Athleticism

Especially since Marcia Adams Landry and Susan Adams Buckhart reconnected with the family about a year ago, we have discussed "Nature versus nurture," what traits, other than blue eyes (which are not universal in the family)  might pass through the family tree.  We talked about athleticism.  Now, as I compose this piece, I have to state a disclaimer:  My information is limited. I don't mean to leave anybody out.  I need to hear additions and corrections from my cousins.
     Starting with the generation of Eli and Sofia, Eli's brother Axeli was skilled at gymnastics.
     Among the  children of Eli and Sofia, Johnnie played football until he wrecked a knee.  Vake was a competitive swimmer in high school.
     Among the grandchildren of Eli and Sofia, David danced the jitterbug. I asked him once if he were a dancing fool.  "No," he answered, "The fools were those girls who let me roll them across my back!" But Dave's claim to fame as an athlete is as a left-handed tennis player.  He is a ranked master ("master" means "older guy.") "I'm quick, for a fat man," he has said.
     Arnold consistently challenged the Oregon State record for high school high jumpers, in practice, but didn't repeat his performance in competition. But that was before the "Fosbury Flop," which Dick Fosbury was developing at the same time. The "Fosbury Flop" became famous in the 1968 Olympics. Who knows what Arn could have done, if the Flop had reached Coos Bay, Oregon, at the same time it was being discovered?
     Dean was smallish, but wirey, and played football for the Siuslaw Vikings from Florence Oregon. In a big dogpile once, he saw a Newport, OR, player, grab his hand and bend his thumb back until it broke.
     My own achievement in high school was to win lots of trophies and medals in competitive rifle shooting, but it's hard to regard that as being "Athletic," even though it's an Olympic sport, since shooting involves being  very, very, still.  Of course, for a twitchy person such as I, being still is at least a challenge.
     In our next generation, there is my son Brook.  Brook was born to be an athlete, holding his head erect  and looking around for things from the day he was born.  He started running for exercise while he was in middle school. He discovered "Ultimate" (team Frisbee) when he was in college.  Since the, he has played on teams winning the collegiate, national, world's and masters' tournaments, then he took up coaching.  He took the University of Washington's men's team to national play-offs within two years, and twice coached Seattle youth to national championships in his two years of coaching, even without some of his key players, who were playing at the same time at the collegiate level.  And now,at age 41, he is coaching the Dartmouth University "Pain Train." He readily admits that the twenty-something-year-olds that he coaches can out-run him; but he can still throw! "The old man can still show them a thing or two," he says.  But more importantly, he can teach them how to keep their minds in the game.
     Now, you know I do define family broadly, beyond those who inherit the genes of Eli and Sofia,to  include relatives by marriage and adoption. That's why I include my husband Jerry Horn, 6'3".  When he was an adolescent in Brazil, he played basketball at the American School, which was actually based upon an English model.  But their basketball team attained some notoriety, so they were invited to play a Brazilian women's team.  It turned out that they were the Brazilian Olympic team.  At the tip-off, the woman opposite Jerry stomped on his foot, and he missed the ball! He was traumatized for life, and has never trusted anybody to play by the rules ever since.
     Mark's kids, Meghan and Drew, swam in competition through high school.Their mother, Dr. Sue, opined that Meghan wouldn't make it to the Olympics in the butterfly, but only because she held her toes in a slightly pigeon-toed position--but competitors in her meets did make the Olympics.  Basketball coaches looked at Drew's 6'5" and drooled, but he is emphasizing golf, not as a competitor, but currently as a business major in college. Next term he studies the  ethics of golf, martini lunches, paid endorsements and kickbacks.  I can see Drew picking up the lunch tab for himself and three older business men:  Four club sandwiches, three martinis (or three sets of them),  three cigars, and one large diet Pepsi.
     I also make note of Sandy's boys, Billy and Ricky. Billy is an ethnic Cambodian who, at age 15, has likely topped out at about 5'3". Billy has amazing quick twitch muscles and an inherent muscle memory.  He responds well to coaching, and has excelled (compared to a national data base) in both sprints and pole vault. He was headed for youth Olympic try-outs last year, when he broke a leg bone playing baseball, and was sidelined for a few months.   His brother Ricky,  is also Cambodian but closer to 5'8" at age 13.( The boys aren't genetic relatives; and don't trust Ricky's "Facebook" page for his age--he has been known to fib in order to chase after older girls.) He has excelled at baseball, and has wowed his audience by literally jumping over the top of the defensive player going after him in middle school football.  Do check out the photographs that Sandy has posted on her Facebook page, posted under her married name of Sandy Jones.
     My daughter-in-law Alison insists that my grandson Vake will be an ice dancer. That's athleticism, yup. But a kid who's headed to be the size of an NFL linebacker? Fuggetaboutit.