Tom Fahey, master educator at Chico
Young
Troy Purdom writes: “I am working with
Dr. Tom Fahey on a thesis project at California State University, Chico. The study is regarding power lifting and its effects over time, and to see if it can limit life expectancy.
Attached is a list (an Excel file) of the throwers chronologically and by sport emphasis. If you have the contact info, either by phone
or email of any of the throwers it would be greatly appreciated.” Tom, of course, is the many times national masters champion in the discus. Lucky kid. Troy adds: “The actual thesis is comparing the lifespan of experienced throwers to the standard American male population. As two renowned and recognized throwers,
(Tom Gage and
Harold Connolly) have passed just this summer at the ages of 67 and 79, it is important that this question be answered.”
Hal Connolly’s death was partly an accident, of course (he hit his head on concrete). But this seems like a project worth our attention.
Many current masters throwers are on the list. Check here to see if your name is on it. A second list is here.
9 Responses
Rink can be contacted at rab@rinkbabka.com
“Discusdoc” is looking pretty good throwing with those shades on!
I think the biggest obstacle in this study will be the full and honest disclosure on behalf of the athletes interviewed or volunteering their athletic history to this thesis. For those that have nothing to hide, it will not be a problem. But for those that may have innocently, or not, experimented with anabolic steriods in it’s infancy during the 1960’s,70’s and even 1980’s with the lack of knowledge at that time of it’s dangers to one’s body as time goes by that we are now witnesssing in some athletes( http://www.musclememory.com/articles/steroidsMD68.html ) and don’t feel the need to volunteeer that information because of it’s present stigma or other reasons, the study will then be flawed. In no way am I stating as fact (except for one athlete who admitted to it’s use) or insinuating that any of the following athletes to be named took steriods at any time. It’s just amazing to see the many great throwers that have died, some at very young ages that fall into that time period. Four-time Gold Medalist (1956, 1960, 1964, 1968) Master’s thrower and comback thrower discus thrower of the 1980’s while in his 40’s, twelve years plus after his last Olympic games, Al Oerter suffered from cardio problems for many years prior to his death at 71. Three-time Olympian (1960, 1964, 1968) and Elite Master’s shot putter and discus thrower from Iran, Joe Keshmiri passed away very young at the age of 60 from colon cancer. Lad Pataki, who I had the pleasure to throw with and know for a brief time in 2001, was an elite Master’s thrower and former Czechoslovakian sports chemist during the 1970’s, passed away from brain cancer at the very young age of 60. As you wrote in the article now we have Former 1972 Olympian Tom Gage passing away with cardio issues at 67 and lastly Four time Olympian( 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968) Harold Connelly at 79 and in my opinion lived a full and happy life. There are many other Elite throwers who never partook in Master’s athletics that have passed away at amazingly young ages. The most recent I can think of is the passing in 2008 of Bishop Dolegiewicz, former three-time Olympian Canadian shot putter and Strongman who openly admitted to the Canadian Dubin Commission in 1989 that he used and distributed anabolic steriods to fellow Canadian athletes ( http://grg51.typepad.com/steroid_nation/2008/11/lengendary-shot.html ), passed away from cardio-circulatory problems at the ripe young age of 55. If any of these other great throwers passed due to complications of prior drug use, the evidence is long gone and secret taken with them for eternity. The only way this thesis works is absolute honesty with complete anonymity…but you can’t blame most for not trusting a study or interviewers after the anonymity promise made by Major League Baseball to it’s athletes when it blew up in their faces after somehow being given to the media. Just my two-cents and good luck with the study.
I think this would be fun. Just let me know what type of info. you are looking for.
Ray Burton
please can you sent anew idea to thesis to me
I am Troy, one of the principle investigators of the study, and I wanted to clarify some points that Milton Girouard pointed out. In no way are we investigating steroids or their use. Our study is strickly in regaurd to current training (if pertinant) and current health, past training (bench press, squat, and olympic lifts. Also being investigated is past weight, and current weight and measurements, and cause of death if pertinant. Once again, we as investigators are in no way trying to investigate steroid use at anytime throughout athletes lifetimes. If there are any questions reguarding the study please feel free to contact me at tp_soccer3@hotmail.com. Thank you for your interest and concern. Troy
Troy, interesting topic but I really don’t understand how you can seperate longevity from steroid use and expect any meaningful data.
I threw in high school but stuck to fooball in college. Played for a top 20 team back in the ’70’s. Of the 4 strongest guys on the team, 3 were using, one (me) wasn’t. Only one of us is still alive. None of three died from trauma.
From this admittedly small sample size, your study would probably arrive at the conclusion that weightlifting in college decreases lifspan by 25 years on the average and I (at the advanced age of 55) would be a statistical anomaly.
Big hole in the study: you aren’t going to contact the guys who are already dead. Kind of skews the data.
Or am I missing the point?
Sorry for the rant but I lost friends…
This study will examine death rates in a discrete group of throwers (top 25 in hammer, discus, and shot) during a 20 year period. We will compare it with the death rates of the population at large. While steroid use might have an effect on longevity, I don’t think there is any way to investigate this issue objectively. We simply want to examine the death rates.
Dear Ray Burton, My name is Troy, one of the investigators, what is your current age and DOB. You can contact me via email if you like. Thanks. Troy
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