Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
LONDON -- In the midst of the Olympics, a worldwide competition that brings millions to one country two boys from Bountiful are getting the chance to reunite.
Olympic volleyball player Jake Gibb and KSL's Kevin Eubank got together, granted it was thousands of miles apart to swap stories growing up as Bountiful boys.
Eubank got to tell a story about some of the fun times growing up with Gibb. Gibb's room was right near a roof and gave them access to the top of the house.
"That zip line took us forever to work out because the first time you set up a zip line you don't know how taut you should get it," Gibb said. "We couldn't get it taut so the first guy just it's just a straight free fall."
Eubank went through what they had to do to get the contraption working.
"We bought rope, a pulley and a dowel," Eubank said. "And we went out to the chimney and we tied a 100-foot line from the chimney all the way down to a tree. We got four mattresses and put them out on the backyard. We created a zip-line from the top of the roof all the way down."
The deal for the kids of the neighborhood to go down the ride was that they had to let go of the dowel they were riding on before a set knot that held the rope in place. The mattresses were set under the knot to catch them if they fell in time.
Unfortunately, one kid spoiled the fun.
"The kid hit the knot, flew and then hit his back and came straight down on his back," Gibb said.
That was the end of the zip line.
"I've never seen a dismantling of a zip line so fast," Eubank said. "Those mattresses were back in the house, the line was put away and they were sending that kid home to get medical treatment."
But, it isn't the end of their stories.
Gibb went on to become an Olympian and Eubank beams about the hard work that Gibb put in.
"It doesn't matter where you grow up, it doesn't matter where you come from," Eubank said. "If you want to achieve something and you are willing to put in the effort and time to do it you can be a world-class athlete and Olympian."
The enthusiasm for Eubank is the same as it was growing up according to Gibb, but maybe it's not a good thing.
"That cracks me up because that's how he was as a kid," Gibb said. "He was "Positive Peter," and it drove us nuts. We were like 'dude just shut up for a second.' But, that is just the way he is, a glass-half-full guy."
It might have been a little annoying as a kid, but Gibb adds praise for his childhood friend, "what a good dude. What a good dude."
Gibb and Eubank looked back at the Gibb's backyard where Olympic Volleyball dream's were born. Using a makeshift court from any net they could find and a hose as the out of bounds line the boys were introduced to volleyball.
The backyard was fraught with peril according to Eubank who took a look at the adjacent yards that included a reservoir with a barbed wire fence to the south and to the west you were "fighting the Rasmussen's dog."
"Then we were playing rock-paper-scissors to try and figure out who was going to have to actually go and fetch out that volleyball," Eubank said.
Gibb was taken back to his childhood beginnings of his sport.
"We played on the grass until it was a dirt patch," Gibb said. "I don't know how we started, but all our friends just fell in love with it."
