The Discus Thrower

A Quirky Place to Live

I met my friend Chuck when we were just six months old - our mothers introduced us. We grew up on a peninsula - me in the cove, bay side, Chuck on the chaussée, lakeside. That was nearly 50 years ago.

Life on the point was very isolated. I kept myself busy with a number of solitary pastimes: sailing, rowing and boating, angling, drawing, writing, draining jump shots, inhaling books, plying the lake, biking, soccer ball juggling... and throwing the discus - an Illig tradition.

Quirky, but Good

I threw a number of different discuses over the years but the one I preferred was made of wood and steel - handed down to me from my older brother who'd received it from our father. I threw that discus until it shattered on the pavement the day I threw it beyond the confines of the field I trained in.

Just before my 49th birthday I received an overnight package from New Mexico where Chuck now practices law. In it I found two items, Chuck's business card with a quick note scrawled on the back and a dilapidated wood and metal discus. Although the discus in the package lacked the intricate etchings of my discus, and looked plucked from a flea market table, I recognized it immediately as similar to the one I'd thrown forty years ago (see above). A quirky gift, but good.

I've been replaying memories of throwing that thing ever since.

A History of Quirky Giving

Incidentally - regarding that soccer juggling mentioned above - though I've never played soccer I could keep a ball off the ground for over 200 kicks, chests, heads and knees before dropping it.

For a wedding present Chuck gave my wife and I, a soccer ball.

Loading mentions Retweet

Oct 18, 2009

Philip o said...

Dang, Chuck always did give thoughtful gifts!

When I first saw the title, The Discus Thrower, I immediately thought of Ed, just as one immediately thinks of Burt Lancaster when hearing The Swimmer or Mel Gibson when hearing The Road Warrior or Marlon Brando when hearing The Godfather.

Ed, your description of your days "plying the lake" conjured up images of you on one of those skulls as in the Charles River in Boston. In fact, we were so poor back then (low allowances and even lower reimbursement from the Hoovers for mowing their lawn -- $2 I believe), we didn't have skulls or row boats or even sunfish sailboats.

We would ply the lake using that other unique pastime of Cove Dwellers (and Chuck when he came south): I'm talking of course about the Dolphin swim! That part butterfly stroke, part frog leaping move was the fastest way for us to get around in the water we spent over 90% of our days in. Your readers need to know of it's forgotten joys on gleaming, flat calm days on the Chausee beach almost 40 years ago.

Oct 19, 2009

Ed Illig said...

Phil: That's odd. When I think of me, I think of The Godfather of Swimming Road Warriors. :)

[from Chuck] Actually I found that discus abandoned in the practice field at Valley High School, in Albuquerque. I used to run the track there.

Looks like you cleaned it up a bit. You or Ian ever throw it?

cb

illig