil” named Terry Brauner, from Kettle Falls, Washington, barely had escaped death a month earlier when he attempted to ride his “crude inner tube raft” through the Expo ’74 grounds and over Spokane Falls. He was caught in a whirlpool beneath the Upper Falls and was trapped near the Expo headquarters. He was then pulled from the water “after nearly drowning.”

Now, he was threatening to make another attempt. Mayor David Rodgers said that would be against the law and he would be arrested if he tried it again.

A Spokane City Council member said she wanted to catch him before he went over the falls and suggested that police should “go down there to fish him out with grappling hooks.”

Another council member said that would only result in attracting “thousands of people down there to see it.”

From 100 years ago: The Spokane City Council banned all professional prize fights in town.

This blanket ban came about after the Spokane Amateur Athletic Union advertised a fight between two professional boxers, Bob Sage of Burke, Idaho, and Frankie Murphy of Denver.

Spokane’s Public Safety Commissioner Maurice Smith said he believed that state law permitted only amateur boxing contests. He refused to issue the permit, and the City Council upheld his stand.

“For many years, it has been the policy of the City Council to permit only amateur bouts and I can see no reason for permitting any change,” Smith said.