The newspapers loved pinup pictures of pretty young swimmers, and as a national champion, I got more than my share of space in the sports pages.

Three events. Three gold medals. I was news, big news, in the sports world.

The wisdom acquired with the passage of time is a useless gift unless you share it.

We have a target on our backs now. The way we looked at (defending national champion) LSU last year — we went out to prove to them we were good enough to beat them — now, game one against Georgia Tech, they're going to look at us with a target on our backs. Coaches will have their teams hyped to beat us. We have to work harder than they do to be prepared.

Life magazine ran a page featuring me and three other girls that was clearly the precursor of Sports Illustrated swimsuit issues.

Though I loved books as a young boy, I loved sports even more. I wanted to be a quarterback in the CFL.