Back in the mid-1970s, I was a rookie sports reporter at a paper in Buffalo. One of my first writing assignments was to interview an Olympic champion coming to town: Bruce Jenner.
Jenner was fresh off his Gold Medal for winning the 1976 Decathlon at the Summer Olympics in Montreal. He was a true national hero. I met Jenner in a limousine at the airport and we drove to his speaking engagement downtown.
Jenner and I were the same age; I thought I could relate to him. My questions were simple and his answers were succinct and seemed rehearsed. He wasn’t a good interview.
“What did it feel like when they gave you that gold medal,” I asked.
“You’ll have to come to the banquet to hear my explanation,” Jenner said.
Right off the bat, I knew Jenner was in control and knew how to market himself. I thought he was just another jock hustling to make a buck.
Well, flash forward to June, 2015.
Jenner is 65 and this week announced a name change and showed off a new female body on the cover of Vanity Fair.
Me, I’m retired and living the good life in The Villages.
Bruce Jenner, meanwhile, has turned into Caitlyn Jenner. She looks absolutely fabulous in a cover picture by famed photographer Annie Leibovitz.
Me, I’m trying to figure out what all this means.
Caitlyn already knows.
Time changes everything, including public attitudes. Years ago, the guy-jock-turned-woman story would have been fodder for scorn and ridicule.
Now, it seems almost courageous.
Big-time sports have long been the domain of male dominance and supremacy. You know, drink booze, get chicks and raise hell. You can still see that fantasy in just about every beer commercial during a football game on television.
Jenner and I grew up in an era when athletes were supposed to fit the clean cut, All-American mold. They had crew cuts, big muscles, crossed their hearts and pledged allegiance to the fans.
In those long ago, innocent days, we didn’t know about the drug and alcohol abuse; violence against women, racism and sexism that permeated big-time sports.
Now we hear about it almost every day. One guy – Ray Rice– beats up his girlfriend; another – Adrian Peterson — whips his kid and still another – Aaron Hernandez — is sent to prison for a murder conviction. The list goes on in every sport.
Compared to those guys, Caitlyn Jenner is a hero. She is representative of a new breed of athlete – and human being — reflective of the times we live in.
Michael Sam is a gay professional football player who was a star defensive lineman at Missouri. He just signed a contract to play for Montreal in the Canadian Football League, after trying out with the St. Louis Rams.
Last year, Jason Collins – now retired — became the first National Basketball Association player to declare he was gay.
Me, I’m not saying they are right or wrong, but they do have the right to choose their own lifestyle and compete in athletics. It’s called the pursuit of happiness and goes along with life and liberty on and off the field.
Sports have long played a role in changing society. Jackie Robinson taught us not to judge players by the color of their skin. Muhammad Ali showed us that a man’s conscience is just as important as his athletic skill. Ted Williams taught us about public service when he left the Boston Red Sox twice to serve his country in war.
Those guys are real heroes.
Me, I don’t think Caitlyn is a hero or a role model. After all, this is a person who played a key role in the TV series “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” and made one of the worst films of all time with the Village People called “Can’t Stop the Music.”
Some things are almost unforgivable.
But that jock named Bruce Jenner I met so long ago is forever gone. Today, Caitlyn Jenner teaches us an important lesson about the self-dignity of being honest and comfortable in your own skin.
And in the game of life that’s how you define a winner.
Tony Violanti is a Villager who writes for Villages-News.com
