The passing of Don McKenize

I just found out that Don McKenize passed way in Reno, Nevada yesterday after a long battle with cancer. I just want to say that he was my friend, he was the toughest competitor I ever swam against and for those of you who don't know of him he won two gold medals at the Olympics in 1968. We went head to head for many years and I can't tell you how many times he would look over, a few minutes before a race, and say "is this fun or what??". He was a super star guy and my deepest sympathy goes out to his wife and children. Thanks for letting us know Bob, my condolences on the loss of your friend. I got to witness some of your head to heads with Don. We knew we'd always get to watch a great race, with no quarter given. We'll miss him. Our thoughts are with his family.

Wow,I hadn't seen him in a long time and wondered what happened.My condolences to his family and all who were close to him,he will be missed.

This was one of the great rivalries in swimming; I was looking forward to seeing it continue for many more years. Robert, I suspect that Don will forever be racing side by side with you, demanding your finest effort.

My sympathies to his family and friends.

Gary's post is so right on. No one expected Don to win in Mexico City. The two Russian's were favored and in the final Don swam past them both with about 10 meters to go. This guy was super strong and it was always such a pleasure to swim against him. I remember the year he came back at DeAnza in 96 (Doc's team deal). I had just aged up to 50 and went 1:01 in the 100 *** (he was year younger) and I think he went about 1:04 in his first year back. In 1998 he went 1:01.02 at 51 and and was out like a rocket I went 1:01.7. The record still stands. When Don and I got on the blocks it was "no holds bared". Over the years we probably split the races I won more of the 50"s, he the 100's and me the 200's. I remember him saying how good I was and I said "WAIT a minute" your the guy with the two Olympic gold medals on your mantle you did it!!! Where was I??? USMS/world champ you bet and proud of it!! Olympic champ far from it he was the MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When Charlie Hickcox was packing his bags for the Olympic Trials in 1968, he used the biggest suitcase he had. He knew he would be going straight from the Trials in Long Beach to Colorado Springs, training camp site for the Mexico City Games. Training camp was going to be a long 6 weeks for the altitude acclimation, so he would need a lot a clothes. Confidence? Hardly. Charlie was a world record holder and a shoo-in to make the Team. But when Charlie noticed that his roommate in Bloomington, Indiana, Don McKenzie, was packing for the Trials with a trunk bigger than his suitcase, he was a bit surprised. After all, no one had ever heard of Don McKenzie before. Nor had he ever won anything significant in any major swimming competition. "Don", Charlie asked, "why are you packing such a big trunk?" "Well, after I win the Trials, isn't training camp for six weeks?", Don responded. Not only did Don win the Trials in the 100 m Breastroke, he then went on to win the Olympics in the same event and as part of the USA Medley Relay. Everyone except Don was surprised. He never had a doubt he would win. I hadn't seen Don in decades when i called him in the Spring of 1997. I didn't know what kind of shape he was in. I had only heard that he was training again to try to break 1 minute in the 100 yard breastroke at the age of 50 +. That was good enough for me. We needed Don badly. You see, I had challenged the women's Olympic medley relay team to a race against 4 male Olympians who now averaged 45 years of age to a 4 X 50 medley relay at the Grand Prix meet in Phoenix Arizona. A team of Jerry Heidenreich, Tom Hickcox, Jim Montgomery and I had lost in a nail biter to the women's Olympic team in the 4 X 50 free relay a year earlier. Now, it was about saving face. John Naber led off for us against BJ Bedford. John is a good sport, but he wasn't a good choice. He hadn't competed since he had hopped out of the pool in Montreal in 76 and it showed. We were two seconds behind the girls. For breastroke, since Amanda Beard wasn't there, we allowed them to use Penny Heyns, reigning world record holder and Olympic champion in the 100 meter breastroke. Any match for Don McKenzie? Not a chance. It took three of us to zip up the full body suit Don put on for the relay, two to pull in the material while he sucked in his gut and one of us to zip it up. It was worth the effort. Swimming the "old-fashioned" breastroke, head up, flat as a pancake, Don split 30.5 (meters!!!) and caught Penny. Now it was me against Misty Hyman. Misty pulled a fast one by swimming 35 meters underwater (she was the best underwater in the world), even though the 15 meter rule had already taken effect. Nonetheless, we spit evenly, somewhere in the high 26's. Jim Montgomery and Jenny Thompson left the blocks at the exact same time. Ironically, it was Jenny who had touched out Jim a year ago. Not this time. Jim was too proud to lose twice and managed to touch one tenth ahead of Jenny. The crowd was on its feet, screaming the whole way. We didn't get any medals for this 'special' race, but if we had, we would have all given them to Don. From Mexico City to that relay in Phoenix, Don had never really changed. He was one of the fiercest competitors our sport has ever known. He will be missed by all that knew him. Thanks again, Don, for winning that relay for us and saving our pride! Your friend, Gary Hall Sr.

Any chance that some of these great testimonials can make it to the USMS web site, or to USMS Swimmer?

One more story about Don. In the Mexico City Olympics, nearly every team member succumbed to Montezuma's revenge, except Don. He stayed healthy and strong as a horse throughout the Games, while others were dropping like flies. Steve Rerych couldn't even get out of bed to swim the prelims of the 200 free. The bathroom in our Village rooms usually had a line to get in. Later, toward the end of the Games, I asked Don how he managed to keep from getting sick. He reached down in the cabinet next to his bed and pulled out a bottle of Mexican Tequila. "I just took a shot of this every night before bed", he said. "I figured it would kill anything." Maybe the Russian breastrokers forgot the Vodka. Either way, Don was one tough dude. Respectfully, Gary Hall Sr. www.theraceclub.com

Man, what I wouldn't give for a YouTube of that relay! I don't remember the '68 Olympics (I was 1), but I loved reading these stories. I second Chris's suggestion to get this written up for USMS, online or in print. Inspirational doesn't come close to describing the emotion they create.

I have some great races on video of Don and myself. One race from Indy 98 where he really showed his stuff I will try to get it on Youtube as soon as I figure out how to it. I set a new world record in the 100 *** yesterday(60-64) and my thoughts were with Don as they will be for day two, Sunday.