AAU Junior Olympic Games

Bring up Joe Morgan, who led off this ballgame with a home run.

Tony, next month some young people from ages eight to 18 participate in the AAU Junior Olympics at the University of Nebraska, and NBC will be in Lincoln to cover the action.

And we might see some of them at the Olympics in Moscow, which will start, and it's not that far away, three years from today.

It's already three years from today.

Uh, I was named Most Valuable Player of the state.

And uh, I got a chance to get selected to play in the Junior Olympics in '84, the summer of '84.

So, uh, we go on a tour up through, um, North Dakota, South Dakota, Idaho, uh, Montana, and then we go play a international tournament in Canada.

And um, we end up losing one to nothing to Cuba.

My father was an avid hunter, but as an athlete, getting up to a certain level, that pretty much took over my life.

So I started out as a peewee, but then as I started hitting an elite level, competing in Junior Olympics, then I won at the Junior Olympics up in Jackson Hole, Wyoming when I was 15. which launched me onto the men's U.S. development team.

And then it was skiing in the North Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere during the summers, traveling to New Zealand for multiple summers to race and train down there.

So basically I was on snow nine months out of the year, which definitely cut into hunting, but it's always been in my blood.

And I didn't do it, I didn't coach as extensively as you have, but I did coach initially, uh, volunteering at the YMCA and, you know, starting some sports programs at my local YMCA, and then, uh, kinda coaching those kids all the way up from grade school through middle school, even into high school.

And, uh, eventually, you know, coaching AAU and elite AAU ball teams, and A- uh, UAAA and even Junior Olympics and, you know, had a lot of great success with about a 80% win rate on average.

Uh, we did pretty good.

Uh, that was in girls basketball.

I think the, the one, the first thing that comes to mind for me is my going to my freshman year.

So eighth grade summer, um, It was AAU, like Junior Olympics in Oregon.

And I was in the 3K.

And I remember it was the fastest I've ever run in the 3K.

I started ski racing when I was, it was called Buddy Warner, so, I don't know, six, five, six.

Um, and then did the Junior Olympics.

Um, and then when I was 12, I was like, "I wanna do something different, and I wanna rebel against my family, so I'm gonna snowboard." So I started snowboarding, and I fell absolutely in love with the sport, and it felt like, you know, for the first time, this was my sport.

Um, 'cause we all water skied, played soccer, football.

Track? Hey, you know, I was in the...

I made it to regionals in track, and I made it to the Junior Olympics.

Yeah, I used to run the 400.

I made it to the Junior Olympics.

I didn't find out until I was 25.

But my mom, she didn't tell me because we couldn't afford to go.