Topic: News: Gayle Hatch- Pulling His Weight

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Gayle Hatch: Pulling His Weight
Former basketball star gives others lift in another sport
By Jim Kleinpeter

Gayle Hatch is no stranger to halls of fame.

An icon in the world of American weightlifting and a high school and college basketball star, Hatch already has been distinguished by induction into nine such honorary groups.

But he said the next one he enters is so humbling that it reduces a giant in the world of strength and conditioning to a big-eyed kid.

 Hatch, 69, is one of eight who will join the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame at its induction ceremonies in Natchitoches on June 21. Joining him is Louisiana Tech and NBA basketball star Karl Malone, former NFL stars Leonard Marshall and Aeneas Williams, former major leaguer Darryl Hamilton, former LHSAA Commissioner Tommy Henry, former Jena girls basketball coach Geraldine "Jelly" Pigott and women's golfer Barbara Fay White-Boddie.

"I'm going in with a wonderful group of athletes," said Hatch, the first inductee in his sport. "But another thing that makes it really special to me is my heroes are in there already. I'll be in there with guys like Mel Didier, Bob Pettit, Jimmy Taylor and Billy Cannon. This is really a special honor for me."

When imagining his place in the state Hall of Fame, Hatch recalled his younger days riding his bicycle to nearby Baton Rouge High to watch future LSU stars Pettit and Taylor practice basketball and football, and then emulating them. He said Didier encouraged him to attend Baton Rouge-Catholic, where he was a three-sport MVP before going on to star at Northwestern State in basketball.

Now Hatch is best known for his work in weightlifting and strength and conditioning. After training Olympic weightlifters Tommy Calandro and Bret Brian, he was selected to coach the 2004 U.S. team and has left a large imprint on that area of sports throughout his career.

"He's an icon, a legend," said Dennis Snethen, executive director of USA Weightlifting. "He's the John Wooden of weightlifting. Karl Malone should be honored to go in with him."

Hatch already has earned places in the USA Weightlifting, Strength and Conditioning and Masters Weightlifting Halls. He is in three other Louisiana Halls -- weightlifting, strength and conditioning and senior Olympics -- plus the Northwestern Louisiana Athletic Hall and the Catholic High Hall.

As a three-eighths Delaware Indian born in Muskogee, Okla., Hatch also has been selected to the Native American Hall of Fame, and the uniform he wore in the 2004 Olympic opening ceremonies is on display in the Smithsonian's Native American Museum.

It's not just his longevity, but his techniques and innovations that built the legend for Hatch. At 6 feet 6 and 270 pounds, his presence can still fill a room. Most of the top current U.S. weightlifting coaches patterned their techniques after the Gayle Hatch Program.

And to his star pupils, Calandro and Brian, Hatch is much more than just a coach.

"He's one of those guys who you want to work hard for, because he works so hard for you," said Calandro, who competed in the 1984 Olympics. "No matter how bad a workout I might have had, he always found a bright spot, something positive to tell me before I left."

"Some people just have a gift for coaching," said Brian, a 1988 and 1992 Olympian. "It's a combination of a lot of things. It wouldn't matter what sport he was coaching, he could motivate anybody. He's a man's man."

Calandro and Brian proved their devotion to their mentor by presenting him with their Olympic blazers in a glass-covered wooden display case. Calandro also presented Hatch with his Olympic ring.

After one year with the Chicago Majors in the short-lived American Basketball League, Hatch started his first program at the Baton Rouge YMCA. As an athlete he had trained under strength and conditioning pioneer Alvin Roy. Hatch later took over operation of Roy's Baton Rouge workout facility.

Now Hatch is director of USA Weightlifting's southern regional training center, at the cavernous CapElite center in Baton Rouge.

"Sometimes I wish Alvin could come back and see what type of facility I'm training these athletes in," Hatch said. "He'd be amazed.

"He helped me so much. If it wasn't for him and the influence he had on me, I would not have become what I am today. That's why I'm so proud. This is a breakthrough."