The sign at the Lake Placid Airport is seen on state Route 73. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

LAKE PLACID — Lake Placid Airways — formerly known as the Adirondack Flying Service — changed hands on July 19 when former owner Steve Short sold the business to Rives Potts and Russ Francis.

Though both men are pilots, the duo are unusual candidates to take over a flight service. Potts, 74, races yachts and was a member of the crew that won the 1980 America’s Cup. Francis, 70, is a first-round NFL draft pick with a 1985 Super Bowl ring and three selections to the Pro Bowl.

“We’re friends, and we were sitting down one day and talking about how much we like to fly and somebody said … ‘Why don’t we buy a company so we can fly and have fun?’ That was the genesis of this (purchase),” Francis said. He now serves as the president of the business, while Potts is the chairman and CEO.

In a 2022 interview with the News, Short said there were around five entities looking to take over the airport. At the time, he was concerned that there would be no buyers interested in maintaining the airport’s history of scenic flights and instruction, two major components of Short’s business model since he first took helm of the airport 49 years ago. To Short, the most important part of the sale was to keep the airport small and local.

“I did have somebody else, two years ago, and that turned out to be a dud,” Short said. “They were going to do extravagant things with the airport. They were going to tear all this down, build something much bigger, build two large hangars. That was a pie in the sky, I think.”

Russ Francis (Provided photo)

In the end, Short estimates that he was approached by around 60 entities before selling to Potts and Francis in early 2023. Francis attributed their successful bid to their respect for the airport’s history and the town of North Elba’s wishes.

“We decided to do everything we could (to make the purchase), with tremendous help from North Elba … they made clearly understood what they were looking for and were we going to be able to fulfill those things that they needed to keep the airport viable but not to overdevelop this,” he said.

“I came from Hawaii. That got overdeveloped really fast when I was growing up,” Francis added. “I’m not interested in (overdevelopment). We want to run this airport as a service to pilots in the area and here at the Lake Placid airport, with all the services that we can to provide them with the most enjoyable experience flying that is possible.”

Short is still employed by Lake Placid Airways as the chief pilot and director of operations. Eventually, Francis will transition to these positions as Short glides into retirement. For now, however, Short is taking it one step at a time and prefers a different term for his current state of employment.

“It’s not retirement, just yet. … It’s ‘I’ve sold the business,'” he said.

Rives Potts (Provided photo)

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From cleats to the cockpit

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Francis has been retired since 1989, but the thought of running a flight service of his own brought him out of retirement and in to Lake Placid.

“Coming from a destination resort like Hawaii, this place caught my eye … because of the attention that they take to maintaining their Olympic image and their Olympic presence, with all the wide variety of sports events they do here every year. That was also a major reason to consider and then to act upon acquiring (the flight service),” Francis said.

Steve Short poses next to his twin-engine 1981 Cessna 414A, emblazoned with the Adirondack Flying Service logo, on Aug. 23. Under new ownership, the flying service is now called Lake Placid Airways. (News photo — Sydney Emerson)

Sports are a major presence in Francis’s life. He set the national high school record for the javelin in 1971 at Pleasant Hill High School in Eugene, Oregon, with a throw of 259 feet and 9 inches. That record would go unbroken for 17 years. He attended the University of Oregon on a track and field scholarship and even participated in Olympic trials for javelin; He placed fourth and just missed the Olympic Games. During his junior year of college, he played football for the first time with the Oregon Ducks. Why the sudden pivot? Simple — free stuff, the reason every college kid does anything. The football team, in need of a tight end, would pay for his expensive veterinary science textbooks.

“I said, ‘What’s tight end?’ I had no idea about playing any football,” Francis said.

It was also during his junior year that Francis began learning to fly. Fascinated by the birds of his Hawaiian childhood — “perfect pilots,” he calls them — he spent most of his adolescence contemplating a life in the sky. Finally, one Monday, Francis decided to go for it.

“I walked from campus to the Eugene airport, which is about 8 miles from campus … in between classes,” he said. “I was trying to figure out how I was going to get back. But I walked in (and) there were two operators: a bunch of young guys, a bunch of old guys. Young guys said it’s going to cost 20 dollars for an orientation flight, then (I would) have to take a test in two weeks to make sure (I) understood everything. I just couldn’t process it all.”

Francis decided to try his luck with the older pilots. They dropped everything and took him up in a plane for free that instant. When they landed, Francis learned that the day was only beginning — his first lesson started in 15 minutes.

“That was a Monday, Aug. 19, 1974. … I started on a Monday. I soloed on a Friday. Which, most times, you take a while. And the reason you take a while is most people weren’t flying three times a day,” Francis said.

He would work a graveyard shift at a lumber mill from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., go out to the airport for his first flight of the day, feed the cattle at his family’s ranch, go to veterinary classes, wash cars at his second job, go back out to the airport for ground school and more flying, go back to classes and then round the day out with one more trip to the airport for flying. He would sleep on a cot in the back of the hangar before going to work and doing it all over again. His instruction was free — he washed, parked and refueled planes as payment.

“That (winter was) when I got a phone call that said I’d been drafted, in college,” Francis said. “I had already gone through the (selective service) lottery process, so I told my older brother, I said, ‘They can’t do that again.’ He said, ‘No, you idiot, it’s the NFL.’ … I said, ‘They can’t either; I want to play baseball.'”

Francis had been 210th in the 1974 MLB draft, selected by the Kansas City Royals as a pitcher. In the 1975 NFL draft — which used to be held in January — he was 16th overall, drafted as a tight end for the New England Patriots after one total year of play in his life. Though he had little experience, Francis finished his degree and signed on as the third-string tight end, figuring that, at the very least, the NFL would be a great way to fund his flying habit.

“I had no idea what I was doing … so I showed up at camp because I needed the extra money for that other thing — that was airplanes, as it turns out,” he said. “I wanted to buy this little airplane and learn to fly, and I flew it from Eugene, Oregon to Boston as a rookie. I got to see this great country as a kid who came from Hawaii and Oregon. Those were the only two places I’d been.”

When the first and second-string tight ends got injured in the preseason, Francis had to step up and start. Two weeks into the season, the starting quarterback was also injured and replaced by a rookie. The Patriots finished last in the AFC East with a less-than-ideal 3-11 record.

“With fans being tough in New England, they’re great when you’re winning,” Francis said. “We won three games and lost 11. Guess who got the blame? The two rookies — because I’m running left when I’m supposed to be running right.”

Eventually, Francis learned his left from his right. He was selected for the Pro Bowl during three consecutive seasons — 1977, 1978 and 1979 — and sat out the 1981 NFL season before playing six years with the San Francisco 49ers. It was with the 49ers that he would earn a Super Bowl ring in 1985. He retired in 1989 with 393 receptions and 5,262 receiving yards over his career.

Throughout it all, Francis took every opportunity to take his plane up. In the ensuing years since his NFL retirement, he indulged his lifelong love of airplanes, flying charter service and air ambulance in both his native Hawaii and Nebraska. When the chance to purchase the flight service at Lake Placid airport arose, Francis and Potts were all in.

“We came up here and took a look and, basically, like hundreds of thousands of other people each year, we fell in love with the place,” Francis said. “But, unlike hundreds of thousands of people, they can’t just move away from family or jobs or anything else. My son’s grown; He’s in the Denver area.”

According to Francis, Lake Placid Airways was the perfect opportunity to keep flying while spending some more time in the North Country. He and Potts intend to keep up scenic flights alongside charter service at the airport. They do not want to overdevelop the area, but they do intend to bring in some modern amenities that make flying more comfortable for pilots, such as fuel trucks.

“We try to do everything we can to make it comfortable here because Rives and I have both been flying long enough and we appreciate it wherever we go,” Francis said.

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Retirement on the horizon

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Former owner Short, 76, is not quite done flying in the meantime.

“I plan on making myself available (to fly),” he said. “I’m anxious to get a couple of pilots on board.”

Currently, Short is the only charter pilot at the airport, though Francis will soon join that roster. Insurance has been hesitant to continue covering Short as he gets older, and though he has never made a claim in his 49 years at the airport, he is not sure how much longer the coverage will last. So, as business picks up and more charter pilots come on board, Short plans to fly right-seat — that’s co-pilot, to ground-dwellers — and train the pilots to navigate the unique Adirondack terrain.

“Lake Placid is a little bit of an intimidating airport for flatlander pilots to fly into, and so I’ll probably be flying right-seat to get them comfortable flying in and out,” Short said. “It’s not terribly difficult, but there’s some things you need to know.”

Short has had his pilot’s license since 1965 and the airport since 1974. He has spent his whole life around planes — his father, also a pilot, got a plane when Short was one year old. Short took over the airport after his father suffered an aneurysm in 1974.

“I took a leave of absence from Kodak,” Short told the News in 2022. “I’m still on a leave of absence.”

Short is currently contracted until early February as a charter pilot. Beyond that, it’s all up in the air.

“I don’t think retirement is going to be really hard for me. … I’ve got so many things that I want to do that I don’t think there’s going to be any grass growing under my feet,” he said.

Short’s first destination is Bellingham, Washington, where his two children — both in their 30s — and his grandchildren live. Sometime soon, they’ll visit him out in Lake Placid, too. Short and his children are all Adirondack 46ers, and he hopes to introduce his grandchildren to the High Peaks. After that, as a self-proclaimed “lousy tennis club member,” Short hopes to get in some time on the court. He also plans on more travel and more time outdoors, specifically hiking and biking.

“One good thing is that I’ve got a lot on my bucket list, and so there’s a lot of traveling that I want to do. I want to spend more time with my kids and grandkids,” he said.

As for the future of the airport, Short hopes that Francis and Potts keep its unparalleled service to pilots a top priority.

“I hope it continues to be good for pilots flying in their single-engine and twin-engine planes,” Short said. “We’ve had a five-star rating primarily not because we had trucks for fueling or a huge pilot lounge or anything like that.

“It’s because just about all my employees, most of my employees, have been pilots — even the person sitting in the office. Pilots appreciate that.”