POSTED: 4:39 pm MDT May 22, 2011
UPDATED: 11:38 pm MDT May 22, 2011
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Sid Cutter, the founder of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta and the first to own a hot air balloon in New Mexico, died Saturday morning after a long battle with stomach cancer.Cutter, 77, a one-time U.S. Air Force pilot, was a legend of the air who helped put Albuquerque on the map."I think he showed the world about New Mexico and he showed New Mexico about the world," Tom Rutherford, Cutter's friend, said.Friends said that Cutter learned to fly sitting on his father's lap in a cockpit and preferred to spend his time in the air.After Cutter did just about everything you could in a plane, friends said he switched his attention to a different pursuit that offered a similar thrill: hot air balloons."(Cutter's) pretty fanciful and intriguing. It's the stuff of legend," pilot Troy Bradley said.Renowned balloonist Troy Bradley said that Cutter helped inspire his own career as a pilot."He (Cutter) basically made Albuquerque synonymous with balloons," Bradley said.City officials said Cutter was a man whose influence stretched far and wide within the community -- even beyond ballooning circles."If there was something good going on, a lot of time Sid Cutter was involved," Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry said.Cutter was the U.S. Hot Air Balloon champion in 1978 and 1986, and he was also a dedicated torch carrier for the Olympic Games in 2002.
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