A Connecticut native was just six years old when he was gravely injured in a Hartford fire that killed more than 150 people and haunted the city for generations.

Now, a biographical sports documentary chronicling the life of Connecticut native Jerry LeVasseur is in production.

LeVasseur, a survivor of the 1944 Hartford Circus Fire, had a lengthy career as a college running coach and is still competing in track and field as an 88-year-old. His mother died saving him from the fire.

LeVasseur, a Bristol native, was with his mother when the fire burned down the Ringling Bros.
and Barnum & Bailey circus tent in Hartford. One hundred and sixty-eight people died in the fire.

LeVasseur was rescued from the wreckage with severe burns and life-threatening injuries and was treated at Hartford Hospital for six months.

Journalist and filmmaker Andrew McGowan, who is heading the documentary about LeVasseur, said doctors weren’t sure if LeVasseur would survive.

Sports and a family

“LeVasseur not only survived, but thrived, rebounding to become a lifelong athlete,” McGowan said.

LeVasseur went on to play basketball and football at Frederick Gunn School in Washington, Conn. He earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting at Lehigh University, where he competed in skiing, soccer and track and field.

LeVasseur and his wife raised four daughters in Connecticut living along the shoreline in both North Branford and Madison.

For a living, LeVasseur was the CFO of Pratt-Reid Manufacturing. He also took up sled-dog racing and trained dozens of canine teams in New England for about 30 years.

In his mid-40s, LeVasseur began competing in distance running events and eventually expanded his repertoire to sprints, steeplechase, long jump and triple jump. Over the last four decades, LeVasseur has traveled the world as a runner. He has broken records and won national titles in his age groups.

McGowan said LeVasseur has continued to persevere as an athlete after overcoming “cancers and surgeries.”

The documentary, which has not been named yet, will chronicle LeVasseur’s life and his story of perseverance and will capture LeVasseur’s current season training for the National Masters Championships.

McGowan began production in early March while LeVasseur was competing in the 2026 USATF-Maine Association Indoor Championships in Brunswick, Maine on March 8.

McGowan is directing and producing the documentary met LeVasseur while he was on the track and cross-country teams at Bowdoin College. LeVasseur was an assistant coach at the school for nearly 20 years after LeVasseur and his wife retired and moved to Maine in 2004.

“I was lucky enough to have my four years at Bowdoin overlap with his tenure and I got to know him and his story,” McGowan said. “He is such an incredible person and has such an incredible story and it’s so inspiring and so uplifting. I always thought it would make a great documentary film since I graduated in 2019.”

Since his time at Bowdoin, McGowan has been “working in the film world” at festivals and working for different production companies and most recently earned an MFA from UCLA’s school of theater film and television. He most recently took a documentary-producing class about a year ago as a graduate student. The class rekindled this idea of chronicling LeVasseur’s story.

“That got me thinking about this topic in Jerry’s story more strategically, and realized the pieces were there to make it a reality, so reconnected with Jerry and he said that he would be happy to share his story for a film as long as it would help people. Knowing his story, it certainly will help people and inspire people,” McGowan said.

McGowan reconnected with LeVasseur last fall. McGowan, a New Jersey native, was living in Los Angeles at the time and moved back to Maine in January. He hired a director of photography and “hit the ground running and began filming last month.”

In addition to filming LeVasseur at the Maine Indoor State Championship, he also filmed him training and competing in road races and other events.

“I just recently did the first long form sit down interview with them, which is really big for us developing the structure of the film,” McGowan said.

The climax of the story will be LeVasseur competing at the 2026 Outdoor National Master’s Championships in July in Geneva, Ohio. Following the Masters event, McGowan will edit the film together with archival materials. The goal is to have the film completed in early 2027.

McGowan said he’s been in touch with the Hartford Historical Society about getting archived materials from the 1944 fire and materials from the time McGowan was growing up in Connecticut.

McGowan plans to film LeVasseur’s 70th high school reunion at the Frederick Gunn School in June.

Life well-lived despite the fire

McGowan said LeVasseur remembered the 1944 Hartford fire vividly, even as a 6-year-old.

“He remembers it about as well as you can imagine somebody remembering something from when they were six years old. He has pretty vivid memories of taking the bus from Bristol to Hartford with his mother and a couple of his neighbors. He remembers the circus act going on and the animal act taking place. He said just as the trapeze act was happening was when people started noticing a fire going off and then panic breaking out and people rushing to the exits,” McGowan said.

The day the clowns cried: The story of the Hartford circus fire

“He says that he has blocked out the memory of at some point during the attempt to exit in that stampede. He says the next thing he remembers is being transported to the hospital with some first responders. The most traumatic events are a little fuzzier, and he remembers being in the hospital for the next several months, being treated for all of this,” he added.

McGowan said that LeVasseur relayed to him that he couldn’t grasp the severity of the situation at the time and LeVasseur remembered “his wounds being dire.”

“He later connected with other survivors who had trouble going into crowds for the rest of their lives,” McGowan said. “He didn’t have those same issues but always checks for emergency exits wherever he is.”

“He was able to grow up and live a healthy life both physically and mentally despite what he went through. He’s living history and has a relatively vivid account of what went down,” he added.

McGowan said LeVasseur missed a full school year after the fire being treated for his injuries. He had noticeable wounds from his injuries and some classmates picked on him. LeVasseur suffered third-degree burns mainly on his arms and some on his head. LeVasseur’s fingers were fused together, and he had operations on his hands until he was 12 years old. His care required several surgeries as well as physical therapy.

“You notice his hands are still scarred by the fire and he doesn’t have all 10 fingers at full length,” McGowan said. “Nobody knows for sure how the burns affected some parts of his body and not others. The understanding is that there was sort of a pile of people that might have protected part of his body,” McGowan said.

McGowan said LeVasseur built up his confidence when entering Frederick Gunn School in 1952 and being involved in basketball and football.

McGowan said LeVasseur impacted him in their four years together in Maine. McGowan described LeVasseur as proud but humble.

“He’s a very sweet man and very engaging,” McGowan said. “It makes for a great subject in a documentary. He’s very detailed and generous with his stories. He’s generous in spirit, encouraging others and helping people find their best selves.”

“In every interview I’ve done with him he always says he gets more out of supporting other athletes than his own successes,” he added. “He’s the type of person that wants to life everyone around him. He was always a beloved member of the Bowdoin track and cross county communities.”

McGowan, 28, said LeVasseur is the leader for a group of senior athletes that train at Bowdoin.

LeVasseur competes in long jump and triple jump, relays as well as sprinting events like the 60-meter-dash and the 100-meter-dash in the 85-to-89-year-old age group.

“Jerry is eager to share his story because he thinks he can help others,” McGowan said.

LeVasseur is looking to raise funding for the project with a Kickstarter campaign.