Cannonball Jenkins

Cannonball "Ryan" Jenkins was a cannonballer. He performed in the circus since 1937 and is still doing so today.

Early life and carrer
Ryan Swift was raised by Henry Swift and Linda Jenkins born in New York. He legally changed his last name to Jenkins to honnor his mother who died in a car accident when he was 11. In tenth grade, he dropped out to work as a doctor. In 1937, he was hired by a circus to particate in it. He was very honnered only 19 years old when he joined. He was the cannonballer, that's how he earned the nickname "Cannonball".

World War II
He was very busy in the early 1940's, He was training for WWII. In 1945, He was not seen in the circus for 3 weeks. According to manager, he was training in WWII. He was still considered particapating, During, the war, the circus did not plan a show in Germany.

1950 - 1960
In 1950, he was very busy in the circus filling in for Paul Green who retired. In 1952 he annouced a vacation to Japan. Where he was approced by a team of Sumo wrestlers and tolded him that they wanted him to sumo wrestle as the wrestlers where some of his fans. Jenkins accepted the offer. But in 1953, he said he was going back to New York. According to a 2005 interview, Jenkins said he was in "20 matches". During the 1954 season. Edward Tony was hired to fill in for Paul Green. Tony and Jenkins became good friends. In December 1955, He mairred, Emily Gray and had two children. In 1978, they divorced, this was true according to Jenkins' 2011 book, Life's a Circus. He was hired by the chief of police in 1959. He stayed with the police until 1961.

1970s
At age 53, he still remains active in the circus. On July 5, 1979, his father died at age 96. The circus started to forget about Jenkins.

1980s
In 1982, Jenkins was back in the circus. In 1987, He married Sarah Jones. And the marrige lives on today. In 1989, all of Jenkins' circus partners we're leaving. While Jenkins still attemped to keep the circus open, but failed. He tried to convice his partners to stay. He won.

2000s
In 2001, Jenkins opened jenkins.com. In 2003, he was at a circus reunion, which consited his partners from 1940-1953. In 2006, He became the first person to win the acivement for staying at the circus for 80 years. In 2008, the group celebrated his 90th birthday by making him manager of the circus.

2010s
At age 94, he is still active. In 2011, he wrote, Life's a Circus.