Jerry LeVasseur races forward with resilience

Jerry LeVasseur, ‘60, was only 6 years old when he survived the Hartford Circus Fire. 

On July 6, 1944, the Ringling Bros. and Barum Bailey Circus was in Hartford, Connecticut, and LeVasseur attended with his mother. He recalled being excited to see the animals and clowns. It was a hot, humid day, and he said one of his parents had suggested not going. 

At the time, LeVasseur said circus tents were waterproofed with paraffin and gasoline. Fire extinguishers were typically on hand, but not that day. Within 10 minutes, the main tent was engulfed in flames. He remembers watching The Great Wallendas descend mid-act as the fire broke out. 

He saw flames spread across the tent so he and his mother tried to exit through the entrance. The orchestra began playing “Stars and Stripes Forever,” a signal of distress. A crowd formed as people climbed over animal cages to escape. 

LeVasseur said a policeman  tried to help his mother over the cages, but she was holding on to him and was knocked down, falling on top of him in a pile of people. He suffered burns to his shoulders, head and arms. His hands were burnt, leaving permanent scars. 

Only two people, including LeVasseur, survived that pile. His mother didn’t. 

Now 88, LeVasseur competes in track and field, and filmmaker Andrew McGowan is producing a documentary about his resilience and lifelong athleticism. 

LeVasseur, who was born in Bristol, Connecticut, spent months in the hospital after the fire in critical condition. He remembers being taken to an overcrowded hospital, where two patients shared a bed. The boy he shared a bed with, around his age, didn’t survive. 

While in the hospital, he said he didn’t know whether his mother was alive. For five months, he was treated for burns. After he was slightly recovered, his father told him that his mother had died, delaying the news to avoid adding to his trauma while he was in critical condition. 

LeVasseur said his skin was hanging off of his arms, and doctors removed it and bandaged the wounds with Vaseline and gauze. He was put to sleep for bandage changes to avoid pain. 

“They didn’t think I was going to make it, and I said to myself ‘oh yes I am,’” LeVasseur said. 

He said he doesn’t remember the pain, and after five months, his burns had healed. 

At 11, he went to the Presbyterian Medical Center in New York to see a plastic surgeon. His left hand had fused together, so the surgeon created “partial fingers” and a “little bit of a thumb” so he could grab objects. His right hand retained some fingers and one nail, but he said he could still hold a tennis racquet. 

He went through years of therapy to learn how to use his hands. Doctors told him he would never be able to do much, but he proved them wrong. He said neighbors and friends helped his recovery by taking him swimming or playing ball, though he was sometimes picked on as a child with a “bald spot” and “funny looking hands.” 

“When someone looks different it’s a natural thing for young people and kids to be cruel to each other,” LeVesseur said. “I made it through anyway.”

 The family moved to Devon, Connecticut when LeVasseur was in 7th grade, and his father remarried, where they opened a grocery store. A doctor recommended he attend the Frederick Gun School in Washington, Connecticut, which he described as a close-knit community.

There, he played football and basketball and served as tennis manager. Initially interested in engineering, he chose to attend Lehigh. 

At Lehigh, LeVasseur majored in accounting. He played on the soccer team and ran the 100 meters for one track season. He was also a member of the Sigma Phi Society, played intramural football and basketball, joined the Ski Club and was elected into the Brown and White Society for his athletic involvement. 

After graduating, he moved to New Haven, earned his certified public accountant license and worked in public accounting before becoming CFO of Pratt-Read manufacturing. He had three children and remained active, skiing, snowshoeing, playing softball and tennis, and biking. 

LeVasseur said he adapted to play sports like anyone else, even rolling a football against his body to catch it. 

He said one teammate once told his son, “see that fellow out there? He can do whatever he puts his mind to.”

“I know when I go into a situation and people don’t know me, they look at my hands and figure, ‘well, he can’t do this’” LeVasseur said. “Nobody was going to tell me I couldn’t.”

At 35, his softball teammate had a litter of Siberian huskies, sparking LeVasseur’s interest in dog racing. He soon got two of his own and joined the Hibernian Hockey Club in Connecticut, where he began competing in sled dog racing. He said he taught himself using books and equipment.

For 30 years, he raced sled dogs and trained teams across New England. He learned how to care for and train the dogs, focusing first on building strength, then speed, while maintaining proper hydration and nutrition. 

He said he and his grandson won a combined 12 New England Sled Dog Club titles. 

In his early 40s, he began distance running after completing a five-mile race with a neighbor. At 49, he recorded a 35-minute 10K and a 17-minute 5K. 

He became competitive in his age group, with a goal of placing first in more than 50% of his races, which he achieved. 

LeVasseur said his wife, whom he met at Lehigh, was a swimmer, and together they began traveling to compete in Senior Games in their mid-50s. Both qualified for national competitions. 

For the past four decades, he’s competed internationally, winning national titles and setting records in his age group. He said he and his wife are in the Senior Games Hall of Fame in Maine. He is also in the Maine Running Hall of Fame, and has been awarded four other hall of fame titles. 

In his 70s, he survived four cancers but continued to run and play tennis. He said staying active has improved his quality of life. He also did trail and snowshoe racing into his 80’s, as well as competing in running competitions in the triple jump and steeplechase. 

LeVasseur retired and moved to Maine in 2004, and said he wanted to give back to running, because of what running gave to him. He became a volunteer at Bowdoin College in Cross Country and Track and Field doing coaching, officiating and taking photos. 

It was there he met McGowan, who was a distance runner.

McGowan said LeVasseur was consistently present at practices, helping with timing, offering encouragement and serving as the team’s unofficial photographer. 

“I was lucky to hear his story and all that he’s accomplished, and I always thought it would make a cool documentary, so I am lucky to be back finally telling it through that medium,” McGowan said. 

McGowan developed an interest in film and graduated from UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television last June. In his final quarter, he took a documentary class that required students to develop and plan a project, which led him to revisit the idea of telling LeVasseur’s story. 

After graduating, McGowan worked as a journalist in Los Angeles for six months while beginning preproduction and finding a videographer in Maine to film the documentary.

“I hope this documentary can do justice to (LeVasseur’s) story and his mantra, which is fitness, fun and friends,” McGowan said. “Those are his three reasons and elements that keep him going.”

Josh Gerritsen, Maine-based filmmaker, is serving as the documentary’s director of photography. He said McGowan contacted him about the project, and he was immediately interested. 

“I hope viewers leave with the feeling of how resilient we can all be,” Gerritsen said. 

Gerritsen said LeVasseur’s story is inspiring because he experienced trauma at a young age but never let it define him. He said he hopes viewers facing challenges can look to LeVasseur’s example. 

Filming began in February, with interviews and footage of LeVasseur’s training. Gerritsen plans to attend LeVasseur’s 70th high school reunion in June and the Masters Competition in Ohio, which will serve as the final day of shooting. 

Throughout March, he documented LeVasseur’s preparation for the Masters Championship in the 85-plus age group in July. 

McGowan said working with LeVasseur has been an absolute joy. 

“He spent six months in the hospital with critical injuries, and he didn’t let that slow him down at all,” McGowan said. “Despite all of his injuries he found a way to compete the same as everyone else. He kept taking up new things and despite surgeries, cancers and health complications, he just keeps bouncing back.” 

McGowan said LeVasseur credits his resilience to maintaining his fitness and competitive mindset, and he’s eager to share that message. 

He said he hopes to share the film with a wide audience and fulfill LeVasseur’s goal of inspiring others.

“This story is about overcoming adversity with optimism,” McGowan said. “(LeVasseur) is a living testament to the fact that you can go through a lot in life and still keep moving forward despite whatever life throws at you.”