The passing of Don McKenize

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.

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.