`Captain America' Dies In Crash

Alan ``Captain America'' Jones, a former Seattle-area resident known for daring feats that included diving into pools of rattlesnakes and swimming long distances, was honored at a memorial service yesterday in his parents' hometown of Le Mars, Iowa.

Jones, 43, died Saturday in a one-car accident near Omaha, Neb.

``He was a wonderful person, a real hero - not just for kids, but even older people,'' said his ex-wife, Brenda Jensen of Kirkland.

Many of Jones' stunts helped raise money for charitable causes and helped call attention to the importance of physical fitness. For years, he worked as promotions director for Family Fitness Centers.

Among Jones' more memorable stunts was a 500-mile swim down the Snake and Columbia rivers in 11 days in 1975. The next year, he swam 620 miles down the Mississippi River over three weeks to help celebrate the nation's bicentennial.

He is credited with completing 48,000 consecutive rope skips without a miss and doing 51,001 sit-ups in 76 hours.

Yet, simple endurance tests were not enough; Jones often added an unusual, publicity-grabbing twist. In 1982, he swam across the Strait of Juan de Fuca in handcuffs.

More than 50 times, he dived into pools of rattlesnakes or piranhas. ``It's no problem,'' he told a reporter in 1986, ``I've only been bit once.''

Jones was attracted to a variety of causes, once walking across Washington State to encourage voter registration.

In 1984, he broke a Guinness Book record by making 236 parachute jumps in 24 hours at the Issaquah Parachute Center - jumping a rate of once every six minutes.

Not every Captain America stunt was a success: In 1986, he tried to swim the 200 miles from Seattle to Vancouver in honor of Expo '86, but made it only halfway.

After the attempt, Jones said he had been unable to get a support boat to accompany him, and said he found some of the marine life intimidating. ``I may be crazy, but I'm not stupid,'' he said.

Jones, an Iowa native, graduated from high school in 1965 and received a bachelor's degree in international affairs from the University of South Dakota in 1969.

He served 12 years in the Marine Corps, earning a purple heart and bronze star in Vietnam.

Friends trace his interest in physical fitness to his work as a Marine Corps good-will ambassador to the 1972 Olympics in Munich.

Jones lived in the Seattle area from 1980 to 1986.

At the time of his death, Jones lived in Denver, where he was studying to become a physical therapist.

Jensen, who as Brenda Jones became the first female unlimited-hydroplane driver, said that although her ex-husband was not involved in hydroplanes, the two participated together in many events.

``He got me to do 15,000 sit-ups at the Seattle Boat Show to raise money for Easter Seals,'' she said.