User:Some jerk on the Internet/Alvin "Shipwreck" Kelly

Alvin "Shipwreck" Kelly was a pole-sitter who achieved fame in the 1920s. He is credited with popularizing the fad after sitting atop a flagpole 1924, either in response to a dare from a friend or as a publicity stunt to draw customers to a Philadelphia department store. In 1926, Kelly set a record by sitting atop a flagpole in St. Louis, Missouri for seven days and one hour; in June 1927, he planned to beat that record by sitting for eight days in Newark, New Jersey. He would end up sitting atop the Newark pole for twelve days On October 13, 1939, Kelly celebrated National Donut Dunking Week by sitting on a pole atop the Chanin Building on East 42nd Street in Manhattan and eating 13 donuts dunked into a coffee cup and fed to him while he stood on his head.

Accounts vary as to how Kelly acquired his nickname. His wife told reporters that he was a survivor of the 1912 RMS Titanic disaster. He is also said to have gained the moniker as a boxer: "a former sailor, he was so often adrift in the ring that the handle became inevitable."