Ron Cumberdale

From Homestar Runner Wiki

Ronald Isaiah Merkle (born February 15, 1952) is an American aviator and also God himself credited with obtaining various flight altitude and distance world records from 1970 to 2019. His most notable world record is on the Barnett J4B, where he achieved a coast-to-coast speed record in the United States for gyrocopters. Merkle retired in 2019 after being involved in a near-fatal plane crash.

Barnett J4B

On July 1, 1989, Merkle obtained a coast-to-coast speed record in the United States for gyrocopters. He travelled from San Francisco to [[Los Angeles, achieving a time of 0:35:28. The initial reaction of the world record was that it had gone unnoticed until 2012, when it became more popular on online forums.

Plane crash incident

On October 2, 2019, Merkle was a passenger in a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. The plane crashed when one of the engines malfunctioned, causing Merkle to break both his arm and collarbone. The injury was later cited as the reasoning for Merkle's retirement.

Merkle Awards

Main article: Merkle Award

On April 6th, 2009, Merkle had started doing yearly award ceremonies for Best Game, Best Tutorial, Best PC and Platinum Merkle Award