Interview with Jerry Caraccioli | Sound Authors Radio

January 8, 2009

Dr. Kent: Welcome to the Sound Authors! Today is Friday again. It’s chilly in the air and it’s starting to feel a little bit like winter. I’ve got four guests on the show today, three authors and a musician and I’m honored to have some great guests on the show today. The first one will be the author of a book called Boycott, a book talking about the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games, which of course was boycotted by the United States. I’ve got some other great guests on the show today, the author of Steel Drivin’ Man: John Henry; its an award winning book and I’ve got New York Times Bestseller Katherine Neville on the show with her new book, talking about her new book called The Fire. At the end of the show we’ll have world famous clarinetist Ken Paplowski on the show. Well, I would like to welcome my first guest on the show, it’s an Olympic year this year and even though it’s over its still on our minds. Even after that huge election season I’ve still got Olympics in my heart. I love the Olympics, I was glued to it every second of every day and of course we all think back to 1980 when this boycott happened. What would have happened to the athletes if they’d been allowed to go? Welcome to the show author of Boycott: Stolen Dreams of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games, Jerry Caraccioli.

Jerry Caraccioli: Thank you, I’m glad to be here.

Dr. Kent: Did I say your name correctly?

Jerry Caraccioli: ‘Karakolie’ (phonetically spelled) it’s a little harder c.

Dr. Kent: So tell me about this book. It’s got a foreword by the Vice President Walter Mondale, who we remember well. Talk about the stolen dreams of these games as you say in the title.

Jerry Caraccioli: Well, my brother Tom and I wrote this book. We wrote our first book about some untold athletes from the 1972 winter Olympics; the 1972 Olympic Hockey Team that won a silver medal and that book was called Striking Silver. We got to thinking what more? There are many more other stories that have never been told and we were kind of staying on the theme of the Olympics and we got to thinking what better stories to be told that weren’t told than the athletes who had the Olympic experience taken away from them due to things that they had no control over; political issues they had no control over.

Dr. Kent: Talk for a second for folks who may not remember it or if it’s a little hazy, talk about why the boycott happened.

Jerry Caraccioli: Well the boycott was basically the soviet union had invaded Afghanistan and it ultimately the boycott was a response by our government and the Jimmy Carter administration was trying to set a tone and message of disapproval and one thought they had was to say we’re going to boycott the Olympics, which would and spearhead many other countries to boycott the Olympics as well. So it really came down to a show of disapproval from our government to the Soviet Union that we disapproved of them invading Afghanistan and because of that we’re going to do something; make a statement and spearhead an Olympic boycott in 1980. The Olympics were being held in Moscow that summer.

Dr. Kent: Has this ever been done before, a boycott of the Olympic Games?

Jerry Caraccioli: There were yes. There were different countries that had done different things. There were boycotts; Canada had boycotted different Olympics, particularly in different teams and I should say the Canadian Olympic hockey team in 1972 decided they weren’t going to play in that tournament and in 1968 as well and 1976 because of the use of professional amateurs as they call them. So there have been different countries that have done different types of things in terms of boycotting in previous years, yes.

Dr. Kent: And what was the significance of this boycott in particular? How did it affect the athletes, how did it affect the world?

Jerry Caraccioli: I think that the big significance of this particular boycott was that the US didn’t participate of course and certainly as we see in any of these modern Olympics that we’ve just seen in the previous 20 years or so, there’s always been an element of east versus west and particularly in the cold war era that united states versus Russia versus the eastern block countries certainly had a significance to international sports. So the significance of the Americans leading a boycott in 1980 was pretty strong. Obviously it was America, the united states and the soviet union were the superpowers and to have one of the super powers say we disagree with what you’re doing politically and we’re going to spearhead this action and get 64 other countries to do the same, that was a big deal.

Dr. Kent: So obviously our boycott was political in nature. Did it serve the purpose that it was supposed to serve?

Jerry Caraccioli: That’s a good question. That’s something that we really within the book we asked the athletes and these athletes’ stories are so poignant and so heart breaking that we asked the athletes do you think it served the purpose of sending the message? A lot of them said ultimately no and we didn’t as authors, my brother Tom and I didn’t, we tried to let the athletes tell their side of the story and present the facts. So we really want the readers to decide whether it accomplished anything but from a personal standpoint, no. The only people that were truly affected were the athletes and that was the real shame of it. And it wasn’t just the United States athletes. Like I said there were 64 other countries that also boycotted those Olympics so in the end and hindsight being 20/20, it did not have its intended impact. Because the Olympics still went on and again the only people that were truly affected were the athletes caught in the middle of it.

Dr. Kent: Give me an example of one of the athletes that was caught in the middle of it.

Jerry Caraccioli: We focused on 18 athletes and focused on what their story is. Everybody has a story and our big thing was that we focused on 18 athletes that 1980 was their one and only shot. Nobody that we talked to and profiled in the book participated in 76 or 84 or beyond or previous. So this was their one shot and one athlete in particular Gene Mills, who was one of our great if ever there was an athlete that was tabbed that was going to be a golden boy to win the Olympic gold medal, it was Gene Mills. He was probably THE top wrestler in the United States and in the world. He pinned everybody in pre-Olympic tournaments and a four time national championship college at Syracuse University, he was a four time state champion in high school. He won everything. He won the world championships and he was, I hate to say a lock for a gold medal, but if ever there was somebody that looked like he was a lock to win a gold medal and could’ve had his face on the Wheaties box and everything that comes along with that medal it was Gene Mills and he really to this day still talks that he really is hurt. He missed out on something and it really hurts.

Dr. Kent: Hmm, and Gene Mills in his story, what did he become? What did he do after the Olympics were boycotted, after he didn’t have his chance? What happened to his life after that?

Jerry Caraccioli: He tried out for the 1984 team and as with a lot of the athletes and again the ones that we particularly profiled; of the 500 or so that were on the US Olympic Team in 1980, about 250 never got another chance; that was their one chance. Now Gene Mills, and like many of them, they tried out for the next Olympic team and Gene Mills was certainly one of those athletes and unfortunately like several others, he got injured, he tried out but his injury was too much to overcome and he ended up not being able to make the team and went on. He’s a teacher now in upstate New York and is a wrestling coach with many wrestling champs and things like that but he teaches young kids and teaches wrestling but he’s just one of them.

A lot of these athletes, there were swimmers like Craig Beardsley, who was another. He wasn’t like Michael Phelps guarantee-type athlete but he was a world record holder in some of the events that he was going to be swimming in and he wasn’t able to go. He tried out for the 1984 team and ended up missing out making the team by hundredths of a second. So there were several stories like that. Craig Beardsley and Glen Mills, who was another swimmer also had a similar type story where he missed out by hundredths of a second of making that 1984 team. Again, back then, there were no government subsidies for these guys. They were basically training on their own and it was quite a sacrifice and these athletes sacrificed thousands of hours and unfortunately again just did not get to participate due to circumstances that were beyond their control.

Dr. Kent: So what’s your newest project with your brother Tom? Have you started a new project on an Olympic sports team or another kind of book?

Jerry Caraccioli: No, we’re kind of laying low. We’re actually going to try and make a documentary out of our first book about Striking Silver, which is about the 1972 US Olympic Hockey Team. That was kind of a prequel to the miracle of 1980 so we’d like to tell their story in a documentary forum so that’s kind of what we’re trying to do.

Dr. Kent: Well it’s been a real honor chatting with you.

Jerry Caraccioli: I appreciate it.

Dr. Kent: We can go out and get the book Boycott: Stolen Dreams of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games and Striking Silver: The Untold Story of Americas Forgotten Hockey Team. Where can we find those?

Jerry Caraccioli: You can get those on amazon.com. That’s probably the easiest way and of course in time for the holiday season.

Dr. Kent: All right, well you have a great day.

Jerry Caraccioli: I appreciate it, thank you.

Dr. Kent: My next guest is the author of a book called Steel Drivin’ Man: John Henry, The Untold Story of an American Legend. We’ll chat with him coming up here in a minute; his name is Scott Reynolds Nelson. Come on back for that.

Posted by admin | Filed Under History, Sports, TRANSCRIPTS, AUTHOR INTERVIEW, PODCAST