I’m still not sure if I should be happy or sad.  Very sad, naturally, for his passing—we will miss him dearly.  I have the deepest and most heartfelt sympathy for his family, Joelyne and his children.  It would be a lie if I say that I don’t feel responsible by organizing the US tour.  But happy also—or rather extremely honored that he trusted me so much to ask me to arrange his last lecture tour to set the stage where over 3000 people came to show him how much he’s still admired and loved.  Almost everybody I talked to told me that he passed doing what he loved doing—spreading his Gospel.  And I am absolutely thrilled to be even a part of that.

He kept thanking me for organizing this tour.  I kept telling him that this is my payback to him, actually not only from me but countless number of coaches and runners who have been influenced by him.  I sort of wanted to represent the rest of the world.  Being a Japanese living in the US, I guess it’s rather appropriate.

He has taught me many things, not just running but simple things in life as well.  I still remember the first time I met with him in Seattle, Washington, in 1981.  I took Greyhound bus all night and arrived Seattle 6 o’clock in the morning.  I came to the hotel where he was staying.  I called him from the lobby and he told me that he would be coming down in two minutes.  He took me to the hotel restaurant for breakfast.  I was impressed that, this master coach, coaching legend, a celebrity, kept saying “Thank you” very clearly each time our waitress came to pour water in his glass or whatever.  I’ve been trying to emulate him and now my 12-year-old daughter is catching on.  “Why do you always say ‘Thank you’?” she asks me.  I tell her “Because Arthur Lydiard had taught me.”

He has been my coach, mentor and friend since that day on.  It is almost scary to think that I call him a friend but he has always treated me with compassion and you have NO idea how privileged and honored I feel that he picked me as his last “partner” to spread his Gospel.

After his passing, naturally we had to cancel his last three lectures in California.  However, all three placed decided to carry on with the clinic plan to honor him and pay tribute to him.  In Orange County, CA, they had over 200 people along with Meb Keflezighi, the silver medalist at Athens Olympic marathon this summer, to show him respect.  Coach Jim Bush, Arthur’s long time friend, could not drive at night because he was losing night vision so he asked the local organizer to drive him down.  Without Arthur coming there, he still came to show tribute to Arthur.  In San Francisco, Heather Matthews, regretting that she could not make it to the service in Auckland, heard about our get-together two hours before their departure, came straight from the airport to read her poem.  We stayed 2 hours longer than originally scheduled to pay tribute to Arthur.

We have been working in the last couple of years here in the US to establish the Lydiard Foundation to keep his legacy alive.  We are now more determined than ever to carry on with this mission as his “torch bearer”.  That, we believe, is the only way to honor our Master Coach—Arthur Lydiard.

Nobby Hashizume

IMAGES:

UPPER LEFT (Nobby is the president and the founder of Five Circles who organized the 1999 and 2004 Lydiard Lecture Tour.  He, along with Lorraine Moller, is a co-founder of the Arthur Lydiard Foundation.)

LOWER RIGHT (Nobby, center, shown here with the coaching legends, Bill Bowerman (left) and Arthur Lydiard (right))