Tuesday's With Dave

 Barry Howson was honoured recently as the first black to play on the National basketball team when he represented Canada at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo. Coach Howson and his whole family should be and are proud of this accomplishment but the truth of the matter is that his whole family, and hundreds of Olympia alumni can attest that there is much more to the story, and the man, and his journey. The best part of hearing the news that Barry was  going to be honoured at a FIBA America Qualifying  game was that I had the good fortune to interview him for the chapter on Olympia coaches in A Hero's Journey: Beyond Little Norway and Olympia Sports Camp.  I already knew the story, and so much more. Coach Howson's portion of the chapter deals with the hero having to slay dragons in their quest for their ultimate goal and Barry's life is testament to that. The youngest in a family of nine, Barry lost his dad when he was 15. He excelled in various sports and spurned several NCAA Schol

 Those who have read A Hero's Journey: Beyond Little Norway and Olympia Sports Camp know that chapter 12, the 12th step, deals with the return. Chapter 12's return deals with the many people and places that helped in the writing journey I was on for four years. A big part of the story of the return was given to me three years ago when Joy and I were afforded the opportunity to spend a month in Maricopa Arizona. It was in AZ  where I found the inspiration to bear down and complete so much of the writing that I had been struggling with. It's no overstatement that the peaceful mornings in the valley of the sun helped me get the 'bat of the shoulder' and complete this amazing journey. The reason we were in AZ was to help Tammy and Wayne Beckett by taking care of their dog Lacey while they were away on vacation. I could write an entire blog about how much fun Lacey is to be around and how Lacey has come to mean so much to Joy and I. But this blog is something Wayne did f

 And So It Continues A group of people are working on an event that will take place this spring to have Olympia alumni get together to honour Dave Grace and the 50 years of Olympia Sports Camp. There will be much more detail coming out in future blogs but the first thing we need to do is establish the Olympia Alumni Association. If you are reading this we'd like you to go to the following link to register for the OAA. . https://forms.gle/woWsggqM7zpUyHge9 We also hope that you share this link with people within your Olympia circle. It will take literally a moment to register. This will help create a database of alumni through which we can share information and create another layer of legacy of the history of the people of the camp. We know that the stories captured in The Hero's Journey just scratch the surface of the amazing people who have walked the land of Interlaken and we envision the OAA as a way to share many more hero's journeys and for all alumni to have a vehicle