When you were a kid, who was the person(s) you looked up to as the swimmer you wished you were. Or, who do you see as an older person you respect, swimmingly, right now?
I have a couple: Bill Yorzyck, Bob Proebsting, Wally Dobler.
Before I was a flyer, I can remember poring over swim magazines and loving to read about Lance Larson, Murray Rose, George Breen........
You got any ????
~~~~^o^~~~~
A quick note on Lenny K. A couple years ago, I was working on an article for Men's Journal magazine. The topic: Olympic training secrets of top athletes. I called up a bunch of top names, usually reachable only through a long line of agents, gait keepers, publicists, etc. Though most of the people I interviewed were polite and reasonably personable on the phone, Lenny proved to be something much more.
Usually, journalists like me try to keep the source on the phone as long as possible so as to glean as much info as possible. Lenny not only joked around, gave me extremely specific tip advice (not that it was exactly easy to apply--"Try sets of 10 x 200 meters backstroke short course, kicking 20 meters underwater off each turn"), but evinced no obvious desire at all to get off the phone.
With the other Olympians I interviewed, I was lucky to get 10 minutes of their time. With Lenny, I had to actually tell him I needed to sign off--after about 45 minutes! What a great guy! If he treated me this nicely, a complete stranger calling him from 3000 miles away, I must conclude that he's likely a first rate gentleman with most everyone he meets.
Bottom line: great times may endure for a while in record books, but athletes who are great people too deserve an extra measure of credit in my book.
A quick note on Lenny K. A couple years ago, I was working on an article for Men's Journal magazine. The topic: Olympic training secrets of top athletes. I called up a bunch of top names, usually reachable only through a long line of agents, gait keepers, publicists, etc. Though most of the people I interviewed were polite and reasonably personable on the phone, Lenny proved to be something much more.
Usually, journalists like me try to keep the source on the phone as long as possible so as to glean as much info as possible. Lenny not only joked around, gave me extremely specific tip advice (not that it was exactly easy to apply--"Try sets of 10 x 200 meters backstroke short course, kicking 20 meters underwater off each turn"), but evinced no obvious desire at all to get off the phone.
With the other Olympians I interviewed, I was lucky to get 10 minutes of their time. With Lenny, I had to actually tell him I needed to sign off--after about 45 minutes! What a great guy! If he treated me this nicely, a complete stranger calling him from 3000 miles away, I must conclude that he's likely a first rate gentleman with most everyone he meets.
Bottom line: great times may endure for a while in record books, but athletes who are great people too deserve an extra measure of credit in my book.
