Sheck Exley
Sheck Exley (April 1, 1949 – April 6, 1994) was an American cave diver. He is widely regarded as one of the pioneers of cave diving, writing two major books on the subject: Basic Cave Diving: A Blueprint for Survival and Caverns Measureless to Man. On February 6, 1974, Exley became the first chairman of the Cave Diving Section of the National Speleological Society. During his career, he established many of the basic safety procedures used in cave and overhead diving today. Exley was also a pioneer of extreme deep scuba diving. For purposes of rescue during cave diving, Exley helped standardize the usage of the "octopus," a redundant second stage diving regulator that can be used as a backup in the event that the diver's primary second stage fails, or alternatively to allow the diver and his buddy to have simultaneous access to his gas if the buddy has an out-of-gas emergency. The octopus is now considered an essential piece of equipment among virtually all scuba divers, whether caving or in open water.To finance this passion, Exley worked as a mathematics teacher at Suwannee High School in Live Oak, Florida.He died at age 45 while trying to set a depth record in a fresh water cenote more than 1000 feet deep in Mexico.In the book, Diving into Darkness (a story about Dave Shaw and Don Shirley), the author comments: "Exley's status in the sport is almost impossible to overstate."
Personal facts
| Birth date | April 01, 1949 |
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| Date of death | April 06, 1994 |