All oral history is lost. Those cataclysmic moments when a parent or a preacher, a crook or cop pulled us aside and spoke to us of better times, of worse periods, of something or somebody or some idea that came before us, before Snapdoodle was our source of historical inspiration, are...
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Three members of the soon-to-be-Big Four fight it out in San Diego on June 12, 1982. Scott Molina (front left), Scott Tinley (front right), Dales Basescu (center) and Mark Allen
In the history of triathlon there is perhaps no more significant race than the first U.S. Triathlon Series event on June 12, 1982 at Torrey Pines State Beach in San Diego, California. It was, in retrospect, a rudimentary production, little more than a somewhat tentative proof of a wild-eyed...
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Jason Cambell (left) and the author (right) hang out with US Olympic triathlete Joe Maloy. Harper is now a law partner at Bowles & Verna LLP in Walnut Creek, Calif. He is also the head coach for the University of California/Berkeley triathon team. In his day, Dean Harper was among the top professional triathletes in the world -- about as close as you could get to being one of the Big Four without being named Scott or Mark.
Before triathlon existed in Northern California, I raced triathlon Hall of Famer, Dave Scott, in a run-swim event. It was August of 1976 and the race was held at Pacific Shores in Redwood City, California. I’d known Dave from collegiate swimming and water polo but failed to ask him why he...
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Back in the day when people were still looking at triathletes as if they were gods or fools, Miranda Carfrae was still in diapers, and fig newtons and chocolate chip cookies were the multisport energy foods of choice, a young man in Walnut Creek, California decided that he had what it took to be...
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Dale Basescu out of the water at the inaugural Bud Light USTS National Champonship in 1984.
Dale Basescu out of the water at the inaugural Bud Light USTS National Champonship in 1984. Mike Plant photo
Kiuru’s competitive fire produced seven international Ironman victories, including four wins in a row (1991-1994) in Australia. In the photo above he is leading Mark Allen at the 1991 Ironman in Kona. (Click on the photo for the full shot)
Carl Thomas on the Queen K Highway in 1985. At the time Bud Light was the sponsor of Thomas' U.S. Triathlon Series, and the Ironman in Kona.
Scott Tinley (left) and Scott Molina finish in a dead heat in the 1984 Atlanta US Triathlon Series event.
This is the kind of story we tell each other over a beer. It’s a triathlon classic from the wooly early days of the sport, when the world was just waking up to the notion of triathlon, and even folks in the business were learning as they went. It was on-the-job training for everyone,...
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In 1998 France won the World Cup and snowboarding made its debut in the Winter Olympics at Nagano, Japan. Microsoft was the most valuable company in the world, the Dow dipped below five hundred, and President Clinton denied having sex with Monica Lewinsky. Alistair and Jonathon Brownlee were 10...
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To mark the recent 40th Anniversary of the IIonman World Triathlon Championship in Kona, Hawaii, I wanted to offer a survey of ideas and thoughts about the event I’ve penned over the past decades. But when I went through old files, most of the what I’d written was about the...
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Looking just fine. 2016 USA Olympian Ben Kanue is the epitome of contemporary tri-style -- and the result of four decades of multisport technological evolution, from eyeware to nutrition to everything in between, -- Mike Plant photo
"When the will and the imagination are in conflict, it is always the imagination that wins" -- Emile Coue'
The short history of triathlon might be written in the long search for style. How the sports’ participants sought a certain look, a feel, and a coveted approach to...
Gale Bernhardt and part of her collection of Triathlete magazines. The magazines (not Gale) are looking for a good home.
In my home office closest, gathering dust and the fur of my support staff, sits 23 years’ worth of Triathlete Magazines, 1987 to 2009. Recent life events had me staring at the carefully dated boxes. What made me start keeping the magazines and why are they still in my house?...
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My recent return to Xterra, and in some strange way, competition itself, was thwarted by the weather. But that sounds lame. Shit happens. After four days of near constant rain, the great majority of the bike and run course were mired in two or three inches of icy clay; that sticky earth of which...
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It sits like a time machine in a corner of my office: a large file drawer stuffed to overflowing with images from the original Bud Light US Triathlon Series, transferred several years ago from cardboard file boxes but never fully catalogued. The collection of unpublished negatives and proof...
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It was a grand idea by an early multisport impressario, Dave Horning: a point-to-point triathlon from the lower end of Manhattan, with a view of the Satue of Liberty, with a finish at the Liberty Bell in downtown Philadelphia. Easier said than done, but somehow most of the 140 starters made it...
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Over the past several years, I've been back at the Ironman World Championship in Kona with a different perspective than in the old days. I go now to see clients and pitch new business for my company, but I have no official role at the race itself. No credential, no passes, no access. This...
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“Most photographers seem to operate with a pane of glass between themselves and their subjects. They just can’t get inside and know the subject.” – W. Eugene Smith
Tom Fleming, winning the Jordache Marathon LA in 1981 (Mike Plant photo)
It was sad to hear that running great Tom Fleming died last month of a heart attack at the still-young age of 65. Fittingly, he died while coaching a track meet. If he’d had a choice, I’m sure...
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Bill Katosky in his triathlon life circa 1984
William R. Katovsky didn’t like very many triathletes. And in a pathetic indictment of the sport, many of the self-anointed movers-and-shakers didn’t like him.
Steve Tarpinian at his beloved Mighty Hampton Triathlon
by Jean Mellano
History, it has been argued, is written by the victors. But in this case, it is being written by a few of us who were there and are willing to write it. A fool’s errand, perhaps. Surely, the question will be asked and answered: Does anyone really care? Time will tell.
Why trihistory.com? Well, why history of anything at all? Historians are driven to remember, record, interpret. It feels almost genetic. You’re either interested in the past or you’re not. It means something to you or it doesn’t. But if it does -- and particularly if it’s connected to a physical activity in which you are actively, perhaps even passionately, involved – you’re all in. We’re interested in the history of triathlon for the same reason we’re interested in the history of our families, our parents; it matters how it all came together. It matters because we are both players in the ongoing genealogical drama and products of all that has gone before.
In part 1, Silk discussed how she acquired the Ironman, why and how she moved it Kona from Oahu, and the early parts of taking the race commercial. Her tale of the Feb. 1982 event where she missed the Julie Moss/Kathleen McCartney episode is the stuff of legend.
In part 2, Valerie offers additional thoughts on those seminal years, her sale to Dr. James Gills of Florida, the current sale-in-works to the Chinese multinational corporation, Dalian Wanda, and her own forgotten legacy within triathlon.
ST (Scott Tinley): Wait a minute. Are you saying you missed the entire Julie Show?
VS: I was told Julie was in the med tent. So I went to see her. On the way, I was met by Diana Nyad, the distance swimmer, who also was a color commentator for ABC that year. Diana gave me a hug and said, “Don’t let those guys get you down, Val.” I thanked her for her kindness, as I fought hard against tears.
Julie was on a cot in the med tent. She actually looked great. I sat down on the cot next to her. She said, “Well, Valerie, do you think second place is good enough to let me come back next year?”
I remember admiring her indomitable spirit and smiling at her question. “Sure, Julie. It’s good enough to come back next year,” but I knew there wouldn’t be a next year.
ABC’s habit was to postpone the Ironman broadcast for a few months after the event, but not this time. The Feb. ’82 race aired only two weeks later. Then Wide World of Sports did something unprecedented in its history. The response to the show was so tremendous that ABC televised it again only two weeks after the first broadcast.
Suddenly, I was being contacted by sports marketing agents who wanted to help me find sponsors. Sponsorship potential did increase greatly. I was so glad for the little bit of reason I exercised when I refused to sign a 3-year contract with Anheuser-Busch.
The Ironman was over and there was no particular place to go.
I was poking around the archives to see what happened in triathlon history around this time of year, and came across the October 1984 issue of Running & Triathlon News. Scott Molina was on the cover for having won in dominating fashion the World's Toughest Triathlon on September 8. Molina won the race by 40 minutes, over a mountainous course that suited his competitive strengths and relentless style to a T.
To mark the recent 40th Anniversary of the IIonman World Triathlon Championship in Kona, Hawaii, I wanted to offer a survey of ideas and thoughts about the event I’ve penned over the past decades. But when I went through old files, most of the what I’d written was about the town of Kona and its amazing people. The reconstituted essay below first appeared in my book, Finding Triathlon: How Endurance Sports Explains the World (Hatherleigh, 2015).
Twelve people that first year had proved that the distances could be completed. The Ironman was possible. Haller and Dunbar had shown that if you had the guts to turn a few screws, you could even go fast – for a while, anyway. By January the next year, word of the event had spread, interest had grown, and there was even an official sponsor of sorts, since Hank Grundman had agreed to pay for the t-shirts if Collins would allow him to put the Nautilus logo on the back. Grundman also wanted to supply trophies to the top male and top female finishers (he knew there would be a woman because
Looking back at Tom Warren’s achievement at the 1979 “Iron Man," it’s hard to argue his recent induction into the USAT Hall of Fame. I was taken myself once again at the level of admiration for Warren that I heard in the words of Sport Illustrated writer Barry McDermott, when I interviewed him for my book Iron Will -- a full 10 years after the race.
"When the will and the imagination are in conflict, it is always the imagination that wins" -- Emile Coue'
All oral history is lost. Those cataclysmic moments when a parent or a preacher, a crook or cop pulled us aside and spoke to us of better times, of worse periods, of something or somebody or some idea that came before us, before Snapdoodle was our source of historical inspiration, are dead. Speaking in a human voice to another human being for the sake of their (and our own) humanity have gone the way of the town crier—left for the elderly and the luddite and the less-than-hip.
Valerie Silk in a contemporary photograph
The Ironman was over and there was no particular place to go.
Valerie Silk, addressing the Ironman award ceremony (circa 1985)
In part 1, Silk discussed how she acquired the Ironman, why and how she moved it Kona from Oahu, and the early parts of taking the race commercial. Her tale of the Feb. 1982 event where she missed the Julie Moss/Kathleen McCartney episode is the stuff of legend.
In part 2, Valerie offers additional thoughts on those seminal years, her sale to Dr. James Gills of Florida, the current sale-in-works to the Chinese multinational corporation, Dalian Wanda, and her own forgotten legacy within triathlon.
