Tom Lough and Kyser Lough

00:06 Old as of today and I'm speaking to you from my home and Round Rock, Texas, which is located just north of Austin. My partner today is my son Kaiser low and who introduced himself and just a moment in the Olympics computer than the sport called modern pentathlon, which is a multi-sport event consisting of horseback riding over jumps fencing with an f a pistol shooting swimming and cross-country running and I competed in the Olympics in Mexico City in 1968 52 years from today that we're making the recording so our team almost one we were a few points I do for a third-place, but it was an exciting time in my life and I'm happy to have this opportunity to talk this over with

01:04 My son and I know for sure core and for the US Olympic and paralympic Museum.

01:12 Hi, I'm Kyser Lough and 37 years old calling in today from Athens, Georgia. And it's my dad said I'm I'm Tom Lewis son, and I'm excited to get this chance to talk to you little bit more about your Olympic experience. So just to start off. I think it would be to be nice to get a baseline of how you got to the Olympics in the first place. If you can enter run through that story quickly. Yeah, it is. It's a long story but I'll shorten that was not much of an athlete and in and out by running the 1/2 mile and mile and I got an appointment to West Point United States Military Academy, and I thought well maybe I could make some of the sports teams are there by did not I got cut from many different sports change their and eventually ended up in a motor sport club, try a sling which is

02:11 At the time was official shooting swimming and cross-country running and even though I wouldn't go to any of those three, it turned out that I was slightly above-average in all three and when added up all the stores I end up at the top or near the top. So I became a sort of a surprising success there an Olympic event called modern pentathlon. If I could just learn to fence and ride horse. I might be able to train for the Olympics really I looked out because about the same time at West Point. They started the Fencing Club again fencing had fallen out of the athletic programs are and while I was there I was able to understand and then I was able to get to Fort Sam Houston during one of my summer vacations and a train for a little bit and compete at the National Training Center and

03:11 Ended up being of all things the 1962 National novice Champions are modern pentathlon after I graduated from much more they have I waited my whole lot of potential and felt that I could qualify to trains Marvin Sasson aiming for the 1968 Olympics, but I had to satisfy my professional military requirements as well, which meant going to airborne and Ranger school and then going to Korea for a troop assignment and then having a year to train for modern pentathlon at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, and then immediately after that going to be at now, so that was the deal. I accepted in return for a chance to to give the Olympics ago and so in June of 1966, I ended up at Fort Sam Houston and again a couple years training Iceland and ended up on

04:11 Total surprise

04:17 It's awesome.

04:19 I know we talked before about how the sport is really good for someone who's good at a lot of things but not great at any one thing and how that's kind of Incorporated that a little bit in your life philosophy a bit. Can you talk about that? If you look at almost every other event in the Olympics, you know, it's a very specialized you got of being able to run 200m faster than anyone else in the world being able to swim a certain Strokes at like a butterfly for 200 faster than anyone else in the world world class abilities. And and so I got to thinking that people with multiple abilities are much more common and it makes me feel a little bit more.

05:19 You know a regular a regular person, but at the same time finding someone with a with a combination of of above-average abilities that that would help them to qualify for a multi-sport event. It's kind of interesting to so trying to figure out

05:41 Well what my kind of like a personal identity was I stumbled upon a long ago in a TED Talk called which is a sort of awkward term better describes somewhat myself in that regard that I have a lot of interest and joy learning and I don't mind him to practice. I don't mind a steep learning curve and I get great satisfaction and incremental progress and improve in a little by little and improving steadily and I have I guess

06:23 Become accustomed to accepting the results in the results. Take care of themselves. Just enjoying the journey like that. So in that sense, I think I'm sure of typical of lots and lots of people and that I have multiple interests and to some extent multiple abilities that makes any sense. Yeah and to follow that up a little bit, you know, when you think of professional athletes or or Elite athletes that are focused on one sport or one event. There's often a set of routines with associated with kind of preparing that your mind in the right place. But for you you had five different sports spread out over five days that you had to like constantly. Did you find yourself having to constantly reset your mind for a different preparation routines or did you have one sort of overarching routine that kind of got you set for each one of these events.

07:20 Well, I haven't talked about that a long time. That's an interesting question and it it it reminds me of how I decided to prepare for the 1968 Olympic trials. We had double trials that year. We had to do two back-to-back files for five events over 8 days. And so for the first four days, we will work through five events within the next four days same events. I just to make sure we were consistent and I remember that I had these

07:55 Yellow yellow legal pad. I did one legal pad for each Ward and wrote down and it is a server weeks in advance wrote down what I wanted to be doing what equipment I would need and so forth and so on and then ask what day is approached officer wrote down what I wanted to be thinking at different times so that so that I had everything in my mind. I wouldn't have to worry or fuss or fret in the moment and knew that if I need to make some adjustments I would have all the information I needed all the equipment. I need it right there. But to prepare for five such different events. The preparation was completely different for each one. And and so I'm 5 legal pads are not going to help me get my mind focused on each one so that I can compartmentalize them and not be worrying about

08:55 The fencing Hall was in the shooting for example.

09:02 Yeah, that's that's interesting. Have you carried some of those routines forward today? And how you manage your time? And and what you do? Well, I guess I have to some extent and in some of my professional work later on when I was in the classroom or when I worked at The Lego company or when I was helping teachers prepared to teach science or overseas Consulting with high school science teachers in developing countries. I do remember having checklist similar to when I had set up in 1968. That's interesting. I had thought of it in that way but I didn't care that over that I do like to prepare deliberately and make sure I have everything I need in advance in addition to kind of thinking out different scenarios the way things might go and some different directions.

10:02 At one of my Life Strategies, I guess was it's always easier to select from options that have already been developed in in a fast-moving situation instead of trying to developer options on the fly when something is happening. That's the source of rising and remember when I was helping science teachers for fear for their classroom experience. I would encourage them to map out of their head some different scenarios for different types of skew lines, so they can have some idea of things they could decide to do if if things went in a certain direction or another

10:43 That's really neat. I kind of want to go back to Mexico City in 1968. And at this point in your life, you know 1960 you went from small-town rural Virginia up to New York to start at West Point and you know expanding kind of your your view of the world somewhat and then in 1968 all of a sudden you're competing on a global stage and I'm curious what that was. Like when you stepped off the plane in Mexico City, if you know by then seen some of the world and in your eyes have been opened a little bit more. But what was it like when you first step foot there and got into the sort of international stage for the first time I was going through your mind. I had been to a couple of international competitions prior to that but nothing like the scale that met us and Mexico City. I do remember getting off the plane and

11:43 Hearing for all this music from bands that were at the airport playing all this music all these volunteers and uniforms were greeting us giving us stuff. We have special buses that we rode down town and went past all kinds of Olympic banners and so forth and then we got the Olympic Village people were applauding and all that sort of thing. But I guess the big reveal or big realization came during the opening ceremony when your weed has been waiting and waiting area for Show hours. It was in and we finally got walking for the stadium and then we went through this tunnel and things are not so require.

12:43 And then we got to the end of the tunnel all of a sudden this week came out of the tunnel all this sound in the light and I was just kind of wash over us like a like a nice are tsunami waves or something and it was probably that point that it really hit me that I was on a world stage and that was just an amazing moment you realize that I was part of something that don't even mom and dad were and are just such a special moment to represent the country and and and Grandma and Granddad were watching on their black and white TV. And from what I remember Granddad managed to get a picture of you, right? Oh, yeah.

13:43 And the dead had is 35 mm black and white camera and he snapped a picture and add the route of the like a third-rate you and during the time of exposure the scan was doing the top of my body. So he got my head and shoulders and then all the rest of this is the White Noise as a remarkable photo. That's a great photo. I love I love that photo especially because of the timing how you know how to chance it was recorded. It was just a little bit.

14:29 Modern pentathlon is technically a team sport, but you are all competing individually, so it's not like you're you're passing to somebody or you're you're competing you're competing at the same time for a team score and

14:44 I want to talk a little bit about what that felt like as a competitor because you have this camaraderie with teammates, but you're also more independent I guess and so how did that Dynamic? Yeah, that was sort of a mixture during the trials. It was much more definite than an extra City. I feel because they're in the house. We had to compete with 40 or 50 people that we had trained with Ray closely and we're very good friends with and so that a lot of Bittersweet feeling to it especially during the fencing when we were physically attacking each other and then during the other sports when somebody might have an accident in the horseback riding the horse my Stromboli might break their arm or something and then they're out for good and two years of training is down the tubes. And so we had all these mixed feelings and and so forth about about that, but once we got in, Mexico City,

15:44 Weather three competitors in the one alternate it was as if there was a very reassuring combination of both individual and team effort and I think the thing that gave us that have thought about this before but I think the thing that gave us that was the sense of being part of our national team and we all had that USA uniform and so forth and and just having that in common really helped a lot and and I do remember that we helped each other when our preparations and and so forth, even though we were competing as individuals and his teammates fortnite help each other long sample. I remember on the night before the swim I had this route.

16:44 Rolling my head and breathing and so forth and then I had this train of thought of exactly what I wanted to be thinking and each one of the race and so I had your more read that scripture me with a stopwatch my swimming race that was coming up the next day and it was so we did that in that little room in the Olympic Village up doing there and then the next day I swam one of my very best races ever even spy the added altitude there. I finished 12th overall and just one competition which was a big surprise to me and I think part of that was due to that preparation again, but yeah, we helped each other and and there's something was that because we had five different sports we can connect directly with with a special to athletes and those five different disciplines. So so we

17:44 We did talk to people in the different sports. And in fact some some of the members are the Olympic fencing team came to the Southland fencing event to cheer us on and help us out. So there was a sort of additional, lottery in an overlapping as well.

18:01 So if you touched on this already, but I want you to talk about it a little bit more because you know, there's a relation of you the individual to your team your modern pentathlon team. But what about you the individual athlete or you as the modern pentathlon athletes with the rest of the United States team? What did that what was that relationship like with the other athletes? Are you talkin about a step? Should I don't step shops. That's the way it was described. There are major sports and Runner Sports and then announced and Larry program. And even though modern pentathlon was designed by Baron de coubertin the founder of the modern Olympic Games and even though it's been continuously and the Olympics since 1912. And even though George Patton was our first Olympic modern pentathlon athlete nobody knows much about modern fence apple. And so it was kind of fun to

19:01 I like to see the double take from different USG members when they would learn what event do my gosh. In fact, I remember we were in high altitude training at Colorado Springs and we had a chance to work out at the Air Force Academy swimming pool about the same time the the Olympic the US Olympic diving Squad was there for practice and a Bernie wrightson who was one member of the 68-team. I think you want to go metal was there and then we introduced each other and everything and he says

19:43 Mannheim and all of you guys are the world's best diapers is in all of us. Are there anything even approaching the quality of his his participation or is that like a treatments or any of the Run running or swimming or anything? So it was it took a little while to get accustomed to the idea of being reasonably Elite Motor Sport athlete balance and it's been almost eliminated from the Olympic program, but it turns out that in Europe and other parts of the world modern pentathlon has a rather strong following and they were insistent on keeping an eye on the program. Simply what cost are they felt that motor sport athletes needed some type of representation. And so I

20:43 First I have appreciated that I'm glad for it. But yeah, I was about about Marvin that one night you mentioned before that. You would by the time you got there, you know, you knew who your teammates or because you've been competing against them for several years already. What about the international competitors? Was that the same did you were you familiar with the folks that were coming in from modern pentathlon from the other countries?

21:16 What is a few of them are computer than France in a world military Massillon championship and I competed in Mexico City 1967 and what they called the little Olympics where they brought delegations from many countries down to test the venues and give the officials a chance to the practice officiating at the various sounds like that. And so I knew a few of the competitors by then but none none particular personally during the Mexico City time though. I was able to spend more time with them and get to know them a little better. It was interesting because that was during what was the Cold War and the numbers are the Soviet team in the USSR.

22:16 Points of a tension between the United States and the Soviet Union individual athletes on that Squad fairly. Well, I could speak a little bit of Russian and they can speak a little bit of English. And so we had a little bit of time there and and we're able to exchange a few gifts and so forth and we all we got along as as individual as well also make good friends with the Mexican delegation and a couple was one young man from Czechoslovakia. That was particularly friendly to everybody I kept in touch with the people in Denmark and Austria after several years after Mexico City and then I met a couple people from the Finland Olympic Squat and it turns out that

23:16 I was about four years later. Send send it to a 73 something like that. I was in Switzerland with my with my wife and my mom and dad they were coming over for a visit and we are going up to one of the mountain tops called the soup scratch and they had these telescopes up there. And so we were looking around the telescope and there was a small Peak just down from where we were and there were people on it. So I looked at the people there and saw that one of the people there was wearing a sweatshirt that said u.s. Modern pentathlon. Germany has a u.s. Monument sweatshirt or got to go down there. So I went running down the hill and do it and it turned out that the guy was the guy I had computer like asking Mexico City one of the competitors from Finland name and he was there on his honeymoon and and he had gotten this.

24:16 Dazzling training sweatshirt from one of the other team members in in a trade or something.

24:22 Louis garneau Bonza, what is small world or national people? I was in communication with a low but not the national people which leads me to Pivot because fast forward 50 years from 1968 to 2018 2 years ago something pretty Monumental happened in Colorado Springs with the first maybe not the first reunions of the Olympic team, but the 50th reunions on the Olympic team, which I understand is something pretty you need to get a group of not teammates but from an individual sport, but teammate from an entire cohort of United States competitors together. So let's talk a little bit about that reunions because you played a major role in getting that together, especially

25:22 In the Ten Years prior to it even happening had a chance to go to Mexico City for a team meeting of a group of Consultants hours with and during the weekend. We were there I went out to the university and Revisited the stadium where we have that fabulous Olympic opening ceremony experience and one always they're experienced this overwhelming feeling back home. I I called around to the one or two that I knew and said, yeah, I miss you all too and that idea came let's let's get back together. But of a Blues Brothers type of thing at the back door start calling around and volunteers from all the sports and after about six or eight months, we located more than 90% of of the of the team at least those who were still alive.

26:22 And that was most of the team and and and more than half the coaches so we decided to have a reunions in St. Louis and we had 48 show up for that and then we came up short for that. And then let's do a big one at the 50th and last October two years ago and Colorado Springs. We had more than a third of the surviving team members show up for the most remarkable experience I've ever. Maisel to should be part of that and to see people like dick Fosbury and Tommie Smith and so many other people coming together and tell stories and

27:22 Experiences and so forth videos displays. It was just amazing along the way we can have a lot of other people to example a lance Wyman is now an internationally-known Rockstar Graphics Arts designer and he was the guy who when he was 26 years old got the contract to design all of the graphics and logos and typography for Mexico City and we we contacted him and he sort of adopted our team and has been part of all of our reunions and and came to the gym and helped out with the decorations and so forth and so many members of the US Olympic expressions of support and encouragement for that. It was just a life-changing moment for me. And at least it's only as far as I know.

28:22 Olympic history because we were the first and only team to this point that has done something like that for that scale and for the 50th and 4 for anything like that.

28:34 You you're there. You you appreciate that your mouth. Was it soon as you did a lot of them ography and and lot of the driving and thank you for all that for me the value of it was getting to see some of the the athletes who I Knew by name or any other stories and to just kind of have that like Starstruck moment to be able to see them into it, you know see some of the memorabilia one of my favorite things. I can't remember who gave it to me, but someone gave me like the bus schedule any little thing that you could like turn to figure out where you wanted to go and win with the buses are running and I love mass transit. So it was it's a neat Keepsake to have from there. But I know for you it wasn't just about getting to see people and getting to see the memorabilia but it was it was the stories and memories associated with that that not only get retold but maybe could get pulled for the first time or

29:34 Maybe

29:37 Retold in a way that helps cement memory and Legacy and he was like a little bit about it before but I'd love to hear more about how you felt after that weekend in terms of the conversations that we're having what what the value I mean, obviously this was a valued event, but what

29:57 What value you see in coming back together and after 50 years and being able to tell those stories again and find those new things one, of course was I just catching up and seeing what people are made with their lives and then to realize, you know, the Olympics were just to pull up no disrespect but the way to children and grandchildren and great profession and doing work and making money and all this other stuff. And and so it's so interesting to look back on 50 years of professional work and then then this blip is rather large blessed but there's another aspect I thought was really good. And that was when I was called kind of loosely store my healing aspect if you think about it, there are very merry

30:57 Gold medals awarded at the Olympics compared to the total number of participants and an even if you talk to him is real gold medalist. Some of them will say well I didn't quite able to get what I wanted to do, but I was better than anyone else that day. But everybody else didn't get a gold medal they participated and so in a way there there's some some I'm not sure exactly how to describe it some reshuffling of one's mental attitude and sense of self has to take place that we can accept that. We did our best we can accept that. We represent of the United States and in the moment and that the results that kill themselves and

31:57 I think really helps with with it that that sort of a mental Readjustment. I'm not sure. I don't know. What a healing is, right? We're not but but you know what, I mean that we have to do an acceptance of it. I guess might be a better word than sure. We wish things would have gone better. But the Olympics anything can happen and we saw that over and over again and you see that every time the Olympics are broadcast so hot and then some of the other things that happened Edition realizations about I didn't know that you had done this and because you did this I was able to do that and so many different affirmations from from the different team members as well.

32:46 I would like to turn the tables for just a second and asks you what you feel. It's like to be the child of an Olympic team member and how that affected your life. Well, I mean, it's it's funny you talk about the the healing aspect of it because I remember you anytime I tell people that when I was growing out that my dad was an Olympian that the first question was like well did he get a medal and how closely we associate with being an Olympian versus just being there and it's it's interesting how you say that because growing up and you always would tell me about the experience about being there on the international stage and how valuable it was to just be there and to compete for your country regardless of the outcome and

33:37 And I I don't want to turn the tables back on you, but I just

33:42 It it was very interesting for me to hear you say that about the reunions because I felt like that was something that maybe you had at the time of the Olympics that maybe got lost over the years and then coming back together kind of help recontextualize what it meant to be at the games and I think you know growing up.

34:00 And I I kept that in my mind of the importance of getting there to that stage regardless of how you how you finished. It was just so cool to have a father who had done that and especially one that wasn't constantly pressuring me to do the exact same thing and we have a picture of me trying to fence when I was a kid, but I don't feel like you tried to throw me in a horse and put a pistol in my hand and throw me in the water every chance. You could get to follow in your footsteps, which is something I I truly appreciate.

34:36 Yeah, well, I was very careful about that because everyone has their own individual gifts and talents and potential and so forth and the hope of your mom and I were that that you would feel supported and encouraged to explore yourself and to find your own unique set of gifts and talents and I think you know her pretty good job bringing job at doing that but it's interesting that the thing by their perspective of a deeper motivation for one is soda so much to bring this team back together as a way of

35:16 As a way of of affirming what up what I had done because now she think about it. You know my Lamy Lane efforts in 1968 to explain to my USB. My arm is in a sling was well now there's no doubt. It's all been done. But on this other thing we talked about it occurred to me about placing in a relationship with that that for each competitor number one doing their own personal best in every situation and then number two and I didn't realize this till I'm not too long ago that responsibility to the man that those who finish ahead.

36:16 Graham earned their position in other words if I'm competing to the best of my ability, I'm going to force someone who finishes ahead of me to do their very best and that helps them in that respect. So so in that said people are saying what's the worst place to finish in the Olympics 4th, and that's what we did on our team Samuel France had 13289 points and we had 13289 points out of 30000. But Richard is did everything we could and what does that the scores fall or they make so from God's perspective on that. That's only one person can finish four.

37:16 But everyone can succeed and it seems like it's not exactly coherent or consistent. But if you view success as the ability to develop develop yourself with a steady Anchor Mental progress, so this year in proving steadily over time and in to find that success, then you're going to get a sense of satisfaction and then you'll Force anyone else that's competing with you. So to speak to be even better and then that might raise all the boats that are floating there.

37:56 The real quick with the minute we have left. I'm interested more in some of the things that came from the reunions is that is that part of what came from the conversations with the sort of shared sense of accomplishment or what else came from those conversations? That was so valuable for coming back together. Well, I was kind of being diluted by time with everybody going up their own separate ways. There was no coherent story about the 1960 18 and we were kind of fading from Olympic history not individual by individual and by coming together as a group and tell these stories and then working together with representatives of the US Olympic Committee offer family archives and then later with a representative of the US Olympic and paralympic Museum. We can ensure that the Legacy and Heritage the history that

38:56 Is preserved in a more coherent and organized fashion, we had several objectives including Reserve in extending the public memory of the 68-team of preserving and sharing our individual stories and then providing inspiration to young people to become the best they could be and we tried to organize Auburn reunions activities and activities leading up to the reunions so that it would be aimed at one or more of those three things.

39:30 Well, I certainly felt inspired from that weekend and I felt inspired from always talking to you about this experience cuz it still blows my mind to this day that you're my father was an Olympian. So thank you so much for taking the time to talk a little bit more about your story with me to the members of the public. I hope you have a wonderful experience there and I hope these and the associated stories are helpful and inspiring to you.