It’s no secret that the Hilltop is teeming with type-A students. Hoyas have ended up at the top of the financial, political, and entertainment worlds. There are a handful of people, however, who have also reached the pinnacle of the sporting world after wearing the blue and gray. Over 30 coaches and athletes affiliated with the University have been a part of the Olympic Games. The Voice caught up with five Olympians who competed in events from the 1972 Games in Munich to the 2012 games in London.
Samyr Laine – 2012
After Samyr Laine (LAW ’10) did not qualify for the triple jump in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, he made two major decisions—first, that he would augment his drive and dedication to accomplish his ultimate goal of representing Haiti in the Olympics and, second, that he would become a Hoya by enrolling in Georgetown Law School.
Laine’s passion for law had been sparked while debating in high school and continued throughout his undergraduate studies at Harvard University, where he completed a government major and roomed with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg his freshman year.
With a law degree under his belt, Laine turned his focus to the 2012 London Games, deriving the ambition for his medal aspirations from the opportunity to represent his family’s homeland.
“I get a lot of motivation from the country, the children in Haiti, a lot of whom were orphaned by the earthquake, and just knowing that when I’m representing the country I’m one of a few people doing so,” Laine said. “There are a lot of people looking to me for inspiration, motivation, hope, or just to be a great representative of the country… It was a great experience just because I was wearing Haiti across my chest.”
Although Laine did not earn a medal in 2012, he continues his pursuit of Olympic hardware while also encapsulating what it means to be a high-achieving Hoya.
In addition to being a full-time professional track and field athlete, Laine has also written a book about how to be successful in law school, started a foundation to help increase athletic opportunities for young Haitians, currently works as government affairs counsel to Monumental Sports Entertainment in Washington, D.C., and teaches as an adjunct professor at Marymount University in Arlington, V.A.
“A lot of being a professional athlete is your downtime and making the most of [it]. So for me, while I’m resting and while I’m recovering, I can write, I can work on a book, I can work on my foundation, I can do my professional endeavors at Monumental, and a lot of it is just putting things in their proper place, doing them when they have to be done and trying to procrastinate as little as possible,” said Laine.
Laine is in no way planning to slow down in his pursuits, making him a definite focal point for Hoyas looking forward to the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016.
Steve Holman – 1992
After growing up and attending high school in Minnesota, Steve Holman (COL ‘92) really had only one school in mind when searching for the college that suited his running and academic pursuits. He was determined to become a Hoya.
“Georgetown certainly had a long tradition in track in middle distance, which was my specialty, but I was also looking for a good school academically. … Georgetown fit the bill,” said Holman.
After being recruited to the Hilltop, Holman’s attentions were forced to encompass much more than just his training in the 1500-meter and the mile. Training, traveling, and keeping up with his studies at a school that prides itself heavily on academic achievement pushed the boundaries on just how much he could handle while fatigued, yet Holman credits Georgetown with instilling an invaluable sense of discipline in his life.
“My coach always had a thing—he always said that you have the three spheres of life: you have the academics, you have the athletics, and you have the social. You can really generally only do two really well, so I think I probably did make some sacrifices,” Holman said.
By the time Holman reached his senior year, his talent was clearly visible. He was part of one of the best teams in the East, and was also keeping up with another legendary Hoya runner, John Trautmann (MSB ‘90), during training sessions. Head Coach Frank Gagliano wanted to make sure that Holman knew what levels of success Holman was capable of achieving.
“I’ll never forget, it was one of the first practices of the season and Gags [Gagliano] pulled me aside and said, ‘Hey, you’re one of the best in the country. Our goal is to get you on the Olympic team, and I believe you can do it,’” Holman recounted.
Holman’s collegiate career culminated in June of 1992 when he graduated from the College, won the NCAA outdoor championship in the 1500 meter, and then qualified to represent the United States in Barcelona that summer.
After returning from the Olympics, Holman continued to maintain strong ties with fellow Hoya track and field athletes.
“I was coming to campus everyday to train all through the nineties. So even though I was only a student, my relationship [with Georgetown] lasted almost a decade,” said Holman.
The decision to retire came after Holman did not qualify for the 2000 Sydney Games, giving him time to attend business school at University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and eventually beginning his career at the investment management company Vanguard. Even today, Holman recognizes his achievements as an athlete, but does not undervalue the worth of his work as a student.
“Certainly I flourished as an athlete because of my time at Georgetown. But after all that was over, I was in my thirties and I had the rest of my life ahead of me. That’s where my education kicked in,” Holman said.
Mike Vespoli – 1972
Michael Vespoli (COL ‘68) has been around the block a few times. He is the chief executive officer of his own company, Vespoli USA Incorporated, one of the world’s top manufacturers for crew racing shells. But Vespoli’s accomplishments stretch far beyond the business world.
In 1964, Vespoli joined the crew team on the Hilltop, where he quickly found himself enveloped in the team, not only athletically, but also as a community.
“We walked on, we became fast friends. At Georgetown there are no fraternities … but the crew, to us, was our fraternity,” said Vespoli. “We worked together, we partied together, we studied together and, to me, it was a life-altering event, given where I’ve ended up in my career.”
During these years, Vespoli’s Hoya team won a number of national titles and built a strong period in Hoya rowing, allowing the program to grow to its current prominence.
“That set the bond between eight of the nine guys and we have celebrated a number of reunions around the success of our team,” Vespoli said.
After graduating from Georgetown in the spring of 1968, Vespoli was encouraged by his coach, Tony Johnson, who participated in the 1964 and 1968 Games and is the current rowing coach at Georgetown, to “see how far [he] could take the sport of rowing.” So, Vespoli set intermediary goals to make the national team each year until the 1972 Games. While training, he cut out an advertisement that read “this is one of the athletes that you will see in the Olympics” and put it on his mirror.
Soon enough, Vespoli found himself in Olympic qualifying. The former Hoya was successful at the trials, and arrived in Munich for the games of the twentieth Olympiad.
“The real key moment is when you walk into the stadium. The opening ceremony. That really was the moment where you felt, ‘Okay. I’m here with all these other athletes representing the U.S.,” Vespoli said.
Later in the seventies, Vespoli went into coaching, and was selected to oversee the sculling team for the United States in the 1980 Games. However, Vespoli never got to see his team in action, as the Moscow Games were boycotted by the United States.
“We were training and then Carter pulled the plug and used politics and denied the athletes the opportunity to go to the 1980 games,” Vespoli said. For rowers, the only international stage with high visibility is the Olympics, and much of the team missed out on a unique opportunity because of the larger happenings of the time.
Now, Vespoli is a household name in the rowing world, but before his name was plastered on the equipment for the sport he loves so much, he was another Hoya looking to make his mark on the world.
Conal Groom – 2000
“Motivation is fickle. I wanted to win. I believed I could win. I thought I was supposed to be the best in the world.”
Conal Groom (COL ‘95), the captain of the Georgetown lightweight crew team for two years in the mid-nineties, found himself at the Olympics half a decade after graduating from the Hilltop. Groom was a part of the men’s lightweight double at the Sydney Games. While rowing was clearly a significant part of Groom’s life, he did much more than participate in sports while at Georgetown.
“I truly enjoyed the academics and the ability to pursue my interests to the highest levels. Regardless if I was pursuing sports, theology, or Chinese history, the resources, guidance, and access provided by Georgetown was exceptional,” Groom wrote in an email to the Voice. “The professors were not only some of the most acknowledged in their field, they were personable and exude passion that was infectious.”
During his time on the Hilltop, Groom grew very close with his rowing teammates. Like many others who find their closest friends in their extracurricular organizations, the crew team became Groom’s on-campus family.
“I have to admit I’m not great at staying in touch regularly. But [the] true friends and relationships I have made over my years with Georgetown crew as an athlete and coach and through the Olympic journey are extraordinarily special,” Groom wrote.
Georgetown’s top-notch crew program was able to prepare Groom to compete at an international level physically, but the University also allowed him to gain the necessary discipline to pursue a spot in the Olympics.
“Many young adults and children dream of making the Olympics. While I wanted to pursue that goal it wasn’t until I was around coaches like Whit Fosburgh and Tony Johnson that I knew I could. The athletes and the programs supported my drive and guided my desire productively,” Groom wrote.
Understandably, Groom was deeply affected by his experience on sport’s biggest stage.
“Presidents, surgeons, Nobel Prize winners, and the richest men in the world. These people were present with billions, watching and celebrating sport? That always baffled me as an athlete,” Groom wrote. “It’s humbling to be on the same ground as some of the professional athletes we follow and record books are written about.”
After participating in the 2000 Olympics, Groom’s bid for the 2004 Games in Athens fell short. A lung and spine surgery in 2006 put an end to hopes of a resurgence in Beijing, but since then, Groom has found great success as a coach. He has overseen a number of boats at the junior, under-23, and senior levels in international competition. Now the head coach at the Seattle Rowing Center, Groom has, on average, four athletes a year on the American national team. Training rowers in all age groups, Groom’s athletes also often medal at the Youth National Championships.
“The ability to critically think, and passion for research, partnerships, and creative thinking has led me to handle challenges … and explore new avenues throughout my career,” Groom wrote.
Tony Johnson – 1964
Tony Johnson, current head coach for Georgetown’s heavyweight crew team, originally joined the Hoya family back in 1967 when he began his first coaching stint for the Blue and Gray. Although the 1969 season would see Johnson leave the Hilltop to start a 20-year run as the head of the Yale crew program, Georgetown would eventually welcome his return in 1989.
“In large part I was ready for a change. I realized the sport was going to be the same, the students would be good as they were at Yale. [But] I knew Georgetown, I knew the Potomac River,” wrote Johnson in an email to the Voice. “And then there was the knowledge that I could help Georgetown rowing grow.”
Johnson’s attraction to coaching the Hoyas lies mainly in the kind of athletes he gets to train. The qualities Georgetown students embody parallel what he wants to accomplish as a coach.
“Early on I realized that I was a ‘teacher,’ perhaps more so than a coach. I like it most when I have students who are learning, who are improving, who are finding more about themselves and what they can do,” Johnson wrote. “I don’t like to put limitations on them and I like it very much when they find a way to raise their standards and continue to grow and get better.”
When Johnson first joined the Hoyas back in the late 1960’s, he was also one of the best competitors in the nation, with the Olympics at the core of his ambitions after winning the Olympic Trials in pairs in 1964.
“The goal all along was the Olympics, at least in the time leading up to 1964, and again leading up to 1968,” Johnson wrote.
Johnson and his partner Larry Hough fell just short of a gold medal in 1968, which after the the work put into training, left a deep feeling of discontent.
“In 1968, while all of the same emotions and feelings were there about the overall experience, we clearly put everything into winning,” Johnson wrote. “So coming up short, a silver medal, was enormously disappointing. I take great pride in the silver, but still it was terribly disappointing.”
With over two decades now under his belt as a Hoya coach, Johnson’s main aspiration is to continue to build the Georgetown rowing program to ensure solid future performance.
“Long term, we want to continue to work to have Georgetown build their own boathouse. … That has been a long struggle, but fortunately there are a lot of folks on campus who also find it important. I want to do everything I can to help the University achieve that goal,” Johnson wrote.
Good job guys! Good read.