Last
Thursday I flew to California, specifically the San Francisco Bay area to
present to the international sales reps for FINIS http://www.finisinc.com/. I
am working with them on a new product, the Circuit Trainer, which I will talk
about in a later post.
On Friday I
went to Stanford to visit Jon Haskins. Jon is from Sarasota and played football
at Stanford and in the NFL. I worked
with Jon throughout his career as an
athlete. He is now Director of Football Operations at Stanford. He took me on a
tour of their athletic facilities. What a great set-up, Beautiful modern facilities
that blend with the campus. As we were walking around I could not help but feel a
bit nostalgic when I realized that it was 35 years ago this week that I began
graduate school there. It was a great year. I got to coach track as 
well as
meet and learn from many great people. It made me so thankful for the
sacrifices my parents made to give me the education the education they never
had. Just walking around that campus is a humbling experience.
Saturday
morning I went to Berkeley another of my old stomping grounds and had breakfast
with a great coach and friend, Nort Thornton. Nort just retired as the men’s
Swim coach at Cal 
Berkeley. He has been a mentor and inspiration to me since I
first
meet Nort in the spring of 1979 when I was coaching at Cal. To me he
epitomizes what a coach should be. After over fifty years of coaching he is
always learning and working to better himself. Here is a guy who coached Matt
Biondi to five gold medals and revolutionized free style swimming technique always
asking questions and trying to find a better way to do things. I feel so
fortunate to have been influenced by him. The world of coaching needs more people
Nort Thornton.