The year I turned 23 and married Gregory there was a HUGE scandal. The Stanford Basketball team had won the championship. The coach’s wife was caught in bed with three of the team. She claimed that her husband had offered her as a reward to the team. Her husband denied it. A big noisy divorce was in the papers, in TV talk shows, everywhere. Coach Wilkins fought but did not manage to keep his job. His wife got a huge settlement.
That was the backdrop to our wedding.
Four years later Gregory gets the position as the team coach for the Stanford 4×400 men’s relay team. The previous coach had led them to a winning season and then had died of a heart attack on the flight home. Three weeks later the position is offered to Gregory with a substantial salary bump. He takes it.
With the salary bump, it is less critical now that I have a job to keep us afloat. So, instead I am given a desk in the coach’s office and I take over the paperwork. Stanford after some back and forth puts me on salary as his administrative assistant. It pays better than my previous job.
We have 8 men training, but only 4 make it to the team. The other 4 are retained as backup and continue to train. I don’t know if that is normal, but Gregory manages to get budget for it. Part way through the season, the lead runner is in a car accident, shattering his left leg and his backup is swapped in. He is unlikely to be a competitive runner again. Now we have two white boys and two black boys running, but only three backups left.
The team gets sent to an international meet in Germany. It is an Olympic qualifying meet. The winners will race at the Olympics next year. I accompany them because I, just by the chance of having a German grandmother, speak some German. It comes in handy. While most Germans understand English, enough don’t that I am needed on most days.
Game day comes and our team comes in first. I had anticipated this because in the heats our guys were well ahead of the next time from the Swiss. So, I have booked a night on the town, 6 seats for dinner, then to a night club. I have not told anyone except Gregory, in case they for some reason don’t win.
They win the race handily, 0.95 seconds ahead of the Swiss. Gregory jumps up to run out onto the field to congratulate them. Just as he jumps onto the track, he lands wrong. His knee bends the wrong way and he goes down. Emergency personnel are there in less than a minute and he is whisked away to the hospital. I congratulate the team on his behalf and tell them about dinner and party. They all hug me. Then I am off to the hospital to find Gregory.
The doctor says it is not broken, but badly sprained, he needs to stay off it for a few days. DON’T GET OUT OF BED! The doctor is firm. I assure him that I will not let him out of bed. The doctor looks at me and in German tells me. “No sexual gymnastics either.” I blush deeply and assure him that there will be no sexual gymnastics.
We get an ambulance ride to the hotel, where we are scheduled to stay for the next 5 days, the balance of the meet. They haul him up to the room, and get him into bed. He is also pain-killer’d to the roof.