Friends

The older I get the more I value my friends. Saturday I was able to meet one of my very good friends, Kevin McGill for lunch in Lakeland, Florida. Kevin is a special friend. He is one of the most amazing people I know. We became acquainted through coaching and a mutual pursuit of knowledge in Track & Field. Kevin was one of the original Lead Instructors on the USA Track & Field coaching education program. He is co-author with George Dunn of a classic work The Throws Manual, in my opinion one of the best works on the throws written. This guy has a passion for learning like no one I have ever seen. When he was still in high school he took a train from New York City where he lived to Washington D.C. to go to the Library of Congress to get a book on Javelin throwing in Norwegian. He then used a Norwegian to English dictionary and translated the whole thing so he could learn more about the javelin. Over the years we have shared ideas and thoughts on art, literature, society, computers, politics, religion you name it. Kevin is the only I guy who reads more than I do. He has a passion for life and learning that is truly infectious. When you have friends like this you are truly blessed. If you get a chance search online for a publication he did in the 1980’s called Hammer Notes – it was labor of love that took countless hours to produce each issue. If you can find it Kevin wrote a classic article in Track Coach called "In Search of Seppo," chronicling his travels in Finland searching for the Olympic Gold medalist in the javelin. It is classic writing. I would like to see Kevin on the ICONOCLASTS paired with someone like Robin Williams.