The real legacy of the 1970s Wolverine Sports Club, Mike Walden, and Clair Young is not all those Olympians, World Champions, and National Champions. As great an accomplishment as each of those were, there is a bigger, much longer lasting legacy. A few years ago, Tom Schuler and I drove together to Jackson, MI for Clair Young’s memorial service. As we drove, we talked about all the people we knew who came up through the ranks of the Wolverine Sports Club and what they’re doing today in cycling or speed skating. We didnt need to talk about ourselves and our contributions - we already knew about that. We talked about others, people like Dale Hughes, organizing events, coaching riders, and building velodromes all over the world, Roger Young coaching the national track team, Ray Dybowski and the late Mike Rabe, coaching cyclists and officiating, John Coyle coaching speed skaters, Cindi and Ken Hart, who formed IndySpeed, a cycling and speed skating club, Rick Denman, filming cycling scenes of all sorts for the movie industry, Jose Alcala, providing neutral race support at races all over the U.S., Aldo Sfalcin and Reneé Schroeder operating The Alabama Cycling Camp, Leonardo Gianola and the Pit Crew Band, … the list went on and on, for much longer than I could possibly recount here. In the ‘80s, Mike and Clair specifically set out to develop the next generation of cycling coaches. More than training cyclists, this is what the Walden School of Cycling was all about. This is why Mike eventually agreed to let his daughter Chris and son-in-law Dale Hughes document the skills and techniques he’d been teaching all those years. Mike and Clair wanted to build something that would outlast them. I was pleased that I was able to attend the memorial service for Clair. Many accomplished athletes, parents, and others spoke in tribute. Richard Noiret presented a special edition of Catch the Wind focusing on Clair. Toward the end, three of the Johnson family came up to speak of their relationship with Clair through their years in speed skating. Amy Johnson Fitzpatrick told of how she now lives in Alaska, desired to involve her children in speed skating as Clair had involved her, and, frustrated that there was no speed skating in the area, formed a speed skating club, built a track, and began coaching. Tom and I looked at each other. “There’s another one!” That list of people supporting the development of our sports is much larger than any one of us could ever know, but it is, no doubt, the greatest legacy of the 1970s Wolverine Sports Club, Mike Walden, and Clair Young.
Posted on: Tue, 08 Jul 2014 03:25:33 +0000
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