Tom Waddell
I was spinning the dial yesterday and came across “And the Band Played On” about halfway through. I’d liked the book (by Randy Shilts) so I watched it. It was, not surprisingly, heavier-handed than the book, but it was good enough that I thought that I’d like my daughter to see it, not because she’s insensitive to AIDS but because it’s an arresting presentation of the ways in which science gets entangled in politics and egos.
I wasn’t prepared for the looong coda to the movie, though, in which they show images of well-known people who have died of AIDS, candelit marches, the AIDS quilt, etc., all over a song that may have been sung by Elton John. One of the celebrity AIDS victims, on screen for maybe 3 seconds, was Tom Waddell. That’s when I began weeping.
Tom was a friend of my family as I was growing up. He was as close to perfect as we get made: a doctor and humanitarian, an activist, a good-hearted friend, a father, handsome as a movie star, and an athlete. Not just an athlete. An Olympian: he came in 6th in the Decathalon in Mexico City in 1968. And he did it with just a couple of months of training. He then founded the Gay Games (originally called the Gay Olympics).
Tom was graceful beyond any reckoning. Here’s a quintessential Tom the Athlete story. My brother taught him how to water ski. Of course Tom got up on his first try. He went around the lake once but instead of dropping off in front of our dock, he dropped a ski and slalomed. We bipeds are not supposed to be able to do that first time out.
Tom died of AIDS in 1987.
AKMA blogged well the other day about remembering AIDS.
He is an inspiration.
I remember Tom Waddell as not only a great athlete but also one of the most giving peope I have met. I knew him in the late 50″s and early 60’s when he lived in the Canyon in Laguna Beach. He was always willing to volunteer his time to coach at the Laguna Beach Boy’s Club.