THE MOST INTERESTING PEOPLE IN SPORTS: 250 ANECDOTES
By David Bruce
Dedicated with Love to Tristan Murphy
SMASHWORDS EDITION
Copyright 2009 by Bruce D. Bruce
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The Most Interesting People in Sports: 250 Anecdotes
Chapter 1: From Activism to Education
Activism
• At the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games, Tommie Smith and John Carlos made a memorable political protest against American racism. After finishing first and third in the 200-meter race, they stood on the winners podium, received their medals, and then each man raised a black-gloved fist in the air. Later, at a news conference, Mr. Carlos stated, “We want to make it clear that white people seem to think black people are animals doing a job. We want people to understand that we are not animals or rats.” They paid a heavy price for their protest. They were expelled from the rest of the Olympics, and some people even sent cow manure and dead animals to Mr. Smith’s mother. Mr. Smith thinks the stress contributed to her death two years after the Olympics. He also notes that following the protest people treated him as if he had committed murder. Today, both men are respected.
• When Billie Jean King won the women’s singles title at Wimbledon in 1966, she was astonished by her prize: a gift certificate for clothing. In Rome, when she won the women’s championship at the Open Tennis Tournament in 1970, she received $600, but the winner of the men’s championship received $7,500. When she won the women’s championship at the U.S. Open in 1972, she received $10,000, but the winner of the men’s championship received $25,000. She responded to such inequality in earnings by becoming active in the women’s rights movement.
• Throughout her career as a tennis player and after, Billie Jean King fought for equal rights and for equal pay for all women, including women athletes. In 1973, she founded the Women’s Tennis Association. In 1974, she founded both World Team Tennis and the Women’s Sports Foundation. Her career earnings reached nearly $2 million, and her outspokenness and popularity helped create the first successful professional tour for women tennis players.
• Hazel Wolf, born 1898, brought girls’ basketball to her grade school. She met with the principal and told him that she wanted to play basketball. He replied that girls didn’t play that sport, and she responded, “That’s because we don’t have any basketballs.” The principal got her the basketballs.
Actors
• Vince McMahon, Jr., the mastermind of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), disliked having his wrestling matches regulated by state athletic commissions—and he disliked having to pay money to have the matches regulated. In 1989, Mr. McMahon told New York politicians that pro wrestling is not a sport and therefore it doesn’t need to be regulated. He pointed out that the winners and losers are chosen before the matches are held, and he testified that the wrestlers don’t want to hurt each other. He told the politicians, “We’re storytellers. This is a soap opera performed by the greatest actors and athletes in the world.” Following Mr. McMahon’s testimony, pro wrestling increased in popularity.
• Gorgeous George was a professional wrestler at night, and he worked at a shipyard during the day. In a wrestling match, he broke his leg, but he didn’t go to a doctor. Instead, he went home, and the next morning he went to work as usual. At work, he faked a fall from a ladder—his employer paid his medical bills because he thought that Gorgeous George had broken his leg on the job.
Advice
• At the 1995 British Open, Peter Jacobsen was paired with a 19-year-old Tiger Woods and Ernie Els. Even then, Tiger was very, very good, although Mr. Jacobsen noticed that he was hitting his ball higher in the air than it should be hit at St. Andrews. After they had played together, Tiger asked Mr. Jacobsen, “Is there anything you saw in my game out there that I could improve upon?” Mr. Jacobsen gave him some information about how playing at St. Andrews is different from playing on an American course, and Tiger thanked him. Later, Mr. Jacobsen ran into Mr. Els, who told him, “Hey, Peter. Guess what happened? Tiger just walked up to me and asked me if I’d noticed anything in his game that he might improve.” Both Mr. Jacobsen and Mr. Els were mightily impressed by Mr. Woods’ willingness to ask for advice and by his eagerness to improve his game.
• Tommy Bolt was a great golfer, but his temper sometimes got the best of him on the golf course. During one game, Mr. Bolt played so poorly that he kept throwing his golf clubs in anger. Coming to a par three of 135 yards, Mr. Bolt asked his caddie for advice, and the caddy recommended that he use his two iron. Mr. Bolt said incredulously, “That’s crazy! It’s only 135 yards.” The caddie replied, “But, Mr. Bolt, it’s the only club we have left.”
Alcohol
• In the 1908 Olympic Games in London, Italian Dorando Pietri appeared to win the gold medal in the marathon, despite being near collapse at the end of the race. In fact, some people say that he fell at least five times before crossing the finish line. And when he did cross the finish line, he was in the arms of an Olympic official. The American runner, Johnny Hayes, seemed to finish second. However, American officials lodged an official complaint that Mr. Pietri had received illegal help in crossing the finish line. As a result of the complaint, Mr. Hayes was awarded the gold medal. Mr. Pietri became famous as a result of the race, and he gathered much international sympathy as a result of being stripped of his gold medal. By the way, do you know why Mr. Pietri was staggering as he neared the finish line? According to eyewitness Joe Deakin, who won a gold medal as a relay runner in the 1908 Olympic Games, “The problem was that people along the roadway were giving him glasses of Chantilly instead of water. Pietri wasn’t exhausted. He was drunk.”
Animals
• Princess, the pet dog of the family of Olympic gold medalist gymnast Bart Conner, was severely arthritic, yet she accompanied Bart’s mother on a three-mile walk every day. The vet told Bart’s mother, “Lady, you’ve just got a motivated dog.” She replied, thinking of her three successful sons, “I’ve got motivated everything.” By the way, while walking around Los Angeles before the 1984 Olympics, Bart Conner and some other American gymnasts were recognized by an old wino who asked them for tickets. (Of course, the wino didn’t get them.)
• While Scott Hamilton, the 1984 Olympic gold medal winner in men’s figure skating, was growing up, he and his family owned several cats in succession, each of which was named Puffy Buttons.
Autographs
• A new generation always comes along that is unknowing of some of the great people of previous generations. Walter Payton once signed an autograph for a young kid who was excited to get his autograph. Just then, Stan Musial arrived, and the young kid’s father was excited and asked Mr. Musial to sign an autograph for his son. Mr. Musial did so, but after he left, the young boy asked, “Who was that?” The father replied, “Son, that was Stan the Man.” The son asked, “Who?” The father replied, “Stan Musial, the greatest baseball player who ever lived.” The son said, “Never heard of him.” Joe Kane was present and told his friend Mr. Payton, “Walter, remember this day. Someday you will be forgotten as well. That’s the way it works.” Apparently, Mr. Payton learned the lesson. He was never accused of being proud, and he realized that all records, including his own, were made to be broken.
• Professional golfer Peter Jacobsen is shocked by the sloppiness of some of the signatures given today by other professional golfers. He was taught to give a legible signature by none other than Arnold Palmer. When Mr. Jacobsen was autographing whatever fans wanted autographed, Mr. Palmer showed Mr. Jacobsen a hat with a scrawl on it and asked, “What the h*ll is that?” Mr. Jacobsen looked, then said, “Uh, that’s my autograph.” Mr. Palmer then said, “Well, I can’t read it, and if I can’t read it, these people can’t read it. Why in the h*ll would they want your name on a hat if they get home and can’t read it? Sign the d*mn thing so they can read it.” Ever since then, Mr. Jacobsen has tried to do exactly that.
• NBA great Patrick Ewing studied fine arts at Georgetown University. One of his works of art was stolen from an exhibition, but he suspects that it was stolen so that someone could have his autograph. Mr. Ewing did have a reputation for not giving his autograph because he disliked being the only member of the team who was asked for his autograph. When people asked him for his autograph, he told them, “I’ll sign after you’ve asked my teammates.” Also, instead of giving fans his autograph, he often would shake hands with them instead. He reasoned, “It means a lot more than having me sign my name.”
• A young fan asked Vanderbilt football great Roy Huggins for an autograph, which he graciously gave. Mr. Huggins then handed the autograph book to another member of the Vanderbilt team, saying, “You want this fellow’s autograph, too.” The young fan asked who the other player was, and Mr. Huggins told him, “He’s a freshman—in two or three years, he’ll be All-America.” The young fan grabbed the autograph book out of the future All-America player’s hand, saying, “I’ll wait.”
• In 1927, when Bob Feller was nine years old, his father took him to an exhibition game featuring Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig as well as other stars. Bob wanted a baseball signed by Mr. Ruth and Mr. Gehrig, but the price was $5—a lot of money at the time. Bob was able to get the $5 by catching gophers. For each gopher, the county treasurer paid a bounty of 10 cents. Bob caught 50 gophers, and he got the autographed baseball.
Automobiles
• Kids learn early about status symbols. Jaimee Eggleton performs as Aladdin in Disney on Ice, but one of his favorite cars, a 1980 Toyota Celica Supra, has over 225,000 miles on it—and runs great. Once a young fan saw Mr. Eggleton driving the car and exclaimed, “That’s Aladdin—and he drives that?” Unfortunately, sports careers usually don’t last long. On Mr. Eggleton’s 30th birthday, his fellow skaters recited funeral chants and picked out a tombstone for him.
• In 1990, tennis player Monica Seles defeated Steffi Graf to win the French Open. To motivate herself to win tournaments, the teenaged Monica often promised herself a reward, such as a new stuffed animal or a new piece of clothing. But this time she had promised herself a brand-new, bright yellow, very expensive sports car—a Lamborghini. However, her parents vetoed this idea on the grounds that a 16-year-old was too young to have a $130,000 automobile.
• Baseball player Satchel Paige liked to drive his green Packard convertible fast. Once he was stopped for speeding, and the judge fined him $40. Mr. Paige took $80 out of his wallet, then handed it to the judge, saying, “Here you go, judge, because I’m coming back this way tomorrow.”
Baseball
• In a Dodger baseball game, two men were on base—1st and 3rd—with two outs. The ball was hit to Dodger third baseman Mickey Hatcher, who had easy outs at 2nd and 1st, but who chose to throw to home, which was the hardest out to make. Waiting for the ball was catcher Joe Ferguson, who made the out. Manager Tommy Lasorda was incredulous. He asked Mr. Hatcher why he had thrown to home plate. Mr. Hatcher explained that he had lost count and thought there was only one out. Mr. Lasorda then turned to Mr. Ferguson and told him, “That was a dumb play, but you were dumber because you were ready for it.” Mr. Ferguson had a ready answer: “When you play with dumb players, you gotta think dumb.”
• James “Cool Papa” Bell was a Negro Leagues base runner renowned for his speed. According to pitcher Satchel Paige, Cool Papa was so fast that he could flip a light switch off and be in bed before the light went out. This actually has a basis—kind of—in fact. When Satchel and Cool Papa were rooming together, Cool Papa discovered that the light switch in their room was faulty—when switched on or off, it took a little more time than usual to make the connection. When Satchel returned to their room late one night, Cool Papa told him, “You know, Satchel, I’m so fast that I can beat the light!” He then flipped the light switch off and was in bed before the light went out.
• In 1951, manager Leo Durocher’s New York Giants came from way behind—on August 1, they were behind by 13½ games—to catch up to the Brooklyn Dodgers and force a playoff game to decide who won the pennant. In the bottom of the ninth, the Giants had one out and men on second and third base. They were also behind 4-2. Bobby Thomson got ready to bat, and Mr. Durocher spoke to him. Mr. Thomson then hit a home run—“The Shot Heard Round the World”—that sent the Giants to the World Series. What did Mr. Durocher say to him? Just this: “If you ever hit one, hit it now.”
• The Moscow Red Devils are one of the first baseball teams to be formed in Russia. In fact, baseball is so unknown in Russia that at the Moscow Airport, when the Red Devils were coming to the United States to play exhibition matches, a customs inspector wondered about the purpose of the wooden stick right fielder Andrei Tzelikovsky was carrying. Mr. Tzelikovsky explained that it was a baseball bat, and it was used to play an American sport. The customs inspector then asked, “How far are you supposed to throw it?”
Celebrities
• Groucho Marx once got so angry because of his golf game that he hurled his putter into the green. His country club considered throwing him out, but it relented when he defended himself by saying, “If you throw me out, you’ll be sorry. If I’m not a member, I won’t have to play golf. And if I don’t have to play golf, it’ll be a pleasure—not a punishment. You want to make me happy for what I did?”
• The world has an appetite for trivia about its celebrities. For example, when Olga Korbut became a major star at the 1972 Olympics Games in Munich, fans were very interested to learn that she sometimes ate an entire bottle of ketchup at one meal. They were also interested when she said, “Life is marvelous now because I have a tape recorder.”
Children
• Chipper Jones’ real name is Larry Wayne Jones, Jr., but because of how much he resembled his father, everyone said that he was a chip off the old block and so he soon acquired his nickname. His father was a baseball coach at Pierson Taylor High School in Florida, and he got Chipper started early as a player. While Chipper was too young to swing a real bat, his father cut off a piece of PVC pipe for him to use to hit tennis balls. Chipper rapidly became a confident athlete in more sports than baseball. As a seventh-grade basketball player, he once was fouled and awarded two free throws in a game in which his team was behind by one point with three seconds left to play. The crowd was hostile, and it yelled at him. He waved to the hostile fans, encouraging them to yell louder, and then he made the two free throws to win the game. Of course, he became famous as a player for the Atlanta Braves, and once, while he and his wife were watching football on TV at home 20 young girls came into his yard and started chanting, “Chipper, we love you.”
• When he was a kid, NFA quarterback Jim Kelly and his five brothers used to put on helmets and play football in the living room with the couch serving as the end zone. As you would expect, the family furniture paid a heavy price for these indoor games. Their mother once said, “I always said I wouldn’t trade my boys for anything, but there were days I would have gladly given them away.” Even as a kid, Jim knew he wanted to play in the NFL. At age 11, he got to meet his hero—Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw—and told him, “I’m going to take your job away, Mr. Bradshaw.” By the way, when Mr. Kelly attended the University of Miami his freshman year, he ran into problems getting his favorite number. At first, he wanted the number 11 because that was his number in high school. That number was already taken, so then he wanted Terry Bradshaw’s number: 12. That number was also already taken. Finally, Mr. Kelly settled for number 7 because that was the only number left on a jersey that fit him.
• Of course, kids will be kids, even when they are elite athletes. In Romania, Nadia Comaneci and some other gymnasts did not turn their lights out when they were supposed to—they waited until they heard Bela Karolyi, their coach, coming to check up on them, then turned out the lights. They didn’t fool Bela, however, and he told them, “Your light was on. You must not be sleepy. Maybe you need to get a bit more tired before you close your eyes.” He made them run for a while outside before he let them go to bed again. The next day the young gymnasts were very tired, and after that they turned out their lights when they were supposed to.
• In a T-ball (a version of baseball for very young players) game, an umpire named Laura Benson called a runner out, but the fielder, Tanner Munsey, told her that he had missed the tag, and so Ms. Benson reversed her call. In a game two weeks later, once again Ms. Benson was the umpire and Tanner Munsey was a player. Ms. Benson called a runner safe, but after seeing the disappointed look on Tanner’s face, she asked him if he had tagged the runner out. He said he had, and so Ms. Benson reversed her call. Later, Ms. Benson said to the opposing coach, “If a kid is that honest, I have to give it to him.”
• MLB star Albert Belle and his twin brother, Terry, were competitive when they were young. One of the things they competed in was reading. Both of them devoured autobiographies, and both of them tried to read more pages than the other. Terry remembers that “if I got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom or something, I’d check to see what page [his] marker was on. If it was page 207, then I’d read to page 227 so that when he woke up the next morning, I’d be ahead of him.”
• As a child, Scott Hamilton was a very active child. Once, his father, Ernie, was up on the roof working. Suddenly, two-year-old Scott was up on the roof, walking along the edge after climbing up the ladder. On a different occasion, his mother, Dorothy, heard giggling coming from a cabinet above the refrigerator. Even before she opened the cabinet, she knew that she would find Scott. Scott grew up to become the 1984 Olympic gold medalist in men’s figure skating.
• As a little girl growing up in Yugoslavia, Monica Seles learned to play tennis on a court made by stretching a string between two parked cars. After she began to win tournaments, Yugoslavians called her the “champion from the parking lots.” She was so talented at tennis that she once won a 12-and-under tournament even though she didn’t yet know how to keep score and someone had to tell her when her matches were over.
• As very young gymnasts, Dominique Moceanu, Shelly Cavaliere, and Becky Wildgen hung out together. They did not like one coach in particular, so Dominique, whose parents had emigrated from Romania, taught them some Romanian words to say to the coach. The coach had no idea what they were saying, and neither did the two non-Romanian-speaking gymnasts, but Shelly guesses that they were “bad words.”
• Young gymnasts tend to look out for each other. At a gymnastics dormitory in the late 1970s, some young gymnasts would sneak away on Saturday afternoons to go to a Burger King for junk food favorites such as a double cheeseburger, fries, and shake. Young gymnast Jackie Cassello said, “If a dorm parent notices that a couple of kids are missing, we’ll stick up for them. We’ll say they’re in the bathroom.”
• Lois Lowry, the author of such children’s books as Anastasia Krupnik and Number the Stars, once lost on the television quiz show Jeopardy. Her son watched as she missed a question that would have won the game. Afterward, she used to catch him looking at her and shaking his head, shocked that she was so ignorant about baseball.
• As a youngster, soccer superstar Julie Foudy was a tomboy. In a kindergarten play, she won the role of Miss Muffet. Her teacher asked her mother to be sure that little Julie wore a dress to school on the day of the play, but Julie fought against that idea so hard that she got her wish and played the role of Miss Muffet in blue jeans.
• When Mike Tyson was a child, he was small, looked weak, and collected pigeons. One day, a bully killed one of his pigeons in front of him, and instead of running away, as he usually did when he was confronted, he was so angry that he hit the bully. This is how he discovered that he was good at fighting.
• Claude “Butch” Harmon, Jr., had quite a temper when he played golf as a youngster, but his father cured him of it. Whenever Butch got angry on a golf course, his father used to take his golf clubs and lock them up in the trunk of his car for a month before letting Butch play again.
Christmas
• Boston Celtics great Larry Bird, winner of three NBA Championships, grew up impoverished. At one time, his mother worked two jobs to bring home $100 per week; unfortunately, it took $125 to keep the family fed. When Mr. Bird made it to the NBA and the big bucks, he bought his mother a house and filled it with new furniture. As you may expect, a basketball is the first gift that Larry remembers receiving. It was a Christmas gift, and unfortunately he left it behind a wood-burning stove one night. The next morning, the basketball was bumpy as a result of the excessive heat. Larry played with it anyway. In high school, Larry played basketball wearing a jersey with the number 33, a number that had been worn by his older brother Mike. Larry continued to wear the number 33, and that number has been retired by Larry’s high school (Springs Valley High School), by his college (Indiana State), and by the Celtics.
Clothing
• Lots of queens exist in the world: fair queens, prom queens, and rodeo queens. Of course, a rodeo queen is not likely to ride in a chariot powered by four horses. Instead, she is going to be riding the horse, moving like the wind, wearing cowboy boots, and not letting her hat touch the ground. Tina Johnson, a former queen’s court advisor for the Yoncalla (Oregon) Rodeo, and therefore an expert, says, “If your hat hits the ground, then your head had better be in it. Losing your hat is a major rodeo queen faux pas.” (As everyone knows, lots of queens speak French.) So how does a rodeo queen keep her hat on while galloping on a horse? The use of lots of bobby pins helps, as does wearing a hat one size too small. Another expert, the 2007 Yoncalla Rodeo Queen and 2008 Senior Princess Whitney Richey says, “One of the new girls was complaining because her hat was too tight. We told her, ‘Take an Advil.’”
• Canadian figure skater Toller Cranston once lived in a house located in a very bad part of Toronto. On the street outside his house could be seen pimps, prostitutes, drug addicts, and hustlers. Once, Mr. Cranston made the mistake of hiring someone to clean out his basement for him. Unfortunately, the cleaner did not know what was valuable and what was not valuable, so he threw out boxes of very expensive skating costumes onto the sidewalk outside Mr. Cranston’s house. When Mr. Cranston came home, he saw a riot of activity on the street. The street people had discovered the glittery, jewel-studded costumes, and they were having a grand time putting them on and parading around. For months afterward, Mr. Cranston saw bits and pieces of his costumes being worn by prostitutes getting into customers’ cars.
• For a while in her career as a jockey, Julie Krone was racing for several hours a day. Waking up at dawn, she worked horses in the morning, raced at Monmouth Park in New York in the afternoon, and then raced at Atlantic City in New Jersey in the evening. At night, when she went to bed, she tucked her socks and pant legs into her boots, so she could dress more quickly and save time.
• Back when women jockeys first started racing, they tended to upset some of the men jockeys. Sometimes, the men jockeys would be naked in the steam bath and when they would walk—still naked—into the jockeys’ room, they would see women jockeys waiting to weigh in. This really didn’t bother the women jockeys, one of whom said, “I never notice faces.”
• After winning a team gold medal in the 1996 Olympic Games, some members of the United States women’s gymnastics team were able to visit the locker room of the Houston Rockets. Dominique Moceanu, who was 4-foot-6, even tried on the jersey of 6-foot-11 Hakeem Olajuwon. The jersey went down to her ankles, so she said, “Nice dress.”
• At the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, American gymnast Mary Lou Retton took home several souvenirs, including five medals and the leotard she competed in. She told reporters, “I am never going to wash this uniform!”
Coaches
• In 1976, the University of Missouri defeated Ohio State’s football team, 22-21. One thing that helped Missouri was that a referee called holding on an Ohio State defender, a penalty that set up a score for Missouri. Ohio State coach Woody Hayes furiously argued with the referees about the penalty, but lost the argument. After the game, he walked away with his head down. But the next day, he called Missouri coach Al Onofrio to say that he had watched the film of the game and that the referee’s call had been absolutely right. He also apologized for not previously giving the Missouri team the credit it deserved. Coach Onofrio says, “That was his way of congratulating us, even if it was a day later.”
• The coaches of teenage athletes sometimes have odd duties. Sarah Hughes was famous enough as a young figure skater to have lots of people notice when she went through a “gawky” phase as she transformed from a child to a young woman. Her coach, Robin Wagner, knew that if Sarah looked at some figure-skating fan websites, she would read that she was “gawky, awkward, had poor posture, lack of maturity.” However, Ms. Wagner realized, “At 12 or 13 you’re supposed to be gawky and awkward. It’s perfectly natural.” Therefore, Ms. Wagner did her best to keep Sarah from reading any hurtful comments.
• When Cal Ripken, Jr., was growing up, he was usually able to go to his father—Cal Ripken, Sr., a minor-league and major-league baseball coach—for coaching. However, when his father was busy at work, he was able to go to another person for coaching—Violet Ripken, his mother, who knew much about baseball from being around it constantly. When Cal, Jr., was 11 years old, he pitched a Little League game in 30-degree weather with winds that were so strong that they blew him off the pitcher’s mound. Only one person was in the stands—his mother
• Ohio State University football coach Woody Hayes felt that he and the rest of the coaching staff should shower with the players as a way to show camaraderie. Player Calvin Murray remembers that Woody couldn’t reach his back, so someone else would have to wash his back for him. When Woody entered the showers, lots of players would immediately leave, so a big linebacker rinsing the soap from his hair and thus unaware of Woody’s entrance would end up washing Woody’s back for him.
• In 1952, fumbles resulted in an Oklahoma loss to Notre Dame. All during the first half, the Sooners just couldn’t hold onto the football. At halftime, the Sooners waited for the band to get off the field. An Oklahoma majorette threw a baton, and when it came, she dropped it. A fan witnessed the fumble and told Coach Bud Wilkinson, “I see you coach the band, too.”
• In 1991, Jerry Glanville coached the Atlanta Falcons. He was eccentric, and he insisted on leaving free tickets at the ticket office for people who never showed up to use them: Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, and James Dean. Once, he even ordered that a free ticket be made available for the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera.
Competition
• Politics sometimes intrudes on sports in odd ways. In 1937, several Negro Leagues stars, including Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson, played on a team for Dominican Republic dictator Rafael Trujillo, who wanted them to win the championship because he thought that it would boost his popularity. Before the game that determined the championship, team manager Lazaro Salazar informed his players that if they did not win the game, they could end up losing more than a game and a championship—they could very well lose their lives if the dictator decided to have them executed. They won, 6-5.
• The Japanese men were dominant in gymnastics in the 1960s and 1970s, winning several team gold medals in the Olympics and the World Championships. When American gymnast Kurt Thomas competed against the Japanese at the 1978 World Championships, he knew they were serious about winning. Usually, the Japanese smoked and drank until late, but this time they only smoked. (The semi-abstinence worked—the Japanese won.)
• Triathletes compete in swimming, bicycling, and running in their sport, but it can be difficult to switch from one type of physical activity to the next. Heather Hedrick once competed in a duathlon (bicycling and running). She concentrated so hard on the bicycling that when she first began running, her legs did not even seem to be part of her body. She even asked a fellow competitor, “Where are my legs?”
• For a while, jockey Julie Krone was in a bad slump and failed to finish first in 80 races in a row. In fact, in one race, as she rode toward the finish line knowing that she was going to lose again, she screamed, “I quit! I quit! I quit!” But she didn’t quit. She kept racing, she started winning again, and in 1993, she became the first woman to win a Triple Crown race when she won the Belmont Stakes.
• As a young athlete, gymnast Kurt Thomas also competed as a wrestler because the team needed a 98-pounder. Competing as a wrestler was easy for Kurt. Most of the teams he competed against didn’t have a 98-pounder, so all he had to do was show up to win.
Conversation
• Soccer superstar Julie Foudy did a lot of work for an anti-smoking campaign, and in April of 1996 she visited the White House, where Donna Shalala, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, gave her a tour. Ms. Shalala stopped outside the Oval Office, where she asked a Secret Service agent if the President was in it. The agent said the President was, so Ms. Shalala said, “We can’t show you the room if he’s in there. Come on, let’s go down to the Cabinet Room.” The Secret Service agent was wrong, as Ms. Shalala and Ms. Foudy bumped into President Bill Clinton as he turned the corner. Ms. Foudy said, “We were just looking for you,” and they chatted for a while.
• Before the 1991 World Championships in Munich, Germany, figure skaters Kristi Yamaguchi and Kurt Browning trained together. Once, they were traveling together and Mr. Browning asked her, “Do you realize there could be two world champions in this car?” Mr. Browning was right. At the end of the world championships, both Mr. Browning and Ms. Yamaguchi were wearing gold medals.