Your Favorite Storytelling Leader
Throughout my college years, my varsity gymnastics coach, Abie Grossfeld, not only told stories, but did so with great accuracy and a knack for finding humor in them. It was the way he delivered the story with the punch line just hanging out there as he continued to ‘paint the picture’. Abie Grossfeld is a world renowned two-time Olympic gymnast and Olympic and NCAA gymnastics coach throughout his adult life. At the current age of 83, he can still tell the most accurate of stories, while letting the humor come through.
One summer, while at gymnastics camp, I ran into Abie sitting down at a picnic table. I came over to him to say hello, and find out what he was up to. Abie, being the very approachable guy he is, welcomed me to sit down. After a few minutes of small talk, Abie did what he does best; he began telling me a story. Abie started saying, back in the mid-seventies, just prior to the Munich Olympic Games, a fellow competitor from Penn State and colleague, Jim Culhane, was at his alma mater watching a competition. While hanging out enjoying the meet, he stated to some of his buddies he was with that someone back in 1974 had streaked the Academy Awards. Just then, one of his friends told him he should streak the finals competition there at the NCAA Division I Championships. After bids were rising up to near $400.00, Culhane decided to take the bet. At some point during a lull in finals, Culhane walked out onto the gymnastics tumbling floor naked. Approximately 7,000 fans were applauding. After being escorted out by security, Culhane returned later to make a final nude appearance, but this time did a full floor routine, and then ran out of the building.
At this point I was laughing pretty hard, because at the time, I had just recently met Jim Culhane. He seemed like he could have been quite the wild guy, as he has a kind of hippy disposition. However, Abie continued to say, what nobody realized was the he was dating a girl that really liked him that he had met at his alma mater some weeks prior to the competition. It wasn’t until he met up with her a couple nights later to find out she was in the crowd. She started off by telling him that at first, when they met, she was not all that attracted to him, but after the NCAA Division I Championships Finals were over, she had definitely had made up her mind…and they have been married ever since.
Abie concluded, explaining that the moral of the story was to be aware of your surroundings before you decided to make a unique and racy public appearance, you may (or may not) regret it for the rest of your life!
I feel Abie’s message was loud and clear. While I think his story was multi-purposed, it still sent a message as a lesson to be learned. I cannot say that I was able to identify a vision within his story, but an overall concept was reinforced from previous stories that he had shared in the past; that being to be humble, and not a show off. I continue to keep this idea at the core of my being today, because of the stories he shared with me. Having known Abie for so long, I had become quite acquainted with Abie’s communications style. However, he does provide momentary pause, looking for a particular reaction from me showing that I am following him. Whenever I am told a story from anybody, I, empathetically, connect with the characters within the story playing it out as it is being told. I have always done this. I feel it gives me a great sense to feel, connect and understand the storyteller to my fullest.
References:
Marrion, J. (2011, August 20). Former hisd teacher Culhane inducted into usa gymnastics hall of fame. Retrieved from http://www.chron.com/neighborhood/article/Former-HISD-teacher-Culhane-inducted-into-USA-9423926.php.
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