FORMER UNIVERSAL 'JAWS' TEAM MEMBER AND SON DIE IN CAR CRASH
The Daily Jaws was saddened to hear the news that a longtime Universal Team Member, known for working on the Jaws attraction, passed away alongside his 14-year-old son in a car crash late Sunday.
Michael “Skip” Skipper and his son, Mikey, were returning from a Fourth of July celebration when they were hit head-on by another car being driven the wrong way.
“Skipper, 40, and his 14-year-old son Mikey died late Sunday after they were hit head-on by a wrong-way driver in Osceola County while coming back from a Fourth of July celebration. According to the Florida Highway Patrol, Skipper was pronounced dead at the scene and Mikey died shortly afterward.”
The wrong-way driver, a 65-year-old unidentified man, was also killed in the crash in the car crash, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. Troopers believe that the driver was intoxicated at the time of the crash but the pending toxicology report will confirm or refute this.
“Skip” was a well-known Team Member at Universal and a huge Jaws fan. In fact, according to Orlando Sentinel, he captained the very last ride on Amity 6 before the Jaws attraction closed permanently in January 2012.
The attraction was based on the 1975 film Jaws starring Roy Scheider (Brody), Robert Shaw (Quint), Richard Dreyfuss Richard Dreyfuss (Hooper), Lorraine Gary (Ellen Brody), Murray Hamilton (Vaughn), Carl Gottlieb (Meadows), Jeffrey Kramer (Hendricks), and Susan Backlinie (Chrissie).
Other Universal Team Members who worked alongside “Skip” at the Jaws attraction shared stories to remember him by. Voltaire Guinigundo told Orlando Sentinel that one time the two were filming a video together based on the Universal ride. Skipper played Captain Jake, who operated the boat tours, and Guinigundo even made him wear a fake beard.
“It took me like 20 times to film it right because my hands kept shaking from when I was laughing,” he told Orlando Sentinel.
Friends and family spoke of “Skip” and Mikey fondly, saying they were inseparable. Fellow Jaws Team member, Jay MacGill, said it was fitting they passed together. “They were everything for each other,” he told Orlando Sentinel. “I couldn’t imagine either of them having to live on without the other.”
Skipper is survived by his wife, Jennifer, and younger daughter Addison. A family friend set up a fundraiser for the two, which you can view here. At the time of this article’s publication, the GoFundMe has raised over $60,000.