Friday, June 03, 2005

Senior Olympic Moment

The Senior Olympics start today in Pittsburgh. Three years ago, I spent part of the summer in St. Louis, during the summer of the World Cup in South Korea. Through some unbelievable serendipity, I had the privilege of watching one of early matches of that tournament with friends and family of Harry Keogh, a starting defender on the American team that beat England 1-0 in 1950, U.S. soccer Hall-of-Famer for playing and coaching, and father of former U.S. national team member and broadcaster Ty Keogh. It was a marvelous afternoon at the Keogh home, with Harry, his wife, two daughters, and a small group of us soccer players and fans who happened to wander into their lives that summer. Harry had some great stories about traveling from St. Louis to Pittsburgh in the 1940s to play the Beadling club. I mention it here because even at 75, Harry Keogh was unbelievably fit: He was earning medals in swimming at the Senior Olympics. In the butterfly.

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