It Has Nothing to Do with Age

"Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions."
– Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr

 

Last Thursday’s show with Kathie Perry (President of the Western States Trail Foundation ) was not only interesting but informative as well. This young lady has completed the historic Tevis Cup ride 22 times totaling 2200 miles. Way to go Kathie. She won this ride in 1978. Keeping it in the family, her brother Sam Arnold tied, for first place, with Donna Fitzgerald in 1976. During that same ride, Sam also was the winner of the Haggin Cup. This prize was intended to recognize superior horsemanship and the superior condition of the horse.  Also, her son Jimmie completed this ride  as a Junior rider in 1976, 1977, 1980 and 1981.

This youthful woman told us that her last ride was her best ride. In fact, this year she rode one of Becky Spencer’s (  a  past winner) horse coming in 14^th place. Kathy is extremely knowledgeable about equine conditioning and she continues to play  a major part in the history of this event and AERC as well. She also has stories of Wendell Robie, the man who started this competition. I invite you to see the show http://youtu.be/lQjC_2Q-g38.

Incidentally, Kathie , attended Washington high school in Fremont, California. The physical education teacher was a man by the name of Bill Walsh. Bill, for those of you that do not know, went on to coach the San Francisco 49ers. She knows her football and credits her two older brothers for that opportunity.

During one of my recent interviews with All-Pro football player Reggie McKenzie, once again, he reiterated the importance of conditioning and training. If you want to be the best, you have to put in the necessary work. In football, It’s called working out( out  work) and practice. There are no shortcuts, magic pills or quick fixes. According to Reggie, once you attain top physical condition, then, and only then, do you have the opportunity to be mentally tough.

Reggie is one of the many players who played for the legendary coach Bo Schembechler at the University Michigan. I have selected some  players from the 1969 team that upset, at the time, the number one Ohio State Buckeyes  coached by the legendary Woody Hayes. That game, Incidentally, started the infamous 10 year wars between those two coaches.

Bo Schembechler, prior to becoming the Wolverine head coach, was an assistant coach under Woody Hayes at Ohio State. In fact, while coaching at Ohio State, Bo coached, Gary Moeller who was a co- captain on that team. Bo left  Ohio State to  become head coach at Miami of Ohio. While there, he hired Gary Moeller, to become one of his assistant coaches. And , when Bo left Miami of Ohio to go to the University Michigan, he brought Gary Moeller with him to coach the linebackers.

I’m excited about the information that I have collected regarding mental toughness, kinship, and the transformation of Michigan football. The stories of these players and coaches on and off the field depicts a kaleidoscope of talent , competitiveness, kinship, achievement, winning ,increasing potential and becoming  fulfilled. I’m getting close to telling  this  mosaic of a story  and  hope to  do it well.

In the meantime, I’m going to keep moving, laughing, smiling and deep breathing.