TALES FROM HAPPY HOUR

May 4, 2024

Earlier this week the obituary of Olga Fikotova-Connolly popped up in my news feed.

In 1956 Olga and her future husband Hal Connolly made international headlines after they fell in love while both competed in the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia.

Athletes falling in love is not that unusual - but in 1956 Olga was competing for then Communist Czechoslovakia while Hal was competing for the United States.

Both Olga and Hal won gold medals that year - his was in the Hammer Throw and Olga won hers in the discus.

They were married a year later in Prague where a crowd of 40,000 celebrated the newlyweds.

They were international superstars of their era.

I never met Olga but I did have the good fortune of meeting Hal back in 2010.

At the time, my son Mike had just finished his second year of high school and he was on the track team and competed in the shot put and discus.

During the summer of 2010 he would compete in a series of all-comer track meets at a local high school.

For those of you who might not have heard of an all-comer track meet - it is just that - all comers can come and compete.

Events are usually organized by age group and the meets we attended included competitors from 10 to 85 years old.

One weekend in June we noticed a group of athletes getting ready to participate in the hammer throw - the hammer is a 12-16-pound iron ball connected to a hand grip by a 47-inch wire.

Competitors spin around a circle 3 or 4 times before releasing the hammer and letting it fly.

They don't allow high schoolers to throw the hammer in Virginia so when they asked Mike if he wanted to try, he jumped at the opportunity.

I volunteered to help mark the distance and "Shag" the hammers after they landed.

Basically, that means avoid getting hit by the flying hammers and extracting them from the hole they create when landing and returning it to the throwing area for the next thrower.

When I got out in the field there was an older - but very fit looking gentleman already there.

We got to talking and he mentioned that one of his athletes was competing today.

She was a 16-year-old girl who had driven 4+ hours from Roanoke, Va to compete in front of her coach (him).

She threw the hammer 158 feet that day - further than any of the other competitors including all of the men.

As we waited between throws, I chatted with the old guy and mentioned that my son had an interest in learning how to throw the hammer.

The old guy asked me how old my son was and when I told him that he had just turned 16, he furrowed his brow and said it would be better if he was younger - say 13 years old - like the kids in Europe.

But he said he would be happy to share what information he had and said he would be back again in August for another meet.

As the event concluded he shook my hand and introduced himself as 'Hal'.

Hmm, old guy who coaches elite hammer throwers...

Could this guy be THE Hal Connolly?

I had heard about the legend of Hal Connolly - Four Time Olympian, Gold Medalist, World Record Holder - but what would he be doing at a summer all comers meet?

After returning one of the hammers to the throwing area I mentioned to a friend that I thought the old guy I was shagging hammers with might be THAT Hal Connolly.

My friend was skeptical - he said he thought Connolly lived in California.

Why would THAT Hal Connolly be attending an all-commers meet at some random Virginia High School?

As a track nerd I had read about Hal Connolly and remembered learning that because of a problem during his birth, Connolly's left arm had limited motion and was four inches shorter than his right.

But he overcame this limitation and won a Gold Medal in the Olympics.

When he shook my hand, I could not help but notice that his left arm was noticeably thinner and shorter than his right arm.

That sealed it - this old guy I had been shagging hammers with was indeed THAT Hal Connolly.

A few weeks went by and then on August 7th, there was another all-comers meet at the high school and Hal and I again shared some time chatting, marking distance and shagging hammers.

By this time, we had ordered a hammer for Mike and he had been practicing and was competing in the day's event.

Hal watched him throw and complemented Mike's progress and gave me a number of suggestions for drills he could do to improve his performance.

As the competition wrapped up, he asked me for our mailing address and said that he would be happy to send me some training materials for Mike to follow.

A few days went by and then on August 13th an envelope containing two CDs showed up in our mail box.

The CDs contained an amazing collections of training guides, hammer throw coaching suggestions and videos - lots of videos.

Hal Connolly had sent my son a library's worth of information about the hammer throw.

Mike and I were thrilled and could not wait for the next meet to thank Hal and speak with him about some of his training advice.

But that never happened because Hal Connolly passed away five days later on August 18th - he was 79 years old.

When I read about his passing in the Washington Post I also learned that he had moved to Virginia the 1980s to work with the Special Olympics and on occasion would present himself as an example of a disabled athlete who "made the varsity".