CURATOR’S NOTE- Since 1992 Dr. John Speca has traveled as medical support for a number of USST teams. This email from him gives a little history: “I’ve been a team doc starting with jumpers in 92 til 99 then NoCo, but will be with jumpers this year in Zakopane. My wife has been “part of the team” for about 10 years. Billy also told her that her birthday gave him the inspiration to push to win the race. She describes it as “plane fare for skier trip $1800, meals and hotel, $1500, having Billy Demong win a race for your birthday, Priceless!” He had not yet won his gold but his was gold in my wife’s eyes. Let me also say, It has been my pleasure to work with so many of the athletes, coaches, wax techs and host docs and local EMT’s through the years.“
John and Debbie Speca with the Nordic Combined Team in Klingenthal, GER in 2009.
JOHN SPECA
Grenada, MS
johnspeca@hotmail.com
I was asked to switch my tour with US NoCo due to a change in their schedule. It conflicted with not only Valentine’s Day, but also with our 30th anniversary and my wife’s birthday. My wife thought it would be fun to go and accepted our switch to Klingenthal, Germany. (Little did we know, this would be one of our most storied ski team trips.)
Our team had received new jump suits for World Championships, but they were delayed and had no time to get tailored. I volunteered my wife to sew them and one of the Japanese who brings his sewing machine owed me a favor. Billy Demong was the first to let Debbie tailor his suit and one by one, she eventually tailored 7 jump suits for our team!
Sunday was her birthday and she told Billy he needed to pay for the alterations by making the podium. (He had just had a third that day.) When he asked me if it really was her birthday, I told him it certainly was. He jumped to 7th place and came into the stadium in 4th. As he passed right in front of us, he was shoulder to shoulder in 3rd. As we waited at the finish line, Billy won the race. Amid all the shouting and congratulations, he heard my wife as he was removing his skis, looked up and said “Happy Birthday, Debbie!” She still holds this birthday as her best! Thanks Billy.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY/ANNIVERARY/VALENTINE’S DAY- Debbie spends the holidays working suit magic for Johnny Spillane (shown) and the rest of the Nordic combined team.
Billy Demong on TOP of the podium for John and Debbie’s big day.
GET YOUR NAME ON THE WALL!
1 Comment
JIM BALFANZ writes:
Please know that I am sending this to merely inform you of some history of how the sports medicine program began with the Nordic Teams. During my first year as NPD, in 1970-71, we had a jumper get seriously injured in a competition that was held “behind the Iron Curtain.” The jumping coach (Lloyd “Snowball” Severud) called me at the US Team office in Denver to tell me how meager the medical facilities were, and that they wanted to operate. We made the decision to fly the team member home to the US for his Surgery, at a cost that greatly “dented” our already meager Nordic Program budget.
That incident led me to talk with Dr. Fred Schoonmaker – who was chief of Cardiology at St. Luke’s hospital in Denver. The sum of that conversation had Dr. Schoonmaker volunteering to establish a program (as was being done with the Alpine program) whereby we would have an American doctor with us for all future Nordic competitions. Every one of them volunteered their services.
The Nordic sports medicine program was thereby initiated with the various aspects of it being set up and coordinated by such people as Fred Schoonmaker, Richard Suinn, , Arthur Dickinson, Marvin Klein and others, whom I cannot recall at this moment. These men helped our Nordic Program establish what became a very successful sports medicine program by the time I left the US Nordic Program in 1975. One of the Nordic coaches who really “jumped” in with both feet with this program was Marty Hall who returned to the Cross Country Program following the 71 season. The sports medicine program became such an important overall part of the entire Nordic effort.
It is wonderful to read this story, knowing that so many other terrific medical personnel had preceded them and that our athletes are well taken care of by professionals from our own country.