Goodbye tributes

We've lost another friend in our running community. Mike Watson of Watkins Glen died Aug. 28, due to severe head trauma, after falling into a ravine near his cabin in Hector. He was found by his son Willy, then pronounced dead at the scene by the county coroner.

Many of you knew Mike or would at least recognize him. Until sidelined with foot problems, Mike was an excellent masters runner (and pole vaulter). He took his turn on the High Noon masters cross country team, and competed in many of FLRC's races. Track and cross country runners and coaches in Section 4 and the IAC always recognized Mike.

Wrestling was Mike's real sports passion, and he helped out with Cornell camps, and coached and created his own meets and camps in Watkins Glen.

Many of you ran Mike's Italian-American Festival races each August. But those of us who live and run around Trumansburg, Schuyler County and Corning/Elmira knew Mike best of all. Four of us pay tribute to Mike in the following eulogies. We hope you laugh a little bit too, because Mike would expect it.

--Diane Sherrer

From Mike's Memorial Service

Mike has enriched all of us. And we all are cognizant of the energy, the life force of a man who made the most of every moment. He pulled the fabric of life, stretching it further than most would dare. He found talent where most of us would never think to look. And he embraced the unusual, the peculiar, the forgotten, the misunderstood with the same zest and energy that most of us approach the beautiful and gifted.

In his innate generosity he took in those who were hurting and gave them a place to be accepted. What greater gift can one human being offer another?

Mike was not afraid of the pain of others. He knew how to cry with us when our hearts were broken and then no one knew how to make us laugh harder. Mike's legacy at Watkins Glen High School is tremendous. Wrestling, of course, is synonymous with his name. And as I look out at the boys who are wondering what does it mean to be a wrestler without a coach, I assure you he has given you the means to be strong, to be smart and to be admirable competitors. He has taught you well.

Mike asked a lot of us at Watkins High. He wanted 1,000s of copies made, T-shirts ordered, volunteers at scoring tables, rooms for wrestlers to camp. He wanted our markers, our masking tape, our video cameras, our computer assistance and, in the 10 years of our friendship, everything he asked for was for someone else. And while Mike asked for wrestlers to be tutored before the ineligibility list was submitted, or checks to be written yesterday, what he gave us was Simon Says, Turkey Raffle, Kids Night Out and Dance Competition (if you haven't seen Mike mambo, we do have the video!).

He went on fishing expeditions with the male faculty (which we women always threatened to crash), and he golfed every tournament with one club and a fishing pole. Yes, there are fish at the golf course.

He delighted us with whiffle ball tournaments at the cabin, Euchre tournaments at lunch, slip & slide outside during finals, of course. And how Mike loved to play.

Coaching track with Mike meant hours of brain games on the bus; conditioning workouts where the kids were so amazed by his antics that they couldn't resist him; and hours and hours of Mike as the master technician. Mike always could find a way to get a kid over the pole vault, how to three-step the hurdles, and find the smoothest handoff for relays. He never ceased to amaze me.

Mike and I have run 100s of miles together -- the Marine Corps Marathon, the Phelps Sauerkraut Run, the Red Baron Half Marathon. We formed the Watkins Area Running Troupe, aptly named WART, Twilight Runs for the community, a Midnight Run on New Years Eve, and best of all, seven years of the Decatur Street Mile and the Salt Point Five. Mike was the leader, he was the captain and it has been an honor to assist him in every venture.

Mike, as we all know, loved his family unabashedly: his incredible mother, his beautiful wife, his children and grandchildren. He always spoke of his wife Marianne with reverence and thanks. He called her Saint Marianne, and so did we.

No one else in this world could give him the center, the unconditional love and the acceptance of his core being. She is his soulmate. Mike's sons; his heart's joy. How he loved his boys. Not a day went by where he didn't share a story of his sons, Nils, Sanders, Willy. You made your daddy so happy.

I thank the Watson family for all the riches they have given us. And I promise to keep giving to kids, looking for the unusual, the peculiar, the good and celebrating Mike every day of my life

--Marie Fitzsimmons, at Mike's Memorial Service.

Simon Says: Rest in Peace

When I think about Mike Watson, I could talk about track and taking the boys' 4 x 400-meter relay team to States.

But, I'm not going to.

Or, I could talk about Erik Dalecki and his discus, or Jessica Sedlack as a pentathlon qualifier for States.

But I will not.

Or I could mention Mike qualifying in his mid-40s for the Empire State Games in the masters pole vault, or training Liz Henry, our first female vaulter here at Watkins Glen High School.

But I won't.

Instead, I'll talk about Mike Watson, the master of the game Simons Says. He was the ringmaster of the show, the president of the board, the CEO of Simon Says.

Mike's quick wit and speed of delivery was always a command performance in the necessary art of sitting kids down, until only one was left standing.

I saw the eagerness of the students -- all ages, all grades -- wanting to participate in the game to see if they could withstand the rigors or outwit the Wizard of Simon Says.

There is only one call left for Simon to Say, if I may call it out on behalf of Mike Watson.

Simon Says: "Rest in Peace, Mike Watson."

"Rest in Peace."

-- Joe Reynolds

Memories of Mike

I received a call from Diane Sherrer at my workplace. I knew there was a tragedy because Diane never calls me at work to just shoot the breeze. I was extremely shocked and saddened to hear the news about Mike Watson's death. My thoughts and sympathy go out to his family.

Then I began to think of the fond memories: I met Mike back in August 1993. He was race director of the Italian American Festival 10K race. There was Mike on his scooter. It was my second road race ever, and he offered me much encouragement. The WART Club invited me to join, and the dues were only $3. What a deal!

In August '94, Mike voted me in a president of WART. Mike stated, "The fact that Pam is only one of two members who have actually paid dues had nothing to do with her election. Never believe that she bought her office!"

I'll never forget the Twilight Runs in September '94 at the Hidden Valley Camp and on Burnt Hill Road. Adults vs. high school students! Mike was always interested in getting parents and kids together. That encouraged me to assemble a field of competitive runners from all over our area, including the Odessa Montour cross country team.

I was voted in for a second consecutive term as president of WART in June '95. I continued to work on assembling runners for our fall cross country Twilight 5Ks.

Mike Watson -- aka Rockford X Rhodes -- I'll miss you greatly; your sense of humor and all the crazy things you did. I wish you hadn't left us so soon, but at least I have some great memories.

-- Pam Carlucci

"Know yourself, so you may live that life peculiar to you, the one and only life you were born to live. Know yourself, that you may perfect your body and find your play."

-- George Sheehan

Mike Watson: The Leader of the Pack

The first time I saw Mike Watson he was running the ninth annual Red Baron Half Marathon in his church clothes.

Rummaging through the trunk of his car, Mike found an old pair of running shoes to match his shirt, tie and sweater vest, and finished his first half marathon in a very divine time of one hour, 28 minutes, 30 seconds. Oh, and he probably ran under the pseudonym Rockford X. Rhodes or Rocky Rhodes, as he did so many other races.

Does that sound peculiar to you? If you knew Mike, you'd say no.

The 52-year-old kid at heart Watson -- family man, friend, Watkins Glen educator, coach, wrestler, masters pole vaulter, WART wizard and runner -- died Monday, Aug. 28 after falling into a deep ravine near his campsite in Hector.

We all said farewell to Mike at a memorial service at the First Presbyterian Church in Watkins Glen, located, ironically, at the exact finish line of Mike's one-of-a-kind race: the Decatur Street Mile. We looked over our shoulders, expecting to see Mike zooming up the street on his motor scooter, leading the parade of runners and shouting encouragement. But not this time.

I became one of Mike's main sidekicks when I got the running columnist gig at the Star-Gazette nine years ago, and all my Laurel and Hardy adventures with Mike have been one wild amusement ride after another.

There's brave Mike, who would call and wake me up at 2 a.m. to ask what road races were coming up. Or reliable teammate Mike, who drove to a High Noon cross country race, and circled the Moakley parking lot a dozen times until I found him an open space, because his car wouldn't go into reverse. Or salesman Mike, suckering me into promoting, running, timing and writing -- all at once -- about his Italian-American races. And compassionate Mike, for inviting me to share the holidays with his generous family.

But Mike initially sought me out because he wanted me to recruit a group of adults to come to Watkins Glen and race his cross country team. This grown-ups vs. the kids weekly showdown would be called the WART (Watkins Area Running Troupe) Twilight Series.

It was a huge success, and we ran head to head all over Schuyler County -- on the trails of Hidden Valley 4-H Camp, down Rock Cabin Road, up Cass Cardiac, around the high school and down Hector's Burnt Hill Road during a memorable blinding rain storm, with thunder and lightning terrorizing all the runners. Don't worry, Mike had calmly assured us, the radio tower is much higher than we are, and it will take the lightning strike first.

"I'll never forget those Twilight runs, and the adults vs. the high school students," said Pam Carlucci, a Schuyler County health department nurse. "Mike was always interested in getting parents and kids together. That encouraged me to assemble a field of competitive runners from all over our area, including the Odessa-Montour cross country team. He also invited me to join the WART Club, where the dues were only $3. I thought, 'What a deal!'"

Yeah, what a deal. Mike appointed Carlucci president of WART (motto: cheap and inexpensive, too) without an election, or without her permission.

"Mike voted me in as president, and explained, 'The fact that Pam is only one of two members who have actually paid dues had nothing to do with the election. Never believe that she bought her office!'

"But then I was voted in for a second consecutive term and continued to work on assembling runners for the fall cross country Twilight Series," Carlucci added. "I'll miss Mike's sense of humor and all the crazy things he did. I wish he hadn't left us so soon, but at least I have some great memories."

Joe Reynolds has some vivid memories, too. He's spent several years at Watkins Glen coaching track and cross country with Mike, whom he calls a master technician. You could tell Mike and Joe apart, because Mike was the one wrapped up in a heavy coat and sleeping bag, sitting in his favorite lawn chair plopped in the middle of the practice field, silently overseeing the drills.

"One day Mike showed up to practice with his green motor scooter, held together with duct tape," said Reynolds, head cross country coach. "That day, he asked us to time him to see if he could break Edwin Moses' 400-meter hurdle world record as he raced the scooter around the cinder track. He couldn't break the record."

Then there was the time Mike and Joe took their 4x400-meter boys relay team to States. Instead of comfortable accommodations, Mike took everyone to a Catskills campground -- the Watson Compound -- where they were shocked to find cabins with no heat, 25-cent showers and foldout wooden beds with a four-inch sponge mattress. Mike brought fishing poles and a tent; Joe slept in the school bus.

"But we did survive, the boys didn't get distracted and they finished third in their class, with a school record," said Reynolds. "Mike wanted the boys to have a memorable outing. It wasn't just another trip to States, it was an adventure."

Marie Fitzsimmons, the Watkins Glen girls' track coach and co-founder of WART, was one of Mike's best female friends and co-conspirator in the art of fun and games.

"Mike found talent where most of us would never think to look," said Fitzsimmons, speaking at the memorial service. "He embraced the unusual, the peculiar, the forgotten, and the misunderstood with the same zest and energy most of us approach the beautiful and gifted. In his innate generosity, he took in those who were hurting and gave them a place to be accepted. What greater gift can one human being offer another? And how much Mike loved to play."

Mike surprised Marie, Shirley Woodford and me last year by going to Wineglass and crewing for our Chicks Can Do Cartwheels relay team. This year, the three of us will run Wineglass in Mike's honor as Watson's WART Women, sponsored by Kirk Peters and the Glen Animal Hospital.

Mike's spirit will be with us, and this time, we won't be surprised he's there.

--Diane Sherrer