OLYMPIAN. PIONEER. CATALYST FOR GREATER UNDERSTANDING continued from previous page
“Because of Tom I learned at that point, all of a sudden, it
didn’t matter,” said Jack Savoia, his former track and field co-captain. “The homosexuality part of it just disappeared. So what!” “For me, it was a total revelation,” said Johnson. “I came
from a very, very strict household. We had no idea about homosexuality. That was taboo.” Upon reading the article, though, Johnson sensed, “You better readjust your thinking. That, for me, was a total 180. I became far more cognizant of gay people, more understanding of them. That was Tom.” It did not lead, of course, to a surge of athletes coming
out then, but Waddell had found his deepest cause. In 1982—a year after the coming out of tennis greats Billie Jean King (involuntarily) and Martina Navratilova (volun- tarily), Waddell launched what he initially called the Gay Olympic Games. It was a massive undertaking, an interna- tional athletic festival supporting gays and lesbians but open to all, regardless of sexual orientation or skill level. Just 19 days before the flame was lit, the United States
The soft shoe dance team, with Waddell in back at far right
holding their gloved fists aloft from the medal stand as the national anthem played. Some people found it an act of profound disrespect; Waddell spoke forcefully in support of his teammates. In the decathlon he dazzled, setting five personal bests in
the 10 events, soaring to an overall sixth-place finish among 33 competitors. And for all the swirling cultural turbulence, Waddell loved the Olympics, the sense of barriers breaking down, the spirit of inclusion. Afterward, the journey continued. In goodwill track and
field tours to Africa and South America, Waddell made an overpowering impression on Bill Toomey, the gold medalist. Toomey recounted to Dick Schaap in a 1987 Sports Illustrated article, “Many days, after I was long gone and tired, the macho Olympic champion, Tom would go to a local hospital and work all night on patients with tropical diseases.” He settled in San Francisco and became more comfortable
with his sexual identity. So comfortable in fact that he and Charles Deaton agreed to the profile in People Magazine in 1976. In the article, Waddell talked about his journey to self- acceptance: “I believed that I wasn’t sick, that my feelings were quite normal if not accepted by most of society. I decided that was their hang-up and not mine.” No, Waddell was not the first prominent athlete to admit
he was gay, but no one had come forward before in such an overpoweringly public fashion. It was, in many ways, a revelation—and a challenge—to much of mainstream America. So it was to his friends from Springfield College. But knowing the man, loving and respecting the man, made all the difference.
Waddell, right, gazes out the window of a newly built Massasoit Hall 18 TRIANGLE 1 Vol . 85, No.2
Olympic Committee filed suit, claiming that the use of the term “Olympic” was their property. While no effort had ever been made to restrict multiple other uses of the term (for example the Special Olympics), Waddell found himself the target of aggressive legislation, with a lien taken out on his home. It had a personal sting, too, because of Waddell’s deep belief in what the Olympics represented. The competition went on as The Gay Games, which it has
been known by ever since at international venues in Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, and Australia, as well as the United States. The Games were a resounding success. For Waddell, they also provided the next step of his own personal evolution, in classic barrier-breaking ways. He met
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