Remembering Leroy Walker

Sad to learn today that former U.S. Olympic Committee President Leroy Walker died Monday in North Carolina.

Walker led the USOC following the resignation of Robert Helmick during the early 1990s, in charge during three U.S. Olympic Festivals (San Antonio 1993, St. Louis 1994 and Denver-Boulder-Colorado Springs 1995) where I worked on staff or as a volunteer (we shook hands at least once at each event).

As one of the summer of 1995 U.S. Olympic Training Center interns  (we were a motley crew from coast to coast staying in former military barracks at the USOTC in Colorado Springs), I also saw Walker from time to time on campus. The following year, Walker was a "regular" in the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG) offices in the INFORUM building where I worked.

A winner of the IOC's highest honor, the Olympic Order, Walker was a nice man and leader never too proud to stop and visit with a junior employee.

Reading Walker's obituary tonight, I was reminded he led several Olympic athletics teams, notably in 1976 when Bruce Jenner and Edwin Moses competed with success. I did not know, until today, that Walker was born here in Atlanta. After the Atlanta Games drew criticism for multiple, avoidable snafus, and the Salt Lake 2002 organization got caught in a bribery scandal, Walker aptly predicted it may be a long time before the U.S.A. could again host the Games. I'm often afraid it's going to be too long -- the USOC needs some more Coach Walkers at the helm.

It was/is also a surprise that as of 11:15 p.m. ET today, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution only posted an Associated Press version of an obituary to AJC.com. It's disappointing that after the AJC led some expansive coverage of the Atlanta Olympic bid, then preparation and finally the Centennial Olympic Games (including many archived reports including Walker) that the AJC did not yet craft its own report or remembrance for Walker. I tried to reach the sports assignment editor via email tonight for comment (no response as of this post).

Hopefully tomorrow the AJC will prove me wrong, or make things right by doing a follow up on Walker's influences in Georgia (Walker is a member of the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame, for instance).

Meanwhile, in the Chicago Tribune, veteran Olympic reporter Philip Hersh wrote a personal remembrance today that is a great summary of Walker's achievements.

Photo via this link (I believe this is a USOC handout photo from the 1990s)

Weekend Update

At work at Edelman, we've been cooking up something spectacular for a client, which is exhilarating and also keeping me busy sans blogging of late.

Catching up on some recent suggestions that hit this Olympic blogger's in box, here's a roundup of five-ringed briefs for consideration:

-- The U.S. Olympic Training Center now has a new Team USA Shop, which opened May 17 with Olympic gold medalist Curt Tomasevicz of bobsleigh signing autographs (see photo). Though it is good news there is a new shop, which I will frequent on future visits to the USOTC (my home for summer of 1995 internship), scanning the merchandise at the online shop reminds me how since the late 1980s the USOC's merch usually brought a cringe to my brow. From my view the folks who select the range of merchandise go too much for "mass appeal" while the items are plain and of moderate quality. How about some Made In The USA 100 percent cotton polo shirts with London 2012 logos, or some new creative on the lapel pins? I hope the shop's partnership with Staples Promotional Products will bring some new blood and new ideas.

-- Coca-Cola celebrated its 125th anniversary by donning its Midtown Atlanta skyscraper headquarters with fabric screens on which to project massive imagery from their iconic advertising. The effect was spectacular -- very cool to see from across the street and across town. Wishing they had seized the opportunity to project images from their Olympic partnerships since the 1928 Olympic Games (not a single Olympic connection was projected, from what I could tell).

-- It's not new news, but was reminded of rugby sevens as an addition to the Olympic roster for 2016, with Olympic rugby starting at Rio de Janiero. An interesting site that will help me learn more about rugby is WatchLiveRugbyWorldCup.com.

-- Not a fitness enthusiast myself, but for those who are, keep an eye open for LegacyChamp.com and their blog.

Photo via Team USA Shop/USOC

Get Inspired

Quiet day in Atlanta, except for the thunder. This afternoon in Midtown there were lighting strikes like those in "War of the Worlds," plus torrential rain. Great day for catching up on emails.

One inbox message unlocked some inspiration: A note from an old friend who now lives in Denver.

I first meet Tricia Downing while we interned at the U.S. Olympic Training Center during the summer of 1995. For three months we lived, with about a dozen other interns, in the former military barracks on the southeast corner of the USOTC (steps away from the nation's best athletes-in-training for Atlanta 1996, and in the other direction just a few blocks from "The Jock's Trap" bar).

Tricia, the other interns and I worked hard that summer. Fortunately, one of the perks of living at the USOTC was free access to the dining hall. And except for a couple of intern excursions or crossing paths in the dorms, visiting over meals was the main time Tricia and I got to chat.

Five years later, got a call that Tricia was involved in a terrible cycling accident, leaving her paralyzed from the chest down by a driver making an improper turn. Fortunately, a few years later on her visit to Georgia, a mini-reunion for four of us former interns proved that Tricia persevered through the terrible challenges she faced at age 32.

Today's email announced Trish recently completed a published book telling her story. I ordered a copy immediately after reading the first two chapters shared via her website, http://www.trishdowning.com/.

Also got some additional inspiration from this Oct. 2007 Muscle & Fitness feature on Trish.

I hope you will join me in supporting Trish by purchasing her book and looking into Redefining Able, Inc., which she founded. Go-Trish-GO!

Photo via Amazon.com