[Seahawk]

The most influential athlete(s) in my mind (which means they changed the perception and direction of their sport) are Willy Mays, Gretzky, Magic and Bird, Montana, Pele, Shoemaker, Owens, Steffi Graf (Williams Sisters and Borg), Franz Klammer...and many more.

There is no one sport that requires the MOST skill. I didn't want to wrestle a single person, regardless of weight, on my HS wrestling team. I would have been delighted, however, to pitch to them.

Swimming with a water polo player is like being in the pool with an angry Dolphin. My roommate in flight school played WP for UCLA...get him out of H2O and he was pedestrian on the basketball court.

My best friend in HS was the All CIF 4A player of the year in football...the best football athlete I ever played with or against. He didn't start on my HS baseball team.

Another good friend of mine was a Steeple Chase Jockey (he is now a wheel in the US Steeple Chase Assoc.). My last semester in HS I groomed race horses in Aiken, SC. in the morning. I had a light course load and was done by 0700 in the morning. That is where I met Barry. The Breezers and Jockeys were incredible athletes, fit and brave on the top of a 1/2 ton of trouble

At the end of the winter season we had a flag football game, grooms against the riders. I must have thrown for 800 yards. At 6'4", it was like I was looking for Randy Moss in a Tokyo subway car.

My point is every sport has a skill set to be great, the most important of which is devotion to the sport and mental toughness.