Innovative: At the height of his career

For Luther Kurtz, the sky was literally the limit for a passion-turned-profession that has expanded nationwide from his hometown of Harbor Springs, population 1,600.

The adventurer Kurtz developed a love for jumping out of airplanes while a college student. At age 20, he connected with a skydiving company out of Hastings, Mich., and “I went back every weekend for a summer and spent all my money on it,” laughed Kurtz.

In 2002, he launched a business around the adrenaline rush, Skydive Harbor Springs. The first summer, he booked 160 tandem jumps. In summer 2009, he and his staff at Skydive’s six nationwide locations reached 10,000 jumps.

“Once I did it, I knew I wanted to do it all the time,” said Kurtz, interviewed long-distance as he was driving California’s coast en route to his Los Angeles skydiving business, which he runs in the winter months.

In the summer, he returns home to operate Skydive Harbor Springs, with his plane taking off from the municipal airport and jumpers landing in a field a few miles away. During the 45-second return to Earth that starts around 10,000 feet, skydivers get a panoramic view of Northern Michigan, including the Mackinac Bridge and the Little Traverse Bay basin; each time, it still takes Kurtz’s breath away.

“It’s the best. It’s my favorite location, that’s for sure,” said Kurtz.

The 32-year-old not only has a lot of guts —he’s made 7,000 jumps himself—but a lot of gumption. To start his business, he borrowed money from his dad and leased an airplane; by the second summer, as word spread, he bought his own plane.

“There were a lot of people who were excited about it,” Kurtz said. “We focused solely on first-time customers and giving that person a really good experience. They would tell their friends, and they would tell other people, and it just took off.”

This past year, he implemented an online and phone reservation system for all the company’s locations, managed by his sister and operated from Lake Street in Harbor Springs.

“The reason our phone center is in Harbor and why I keep the business in Harbor is because it’s my favorite place,” said Kurtz. “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else for those six months when I’m back home in Northern Michigan.”

Innovative: At the height of his career

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