Many of you on these boards enjoyed the posts from Orville Atkins, one of the original Mihaly Igloi athletes here in Southern California and his observations about that training. Orville was an accomplished runner himself, placing fifth at Boston Marathon and being third in the Canadian Olympic Trials in the marathon (Canada only took two then).
Orville enjoyed talking about training with Bruce Kidd and later, with the original Santa Monica Track club.
He was an encyclopedia of running knowledge, so much so that it was really pretty amazing. He attended every Olympics and World Championships from 1964 to 2012.
We were trying to keep him healthy enough to attend Tokyo in 2020, but it was not to be.
His health deteriorated in the last year rather quickly and then he fell down, breaking his hip. Parkinson's then caused a spasm issue with his throat (which is apparently common) and he had trouble eating and drinking toward the last week.
I am administering his will. He does not wish any formal funeral or any memorial, which was Orville - never one to seek attention or sympathy.
He will be missed on these boards, but I'm sure he'll find someone to talk running upstairs.