Bulletin for October 20, 2008
Remembering the 1948 Olympics with Olympian Jim Delaney
By Joe Perez
Preliminaries
 Today’s meeting was a compilation of many facets of Rotary Goodness. President Dave got us off to a rousing start with a rendition of the Pledge by none other than our own PDG John Withers. Ginny Pitts then followed on with an inspirational moment of introspection focusing on what a glorious day we had the opportunity to be a part of and reminded of us the need to focus on the friendship of those surrounding us. |
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 Initially Bill Dotson did NOT introduce any visiting Rotarians. There was zero at that appropriate moment. Fortunately, this anomaly was remedied by the somewhat late arrival of Quantity One Santa Rosa Sunrise member Vicki Locner who saved the day, and our pride, by visiting us anyway. |
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| In-house visitors of our Rotarian members included various and sundry folks such as a cousin of Ginny’s from the Midwest. And also present today was the entire Delaney clan of our own Member Matt, all there to celebrate our speaker, in honor of their respective father, grandfather and/or husband’s presence. |
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| Of Course, ex-President Peter Lamonica had a suitable Rotary Member-Candidate guest, Laura, from Exchange Bank. As did others, in keeping with the theme of our most recent membership drive. For example, some, who last week were merely contenders, are now finally members of our club. This was the case with our very newest member, (effective today), Casey Williams. Casey was expertly inducted into the Club, by Ex-Pres Louis Capuano. And with his sponsor Pam Davis along side him, received a standing ovation. |
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Announcements and Such:
Announzementz: In the Announcement category, the most interesting one was by Ms. Ginny Pitts who motivated us all to "hang around with her", pun intended in our Pioneer Cemetery, for a grand old time to celebrate this Halloween Season with some period costumes, to be followed by a hot toddy nearby, as you would expect from her. See her for more information on this aging experience.
Recognitions
Bob Reinking was tagged-for-twenty for making it to a most remarkably "youth"-full 80 years young and for his wife’s Santa Cruz HS reunion, not to mention 12 days in Hawaii. "He Had It Comin’!", I’d say.
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Then Bob Zeni got nailed for twenty sawbux more for his 70th birthday. Bookends, with a lot of mileage in both of them, I might add! Congrats, Gents!
And of course, Gary Lucas, the epitome of Zen calmness regaled us with stories of his one month Asian sojourn to a more peaceful place, AKA Viet Nam, including the Up A Lazy Mekong River side-trip as rep of the Dao. A place he had visited some decades previously with an automatic weapon in hand, and in which he now re-visited the Purpose of Life. Which is far different in his mind than it was then. Kudos to you, Gary. It cost him, but I forget how much, I was so calmed by his demeanor.
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Terry G.: Enjoy that new grandchild, even though it is named after that ex that you get along with so famously. Twenty To You, Too.
Oh, and Ken Prouty: He went to Montana to check up on the very second of our club’s Presidents, Ken Davenport, complete with two brand new knees to show off to Ken at his new ranch. Yet another 20-Big Ones for the coffers.
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Braggin’ Bux:
More minor amounts of dinero was accumulated: The list goes on with Louis C’s wife’s birthday, Jim Hinton's wife, Caroline, same, but today was Matt Delaney’s wife Allison’s birthday. More of same, and Fred Zmarzly Smart-Arsed remarks over some 22’ yacht on the Petaluma River or something to that effect. Allegedly littered with vivacious middle-aged-to-perfection women. Life just don’t git’ no betta than that, James Hinton. Hic, Hic… All of them put out $1 each. The guys, that is. And that included Chuck Baker telling us about the proud moment of being at the Roseland Prep library facility this last week where PDG Mike says that 50 out of 57 students have been accepted to colleges! A very nice place for our Club to spend its money in the community!
Program: Remembering the 1948 Olympics with Olympian Jim Delaney
Our esteemed guest, Jim Delaney, is the grandfather of our very own member Matt. He is 80-something-plus old and won a Silver Medal in the 1948 Olympics in London, England. He had some great stories to regale us with. His grandson, Matt, is said to be Jim’s "Bodyguard", as he calls him. But any guy that can "put" a 16 pound or so "shot", as they say in his element of track and field, like Jim did, some 54’ 8" to win the Silver, can damn well take care of himself, I would say, eighty-something or not. Of course, he brought a sample of said "shot" to pass around.
| After attending Sacred Heart high school in San Francisco, Jim joined the Olympic Club in 1946, 1947 and 1948, a 6’1 hunk who developed himself into 210 pounds of weight-lifting steel. While initially interested in football, he got a scholarship, ultimately to Notre Dame in Track and Field where his fate was sealed. He participated in Olympic Trials in Evanston, Ill., to complete in the qualifying events that ultimately got him on the Olympic Team. He went to London aboard the SS America where he participated in the Olympics, very narrowly missing out on the Gold in his event. It was a sweep, Gold, Silver and Bronze, by the Americans. |
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He found London to be in great decay as a result of the war and heavy bombardment that they endured, but with wonderfully spirited citizens. General Aviation pilot that he is, Jim appreciated that the mere 800 or so brave pilots of the RCAF truly saved England’s Bacon during those many years of war. This was an enlightening thing for him to learn about and observe on this once in a lifetime trip. After proposing to his wife of now sixty years in Paris (!), he additionally got to more fully appreciate the true face of Communism when the Team was asked to tour parts of Europe, including Prague, after the Olympics. There, they first-hand got to experience the withering effects of Communism on the lifestyle of the country of Czechoslovakia, sometimes in after-hours tours, with 12 guys and machine guns as "escorts" in some situations.
As a special note, just this last month Jim was inducted into the San Francisco Olympic Club Hall of Fame for his achievements in these 1948 Olympics. Congratulations to him! A rare achievement worthy of the true Olympian that he is. Needless to say, his entire family was along for that presentation, as well as this program for our Club. Their support was very touching to observe.
Jim also did three years in the Navy after the war as an officer, ultimately ending up as a shipboard navigator on an ammunition ship called, appropriately, The Pyro. How quaint… He was a distant observer of some of the calamities at our local facilities in the East Bay, such as the Port of Chicago disaster in which 300 men lost their lives. Did we mention that one should not smoke on ammunition ships? Jim sure did.
Ultimately, in his long life, Jim has apparently been far more than "merely" an Olympian. How about everything from a teacher, salesman, Veteran, pilot, navigator, father, grandfather, husband and clearly all-around great guy to his family! We were honored to have him with us today.
After questions, President Dave closed our august proceedings with the requisite donation of a bottle of wine to Jim Delaney for his appearance.
| Your Bulletin Reporter: Joe Perez  |
Your
Bulletin Editor: Jim Valinoti  |
