A Special Reunion of Olympians
Salem’s Nancy Marshall chats with teammates from her 1972 gymnastics squad
Nancy Thies Marshall has been an active part of the Salem-Keizer community for the majority of her adult life. The Urbana, Illinois native most recently was a Vice President for Corban University and also raised her daughter and two sons with husband and retired educator Charlie.
But in her younger, teenage years, Nancy was on the world stage—as a member of the 1972 US Olympic Gymnastics Team in Munich. Many people connect the Munich games with the terrorist killings of Israeli Olympic team members. On the gymnastics side, the games will be remembered for the athletic exploits of gymnast Olga Korbut, whose athletic acrobatics made her a media star, and propelled her to three gold medals. For the US team, it marked a near-miss in the goal of obtaining a team medal for the red, white and blue—a mere 2.2 points behind Hungary for the bronze medal. The US hadn’t had a team gymnastics medal up to that time since 1948.
“It was little things that made the difference,” recalls Nancy Marshall about just missing the medals stand.
“Little things like not pointing toes enough, taking a step coming off an apparatus, plus technical deductions. They all added up.”
Despite the disappointment, members of the 1972 squad made arrangements to meet via a Zoom call just before Labor Day weekend. Five of the six squad members made it for the digital get together. Nancy says the virtual gathering was magical when it was all said and done.
“We reminisced and caught up… there were fifty years to account for,” she admitted.
The five who were on the call included: Cathy Rigby (McCoy), Joan Moore (Gnat), Linda Metheny (Mulvhill), Roxanne Pierce, and Nancy. Missing were Kim Chase, and alternate Debbie Hill (Stark).
Part of the conversation focused on the past. Nancy says they chatted about their rather unusual training camp at Yale University in Connecticut. The head coach for the team lived in the area, and had connections at Yale. But the training process was strange. The Yale gym—already 80 years old back in the 1970s— had four or five stories, and separate rooms and floors for each apparatus: balance beam in one place, the vault in another, and the uneven bars in yet another location. Team members trained with their own individual coaches during those two weeks, and the competitors didn’t see much of each other during that time.
“There was no real time to bond,” laments Marshall. “It was not a healthy team environment.”
Nancy and the team agreed that a different training approach might have helped the team work better together as a unit, and could have been a difference maker when it came to winning a team medal in Munich.
“We could have been pretty good friends had we known each other,” adds Marshall.
The Zoom meeting fifty years later did provide a chance to bond, and bond they did. Marshall says one big takeaway from the get together was the teammates had all gravitated towards investing in kids in some way.
“Two of my teammates went on to careers as gymnastics coaches,” says Marshall. “Others reached out in different ways.”
Cathy Rigby McCoy—who was maybe the best known of the gymnasts due to her successful career in acting and singing—started a conservatory with her husband to help young people “realize their dreams,” says Marshall. Nancy herself has a long job history of working in human resources and for non-profits.
“I loved working with people to help them discover their abilities,” she admits. “I loved to guide them along in their own zone for using their skills.”
Marshall says the extended virtual meeting helped all participants to chat about two common threads. The first was the need to debrief after the Olympic games were all over.
“Several of us left (Munich) early and weren’t there during the terrorist event. It was a different environment—full of mourning afterwards.”
“But we just disbursed… and never got to talk about what we went through,” bemoans Nancy.
So catch up they did, talking about their experience with Title IX, women’s liberation issues, and the fight to obtain benefits as women.
“I got to be part of those (experiences) in incremental steps,” says Marshall. “I might write a book—some day.”
The other benefit of the call? To reestablish relationships with each other as friends.
“We talked about kids, grandkids and husbands,” says Marshall. “It was fun to laugh about it all.”
Nancy is always eager to talk about the efforts of her children, Ryan, Caitlin, and John, as they invest in the Salem community—and hopes to share more about their exploits with her former teammates.
Was all the effort to set up the 90 minute call worth the hassle? Marshall says yes.
“I’m so thankful we re-connected,” she wrote resoundingly on her Facebook page.
“If my 65 year-old self could tell my 15 year-old self anything, it would be that the journey towards excellence is only as special as the friendships shared on that journey.”
And so even if it happened a few decades late, the 1972 US gymnastics team has become friends, with vows to remain in consistent contact for many years to come.
“Here’s to wooden beams, polyester uniforms, and all the good stuff that came out of the tuff stuff,” Nancy wrote.
Salem’s Nancy Thies Marshall feels fortunate to be a part of this team of historic note.