Mallory Pugh, pictured during the Class 5A girls soccer championship game in May. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Mallory Pugh scored a crucial goal to help the United States women’s soccer team win their group at the Olympics on Tuesday.
Pugh, who graduated from Mountain Vista in May, corralled a cross on the right side of the box, took a touch toward the center, and then used her left foot to score. It gave the U.S. a 2-1 lead against Columbia in the 59th minute:
Columbia went on to tie the game in the 90th minute, but the United States still secured its spot atop Group G with seven total points. The Americans advance to the knockout stages, starting with the quarterfinals on Friday.
Another former Colorado high school soccer player — Valor Christian grad Janine Beckie — will be in the quarterfinals, too.
Beckie, a star for Canada, helped her team win Group F. Beckie didn’t play in Canada’s 2-1 win over Germany, but had three goals in the first two games.
Pugh was the national high school soccer player of the year as a junior, and then did not play as a senior following a call-up to the women’s national team. But she was part of Mountain Vista’s team in the spring, attending games and practices.
The first week of the Olympics saw a few Colorado products shining on the highest stage. That includes Valor Christian graduate Janine Beckie, the star of Canada’s women’s soccer team.
Others will get their first crack at the 2016 Games this week, most notably Missy Franklin, the 2013 Regis Jesuit graduate.
Women’s Swimming: 200-meter freestyle prelims, 10:17 a.m. Former Regis Jesuit superstar Missy Franklin gets in the pool for the first time when the fourth heat of the 200-meter freestyle prelims get underway.
Women’s Basketball: Serbia vs. Canada, 2:15 p.m. Lewis-Palmer graduate Danielle Page (2004) had a heck of a game in Serbia’s first outing on Sunday — 14 points, five rebounds and two blocks — but the team lost to Spain. Now, they’ll look to bounce back against Canada in the second game of their group stage.
Women’s Swimming: 200-meter freestyle semifinals, 7:03 p.m. Missy Franklin is set for the semifinals following a time of 1:57.21 in the prelims. She qualified 12th.
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Tuesday, Aug. 9
Men’s Rugby: United States vs. Argentina, 7 a.m. Ben Pinkelman, a 2012 alum of Cherry Creek, and the USA begin their Olympic season with their first game in Group A.
Men’s Swimming: 4×200-meter relay, 11:17 a.m. Regis Jesuit graduate Clark Smith, now a senior at the University of Texas, is among those eligible for selection in the prelims of the 4×200 relay for the United States. The final is at 8:38 p.m. on Tuesday.
Men’s Rugby: United States vs. Brazil, 12 p.m. It’s a quick turnaround for Ben Pinkelman and the U.S. rugby squad. Their second game comes shortly after their first.
Women’s Soccer: Germany vs. Canada, 1 p.m. Valor Christian alum Janine Beckie has scored three goals in two games to help the Canadians go 2-0 and secure a spot in the knockout stages. This is their final game in Group F.
Women’s Soccer: Colombia vs. United States, 4 p.m.Mallory Pugh, the 2016 graduate of Mountain Vista, and the United States look to remain unbeaten in their final match of Group G. The Americans, now 2-0, have some work left to do to secure a spot in the knockout stage. Pugh started the USA’s first game, but missed the second after tweaking her ankle in that start.
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Wednesday, Aug. 10
Taylor Phinney. (Rudi Riet/Flickr)
Men’s Cycling: Individual Time Trial, 7 a.m. Fairview alum Taylor Phinney takes part in his second event of these Olympics. He did not finish in Saturday’s road race.
Men’s Rugby: Fiji vs. United States, 10:30 a.m. Cherry Creek’s Ben Pinkelman and the USA play their final game in Group A. Regardless of how they fare, another game will be played on Wednesday, be it a placing match (for ninth-12th place), or a quarterfinal.
Women’s Swimming: 4×200 relay, 11:31 a.m. Missy Franklin is among those who are eligible to be selected for the USA in the prelims. The final of the event is also on Wednesday, at 8:55 p.m.
Women’s Basketball: Serbia vs. United States, 12:30 p.m. Danielle Page, the Lewis-Palmer grad, and Serbia play in the third game of their group.
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Thursday, Aug. 11
Men’s Rugby: United States vs. Spain, 10 a.m. The U.S. rugby squad (and Cherry Creek alum Ben Pinkelman) are in a placing match to determine if they will finish ninth or 10th at the Olympics.
Women’s Swimming: 200-meter backstroke prelims, 11:41 a.m. Regis Jesuit’s Missy Franklin is back again for the prelims of the 200-meter backstroke. She’s in the second heat. Franklin won gold in the event at the 2012 London Olympics. Should she qualify, the semifinals begin at 7:35 p.m.
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Friday, Aug. 12
Mason Finley. (Courtesy of Mason Finley)
Men’s Track: Discus throw prelims, 6:30 a.m.Mason Finley, the 2009 alum of Buena Vista, makes his Olympic debut in the first round of the discus throw. Finley won the U.S. Olympic Trials.
Men’s Track: 800-meter prelims, 7:10 a.m. Boris Berian, a 2011 graduate of Widefield, hits the track for the first time in the prelims for the United States.
Women’s Basketball: Serbia vs. China, 9:15 a.m. Danielle Page (Lewis-Palmer) and Serbia play the fourth game in their Group B.
Women’s Soccer: United States vs. Sweden, 10 a.m. Mallory Pugh (Mountain Vista) scored to help the U.S. secure this spot in their final group stage game on Tuesday. Now, the squad has an early game to try and advance to the semifinals.
Women’s Soccer: Canada vs. France, 4 p.m. Janine Beckie (Valor Christian) scored two goals in Canada’s first two games of the Olympics, and was then rested as the Canadians had already secured this spot in the knockout stages. Their shot at the semifinals comes in the late afternoon.
Women’s Swimming: 200-meter backstroke final, 7:03 p.m. If Missy Franklin advances from the earlier rounds, she will swim in the final in the evening.
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Saturday, Aug. 13
Women’s Track: 3000-meter steeplechase, 7:05 a.m. Emma Coburn, a 2008 graduate of Crested Butte, returns to the Olympics in the event that she reached the finals of at the 2012 Games. The prelims of the 3000 steeplechase are Saturday, with the finals awaiting Monday, should she advance.
Men’s Track: Discus throw final, 7:50 a.m. If Buena Vista’s Mason Finley advances, he will throw in Saturday’s final.
Men’s Track: 800-meter semifinals, 7:08 p.m. If Widefield’s Boris Berian advances out of the prelims, he will race in Saturday’s semifinals. The final is on Monday.
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Sunday, Aug. 14
Women’s Basketball: Senegal vs. Serbia, 12:30 p.m. Lewis-Palmer’s Danielle Page and Serbia continue their schedule in Group B. Should they advance out of the group stage, the quarterfinals are on Tuesday.
Four days after opening her Olympic career in spectacular fashion, Janine Beckie continued to shine on Saturday.
Beckie, the graduate of Valor Christian, scored two goals to help Canada’s women’s soccer team beat Zimbabwe 3-1 in group play on Saturday. Both goals came in the first half as Canada improved to 2-0 during the Summer Olympics in Rio.
Beckie scored in the seventh minute, and then added her second goal in the 35th minute.
Beckie, born in Highlands Ranch, graduated from Valor Christian in 2012. She was named the Gatorade girls soccer player of the year as a senior, and then went on to play college soccer at Texas Tech.
Both of Beckie’s parents are from Saskatchewan, and her three older siblings were born in Canada. She has dual citizenship.
Although Opening Ceremonies takes place on Friday, the Rio 2016 games are officially underway Thursday with the start of soccer group play.
The U.S. women begin their journey toward the gold, and former Mountain Vista standout Mallory Pugh is looking to play a major role. The Americans play New Zealand at 4 p.m. MDT.
With the games officially underway, there are several events now through Sunday with Colorado athletes participating.
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Women’s Soccer: Canada vs. Australia, Wed. 1 p.m.
Valor Christian alum Janine Beckie gets her Olympic career started with Team Canada’s first game in the afternoon. She played college soccer at Texas Tech.
Both of Beckie’s parents are from Saskatchewan, and her three older siblings were born in Canada. She has dual citizenship.
Women’s Soccer: USA vs. New Zealand, Wed. 4 p.m.
Mallory Pugh became the youngest player U.S. women’s history to play in an Olympic qualifier this year. In her 14 appearances with the national team, she has scored three goals and could break out over the next few weeks as the next star for the defending World Cup champions.
Cycling: Road men’s race, Sat. 6:30 a.m.
Boulder grad Taylor Phinney gets an early start to the 2016 games as he hits the road for Team USA in the men’s road race Saturday morning.
Phinney has several world championship gold medals to his name, but is looking for his first Olympic medal.
Women’s Basketball: Serbia vs. Spain, Sun. 11:15 a.m.
Danielle Page, a 2004 Lewis-Palmer graduate, takes the court for Serbia in their first game against Spain.
In her four years at Nebraska, she averaged seven points and five rebounds per game. She has spent most of her career playing international basketball and obtained her Serbian citizenship in 2015 in order to play for the national team.
The 2016 Olympic games in Rio are right around the corner and former Regis Jesuit standout Missy Franklin couldn’t be more excited.
In a press conference on Sunday at the Team USA training camp media day, Franklin spoke of the honor that she felt representing the United States once again.
“It is the greatest honor there is,” Franklin said. “Especially with everything going on in our world right now, too. I think it’s the perfect time for an Olympics with the way it brings everyone together and brings countries’ pride. I have so much love for our country and I think it’s a different way for us to represent our country.”
(Photo: JD Lasica/flickr)
At the 2012 games in London, Franklin came away with four gold medals to go with one bronze. She set a world record in the 200-meter backstroke with a time of 2:04.06.
Even more impressive is that Franklin competed in the 2012 games prior to entering her senior year at Regis Jesuit.
Click here for a complete list of Colorado high school athletes competing at the 2016 Olympics.
Mason Finley has come a long way from Jeffco Stadium and the Class 3A track and field championships. After failing to qualify for the 2012 Olympics, the Buena Vista grad won the discus at the U.S. Olympic Trials earlier this month with an impressive toss of 63.42 meters.
Now he’s off to Rio de Janeiro.
He’s one of just several Colorado high school athletes looking to bring home gold medals. He took some time to chat about coming out of Buena Vista and what is mindset is with the games quickly approaching.
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Question: They don’t breed them small out in Buena Vista. The last two notable athletes to come out of the school are you and New England Patriots left tackle Nate Solder. What is it about living in that area that the big guys are the ones who are succeeding?
Finley: Oh, I’m not sure really. I think it kind of shows how many athletes come out of there and it’s just a testament to the support that our coaches and teachers there have given us.
It’s just the work ethic that we’ve learned again from our coaches and teachers out there.
Q: At what point of your throwing career did you think that the Olympics was a legitimate possibility?
Finley: I felt like after having success in my high school career, probably my junior and senior year, that it could be a possibility.
Trying to achieve it for the 2012 Olympics, I had some speed bumps during that area of my training. It just pushed me even further and I guess it didn’t become a reality again until this season.
Q: You said you hit some speed bumps. What did you learn from that experience in failing to make it?
Finley: I think I just had a different vision of what it took to be a good thrower during those times.
I was trying to get really big, really strong just seeing what some of these guys looked like when I was younger. I was going about things in the wrong way. I got really heavy and started having back injuries and stuff like that.
I learned that everyone’s body is different and you have to adjust to your gifts. Each person has their own talents that they need to let shine and not work on what someone else is doing.
(Courtesy of Mason Finley)
Q: What’s the biggest difference between competing up at the state meet at Jeffco Stadium as opposed to an Olympic qualifier?
Finley: It’s definitely more mental than anything. It’s tougher competition for sure. Physically, you do need to change some stuff. I changed a lot of my technical aspects to my throw. I changed my body for more muscle and less fat, kind of doing appropriate body composition there.
But I’d say the biggest change is becoming mentally ready to handle that big of a venue.
Q: Since you qualified, have you seen people come out of the woodwork, whether it’s someone from high school or friends from college wanting to congratulate you?
Finley: Yeah, definitely. As soon as I got done, after meeting with drug testing and media stuff, I didn’t have a chance to check my phone.
As soon as I was able to, Facebook blew up, so many people were texting me it was crazy to see all the people I hadn’t heard from in a while.
Q: Is it reassuring to see all that and to know that you have that support from people you haven’t seen or talked to in a long time?
Finley: I think so. It’s great to reconnect with people and just to have the knowledge and to know that you have such a big support base from back home.
Q: Speaking of support bases, I understand you’re doing a lot to get your family to Rio. What does that involve?
Finley: We’re doing a couple of things. First, we set up a GoFundMe page to try and get my mom and sisters out there. We’re also going to do a fundraiser in Lawrence (Kan.) and I’m going to come up to Colorado, Salida and Buena Vista, and do a couple of things up there, too.
I learned really quickly that as soon as I was done with college, family is by far your biggest support group that you have and just all of the love, when I was down they were picking me up. All the help that my mom has given me. They definitely deserve to go.
Q: Are you feeling more pressure with this than actually getting qualified to go to Rio yourself?
Finley: It was definitely a lot of pressure at the Trials thinking about everything. It’s a make or break situation.
This stuff isn’t too much pressure, I’m not feeling too much pressure. It’s just another goal.
Q: When it comes to the vision of the Olympic athlete, at least here in Colorado, you have Missy Franklin and Adeline Gray from the Denver area, do you kind break the stereotype as a kid who comes from a town of maybe a couple thousand people and school of 300 or so students?
Finley: When you just have those facts, yeah you break the stereotype. But at the same time, when you have a Nate Solder, when you have a Matt Hemingway from the same school who took second at the 2004 Olympics in the high jump.
It’s kind of interesting that for some reason, out of that area it’s not uncommon.
(Courtesy of Mason Finley)
Q: When you think back to your time competing for Buena Vista, what sticks out the most?
Finley: I think the thing I remember the most is how hard working and loving my coaches were. It’s definitely a family. It goes kind of a step further than, I don’t really know what to compare it to, I can only imagine going to a bigger school things are separated a little bit more.
In a small town like that, things were just a lot closer because of the size of the population.
Q: Other than actually competing, what are you looking forward to the most about the trip to Rio?
Finley: I guess I haven’t thought too much about it. I guess I want to go see some of the monuments there, kind of the touristy things.
Besides competing, definitely watching some of the other events if I have time. I would really like to watch some of the other world class athletes duke it out.
Q: What’s the ultimate goal for you and what’s an acceptable result at the Olympics?
Finley: The Ultimate goal is to get on the medal stand. Whether it be gold or bronze.
It would be acceptable to make the finals. I understand that this is my first time in this venue, competing at this level internationally, but I am still very confident that I can go in there and get in the finals if I can just keep my head.
Past that, if I’m on like I was in the prelims in Eugene, I should be in the running.
Pugh, a UCLA recruit, emerged on the national soccer scene early in her high school career. She has played on a variety of youth national teams throughout her career, including the under-20 squad at 16-years-old. She debuted for the senior national team at 17 in January.
The national high school soccer player of the year as a junior, Pugh didn’t play her senior season at Mountain Vista because of that national team commitment. Still, she was a major part of the team, attending games and practices, and was in uniform on the bench at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in May when the Golden Eagles played for the Class 5A championship.
Pugh will be 18 years, 3 months and 5 days old when the Olympics begin on Aug. 3, according to U.S. Soccer. The youngest U.S. women’s soccer Olympian ever was Cindy Parlow at 18 years, 2 months and 13 days old at the 1996 Olympic Games.
Lindsey Horan, a 2012 graduate of Golden High School, was also named to the team. Horan didn’t participate in high school soccer.
Joel Klatt is perhaps most remembered as a three-year starting quarterback at the University of Colorado. But he was also quite the three-sport athlete at Pomona before he began his athletic career as a professional baseball player.
Klatt was drafted in the 11th round of the 2000 MLB draft by the San Diego Padres. After two years in the minor leagues, he opted to try his hand at a college football career.
In his second year as a walk-on at the University of Colorado, Klatt earned the starting quarterback job and never looked back.
Now the lead college football game analyst for Fox Sports 1, Klatt knows that his time at CU may not have been possible without options. His desire to play three sports made him what every athlete aims to be, a true competitor.
He took some time to discuss the state of youth and high school sports today and how important it is for kids to involved in as many sports as possible.
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Question: When you were in high school, did you know that you could potentially have a future in both football and baseball?
Klatt: It’s hard to say. I knew that I would have at least the option potentially, but nothing guaranteed by any stretch. Going through it, I thought I had a much better chance having a post-high school career in baseball than anything else.
Q: Did it help when you were playing at a high level in both sports that you felt like you would have options at some point?
Klatt: I never viewed it that way to be honest with you. For me, I obviously wanted to play something in college but it was always more about competing. I love playing each of the sports.
It was never anything strategic along the lines of post-high school career.
Q: You played basketball as well, was that more for fun just so you can do something in the winter?
Klatt: Yeah, I played it my whole life. I loved playing it. More than anything, I thought the best attribute that a lot of great athletes have is the ability to compete.
What’s better to learn how to compete than doing it?
Regardless of what you’re competing at, whether it’s checkers or ping pong or basketball or football. Having an opportunity to go out there and play all the time, I thought was the most beneficial. And I played with some of my buddies and I wasn’t going to let them down and not go out and play basketball and hurt the team just because I was better at other sports.
Q: So looking at it now as far removed as you are from high school, how happy are you that you were able to consistently play three sports during your high school career?
Klatt: As I look back, I’m incredibly proud that I stuck with it, played three sports and it actually makes me really sad that other guys don’t that nowadays. I think they do themselves a great disservice by not competing.
Q: That’s my next question, when you see people trying to specialize and stick to one sport when they’re young, what’s your reaction?
Klatt: I think it hurts. I have a lot of different feelings about it.
One, I get really upset with these coaches claiming that they have to have these kids specialize because of a special league that they have to be in out of season. I hate it. I think those coaches have no idea what they’re doing.
It’s selfish and they’re hurting a lot of kids.
I had a guy, who I’m actually really good friends with, and he has a son that I think is 11 or 12 and he’s really good soccer player. He’s fast, good hand, feet, eye coordination; that type of deal. He’s also really good at golf. He’s also really good at basketball. And he loves doing all three.
And this bozo soccer coach of his basically said that he had to be at all these different events or else he can’t be on the team. (The kid) is 11 or 12. What are you doing?
Again, I think what we’ve lost is the ability to compete. There’s only so much you can teach from a skills perspective and the technical perspective at a young age, even within high school.
And these coaches that are making kids specialize at an early age are doing a huge disservice, a monumental disservice to the development of the whole athlete and the whole person. Specializing, just point blank, doesn’t help anybody.
I’m one of the reasons that you can point to that it’s true.
It makes me really frustrated.
Q: It seems like a lot of NCAA coaches are putting it out there that they love seeing multi-sport athletes, why doesn’t that message get trickled down?
Klatt: I have no idea. I think it’s born out of insecurity and selfishness from some of those coaches.
I think it’s even more of a problem that we are starting to see it in the youth levels as well like we were just talking about. One of the things that has been lost on this generation of athlete is the knowledge of how to just flat compete.
There’s only so much you can do to “skill level” your way to success, I guess is a way to put it. Whereas if you have the knowledge to compete — look at Jim Furyk. He’s competing with Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy because he understands how to compete and he understands how to grind.
You see it all levels. Matthew Dellavedova. You see it on the football field in particular. You see guys of all different skill levels and all different sizes and shapes succeed. A lot of that is the ability to understand how to compete and find success in certain spots.
I don’t understand why that message doesn’t trickle down.
Again, I’ll go back to this. It’s born out of two things: selfishness and insecurity.
(Photo courtesy of CU Athletics)
Q: You’re still very much in tune with what’s going on with CU. With Coach (Mike) MacIntyre and Coach (Darrin) Chiaverini, how much emphasis are they putting on recruiting multi-sport athletes?
Klatt: I think it’s everybody. I think it’s the type of player that you’re bringing in. You’re getting someone that wants to compete and wants to be a part of a team, that understands how to be unselfish.
I think Coach Mike MacIntyre has done a good job at bringing in kids like that and I think coaches around the country have done that as well.
I hope they continue to do that so the message becomes loud and clear for everybody out there that specializing is not what you need to do.
Q: Coach MacIntyre already has a couple of in-state guys for next year’s recruiting class. How important is for programs at CU, CSU, CSU-Pueblo, Northern Colorado to keep the guys who go to school here in state?
Klatt: At one point, Coach (Bill) McCartney knew that he had to keep all the best kids in state. He got guys like Jon Embree and those type of guys to stay in state and help the resurgence of Colorado get to where it was and then they could go out and get the best kids from Houston and L.A.
What I think is lost on what Colorado does now, and even CSU to a larger extent, is that they think they’re going to go out and get great kids from other places without a whole lot of recent success in their rearview mirror.
I think that’s very difficult to do without building some sort of foundation, which you have to do locally.
Now I’m under no type of spell that thinks you can just go out there and win with Colorado athletes, because you can’t. Plain and simple, Colorado high school football is not good enough to win on the Division I level with just local recruits. You have to get strong recruits from other areas.
Now at the lower levels, that’s what has killed Northern Colorado is that they stopped recruiting the state and the CSU-Pueblos of the world started to do so.
John Wristen got some amazing kids from this state and ended up winning a national championship because of it.
Q: How much do you stay in tune with the high school sports landscape here in Colorado?
Klatt: I’d say enough. I follow it. My brother is the head coach at Mead High School and my brother-in-law was a coach at Mountain Vista and I grew up here and I’m always interested in what teams are doing well and I keep up with the Pomona Panthers, of course.
I think Jay Madden has done an amazing job.
Q: I hate to ask, but were you heartbroken over what happened in the (Class 5A) state title game?
Klatt: Oh I was heartbroken. My dad explained it to me and then I went and watched the end of it and, ugh, I’m still sick to my stomach over it.
That fumble at the end was heartbreaking because it was born out of effort. It was a tough one. They had Valor dead to rights there. They had that state championship won.
Q: Was it nice to see your school get back to that level?
Klatt: Oh yeah. I think Jay has done a tremendous job. He’s had a lot more success than I certainly did at my four years at Pomona.
We had one pocket of success and they had a great history of success from about 1982 until about 1996 or so. It’s been great to see them get back to that level where year-in and year-out they’re competing really at the highest level.
He’s done a remarkable job, he really has.
Q: Last one for you, if you had the ability to address a group of eighth grade athletes heading into their freshman year of high school, what’s the message you want to instill to them?
Klatt: My major points would be twofold. My first point would be don’t get pressured into specializing, even in high school. And I would talk about the benefits in learning and understanding how to compete.
And my second one would be that you have to understand from that day how important your academics are because of NCAA standards and how kids are recruited and how they set themselves up so well just by having their academics in line and how prepared to be to go to school after high school and go to college and really flourish because they’re ready academically.
Those are the two things that I think are the upmost important.
RENO, Nev. — Tom Southall was born with one arm, and as he grew up, his parents impressed upon him that he was no different than anyone else.
His induction to the National High School Hall of Fame says otherwise.
Southall, the 1981 graduate of Steamboat Springs, joined the very exclusive group along with 11 other members on Saturday night in Reno. He is the 22nd person from Colorado to join the NFHS Hall of Fame, and eighth athlete. Only Ohio (29) and Illinois (26) have more.
The National Hall of Fame, Southall said, “is one of those things where you just say, ‘Wow, the people that are up there, they’re some pretty significant names in Colorado high school sports and activities.’ But you don’t really put yourself into that picture or that perspective.”
A star in football, track, basketball and music at Steamboat Springs, Southall was born without an arm below his right elbow. He grew up as the seventh of eight kids in an athletic family — a “big, supportive family, a loving family,” Southall said.
“We were always doing something,” he added. “There was always somebody to play with, whether it was sports or games or anything. … I just grew up not knowing I wasn’t supposed to play.”
Southall remembers going to Children’s Hospital when he was five or six to get physical therapy and learn how to use his prosthetic arm. While there, he would see children who were born with minimal appendages due to a nausea medication, Thalidomide, their mothers took during pregnancy.
“I’m seeing these kids with little or no arms or legs out there rolling around, having fun, playing kick ball,” Southall said. “But they’re out there just enjoying the freedom of being active. I learned really early that granted, there are some things that are more difficult for me to do, but I really didn’t have it that bad.”
Southall played all kinds of sports when he was young, and specifically got interested in football because his older brother played.
“I idolized him,” Southall said. “I just assumed that when I was old enough, it would be my turn. My parents never discouraged me from doing anything.”
But when Southall’s freshman year at Steamboat came around, a doctor wouldn’t sign off on his physical because of his right arm. They eventually found another doctor to sign the slip, and his high school career took off.
He would set a state record in the 2A long jump (23 feet, 4.5 inches), and helped Steamboat’s track team win three championships from 1979-81.
Southall was twice named the football player of the year, and in 1979, Steamboat won the 2A football title.
He was an outstanding basketball player who set school records for steals and assists. He was all-state in music while playing the trumpet, and participated in jazz, band and the concert band.
Southall graduated among the top-10 of his class.
In 1981, Southall won the prestigious Freddie Steinmark Award, given annually to the top student-athlete.
Tom Southall. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
“Everybody kind of took a particular interest with this little skinny kid with one arm,” Southall said. “You know, ‘How was he going to do it?’ I can remember going back and fielding punts or kicks. Half the time everybody would get up in their seat and go, ‘Oh, shoot, he’s going to drop this one.’ Rarely did.
“High school sports gave me an opportunity to find my niche in my school.”
One of Southall’s best moments came in the 2A state football semifinals during the 1979 season. He rushed for 412 yards on a cold day against Sheridan, setting the state record.
“It was Thanksgiving weekend, and it had snowed for four or five days — the good Steamboat powder,” Southall said. “They had to plow the field with a road grader; they painted the lines with yellow parking lot paint. And it looked like Arena Football because there was so much snow on the sides.
“Thinking back on it,” Southall continued, “we didn’t have a track, so we were always out in March and April when there’s still a foot of snow on the ground. So we would always be out on the snow running, and I was used to running on snow and ice and being able to make cuts and change directions. We really had the home field advantage that day.”
Southall’s brother was an assistant coach and noticed he was approaching the record, which had been set earlier in the season by Broomfield’s Guy Egging.
“So he called down to the head coach and said, ‘Why don’t you put Tom back in for a couple plays.’ And he’s going, ‘Why? Why?’” Southall said. “So he says, ‘He’s at 300-some yards.’ So I didn’t know about it, but the coaches were aware of it. I had my brother watching my back, so to speak, to put me back in the game.”
A year later, Flagler’s Bob Trahern eclipsed Southall’s mark.
“I had gotten to know him during summer basketball,” Southall said. “So it was fun to at least have it for a little while.”
Southall moved on to Colorado College, where he led the nation in punt return yardage and set a Division III record for kickoff return yards.
“Nothing — there’s nothing he can’t do,” said former Colorado College coach Jerry Carle in an 1983 video produced by NFL Films about Southall. “That’s why he’s back there. You think I’m playing favorites? Hell, I want to win. He’s back there because he deserves to be back there.”
Upon graduating from CC, Southall attended to University of Denver to get his master’s in accounting, and then spent five years working for a CPA firm. During that time, he got his feet wet in coaching and teaching.
This coming fall will be Southall’s 25th year of teaching. Over the years, he has coached football, track and basketball, and is currently a track assistant at Cherokee Trail.
He is heavily involved in the Special Olympic and Paralympic races at Colorado’s state track meet, and over the past decade or so has embraced a role as an advocate for those athletes.
“Special Olympics or Paralympics are great programs to give kids an opportunity to experience being on a team,” Southall said. “A lot of times, they’re with a case manager with class or things, so they really don’t get that interaction, whether it’s social or team-building, which is such a great aspect of high school sports and activities.”
Southall, who was inducted into the CHSAA Hall of Fame in 1999, said he draws on his experiences as an athlete learning how to compete with his disability — things like coming up with a way he could lift weights — in his role as an coach.
“Now as a teacher and a coach, the exciting part is being in a position where you are experimenting — you’re faced with a new challenge,” Southall said. “In athletics, you may have a situation like mine where you’re dealing with someone who has a physical impairment. How are you going to make it work? How are you going to train that person as an athlete? You need to have an idea of what they can’t do, and try and make adjustments to it, but focus on what they can do.”
