Apprentice School Opens New Athletic Center in Hopes of Revitalizing Downtown Growth in Newport News

Ironically, I was watching an older episode of NCIS this afternoon on the CLOO channel. In the episode, Gibbs and Company end up having to travel to Newport News to thwart an Al-Qaeda member who is about to shoot a missile toward a crowded dock of military families awaiting the arrival of  several Navy vessels across the water in Norfolk. Upon further review, the warehouse with the terrorist and his missile on the roof, was located between 35th and 36th Street off of Washington Ave. (next to Dry Dock restaurant). Basically, it's in the Shipyard, but amazingly is also the exact spot of the new Apprentice School featured below..

The new Apprentice School in Newport News, VA, which
houses the athletic center, which opened on Martin
Luther King weekend

In what served as a crown jewel event marking its recent construction, the Apprentice School officially christened its new athletic facility last month with the 2014 Martin Luther King Classic. Both the men’s and women’s Builder basketball teams took part in this tournament, which featured a myriad of events surrounding the completion of the new arena.

The Lady Builders took the court first at 5:30 pm, facing Bennett College, while the followed at 8 pm against Lindenwood University-Belleville (Mo.). Both teams won handily.

Speaking to the hubbub of activity leading to the weekend, Builder athletic director Keisha Pexton admitted that the preparations were “about to wear me out.”

To kick off the celebration and formally dedicate the new gym, there were a number of events 

accompanying the games. Between contests on Friday night, the school held a banner raising ceremony, which honored the best athletes from the school’s 95 year athletic history. Honorees whose banners were lifted to the rafters included the six Builder national championship winning teams, as well as individual national champion wrestlers and golfers.

Before the first game on Saturday,  the Apprentice Alumni association kicked off a triad of events, hosting a reception in the second floor student lounge. The lounge also welcomed the Apprentice Athletic Club that evening at 5 pm, before the men’s team squared off against Williamson Trade. Capping the lounge festivities was a student social on Sunday for all active apprentices and a guest.

But Pexton, along with the members of her staff, are inspired by the possibilities which will be presented with the opening of the new center.

“We’re excited by this and still in a little bit of shock. You see it coming together from the ground breaking ceremony. But now that the people are here, there’s a feeling of wow, this is our new home.”

The Apprentice Athletic Center is located within the new school at 3101 Washington Avenue in downtown Newport News, and is one of many new buildings, including several housing complexes, which showcase the recent movement of a portion of the Apprentice School plant to within the Huntington Ingalls shipyard. It is hoped that the new construction will spurn other downtown development and spearhead a transformative growth of the surrounding neighborhood.

Along with the gymnasium, the center also houses a full concession area, administrative and sports medicine offices, a cardio workout area, three locker rooms, two officials’ rooms and a second floor viewing area overlooking the north end of the basketball floor.

The football and wrestling teams will continue to use their field and facilities at the former Apprentice Athletics center on Marshall Avenue.

“We’re hoping to inspire community involvement,” adds Pexton, a former standout Builder athlete who is now in her sixth year as Athletic Director at the school, and in the second year of her additional role as Manager of Strategic Projects. “There hasn’t been anything athletic related in this area since the days of old,” noted Pexton, who cited legendary coach Julie Conn and the old Newport News High School as her example. “Our hope is that people will come down here, eat dinner in the neighborhood, and come out to our games.”

The Liberty Apartments, which will house many of the 850 Apprentice students, but are available for non-students, began leasing the units last June, while the school held its grand opening ceremony last month, and started holding class last Monday.

Hampton Univ. Star Power Adds Spark to Indoor Track Invitational

Reprinted in its original form from an article in the DAILY PRESS sports section of Sunday, January 12, 2014. 

This year’s 2014 Hampton Indoor Invitational, hosted by Hampton University, served as a viable homecoming for many local track athletes, but may have also represented the highest caliber indoor invitational track meet to be held on the Peninsula in at least five years.

Hampton University graduates,
such as Olympic gold medalist
Francena McCorory (above),
Pan-Am and Millrose Games
champion Yvette Lewis (left), and
Olympian Lavonne Idlette (below) added
glamour and glitz to the recent
Hampton Indoor Invitational.

While the infusion of star power stepping on to the Boo Williams Sportsplex’s red rubber track on Saturday certainly benefitted the quality of the meet, the day resembled a meeting among the “Who’s Who” of Peninsula track in the 21^st century. Adding to the carnival like flavor of the meet was the addition of track giveaways, impromptu trivia contests between races, and raffles, coupled with the connection of high school and college coaches within the track infield, many of whom have bumped heads in various competitions for decades.

(R - video) Yvette Lewis defeats
2012 Olympic hurdle gold
medalist Sally Pearson

Serving as the first indoor meet hosted by Hampton University since 2009, competitors came from near and far to represent their schools, and in some cases, their countries as well. “We have the right number of colleges and professional athletes together,” said Hampton track coach Maurice Pierce, who will be renewing this meet as an annual event. His plan is to gradually add schools to the lineup by “one or two a year, but we want to open it up to everybody.”

Pamela Richardson, assistant director of marketing and promotions for HU, also spoke to the importance of hosting a high caliber track meet on the Peninsula.

“We are pleased to host an event of this magnitude, and I’m glad that we could bring athletes of this ability to the area.”

Area schools were well represented with Norfolk State, VCU, Virginia State and Virginia Wesleyan joining Hampton in attendance. They had the opportunity to compete side by side with professional athletes, giving a unique dynamic to the meet.

Speaking to the importance of the meet, Pierce quickly made reference to the large high school invitational and state championships which regularly take place at venues such as Boo Williams and CNU’s Freeman Center. But he added, “it’s probably the biggest one (so far) for college and pro.”

The addition of professional athletes to the lineup led to races such as the featured women’s 300 meters, highlighted by the Hampton Roads return of 2012 Olympic gold medalist Francena McCorory, who had not raced locally since 2009. Next to her was Jernail Hayes, who competed on the USA 1600-meter relay team that won a silver medal at the IAAF 2012 World Indoor Championships.

McCorory placed first in 37.02, but had to wait almost two hours to officially win the race, as her heat was the first race of the meet, while the other heats ran at their scheduled time.

Afterwards, last year’s fifth ranked female 400-meter runner in the world spoke of the day.

“It’s always exciting to run in front of a home crowd. I haven’t run here since I was in college. Looking ahead to the 2014 season, the Bethel HS graduate spoke of goals that are specifically defined.

“I want to drop my 400 time (McCorory is the current American record holder for the indoor 400 with a time of 50.54) and work on my form. And of course, I want to make the World team.” Asked about the possibility of collaborating with her old Olympic 1600-meter relay teammates for an indoor World championship run, she noted that “it’s always up in the air, especially for indoor.”

Not to be outdone, Pan-American hurdle champion and Hampton graduate Yvette Lewis, who will be competing for Panama, squared off in a 60-meter hurdles final against former fellow Lady Pirate star Lavonne Idlette, herself a 2012 Olympian, who was representing her home country of the Dominican Republic.

Lewis won the battle, edging Idlette by .15 seconds.

“Things are going alright,” said Lewis, who recently switched sponsorships from Brooks to Nike.

Many of the professionals came from Pierce’s own stable of athletes. But the Pirate coach, who was recently selected as the Head Men’s Coach of the Under-23 U.S. Track and Field National team for the 2014 NACAC championships, to be held in Australia in August, enjoyed a rare treat yesterday. For once, he was able to coach his professional and collegiate athletes at the same meet.

Asked how often that opportunity arises, he admitted, “almost never.”

Hoova Taylor got the day off to a flying start, literally. Taylor, a former Division II national high jump champion from Virginia State, cleared 2.21 meters (a shade over 7’3”) to win the men’s high jump. Other key performances from local athletes included VCU’s (and formerly Tabb) Kiara Porter, who won the Division I women’s 300 in 38.57, Jeff Artis-Gray, a 2009 graduate of Western Branch, who won the men’s long jump with a leap of 7.25 meters (23 feet 9.5 inches), and Chidi Okezie of Hampton U., who won the men’s 400 in 48.89.

And in truly an ironic twist, the children’s 60-meter dash was won by nine year old Peyton Wright, who happens to be the niece of Pierce.

Youth Wrestling Gaining Momentum on Virginia Peninsula

Originally printed in Saturday, January 11, 2014 DAILY PRESS sports section, during Virginia Duals weekend.


Two years ago, New Kent (HS) wrestling coach Mike Faus received an interesting phone call leading up to the Virginia Duals.

A team had dropped out of the National High School Division bracket. Would he be willing to put his Trojan team into the open slot?

Where other coaches might have shied away from the prospect of being embarrassed, Faus willingly accepted the challenge.

Amazingly, the Trojans won their first match, a 37-23 decision over a powerful Nazareth (PA) team.

“They were a beat up Nazareth team, and we might have had our best squad ever,” admits Faus,

However, in the next round, New Kent was brought back to earth, as South Plainfield blanked the Trojans 73-0.

In spite of the reality check, Faus is now willingly entering his team in the most elite high school division at the annual Duals.

“My theory is that we want to go into post-season competition with losing (individual) records. It shows that we are battle tested, and that we’ve been through a tough grind, but are ready for the postseason.”

Competing at prestigious meets such as the War at the Shore and the NRAL tournament in Raleigh have helped the Trojans earn quality mat time as they prepare for a key dual meet against rival Poquoson (on Jan. 28) and postseason competition in the 3A classification.

But the biggest difference in New Kent’s improvement, reflects a trend that is sweeping across Hampton Roads.

“One of the biggest things we’ve done is start the middle school group,” admits Faus.

At New Kent, the middle school team sprouted off of a consistent youth program. Originally founded by Andy Hintz (“the Godfather of New Kent wrestling,” says Faus), the kids team generally sees 30-40 kids from ages 5-12 compete each year.

The youth movement has spread like wildfire. In Newport News, Oliver Walmon has seen his Warrior team grow from 40 to 94 wrestlers in one year. Former Hampton High wrestling coach Ron McRae left his post to take over the growing Pin2Win youth program there. McRae replaced John Swartz, who moved on to become the head coach at Smithfield High, but who had overseen their Smithfield Youth Wrestling Club from 2000-2006.

The difference is showing, especially to coaches who are working to continue the trend.

“We don’t have a high transition between our youth program and here,” says Gloucester coach Ricky Pierce. “The problem is that we don’t have a middle school program. The kids are falling a bit behind, and the first time some of them wrestle is right after I pull them out of the hallway at Gloucester.”

To Pierce’s credit, he remains undeterred, and also entered his Dukes in the National Division. When asked why he chose the toughest bracket, Pierce was unapologetic. “Why wouldn’t you want to wrestle in the National Division?”

“I don’t need to pad my stats or my record as a coach. I don’t look at the score the way that others do. My job is to do the best I can to give these kids the opportunity to get noticed. They can come here, wrestle in the National Division and be seen by college coaches.”

To prove his point, Pierce referred to his 145-lb wrestler A.J. Ransom as an example.

“(Ransom) had a good match today. Unfortunately, he lost. But he wrestled some tough kids; in fact, one of them was nationally ranked. The good thing is, we saw some areas where we’ll need to make adjustments which will make him better later.”

“If they wrestle kids who are less (talented), they might get away with things that will hurt them later. We want our kids to rise to the occasion. It’s something I call leveling off.”

Thanks to the youth movement, at this year’s Duals, local wrestlers won’t have to rely on leveling off with moves learned in the ninth grade.

In Case You Missed The E-Mail!!

Happy 2014!

I have been meaning to get back to my e-mail updates, and was pleasantly surprised to learn that a few of my friends and colleagues have asked what ever happened to the Wall e-mails.

Been busy!

My new job with the Department of Corrections has been going very well. We had 12 students earn their GED’s last year, which was outstanding considering that our facility only houses 245, of which only 80 are eligible for school, and only 35 were initially attending. Fifty students come through our little school house now, since we have incorporated a book program. Still, having 12 grads was a GREAT accomplishment, and I am thankful to have good aides and colleagues working at the camp. I am really getting a good feel for the DOC education system as the sole operator/teacher at our school, especially since the position also involves overseeing the libraries, aides, book program and any number of other things that our warden (superintendent) deems to be important.

With the new job, my work with McGrath Educational Services was somewhat stagnant last year; in fact, it was limited to my Daily Press articles (about 50 more last year), and a handful of students that I worked with. But 2014 will see a re-emergence of the company. I recently was hired to work on a Fairness Review committee with the GED Testing Service. It was a true learning experience to read through 1,100 pages of test questions in Science, Social Studies and Math. But the dialogue among committee members was eye opening and productive. I look forward to the opportunity to help with other GED Testing related committees.

And the TrackNation movement continues to thrive, with over 86,000 likes on Facebook alone. In my work as senior writer for TrackSide magazine, I have had the chance to meet some very heavy hitters in the track and field world, including a number of Olympic gold medalists and other movers and shakers in the sport. Going to spare you the dropping of names, but here are the magazine links:

www.trackside1.tracknation.com

www.trackside2.tracknation.com

www.trackside3.tracknation.com

www.trackside4.tracknation.com

Have a wonderful and productive year!

Best wishes,

Jim

Apprentice's Shumaker Near 100 Wins; Daughter Maggie Always by his Side

For the third year, I am posting one of my articles from the DAILY PRESS on the Virginia Duals. As always, it was a great outing this year, and I was happy to see U. VA win the National College Division, and local Poquoson HS walk away with the Black and Blue title. But, there's more to the tournament, and I was honored to be able to scribe five articles for the paper. The wrestling movement, especially among the youths here in Hampton Roads, is notable, and I'll dedicate some space to it in the coming weeks.

To see the article on the Daily Press website, click here:

HAMPTON – After almost 40 years as a wrestling coach, Apprentice’s Bruce Shumaker is approaching yet another milestone. Leading the Builders for the seventh year, Shumaker entered Saturday’s round just two wins shy of 100. (Note: Shumaker ended last weekend at 98.) 

Apprentice wrestling coach Bruce
Shumaker has received plenty of
help on the sideline from his
daughter Maggie.

While it is easy to fathom that an Apprentice assistant coach may have been present for the seven year run, it is a little more beyond the realm of normal thinking to believe that his scorekeeper has. In fact, Shumaker’s manager has been with the coach for well over twenty years, and started just after her own wrestling career was cut short in second grade by her concerned mother.

And when Bruce Shumaker reaches the magic 100-win mark, one can be sure that his scorekeeper and manager, who both happen to be his daughter Maggie, will be in attendance.

Now married, and living in Fayetteville, NC, the daughter Shumaker still gets to most of the matches. When asked how many she has missed, coach Shumaker interjected, “Well, she got married and missed two. But she’s been to every match, all the back to Mathews.”

Shumaker’s career’s coaching career stretches back to 1974, when he was an assistant, then head coach at Denbigh until 1980. After a year as an assistant at VMI, his other stops included Natural Bridge (six years), Mathews (nine years), and Lafayette (nine years). After a shade over thirty years (“probably 31”) at the high school ranks, Shumaker applied and was hired for the open coaching position at the Apprentice School.

Looking to fill his staff, Shumaker didn’t have to look far for his scorekeeper.

“She has been with me since elementary school,” recalls the coach. “Actually, she went to about 20 state tournaments in a row.”

Asked about her interest in wrestling, Maggie replies, “I just love wrestling and wrestled until second grade.”

That’s when her tomboyish ways became a concern. Says the coach, “She was a mat rat from the get go. Wrestled until her mother said “no more.” Maggie was probably in the second grade. But, I didn’t go to any wrestling event after that without her. She ate up wrestling, and could not get enough of it.”

So, how did the transition to team manager come about?

One night, coach Shumaker found himself without someone to keep the team’s official book. In a pinch, he turned to his young daughter.

When asked if she could remember his recruiting pitch, Maggie was quick with an answer, one which reflects just how youthful she was when taking on the position.

“He asked me, “Do you know how to count to five?” said the daughter, laughing at the recollection.”

Indeed, she could, and a new team manager was born.

Maggie’s prowess as the backbone of the team did not go unnoticed. During her senior year of high school, she was chosen as "USA Wrestling” magazine's manager of the year.

Coach Shumaker admits that “I love it when she’s here,” but also attaches a sidebar which indicates her managerial skills. “When she’s here, I know the score is going to be kept the right way.”

And she wouldn’t miss the opportunity this weekend to watch her Dad earn his 100^th college win for the world.

“That’s why I’m here!” she exclaims. Although her new home 250 miles away makes it harder to attend every meet, she is still an important part of the Builder team.

Aside from the milestone, there is another reason for Maggie to be in attendance at Hampton Coliseum this weekend.

Looking to the seat next to her in Section M of the Coliseum bleachers, she confesses, “Sorry Dad, but it’s always good to have an excuse to come to the Duals!”

From TrackSide Magazine (Winter 2013): Kellie Wells - Live Free

Make no mistake. I think the world of Kellie Wells. To even know only her athletic story is to be overcome by this woman's devotion to her sport and her desire to succeed at it. 

And that's only the half of it....

Kellie adds a little dance to her
repetoire after upsetting 2012
Olympic hurdle champion
Sally Pearson last year. (Right video)
Wells wins her first U.S. title
and qualifies for 2011 World
Championships in Daegu.

Hurdler Kellie Wells isn’t ready to be counted out.

And a smart track prognosticator would be wise to pay attention.

Pardoning the suggestion that the 31-year old bronze medalist from the 2012 Olympics is hard headed, but the trait of perseverance runs deep through the soul of the Richmond, Virginia native.

Older sister Tonni, herself a former collegiate hurdler, and now trainer as well as corporate manager of several fitness outlets in the Hollywood, CA area, offers a viable analysis.

“She was definitely the pinnacle definition of middle child syndrome.”

But being a middle child doesn’t even begin to describe the journey which has made Kellie Wells the person she is today. Yet, it does offer some explanation as to why we should continue to expect to see the 5-foot-3 dynamo excelling on and off the track and breaking barriers much higher than the 33-inch hurdles she flies over for a living.

Wells’ life story has been well documented through many media outlets, including Sports Illustrated and ESPN. There was the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her stepfather as a high school student, an event which forced her to leave home at the age of 16, and a situation made worse when her mother and stepfather were killed in a car accident weeks after her departure, an accident which the unknowing teenager drove right past.

There was her performance in the 2008 Olympic Trials, where she ran a personal best time of 12.58 in the semi-finals to qualify with the fastest time for the finals, a race she never got to run because of a hamstring which was torn on her last step.

But Wells always comes back.

She was only able to go public with the teenage piece of her past in 2010, after years of internal processing – a situation that she confronted with thoughtful reflection, spirituality, and by being willing to accept the help of others, most notably Vatel Dixon, her high school coach from Midlothian’s James River HS.

But it was her intensity and overwhelming desire to succeed which helped Wells overcome the second setback. After the tragedy of the 2008 trials, Wells, who now lives and trains in Orlando, Florida under the guidance of legendary sprinter and now coach Dennis Mitchell, had to learn how to simply walk again before beginning hurdle training. It took three years to even return to race at Hayward Field, where the injury had taken place.

Wells won that race in 2011 with a best ever time of 12.50, finally winning an outdoor national title, one to match the indoor crown she had captured months before.

But weeks later, at the World Championships in Daegu, Korea, Wells banged the seventh hurdle in the finals and failed to finish. Once again, her stamina and ability to persevere were put to the test.

A year later, and six months after enduring surgery for a broken arm, she was on the medal stand at the London Olympics.

(continued)

To view the rest of this article, please click here and turn to page 16. Of course, you are welcome to read the other stories in TrackSide magazine, from writers such as Khadevis Robinson, Sarah Masters and Sean Pena.

From TrackSide Magazine (Issue 4): Then and Now - John Godina

John Godina is readily recognized as one of the greatest American throwers of all time – sharing the same rarified air with Mac Wilkins, Al Oerter, and contemporaries such as Adam Nelson and Reese Hoffa. A native of Cheyenne, Wyoming, Godina excelled has a high school athlete, making All-American in both football and track before heading farther west to attend college at UCLA, where he won five NCAA championships in the shot-put and discus (three outdoor, two indoor) while breaking the national record in the shot (22.00 meters) with his 1995 title performance.

John Godina is a four-time world champion in the
shot-put, but now spends more time training world
 class throwers. (R: video of Godina's 22.00-meter toss)

Godina’s success continued after college, and his throwing career saw the Arizona resident win four World shot-put titles, to go along with two Olympic medals (silver in 1996, bronze in 2000).

In late 2013, Godina received perhaps his biggest public acclaim to date, being inducted into the USATF Hall of Fame. This accolade could be due to his versatility as a thrower. Although all of his World championships and Olympic medals were in the shot-put, he is one of only 10 men to be ranked in the Track and Field News World Top 10 for the shot and discus in the same year; in fact, his 1-3 ranking in 1998 was the second best ever.

Today, Godina, 41, trains world class throwers such as Vikas Gowda and Suzy Powell, and has opened the World Athletics Center (worldthrowscenter.com), a high level training facility for athletes of all ages. Currently there are four locations – two in Arizona and two in Northern California, but plans for further expansion are in the works for 2014 and beyond.

Q: You retired from competition in 2009. How did you make the transition from being a professional athlete to opening the World Throws Center?

Godina: I officially retired in 2009, but my last competition was at the 2008 Olympic Trials. I just needed some time after the meet to think about things. But even back in ’06, after my shoulder surgery, I realized that I didn’t have much (competition) time left, and started thinking about what I was going to do after this. I knew that track was my calling card, where my name was known, and that I wanted to morph into something that dealt with the throwing business. But, I eventually wanted to get involved with all of track and field, not just the throws, which is why we changed the name to the World Athletics Center. We knew that would be the endpoint.

Q: Indeed, you have moved beyond just throws. In fact, it looks like you’re getting involved with other sports. How do you go about finding another sport to add?

Godina: You must be talking about the bobsled. Sometimes it just works. Bobsled teams are mostly made up of former track athletes, with enough leg strength to push the sled. Some of the training is the same. I hope we’re helping. USA Bobsled seems happy with what we’re doing. Our athletes have a couple of early wins in World Cup events. I enjoy the fact that we work with athletes who are in the Olympics every two years.

Q: Are you currently looking to expand to other sports?

To read rest of article, please click here: www.trackside4.tracknation.com

Burden Wins Mid-Atlantic Diving Crown After 38 Year Layoff

From the Newport News, Hampton, and York County/Poquoson Town square sections of the DAILY PRESS, December 19, 2013.


For Jim Burden, the decision to start competitive diving again was largely based on numbers.

“I turned 60,” he recently said with a matter of fact tone.

Jim Burden, 60, and Danita Fox

It didn’t matter that the former East Carolina standout had not competed in 38 years. In fact, Burden had entered his last competition, at the 1975 President’s Cup in Northern Virginia, on a dare.

“I was coaching at my diving school in Reston. Upon seeing an adult competition at the President’s Cup, the kids bet me that I wouldn’t dive, but I got sixth.”

Burden admits that he had a chance to “get on the boards” periodically. Even as his athletic career segued into a successful life in Virginia and Texas as a general contractor and later Production Manager for NV Ryan Homes, his veins still bled chlorine and pool water.

“I coached at Trinity High School starting in 1980 when I lived in Dallas, and worked out with SMU (Southern Methodist) diving a little bit.”

Still, almost thirty years had passed between Burden’s last serious diving workout and his 60^th birthday. Surely, there had to be another reason to start again.

“I started wondering how the Masters (competitions) were going. One day, I went out to the pool and started diving. Little by little, I found out that I could do a lot of the same dives.”

A revelation soon hit Burden.

“I wondered, who else my age could still do this stuff?”

On November 17^th, the Poquoson resident got his answer, which was no one. Traveling to Ewing, N.J., Burden won two gold medals at the Mid-Atlantic Masters Springboard Diving invitational. With the victory, Burden also qualified for the USA National Masters meet in San Antonio, Texas in May 2014 as well as the FINA World Masters Championships in Montreal next August.

The journey turned out to be more interesting than the meet.

It started with a visit to social media, specifically YouTube.

“I went and found some footage of the Master diving competitions from 2011 and 2012, and realized that they weren’t much better than me at that point.”

Armed with newfound confidence in his abilities, Burden went to find a pool. First he tried Christopher Newport University, only to learn that there were insurance issues involved with letting an outsider come in to dive.

The next stop was William and Mary. No diving team – no dice.

There was also Old Dominion, which had a program, but as Burden recalls, “I didn’t really want to drive through the tunnel every day to dive.”

With only two weeks to go until the Jersey meet, Burden remembered the words which the William and Mary swim coach had uttered.

“Have you ever been to the Midtown Aquatic Center?”

Burden had not, but he soon found his way to Newport News and made the acquaintance of aquatics director Danita Fox.

“She was really instrumental in my progress.”

However, the relationship got off to a rocky start.

Fox says, “He came in asking questions about the types of diving boards.”

She faced a similar issue with insurance. “We only allow diving access as long as a certified instructor is present.”

Adds Burden, “she made some calls.”

Over the next two weeks, they worked out seven times. Fox would film Burden’s dives, and as an aquatics coach, would offer feedback. But she was immediately impressed with his ability.

“He gets up on the (diving) board, and WOW! He obviously kept himself in shape.”

Burden attributes his current ability to extended time away from the sport.

“A lot of the older divers are beat up. Diving takes a toll on you. On my last college dive at ECU, we were competing against Johns Hopkins and I separated a rib and shoulder.”

“In fact, I have a heat pack on my neck right now!”

Burden’s initial work on the board started out rough.

“I looked like scrambled eggs – I was all over the place. But eventually it started coming together.”

Fox adds, “Jim said it’s like riding a bicycle. But it was a quick turnaround. Right before he went to New Jersey, he said that he could start to see and spot things as they’re going around, like everything was slowing down during the harder dives, the two and a halves and three and a halves.”

Just like in the old days, which brings Burden’s diving career to a full circle.

“Back in my most competitive days, the mid 1970’s, I used to tell my friends that I would have made the 1976 Olympics in Montreal.”

With a tongue placed firmly in cheek, he adds, “if it hadn’t been for the 200 or so divers that were better than me.”

Ironically, the 2014 World Master’s Diving Championships are in Montreal. Reminded of that fact, he wistfully concludes…

“I might make it there yet.”

Remembering Benny Dean

I'm feeling some sadness this weekend as a piece of my past is gone. 

In the 1990's, I got into the whole karaoke thing, then graduated to open mikes at GW's, a good honky tonk bar in Alexandria, which has since become the Rock-it Grill. Back in the day, I loved to sing some country on Sunday open mike night. Bands like 4x4, City Slicker, Blackjack, and others rotated through the cycle. But Benny Dean and Southern Rain let us sing with them at GW's and brought us up at other places up and down Rte. 1. My greatest singing experience ever was getting up right after New Year's in 1999 and doing a eight minute version of "Mustang Sally" with the band.. full of solos. Benny's in the center, and BJ Parrott, the sax player, is to the right. Had to pull him away from the bar to get back onstage, and he wailed for about a good minute. I'll never sell a record, but I got to sing, thanks to Benny. Rest in peace brother.