TERRY TRUMAN
After graduating from Aurora Central in 1965, I attended the University of Washington, where Coach Eric Hughes was kind enough to offer me a full scholarship. The NCAA allowed freshman teams to compete in the Pacific Northwest Championship, held at the U of Oregon in Eugene, February 1966. I took third on parallel bars and fourth in floor exercise and was the only freshman to place in the top six of any event. Unfortunately, this was my last competition.

In December 1966, I contracted pneumonia, which persisted into 1967, and I was forced to leave Washington. Sometimes negative events manifest a positive outcome, and Selective Service instructed me to have my military physical while I still had pneumonia. The Adams County Draft Board immediately classified me 4P, meaning (like Woody Allen), in case of war, I’m a hostage.

From 1968 until 1979, I worked in the Post Office, graveyard shift at the old Terminal Annex at 14^th and Wynkoop and later in Aurora. After a divorce in 1971, I fell in with bad companions and spent my spare time at various bust-out joints like the Terminal Bar, now Jax, an upscale and trendy fish house. We got paid every other Friday at 10pm and the owner of the Terminal Bar cashed our paychecks. He had the first .44 Magnum I ever saw sitting on his cash register. On Saturday mornings (when our working week ended), we frequented another boîte of sophistication, Eddie’s Ribs just outside Five Points. At 7am on a Saturday, we’d have several beers and a couple of pigfeet dredged up from Friday’s cold grease. Working graveyard shift downtown in those days made me feel like Roy Batty, the replicant in Blade Runner, who said, “I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe.”

In 1972, Bobby Fisher called me and asked me to become a judge. From 1972 to 1985, I judged maybe 200 high school meets, including 10 State Championships, 50-or-so college dual meets, two Big Surf Invitationals, one WAC Championship, one Big 8 Invitational, some Rocky Mountain Opens, and the 1979 World Games Trials in Fort Collins. One year I was named Regional Judge of the Year because the judges’ association lost the plaque with Bobby’s name on it.

Best of all, I was reacquainted in 1992 with the lovely and fabulous Janice Bolls (we first met in 7^th grade), and we married in 1995. She had three grown children who have all since married, and we have seven grandchildren, who are more fun than humans should have. The kids and their spouses are all mature and hard-working, with intelligence, compassion, and superior parenting skills. The extended family is close and we all enjoy one another immensely.

Many of you on the blog remember my brother Craig, the acclaimed trial lawyer. He and I have always been close and he is a mitzvah in my life. Fortunately for me, I’ve been able to stay tethered to friends from the gymnastics days, including Gary Alexander, Bobby Fisher, Sam Sargent, John Young, Cliff Gauthier, Don Robinson, Rick O'Fallon and Coach Hughes and John Anthony from Washington.

Thanks to Pat Edwards for all his hard work, his diligence, and his sense of humor.

As Bette Davis said, ‘Getting old ain’t for sissies.”

KIRK ROSE
A "secret admirer" felt we didn't know enough about Kirk Rose who underwent open heart surgery a month ago so here's some added info:

FYI this is the web page set up by Kirk's youngest daughter during his operation and rehab from heart surgery.

http://teambapa.weebly.com/bapa.html

Kirk is way to modest in his bio...:

In his early days he was a Handball champion in New Mexico

He is a highly rated Triathlete in his age group in the Pacific NW and a sought after Triathlon trainer for any age group.

He was a member of the United States Age Group Olympic Triathlon Team that went to Portugal (don't remember the year, sometime in the 2000's)

Ran his first Ironman last year and completed most of the work for his PhD

He was on a team called Scar Trek He of course was call "Captain Kirk"!
http://www.yourheartvalve.com/patientstories/scartrek.htm

And here is part of an interview he did with Paula Zahn

http://premium.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0309/09/pzn.00.html

ZAHN: It is remarkable to find anyone who's in good enough shape to take part in a 200-mile relay, but members of the Scar Trek teams have done more than train their wills and their bodies. Each one of them has overcome life-threatening medical problems and surgeries. Not only are they alive and kicking, in the relay, they actually take turns that average about 18 miles at a time, serving, they hope, as an inspiration to others. Wile the American Heart Association says moderate exercise is good for heart patients, what these runners do is above and beyond. Of course, before you get inspired, make sure you check with your physician, but you may well be inspired after you hear their stories.

Two members of Scar Trek, Andrew Karpless (ph) and team captain Kirk Rose join me from Eugene, Oregon. Congratulations, gentlemen.

KIRK ROSE, SCAR TREK TEAM CAPTAIN: Thank you.

ANDREW KARPLESS, SCAR TREK TEAM MEMBER: Thank you.

ZAHN: Welcome back to the world of elite athletes here. Andrew, tell us a bit about why you took up running after surgery. I know some members of your family thought you were nuts.

KARPLESS: Yes. I think I took it up because of the challenge and a chance -- I mean, Kirk and his friends asked me to be on the team, and I wanted to -- I've always been athletic, and I just wanted to experience that again and see that -- push my heart to the limit, kind of, with the new artificial valve that it had, and show that I could still do the things I used to do and even more. I had never run that fast before or that far before. So it was the excitement and the adventure.

ZAHN: And Kirk, as a result of open-heart surgery, you decided this would be a good way to come back. Did you have any concerns about how this might affect your health?

ROSE: Well, actually, I have been running since the second open- heart surgery, and competing in triathlons. So for me, it was probably the least amount of change from my normal activity. But yes, the first time out of the chute, so to speak, it was a big deal. But this time, it was more about getting these gentlemen together and having a team effort and sharing the types of things we went through, having had open-heart surgery, and being able to perform at the level that we performed.

ZAHN: Well, Kirk, you're so modest. I don't think you're going to make it clear to our audience exactly what you've had to confront since surgery. You've had some memory loss, some bouts with epilepsy. This has not been easy for you.

ROSE: Well, everybody in life has challenges, and hopefully, we can rise to them, and others will be inspired to do the same.

ZAHN: Andrew, you want to send the message tonight that anything is possible.

KARPLESS: Yes. I could have done more after my surgery than I did it before, and I'm so excited to have taken care of the heart problem, even though it was actually optional surgery. And so now it's history, and I look forward to a rich life continuing in the future.

ZAHN: Well, you're setting the bar very high for the rest of us. Kirk Rose, Andrew Karpless, thank you for sharing your stories with us tonight.

ROSE: You're welcome.

KARPLESS: Thank you very much, Paula.

Kirk in a nutshell or less:

FINALLY - A real bio!

1965 Graduated from Fairview ~ Went to Colorado State College and studied Physical Education and Health. Competed for Colorado State College coached by Tony Rossi. Competed on a couple of Colorado All Star Teams with moderate success.

1969 Married Mary Helen Reilly. We have two daughters, Michel Ann and Angela de Julia, six grandchildren and still have our folks around.

In 1971 I coached the Loveland High School team and then traveled to Kansas State University where I earned a Masters degree and, once again, coached gymnastics.

1972 took a job as Gymnastics coach at Eastern New Mexico University. Taught at ENMU for 5 years and then the heart went bad.. 1977 had Open Heart Surgery in Lubbock Texas where my aortic valve was replaced.

1978 & 79 worked on my Phd at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, NM. Continued to compete in open meets, judged and coached when possible.

1979 moved to Lebanon, OR where I coached women's gymnastics for several years and taught Health, PE, Art & Computer Science.

1992 Another heart surgery ended all gymnastics and the handball habit I had picked up in Kansas. Took up Running and then Triathlons to keep in shape.

2001 Retired from teaching and took a job as a handyman at a public swimming pool in Corvallis, Oregon and moved to Albany, Oregon where we currently reside.

2008 After several years on the Triathlon circuit and some top 10 finishes at the National Championships I decided to complete an Ironman event and did so at the Arizona Ironman event in Tempe on November 23rd. The cutoff time for all athletes was 17 hours and I finished in 12:55:54. I consider this my most difficult challenge in all athletics, had a blast! (Ok, Ironman = 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride followed by a Marathon... pure fun.

2009 Heart goes bad and on May 15 had my ascending Aorta and Aortic valve replaced... not fun!

Mary Helen is the one that kept me going thru all of the fun and is still at my side.. not sure why?


All Dominick has to do is mention the 1964 State Meet and Terry sends me newspaper article about it! How' s that for service?
We'll do it in green since AC won the title.

Remember - you should be able to click on the article to enlarge it for reading. I actually saw Dominick's name quite a few times!









Dominick Rose

After Gymnastics:

Gymnastically speaking the high point of my career was 2^nd Place All-Around at State 1964. Unfortunately I have no photo of that so the 1964 Fairview High Gymnastics team photo will have to suffice! After graduation I attended DU for a short period of time (my belated apologies to Doug) followed by a couple of interrupted years at CSC without graduating (now UNC); guess I was not ready for college as a very young man!

Academically Speaking:

I did a tour in the Marine Corps and spent a few years working as a journeyman Cabinetmaker and Carpenter before returning to college in 1979 to finish my degree. I graduated from Colorado State University 1982 BS Industrial Construction Management “With Distinction”. I made the Deans List 6 of the 8 semesters I attended. Amazing what you can accomplish if you put your mind to it.

A funny thing happened while attending CSU. I ran into a “Chicken” at a basket ball game... of course it was Jim Fulcher… I recognized him by the way the “Chicken” moved… some things never change.

I worked as a Construction Manager in the years after graduation from California to New Jersey and Louisiana to Edmonton, Alberta; for the past 20 years as an Estimator earning the designation Certified Professional Estimator. I am currently employed by CDM of Cambridge MA (near Walt Oney’s home town of Boston). I am the Manager of Estimating Systems Development.

I finally married the girl of my dreams in 2001, the former Jennifer FitzRandolph, Fairview Class of 1966. We have 6 grandsons one of which (Anthony) is pictured with us in the cockpit of the “Spruce Goose”. We live in a small town in Oregon. The front porch of our house has five rocking chairs and a swing all facing the setting Sun… life is good.

1970 - It Was A Very Good Year!
For COLORADO-BRED GYMNASTS

DOUG BOGER (Lincoln): 1970 NCAA LONG HORSE CHAMPION

TOM PROULX (Fairview-CSU) 1970 NCAA FLOOR EXERCISE CHAMPION

RICH MURAHATA (Fairview)1970 Team Captain, Michigan State

("probably the only Colorado gymnast to appear alone on a Modern Gymnast cover" T. Truman)

Some of you have read the little blurb elsewhere in the blog from the book, History of the Denver Imperial Flyers by Alton Barbour that listed the number of gymnasts that came through the programs run by Jimmy Kyle and others. Today Terry Truman wrote me, "I have a message today from Jackie Moorehead, Alton Barbour’s wife. Alton suffered a massive stroke June 11 and is still in intensive care." Let's keep Alton in our prayers.

Dave Wardell
Teaching and Coaching Career
After graduating from the University of Colorado in August of 1963 with a degree in Physical Education, I began my teaching and coaching career at Aurora Hinkley High School from 1963-1968. Our family moved to Manhattan, KS to purse a MS Degree in P.E. at Kansas State University. In 1969, I took over the Head Coaching position in Gymnastics and taught various Physical Education subjects at K-State until 1972. I also grew a gymnastics age group club form 8 kids to 500 kids (we were the only gymnastics club in town!)
Our best finish at K-State was second in the Big Eight conference behind the national champions, Iowa State, coached by Ed Gagnier.
In 1972, I got a call from Fred Murphy at CU to come back and teach P.E. and coach the men’s gymnastics team. I coached from 1972 to 1975 and then moved again to the University of Utah in Salt Lake City to pursue a PhD in Sports Psychology and Sports Sociology.
Two years later, with degree completed, I returned to CU to teach both Sports Psychology and Sports Sociology at the undergraduate and graduate level. The head gymnastics coach at that time was Sid Freudenstein. A few years later in l977, gymnastics was cut from the Athletic Department at CU along with five other “minor” sports.
Just a historical note that the modern era of competitive gymnastics in Colorado was started by four men, graduates of UNC. These were the real heroes: Don Robinson, Louis Baretta, Mike Larsen, and Grady Matthews. Art White also had a big hand in developing some of the best high school gymnastics champions the state has ever known. Also Doug Dewitt, coach at Denver University had the strongest college team of gymnasts ever assembled in the State. We owe these men, and others not mentioned a debt of gratitude for revolutionizing the sport of gymnastics in Colorado.

Ministry Career
In 1985 – 1991, I was privileged to be a part of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes as an area director and then State director in Colorado. In 1991, CU Football Coach Bill McCartney and I co-founded the international men’s ministry of Promise Keepers. I was blessed to be a part of an incredible ministry to men until retirement in January of 2007.

Personal
I married Carolyn Carson (whom I had known since 7th grade) in July of 1963. We had our first son Jeffrey in May of 1968 and a second son, Eric, in February of 1970. After 34 years, we moved from Boulder, Colorado in 2006 to a Del Webb community in Broomfield, Colorado where we enjoy a very active retirement and visits from and to our grandkids (Eric’s children), Evan, 8 and twins Daniel and Ellah, 4, who live in Eagle, Colorado. I still enjoy hunting frequently and fishing occasionally.

I look forward to seeing everyone at the “Golden Era” Gymnastics Reunion in August!


I'm betting Terry Truman has the rest of the DU Invitational photos from 64,65 and 66 and maybe beyond that. Once they're here I'll get them posted. And I'm still waiting for more team, action and winner's stand photos from the rest of you.

DU INVITATIONAL - 1966

STILL RINGS: Pat Edwards Fairview 1st, Tom Proulx Fairview 2nd, Chuck O'Shea Ranum 3rd, Green Lincoln 4th, Carey Wasson 5th, Dave Mawhorter Aurora Central 6th

VAULT: Tom Proulx Fairview 1st, Rich Tew Palmer (?) 2nd, Rich Murahata Fairview 3rd, Dana Shelly Ranum 4th, Dave Rodriguez Golden 5th
PARALLEL BARS: Pat Edwards Fairview 1st, Ken Macaulay Fairview 2nd, Tom Proulx Fairview 3rd, Smith Ranum 4th, Mike Larson Aurora Central 5th, Ed Klanecky Aurora Central 6th
SIDE HORSE: Pat Edwards Fairview 1st, Day Ranum 2nd, Mike Triantos Fairview 3rd, Krogman Wasson 4th, Taylor Aurora Central 5th, Lucas (?) 6th

DU INVITATIONAL - 1965

ALL AROUND: Eric Singer Fairview 1st, Terry Truman Aurora Central 2nd, Shortt (?) 3rd, Paul Fallico (?) 4th, Boyce Lincoln 5th

FLOOR EX: Dennis Berg Ranum 1st, Terry Truman Aurora Central 2nd, Tom Proulx Fairview 3rd, Doug Watkins Ranum 4th, Doug Boger Lincoln 5th

TEAM CHAMPION: Fairview: Tom Proulx, Pat Edwards, Eric Singer, Coach Art White, Kirk Rose, Rich Murahata

DU INVITATIONAL - 1964

STILL RINGS: Bob Mullins Aurora Hinkley 1st, Ron Staadt Aurora Central 2nd, Stanley Aurora Central 3rd, Eric Singer Fairview 4th, Dale West 5th


Maybe I can motivate Recruitment with a little competition. Here's where attendance currently stands:
HIGH SCHOOLS:
Fairview: 10
Aurora Central: 6
Lincoln: 6
North: 4
COLLEGES:
CU: 11
DU: 7
CSU: 4
UNC: 3

Now all of my records may not be totally accurate so look at the list of attenders in the left-hand column and let me know of any corrections or additions. And as I've been adding these photos lots of names come to mind: Del Strange, Fallico, Stout, Fulcher, Fushimi, O'Shea, Watkins, Berg, Casey... some of you must have ideas on how to get in contact with them - we're down to about 6 weeks.


Larry Hoffschneider
(when I post pics it seems to motivate guys to get their bios in)












Larry was co-captain of CU's Championship team (note his and Ryan's arms!)




Jim Fulcher (see below - 2nd in Floor Ex) was the KIMN chicken during the 70's and 80's and of course we all remember KIMN - the source of all our rock & roll memories with Hal Baby Moore!

Du Invitational - 1963

(Where would we have been without Doug giving away all these medals for all these years? Do you think it had anything to do with his recruiting strategy?)
Long Horse: Bobby Fisher TJ 1^st, McCormick South 2^nd, Terry Truman Aurora 3^rd, Dominick Rose Fairview 4^th, Rich Nadeau Lincoln 5^th

Tumbling: Bobby Fisher TJ 1^st, Terry Truman Aurora 2^nd, Phil Ballenski Aurora 3^rd, Jim Fulcher South 4th, Jim Barber Aurora 5^th

Trampoline: Mike Gurian Lincoln 1^st, Rich Nadeau Lincoln 2^nd, Bobby Fisher TJ 3^rd, Norm Bishop Palmer 4^th, Ty Stout East 5^th
Side Horse: Jack Ryan Aurora 1^st, Dave Boland Fairview 2^nd, Jeff Baird Aurora 3^rd, Bobby Fisher TJ 4^th, Digiacomo North 5^th

High Bar: Rich Nadeau Lincoln 1^st, Norm Bishop Wasson 2^nd, Pat Fushimi North 3^rd, Dooley Lincoln 4^th, Duncan, McAndrew both East tied for 5^th

Free Exercise: Bobby Fisher TJ 1^st, Jim Fulcher South 2^nd, Jim Barber Aurora 3^rd, Terry Truman Aurora 4^th, Terry Toole Wasson 5^th

All Around: Bobby Fisher TJ 1^st, Rich Nadeau Lincoln 2^nd, Jim Lamp Lincoln 3^rd, Terry Truman Aurora 4^th, Jon Malander East 5^th

DU and DeWitt

Now this is what I call a bio!
Ben Blea

A bio!!! Who’d a thunk it?? Somebody wanting my bio!! Strange, they say alcohol kills brain cells, however, I still have a few that contain some memories. I remember a coach named Don Moulton who taught a PE class called gymnastics at East High School. It was my sophomore year and a friend of mine, Gabe Litvin, talked me into enrolling in this class because he thought I could be a gymnast. I think it was because I could do a baby drop off of my mothers clothes line pole in the back yard. I learned a giant swing within a week. While I thought gymnastics was fun, I had zero interest in school. My only thoughts were of hanging out with my buddies, smoking cigarettes, sneaking beer from my friends dad, and listening to rock and roll. Elvis, Fats Domino, Little Richard. Man what a sound!! I had visions of being a rock and roll star! I dropped out of high school in the fall of my sophomore year and didn’t return until the next fall, which would have been my junior year. This time I lasted 5 months before I dropped out again. Amazingly enough, I had earned 1 1/2 credits in two years towards graduation. I recall that 15 credits were needed to graduate high school. During the summer between my junior and senior years I was contacted by the new gymnastics coach at East. His name was Bill Holmes. He passed away not long ago. He was a nice enough guy and he asked if I would be interested in coming back to school and trying out for the gymnastic team. Now, 2 years older, my priorities at this age were my chopped and channeled ’50 Mercury with baby moons, rock and roll, and my girlfriend Marlene in the back seat of my car. Bill Holmes persisted and I finally said “ sure why not”. He had 2 conditions. I had to go to class and I had to keep at least a 2.5 grade point average. I’m not even sure I knew what a grade point average was. As you might have guessed by now, education was not a big priority of mine, but at the age of 17 my gymnastics career was born. I only competed in my senior year and was fortunate just to get through the year without getting expelled. I recall the awful baggy pants we wore to compete. One very special man, John Quintana, let me use his DU gymnastic pants to compete in the last meet of my high school career. I was state champion on high bar in my only year of high school competition. Is this America or what???

I was offered a chance to go to college at DU or CU, however I still needed credits to graduate high school. With no sports eligibility left, I spent an extra year at East High to graduate and amazingly enough I was accepted at CU for the fall semester with a 2.6 grade point average. Do you think there might have been a bribe to get me in?? I didn’t have a clue as to what I was doing. Still thinking that I’d rather work at the service station and drive my ’50 Mercury with my new girlfriend Cheri next to me, I reluctantly took off for CU at Boulder. I got a speeding ticket on the turnpike on the way there.

The summer between my freshman and sophomore year at CU was eventful in that I showed up back to CU with Cheri as my wife and she was pregnant. (Damn that back seat of my Mercury). Mr. White was a little peeved, however, he made sure that we got moved into the married students housing . I never asked, but someone paid our housing cost and put some food in the refrigerator. For that matter, I’m not even sure who paid for me to go to college. Hmmmmm!

There are some memories that stand out at CU, but one in particular. It was a road trip for an out of town meet. Dennis Berg had missed the wakeup call for breakfast with the guys. I saw him having breakfast by himself in a back booth of the restaurant so I walked over to talk. Of course he had his typical morning cigarette in his hand. Just then coach walked up. I don’t remember if it was Mr. White or Coach Baer. Anyway, Dennis held that lit cigarette under the table! He wasn’t fooling anybody. The smoke came up from under the table and I started laughing. Coach pretended not to notice and just walked away. I bummed a cigarette from Dennis, asked him for a lite, and we both started laughing. The term B’s, C’s and EG’s was born. Beers, Cigarettes, and Eggs.

After graduation I looked into coaching and teaching, however the pay scale was less than what I could earn on a construction crew, thus, a construction worker I became. I never used my PE degree for anything but a wall hanging, In less than 2 years I had my own framing company with 20 employees. In another 2 years I became a homebuilder. I was building big custom homes and doing alright. By then, my wife and I and our 3 boys had moved from Thornton to Littleton. The 1980’s downturn took it’s toll and I found myself bankrupt, divorced, and living in a rental house. However, I re-invented myself and my building company and within 3 years I was back in the fast lane of a builder. I did good too! I was building multi-million dollar houses and big office buildings. They used to say, “Smoke em if you got em”, well my motto seems to have always been, “Spend it if you got it”. Corvettes, boats, and vacation homes. The current economic storm, however, is taking it’s toll and forcing builders and developers like myself out of business. We’ll see if I weather this one. Either way, I won’t move into a rental house or divorce my wife. She’s a 13 handicap and I need her for the Couples Club Championship coming up later this summer.

I met my current wife Barb in 1991 and we built a house on 4 acres here in Littleton where we still live. My middle son Devin and his wife Laura and our 2 grand kids Alie and Ben live next door. My oldest son Derek and his wife Roxanne built a house across the street. We’re kind of like the Corleone compound. My youngest son Danon is single and lives in San Francisco doing mergers and acquisitions. He was in the American Express building in New York on 9-11 and saw the 2^nd plane hit the World Trade Center. My step-son Travis is an actor in New York and will be in an upcoming TV program this fall. My step-daughter Erin lives here in Denver and she works in real estate.

Other than that, I really don’t have any great claim to fame like all of you. Looking at Mr. Whites bio is like Greek to me. Pretty intimidating and pretty impressive. And how about “Nags” doing T’s and A’s and Gary fixing people’s eyes so they can see those T’s and A’s. That’s pretty impressive too!! Look at Pat!! He’s got a direct pipeline to heaven. He’s been serving the Lord for so long that he’s on a first name basis with him. If we want to get to Heaven we’d better hitch a ride on his plane. Whenever I hear the song Sky Pilot by Eric Burdon I think about Pat. No, I haven’t written any songs, or swung on a trapeze above a crowd of people. Although I was once at a $100 craps table when I thought I heard someone introduce a guy named Tom Proulx performing high above us. That distracted me and I crapped out. It probably wasn’t the Proulx I remember, but Tom ,if it was you, you owe me $500 that I lost when I got distracted. Let’s see, what else is there! Oh yeah, I did get a standing ovation when I sung “He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother” at a staid catholic funeral. I still sing at weddings and funerals and put on small rock and roll shows occasionally, but my dreams of becoming a rock and roll star never materialized. If you only play C, F and G and an occasional Em, you’re chances of getting inducted into the Rock and Roll hall of fame are pretty slim. Oh yeah!, I quit smoking about 25 years ago, but I still drink beer. My life’s’ been pretty dull compared to what you other guys have done. What else! Hmmmmm Oh Yeah!!! I have one helluva golf game. I’m only a 7 handicapper now but I got as low as a 4 a few years ago. Oh, and I shot my best round ever 3 years ago. I started out birdie, par, birdie, par, hole-in-one and I was 4 under after 5 holes. (I’ve had 5 holes in one) I shot 31 on the front nine and limped home with a 38 on the back nine to shoot my best round ever of 69. I ain’t rich, I ain’t sick, and I ain’t got no broken body parts. I ain’t got no 401k but I can still walk 18 holes of golf a day which I do 3-4 times a week and I’ve won my share of golf tournaments. So like Joe Walsh said, “lifes been good to me so far”. Hey Gary and Nags, it’ll be good to see you. Let’s have a beer or two.

Bill Padia here guys. Sorry I can't make the reunion. I was on Don's team at Aurora (became Aurora Central the year after I graduated) High from 59-62. I remember competing against strong teams like Fairview, Lincoln, East, and the Colorado Spring teams Palmer and Wasson. Also, we occasionally met with the Air Force Academy. Made many summer trips up to Trojan ranch above Boulder, where Robinson ran a summer gymnastics camp owned by "coach Walker" whose daughter Gayle later married an employee of mine in Sacramento - small world) Then there were the Christmas clinics at Arizona in Tuscon.

After graduation, I debated CU vs DU but ultimately chose CU (Sorry Doug!). Competed 4 years with Glenn Wilson as coach (good to hear from Glenn - he used to tell me that handball was the best sport and it took me a few years to appreciate that, but ended up playing for over 20 years). My strongest memories of CU competition were driving through winter storms in a packed station wagon to such glamorous places like Lincoln, Ames, and the Kansas schools. Lots of fun with great teammates (see picture of 63-64 team on this blog). Got married in '66 to Beth Breneman (Aurora HS, '62; CU '66) whom many of you know, and we are still married.

After CU, I went to work for then Martin-Marietta in Littleton, putting my math degree to good use. During that time I helped Tom Jenkins in his coaching job at Littleton High. After a year, I decided I wanted to coach gymnastics and teach math so I took the Fairview High spot vacated by Art White. Coached there for 2 years (67-68, 68-69) and really loved it. However, I was drafted (remember those days, deferments, etc) into the army but wisely joined the Navy to avoid the GDI. Worked out with the U of Hawaii team briefly before an injury on the high bar.

After the Navy, went back to grad school at CU and got a PhD in Educational Research. Worked out with Dave Wardell's team (72-75) and watched a lot of good gymnastics. Got a job in '75 with the California Dept of Education in Sacramento where I have been ever since (retired last year). Saw Don and his ASU team many times through the years at Stanford, Cal and UC Davis) Also ran into Art White at professional conferences throughout the years. I have stayed in contact with Tom Jenkins, Warren Boatwright, Courtney Willis, my good buddy Perry Guinn and numerous phone conversations with Don who does such a great job staying connected to the gymnastics grid.

I have included a recent picture of me on my boat fishing in Lake Tahoe last summer. No more one arms for me (or two arms for that matter) but, like you, I have all the great memories of good buddies and strong role models with Don and Art. All in all, a great run...Bill

How about some more memories like the one's Eric shared below about how a coach or team mate helped or encouraged you. They can even be funny! Ask me at the reunion about the blubbering fest Jack Ryan and I had (I won't tell) or about the "photo opportunity" Ben Blea and Eric Singer gave my future wife!


Eric Singer

Pat,
I thought I would share a little about what Coach White and his great presence meant to me . In 1976 I was asked to take the US team of Ron Galimore, Sam Schuh, Debbie Wilcox and Marcia Ginsberg to the South Africa Cup. To make a long story short I was hired by The Deutscher Tuner-Bund (the USGF of Germany) as a regional coach. The next year I was installed as the Head National Coach and did the training for the next 8 years.
Back to Coach White,he taught the importance of personal control,giving 150% for the gymnast and when you are counted out you come back and win. I can't ever repay him for his kindness,strength and ability to make you feel like a winner,even with ripped hands, a crappy routine, but always with character and form! Looking like a winner creates in the very soul a sense of a winner. Act like a winner and you win, maybe not at that meet but in your spirit and watch out for next meet, that all encompassing feeling of positive motivation. This carried through to the 14 gymnasts I coached at the Olympic Level, my "ability" to impress upon young gymnasts that they are special and can win. The determination to always do your best and then give another 25%. I will never forget the 1965 State meet, I was definitely an underdog, Coach White said I could and I did.

This scenario played out at the 1978 World Championships for me. My team was ranked 10th and we needed to be in the top 8 to make the Olympics. I trained them and thought about what would Coach White do. At the end of the Worlds in Hungary, we beat the home team and qualified for Moscow 8th. Not a missed routine in 4 rounds of competition, they believed they could (as I learned so well from Coach White). I'm sure each of us who were a part of the Big 8 Championship Team or had that great feeling of finishing 6th at Nationals or even not, but still had interacted with Coach White in our training or at his house on a summer night, will never forget the impact he had on us as men. THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart!

So, now comes the current status, living in the south and love it. I was blessed with a great life and at this time I am not so blessed with Multiple Sclerosis and a few of the wonderful issues related to that, kinda like having ripped hands and wanting so badly to do High Bar...... I'm fortunate in that I can still walk (most of the time)
Pat, I guess God paid me back for the gimp jokes. Well,I still have it better than you Kirk, I'm so very sorry for you,my prayers are with you.

I'm looking forward to seeing all of you again,we will have a good time and tell all those life stories that denote the OLD FART syndrome. Pat, we all owe you so much for making this happen,thank you.

Eric Singer Fairview/CU

(Looks to me like Fairview may take the trophy home for the "walking wounded" between Eric, Kirk and myself! I hope no other team will try to compete with us in this arena. Pat)

1962 DU Invitational

STILL RINGS: Rich Blanton Lincoln 1st, Bill Padia Aurora 2nd, Warren Boatright Palmer 3rd, Perry Guinn Aurora 4th, Pendergrast South 5th, Dave Beeson Lincoln 6th

VAULT: Bill McFillen Lincoln 1^st, Bobby Fisher TJ 2^nd. Unknown suit 3^rd, Bill Padia Aurora 4^th, Terry Pershing South 5thTRAMP: Terry Day Lincoln Tied for 1st, Mike Gurian Lincoln Tied for 1^st, Rich Nadeau Lincoln 3^rd, Robin Yetter Wheat Ridge 4^th, Terry Pershing South 5th
SIDE HORSE: Pickerelle Pueblo South Tied for 1^st, Jack Ryan Aurora Tied for 1^st, Sanchez West 3^rd, Moore South 4^th, Aliger TJ 5th
PARALLEL BARS: Bill Padia Aurora 1^st, Rich Blanton Lincoln 2^nd, Ted Nadeau Lincoln 3^rd, Bobby Fisher TJ 4^th, Norland South 5thHIGH BAR: Terry Pershing South 1^st, Bill Padia Aurora 2^nd, Rich Nadeau Lincoln Tied for 3^rd, Reed Lincoln Tied for 3^rd, Rich Blanton Lincoln 5^th, Jim Lamb Lincoln Tied for 6^th, Thomas GW Tied for 6th

TUMBLING: Bill McFillen Lincoln 1^st, John Tracy Lincoln Tied for 2^nd, Terry Day Lincoln Tied for 2^nd, Courtney Willis AuroraTied for 3^rd, Bobby Fisher TJ Tied for 3^rd, Terry Pershing South Tied for 3^rd, Jim Rathbun Palmer 4th

C'mon guys - where are the photos from Wasson and Ranum and Hinkley and North and South and East and West and Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson and Palmer and and and and.........?
AND, I'll say it again - I seem to remember competing against
CSU, DU and UNC
SO I'm sure they had teams and therefore
MUST HAVE
team pictures!

Kirk Rose
Fairview, UNC

Pat,
Just had my 3rd open heart 4 weeks ago, the end result was a stroke and my left side is not so good from the ear down and my ability to get around is pretty impaired. I will try to get a blog and pic together and mail it off, but looks like I am on the sidelines for awhile.

Hope all goes well,
Kirk

Kirk is second from right and was part of the '65 State Championship team.

This is the DU Team Championship '65
(another photo from the Truman archive which goes all the way back to Charlemagne)

Who are these old guys from 47 years ago? And where are they?

Ohh. here we go: Courtney Willis Aurora 1^st, Bill McFillen Lincoln 2^nd, Bobby Fisher TJ 3^rd, John Tracy Lincoln 4^th, Jim Rathbun Palmer 5^th, Rich Blanton Lincoln 6th



Tumbling Winners State Championship 1961
First – Jim Ryan
Third – Fred Brigham
Fifth – Joe Byrd
All Aurora High School. Winners Stand drawn and lettered by Don Robinson, used at gymnastics and track meets for many years.

Cliff Gauthier (we still want photos)

After graduating from DU, I taught math at Merrill Junior High in Denver for one year while staying active in judging high school and college gymnastics. The next year I got a masters at CU in kinesiology before signing on to teach math for two years at Westminster High School. While teaching at Westy, I also took over for Doug DeWitt as the coach for the final two years of the DU program. I have an interesting story about the old athletic facilities at DU being condemned during the team’s last year at DU.

My next step was to marry Linda and immediately head off to teach and coach at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA. The grand plan was to work at W&M one or two years and then head back to Colorado. It is now 36 years later and I am still coaching men’s gymnastics at W&M and married to Linda (she is a saint). http://tribeathletics.com/files/mgym/2008/MGYM08.pdf is the address for our men’s gymnastics brochure which will give you a bit of an update on the sport and much more information on me and W&M if you wish to subject yourself to that.

Linda and I have two daughters, Julie and Jeri, and five grandkids (Alexis 20, Leigh 18, Jasmine 16, Aubrey 9 and Lauren 5). Julie lives in Arlington, VA and has the two youngest grandkids while my youngest daughter Jeri and the three oldest grandkids live with us in Williamsburg.

Rich Murahata

Gymnastics played a significant part in my left for several decades after graduating from Fairview. I went to Michigan State University majoring in chemistry (an interest fostered by Mr. White) and was fortunate to be on a team with the likes of Dave Thor, Toby Townson and Ed Gunny. Ed used to urinate on the “rips” in his hand to help speed the healing. He didn’t have the nick name “Buggy” for nothing. I did get to see Mr. White on occasion when we competed at OSU. Moved to New Haven, CT for graduate school at Yale majoring in Pharmacology and got to continue with gymnastics as (unpaid) assistant to Don Tonry’s men’s team and then Barb (nee Galleher) Tonry’s women’s team. Also got to hang out with Abe Grossfeld who was coach at Southern Connecticut and Muriel Grossfield who had her own gym in New Haven. Through Muriel and her contacts, I got to watch the US women’s Olympic team (Cathy Rigby, et al) training at Yale, and drove equipment from Madison Square Garden to Chicago for the Russian tour. Don got me a competitor’s membership in the New York Athletic Club which allowed me to compete at AAU meets for a couple a seasons. Did a post-doc at UCLA where I got to hang out in the gym with Art Shurlock, Makoto Sakamoto and a bunch of future Olympians. Competed Sr. Olympics for a few years before and after moving to Scottsdale, AZ to work for the Dial Corporation. Did get down to ASU and work out with Don Robinson a couple of times, but injury seemed more and more likely so I switched to tennis and - amazingly enough – volleyball, as probably the shortest setter in the adult leagues.

Moved from Scottsdale to Memphis to work for Plough in 1986 and the following year to Edgewater, NJ to work for Unilever. Okay, so Graceland wasn’t a big enough draw to keep me down South. As a large multinational company, Unilever provided opportunity to travel and I made multiple short visits to Europe as well as lesser visits to South America and Asia. Was posted to India for 6 months and then Indonesia for 13 additional months. Indonesia was an incredible experience, as Surharto had just been deposed, and the country was a bit unstable. Seven years ago I moved from Unilever to Hollister Incorporated – a medical device company, not the clothing company, but we do appreciate the publicity. Now live in the Chicago area with my wife nearly 3 years, Renee Bevis. We met on a blind date several years ago, and she’s good enough to follow me through the secondments to India and Indonesia and the move to Chicago.

Except for my letterman’s jacket, that seems to have shrunk a bit (darn dry cleaners anyway) I don’t seem to have anything from the Fairview days. However, in looking through my college scrapbook, there seems to be a disproportionate number of pages taken up by gymnastics. Must say something about its importance in our lives, the MG issue from March 1970 in which Pat, Gary and I are pictured as collegiate captains speaks to the caliber of Colorado high school gymnastics. What great memories!

P.S. Since I don’t do anything terribly athletic anymore, I’ve joined a barbershop chorus! Credit to Tom Proulx, Pat and everyone else who tolerated my singing on the team bus.


More Golden Buffs: (We're waiting for CSU, DU and NCU, even AFA to check in!)

The 1963-64 Team.

This first one is for the really old guys - Some of the faces are familiar but who wants to name all of them?

The 1968-69 Team

Lindy Baer, Ben Blea, Eric Singer, Pat Edwards, Dennis Berg, Ken Macaulay, Time Larson, ?, Emory Duell, Bob Fisher

The 1969-70 Team

Lindy Baer, Pat Edwards, Gary Pomeranz, Dennis Berg, Tom Casey, ?, ?, Dave Forsman, ?