Born in a coal camp in Southview, Pennsylvania, to a German immigrant father who was a coal miner for thirty-seven years, my future looked preordained. I was headed to the coal mines or the steel mills in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was just a way of life in Appalachia, and the measurement of success was just getting a job, eventually getting married, and raising a family–a good life by everyone’s standards who worked and lived there.
The Southview mine, Montour No. 1, opened in 1914 and was owned by the Pittsburgh Coal Company. They paid their employees in company script that could only be spent at the company store. Housing was built by the coal company and eventually purchased by the miners. There was a two-room school with grades 1-4 in one room and grades 5-8 in the other. All the homes had outhouses, and the Sears and Roebuck catalog was the only toilet paper of choice.
My dad committed suicide when my twin brother, Bob, and I were two and a half years old. We have no recollection of him at all. My mother was left to raise six children without a husband or a provider. She was a remarkable lady who ruled with a firm hand and the ‘fear of God.’
Growing up, I was a shy scrawny kid whose best friend and competitor was my identical twin brother, Bob. We were inseparable. We eventually migrated to sports and realized we might have a way out. I was a very private person throughout my career in competitive sports and in the business of sports. Of course, we had dreams of succeeding, and that’s what drove us to succeed, but we didn’t share those dreams with anyone.
Having no coaching or athletic scholarships, I was a walk-on athlete. I graduated from college and made the 1972 US Olympic Team and won an Olympic bronze medal at the Munich Olympics in 1972 in the javelin throw. I began my career in sports marketing, a career which, in 1981, had yet to be defined as a career.
Having worked as vice president of Sports at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games and later as vice president of Worldwide Sports Marketing at Gatorade, my career and my core competencies developed; and I was successful above my wildest dreams. With the dreams, hard work paved the path to my success. My deep faith in God as my Savior provided me divine guidance and intervention along the way.
So when I shared some of my life experiences, my friends said, ‘You need to write a book. It will be motivational and inspiring.’ After three years of work, I’m humbled and honored to share my story.
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