People that inspire me - John Hetzendorf

There are 48 weeks left in the year and once a week I will write about someone in my life that is inspiring or motivating to me.  Hopefully others will read it and gain a little bit of inspiration in their life as well.  There is no particular order to these writings, just a bunch of people I am fortunate enough to know.  So without further ado ….

Inspirational person #3 of 50 – John Hetzendorf

In the past two weeks I’ve written about my best friend and then one of my best athletes.  This week we switch gears to a former teammate and co-worker John Hetzendorf, known by most affectionately as “Dorf”.

I was in my third year of college at Kent State when Dorf joined our team – ironically at the same exact time Steve Rainbolt became the head coach at Kent State.  Both Dorf and Bolt stayed at Kent for five years then made the move to Wichita in 2000 where they have both been coaches ever since – 22 consecutive years.  I’ve been part of that group on and off for 16 years.

Dorf at the 2005 World Championships in Finland

Dorf had a long and very successful athletic career throwing the Javelin.  As a youngster he made the World Junior Championships.  In college he was a multiple time all-American and should be inducted into the Kent State Hall of Fame someday.  As a post collegian he made it to three Olympic Trials and ultimately represented the USA in the 2005 World Outdoor Championships in Helsinki, Finland.  All this while being a full-time throws coach for WSU.  Simply remarkable.

To know Dorf in passing is really not to know Dorf because he’s usually quiet and very humble.  I’ve told him to brag about his athletic achievements more during recruiting but it’s not in his personality.  As an athlete and as a coach he’s always gone about his business his own way and largely out of the spotlight.  A biology major in college, he’s probably the smartest guy in our office in terms of figuring out training programs and bouncing ideas off to help better any aspect of the team.  He can talk just as intelligently about distance running or sprinting as he can about the throwing events.  He’s always been a team player and one of the guys you want on your side when headed into battle.

Recently his world has changed as he married Amber a couple years ago, had their first child (Jack) last year and turned 40 this week.  So I was curious what some of the following answers would be …

I asked Dorf five questions, here are his responses …

Question 1:  Now that you’re 40, what advice would you give the 15 year old version of yourself?

Dorf:  Ask more questions! Even if I thought I had things figured out... ask questions to be a better learner. Don't be afraid to ask questions.  People often don't want to look dumb or look like what we don't know what's going on.  But when we feel that way that is exactly when we need to ask questions.  At 15 I didn't want to look dumb so I never asked questions I should have asked! 

Question 2:  Where is the best place you’ve ever traveled and why?

Dorf:  I don't have just one. In 1996 I competed in the World Junior Champs in Sydney, Australia... the Aussies are a laid back fun loving group of people. They were very welcoming and made sure you had a good time!!!

Cinque Terre, Italy, maybe the most beautiful place I have ever seen! Google it! ;) It's basically 5 sleepy fishing villages on the Mediterranean with amazing food, coffee and hiking!! 

Eugene, Oregon, it's the one place where a track coach or track athlete feels like a rock star!   Also great place to be outside!! The ocean, mountains and forest are all close by.  I also meet my wife there!!!  ;)

Paris... amazing vibe you need experience it to get it.  Food, history, art... and nice people. I know everyone says Parisians are rude.  But as a Parisian bartender told me Paris may have more assholes but there are assholes everywhere.

Question 3:  Now that you have a child, what one thing would you change about society that may affect him in the future

Dorf:  - you had to go there... haha

Well the biggest thing for me is eliminate: whining, finger pointing, and a lack of personal responsibility... I feel like our society has moved toward people whining about their problems pointing their finger and blaming someone else, instead of taking responsibility for their lot in life.  I think social media has made it way too easy to whine and blame someone else for your problems or whatever else that bothers us!!  Just look at the political environment today, I don't care who you voted for or if you are left or right. All I know is both sides are pointing fingers at the other side.  I would love for that to change!! I would love for society step up and take responsibility for themselves.  I want people to say hey I may not like what's going on or what my life has become but I can handle it I will find a way to make it better rather than point fingers or expect someone else to fix it.  I could do a better job of this myself! I'm trying to be better.

"A man can fail many times, but he isn't a failure until he begins to blame someone else." Steve Prefontaine

Question 4:  What drove you to be better at Javelin throwing throughout your long career?

Dorf:  The biggest thing is I loved throwing the javelin and I truly got a rush from throwing. I'm not talking about throwing far or PRs. I found it amazingly satisfying to just flight a javelin and watch it fly.  The other thing throwing did for me is it gave each and every day a purpose. Everyday was a new opportunity to figure out how to get better to work harder to improve myself. That process really drove me. 

Question 5:  Who inspires you and why?

Dorf:  Well my parents were the first.  My Mom was an activity director at a nursing home.  I watched her bring joy to the residents and she truly cared and loved them.  She brought happiness to a place that most people thought was depressing.  My dad worked as a machinist and a foreman and eventually a plant manager, he always took great pride in his work and did the best job he could. And he treated the work he loved and the work he hated the same, just did the best he could.  He always strove to do the best job he could.  Other than my parents I'm inspired by anyone who overcomes the odds, or just overcomes struggles, injuries, etc.  The underdog inspires me. The overachiever!!! 

Final thoughts … Why do I choose to have John Hetzendorf in my life?

I could sit here and write countless stories that involved me and Dorf.  From back in college where he lost a fight to a recliner, to the night he said he threw 400 meters in the Javelin, to our common love of annoying Coach Yost in the office or the multiple adventures at NASCAR races in Kansas City.  Everyone has memorable stories that include Dorf but I remember something that happened that probably resulted in him getting the throws coaching job at Wichita State.

I was in my second year on the staff at Kent State, which was Dorf’s senior year.  After being a multiple time all-American in previous years, he was having major struggles in his final few meets.  After struggling through the MAC Championships, and not placing as high as he was projected, he walked up the stands in Buffalo’s stadium straight up to Bolt (I was standing next to Bolt at the time) and apologized for not getting it done for what we had projected and that he was very sorry.  As he walked away Bolt turned to me and said, “That’s a really good guy right there.”  We went on to win our first MAC Championship in 25 years for Kent State that weekend and Dorf was a big part of it.  A couple months later Bolt was named the head coach at WSU and hired Dorf right out of college with no experience.  For a young college person to own up to his disappointment and to talk to the head coach like that said all you need to know about John Hetzendorf.  As long as I’ve known him he’s always been honest, loyal and dependable.  Now in his 17^th year at Wichita State it is obvious he has been the same way throughout his coaching career.  His athletes consistently love and respect him because “Dorf is just Dorf” all the time.

Coach Rainbolt gets a lot of attention for turning the Wichita State program into a consistent winner (and deservedly so) but all along the way John Hetzendorf has been there, quietly working away in his office or out in the solitude of the throws field and I hope everyone realizes how important he is to the program at WSU and to his co-workers in the office.  Thanks Dorf!

People that inspire me - Audacia Moore

There are 49 weeks left in the year and once a week I will write about someone in my life that is inspiring or motivating to me.  Hopefully others will read it and gain a little bit of inspiration in their life as well.  There is no particular order to these writings, just a bunch of people I am fortunate enough to know.  So without further ado ….

Inspirational person #2 of 50 – Audacia Moore

Most of the more inspirational people in my life are older than me, or at least peers, so it might be a bit unusual for me to write about someone almost 15 years younger than me.  Well, Audacia Moore is not the usual person.

I first met Audacia after the state track meet in 2008 when I started recruiting her to come to Wichita State.  She was the fastest 100m runner in the history of the state of Kansas so I figured it would be a monumental task to convince her to become a Shocker.  I quickly learned Audacia had far less interest in track and field as she did for finding a good nursing school.  Fortunately we were pretty good in both and she decided to stay in her home town for college.

I had only been the sprint coach at WSU for two years when Audacia arrived to campus and the women’s sprint group had been average in terms of contribution to the team.  Audacia changed all that.  As a freshman she started winning titles and scoring points - and it never stopped.  So many titles. So many points. By the end of her career she had won 10 MVC titles, scored the most MVC points in school history and broke every sprint record at WSU.  Since her arrival in 2009 WSU has always had one of the best women’s sprint group in the Midwest – and Audacia was where it all started.

I’ll save why she is so inspirational to me for down below.

I asked Audacia five questions, here are her responses …

Question 1:  What have you yet to accomplish that you very much want to?

Audacia:  Lots of things!  I’d love to travel the world and drag my family along with me.  Go back to school and get my masters.  Learn how to swim without a life jacket.  Dunk on my brother.  That’s just the top of my list.

Question 2:  Who/What inspires you and why?

Audacia:  My parents.  They sacrificed a lot for my brothers and me.  I always want them to look at their kids and know they did a good job.  As my parents get older I want to be prepared to take care of them, just as they took care of us.

Question 3:  What one thing would you change about society?

Audacia:  We’re too self-righteous.  I think we as a society would like to believe we’re open-minded and accepting of all individuals, but in reality we’re not as flexible as we think.

Question 4:  What drives you to be better at something?

Audacia:  I don’t like feeling inadequate.  I leave my job every morning and review what went well and what could have been better.  As a nurse my actions can be to the benefit or detriment of those I care for.  I like to carry that attitude over into everything I do.

Question 5:  What makes life meaningful?

Audacia:  Faith, family, great friends and good food.

Final thoughts … Why do I choose to have Audacia in my life?

I’ve stayed in touch with Audacia here and there since she graduated and every time we see each other it is nothing but smiles, laughs and hugs.  For a while we’d go see thought provoking movies together but unfortunately life happens and work schedules don’t seem to coincide as much as we’d like.  At 27, she is already well on the way to leading a very productive life and I am glad to call her a friend.

When she was on the team, she was the ultimate TEAMMATE.  She would do absolutely anything to help the team succeed.  Here are just a couple stories.

After having a super successful freshman year in the sprint events where she was one of the top freshmen in the country, she volunteered to try long jump and triple jump for the first time to score more points for the team.  Not only did she learn how to do them, she ended up becoming all-conference multiple times and we won additional MVC titles because of her extra points in the jumping events.  She never did this for glory of herself, in fact she hated having the attention on her.  She only did it to help the team win.

Another thing that was inspiring that not everyone knew was that she ran most of her outdoor senior year on a broken foot.  She had a terrific season opener at Arkansas where she ran 23.57 in the 200m and then returned to Wichita with a lot of pain.  After finding out she had a fracture in her foot, her only response was, “it’s ok, I can deal with the pain.  I got this coach!”  Her senior year outdoor was probably the worst of her career in terms of how fast she ran but she still scored major points in five events and led our team to a victory at the MVC Outdoor Championships on our home track at Cessna Stadium.  At the conference meet, one of the officials said to me, “Well it looks like Audacia wasn’t able to sustain her success this year huh?”  After telling this person that Audacia had just run five races and completed 12 jumps on a broken foot he looked at me in disbelief, apologizing and telling me how fortunate we must be to have her on the team.  Most people will remember her records, titles and contribution to WSU Track & Field.  I will always remember that outdoor senior year and how she came to practice and meets every day and gave us literally everything she had.

On top of all that, Audacia was a 3.97 Nursing student and one of the absolute best people you could ever get to know.  I am so lucky to know Audacia and even if I don’t see her every day like I used to, I hope she knows her spirit is alive at our track everyday because she inspires me to be a better person and to push everyone around me to do the same!  Thanks Audacia!

People that inspire me - Kevin Lucas

Last week I wrote about a new idea for this blog and so here we go!

There are 50 weeks left in the year and once a week I will write about someone in my life that is inspiring or motivating to me.  Hopefully others will read it and gain a little bit of inspiration in their life as well.  There is no particular order to these writings, just a bunch of people I am fortunate enough to know.  So without further ado ….

Inspirational person #1 of 50 – Kevin Lucas

Kevin Lucas is someone I’ve called my best friend for most of my adult life.  I’m not sure if you still call it that when you’re 42 but he’s definitely one of the special people I’ve been lucky enough to be around.  We grew up and went to the same schools and are separated by around four years.  Even though that isn’t much of a difference now, we actually never attended the same school at the same time (when I was a senior he was in eighth grade).  I “dated” his older sister in junior high and Kevin was pretty much a little punk at the time.  We ended up growing closer because we were both fast sprinters and over time we ended up both running in college (Kevin ran at Wilmington, Ohio) and eventually both becoming college track coaches.

Now Kevin is one of the top coaches in the nation, leading the crew at Mt Union College in Alliance, Ohio.  A couple years ago their squad won the NCAA Division III National Championship and Kevin was named NCAA Coach of the Year.  Anyone who knows Kevin is aware of his sharp sense of humor – which you will see on display below.  I am fortunate to know another side of Kevin, however, that is motivated to be great.

I asked Kevin five questions, here are his responses …

Question 1:  If your life was a movie, what would the title be and who would play you?

Kevin:  I feel like there isn’t a movie but more like a sitcom.  My life developed very similar to that of Ross Gellar on Friends.  As for a title, I will use the quote from Red in Shawshank Redemption, “Crawled through a river of shit and came out clean on the other side.”

Question 2:  What advice would you give the 15 year old version of yourself?

Kevin:  The only advice that I would share with my younger self would be to cherish the time you have with loved ones and friends because you never know when they might not be there.  I can honestly say I would not want to change too much for fear that I might not be where I am today without the mistakes and failures made along the way.

Question 3:  If money was no option, what would you do for the rest of your life?

Kevin:  I would still coach track and field!  It’s the greatest sport there is.  Although I have to admit I would travel a lot more.  Maybe I would run for President though because if money is truly no issue it seems like it’s pretty easy to win these days.

Question 4:  What has motivated or inspired you to be so successful in your career?

Kevin:  First off … I don’t like to lose so I think that never wanting to be second has been the main motivating factor.  However, I was also taught that whenever you do anything, you do it to the best of your abilities and put your all into it.  I figure as long as I work as hard as I can and instill that in our athletes then I will be successful.  I’ve been blessed to have parents, coaches and friends that share the same drive.

Question 5:  What is your definition of success?

Kevin:  My definition of success is to wake up everyday looking forward to going to work and enjoying what I do.  I think it’s important to be able to laugh, love and feel loved.  Success is feeling good about what you’ve done and how you’ve done it and knowing that even in failure there wasn’t more that you could do.

Final thoughts … Why do I choose to have Kevin in my life?

It’s pretty simple.  No matter if we don’t see or talk to each other as much as we’d like, I can always count on Kevin to be one of the best friends a guy could have.  We talk the most during the track season, giving each other recaps of our teams and being a sounding board for ideas on how to be better.  He also makes me laugh every time we chat.  I’ve been with Kevin through the highest of highs and the lowest of lows and I think we both have grown up to be better for it, whether it was watching him celebrate a NCAA title in track or surviving a road trip through the West Coast or a thousand memories along the way.  It’s pretty remarkable that two skinny kids from Eastern Brown High School grew up to earn significant coaching positions (and become not as skinny) in the highly competitive world of college track and field.  Thanks for everything Kevin.  You’re an inspiration to many, many people including me!

Being a beach bum, my month away from social media and the end of this blog as we know it

It’s been about two months since my last blog so I’ll update you about what’s been going on and my plans for 2017!

What have I been doing?

A lot actually.

Without going into all the boring details I’ve been doing a lot of work and a lot of traveling.  The month of November was very busy as we signed 13 recruits in the early signing period (most ever for Wichita State).  We lose a lot to graduation on the women’s side this year and have made some significant progress this fall in replacing some of those great athletes.

We had our annual Intrasquad Meet in December, which came off well.  Our kids look like they had a solid fall.

View from my room at the convention

Most of my December was spent traveling.  I went to Orlando for our annual USTFCCCA Convention, which is always a lot of fun and a lot of learning.  I saw some great speakers and got to hang out with a bunch of coaching friends as well.

Then I headed down the east coast of Florida for the next week.  I went to Melbourne Beach (south of Cape Canaveral), South Beach Miami, Key Largo and Key West and then back up the Gulf of Mexico side through the Everglades, up to Naples and then to Punta Gorda (near Ft Myers) where my mom lives.

Key West being a beach bum

After that couple weeks of sun and 85 degrees in Florida, I headed north to Ohio for a few chilly days before going back to Wichita for New Year’s.

It was a great trip to get away and put some perspective on life.  Sometimes when you are going full blast at work for months at a time it’s good to take a break before heading back to work.  And now I’m definitely refreshed and excited for the next six months of track and field!

We had a track meet at KU Friday.  We only had a couple of practices since we got back so this was a meet to kind of “shake off the rust” so to speak.  Overall it went well and next week we really get our indoor season going at home against KU and Kansas State on Thursday.

What have I not been doing?

Social Media.

I decided to take the month of December away from social media and I’m glad I did!  Except for the rare post for work, I didn’t read a thing on Facebook, Twitter or post a Snapchat story for a month.

Why?  This year’s election brought out a lot of negativity on social media and I just got tired of seeing it.  Even though I would block or unfollow much of what I didn’t want to see it was about impossible to shield myself totally from all the terrible comments, articles and crap out there.  So the ultimate “unfollow” was to never log on in the first place.

What did I do when I got bored?  If I couldn’t look at Facebook, Twitter or Snapchat how would I ever pass the time?  Well I started reading a lot more books.  I started going for walks around downtown Wichita (where I live) discovering lots of cool new places.  I started having more one on one communication with the people I was around.  To sum it up, I merely tried being a real person.

I’m going to head back to social media now but in a more limited way than before.  Hopefully most of the political stuff is gone and I can go back to seeing pictures of my friends’ pets and kids.

The end of this blog as we know it …

After a few years of pretty consistent writing, I feel like it has started to become a little redundant.  So I’m going to make a massive change in what I post.  I've always received a lot of great comments about this blog and I genuinely appreciate everyone who comes here and reads from time to time.

Going back to my thoughts on social media, I decided I want to use my platform for a much more positive message.  I have so many great people in my life that have had such a positive influence on me that I would like to try and share that with anyone who might be interested.

Instead of a weekly blog about what I’m doing, I’m going to write about a different person in my life who inspires me.  And hopefully some of those writings may inspire others.  It’s my way of thanking all of you who have made my life so great over the years.

Final thoughts …

I may throw in some track and field, movie or travel blogs from time to time but I’m going to try and make 2017 less about me and more about what a wonderful world I’m fortunate to be a part of.

I do a weekly email for anyone interested in Wichita State Track & Field so feel free to email jwise@goshockers.com if you want to be part of that mailing list to keep up with the Shockers!

I’m sure I’ll lose a portion of my readership but that’s ok.  I’m not trying to win any elections this year.  Haha.

Until next time, thanks for reading and Go Shocks!