There was no better teammate than Joe. He was the best recruiter, the most spirited and he always made time for others. It was Joe’s character more than his excellence in the pool that earned him team captainship as well as the Josh Illika Spirit Award and Dr All (USC swimming’s spirit leader). His passion for USC swimming and politics are probably the qualities I will remember most about him, though. One time we lost a close meet to Stanford and Joe was so crushed that he left a dent in a locker that would last for about five years. In political arguments he could hold his ground with the best. He was so smart and knowledgeable about current events and politics. Whenever I find myself on the losing end of an argument I think about Joe and how I wished he was there to back me up. Last night I found myself in this situation and was saddened to be reminded of our loss. There is no doubt that this passion and his camaraderie made him as great a soldier as he was a teammate.
To me the most remarkable thing about Joe was his ability to do everything so well—excelling in the classroom, working so hard in the pool and still making the time to be with his team and friends. His well roundedness was enviable and although he was less than a year older than me, he seemed years ahead because he handled everything so well. He was a renaissance man, not just a swimmer.
Although we didn’t talk or email very regularly over the last three years we seemed to run into each other fairly often at USC, a happy accident it always seemed. In hindsight, this was no accident. Joe loved USC and USC swimming and he wanted to swim in McDonald’s Swim Stadium and run into an old friend or coach; it was the kind of friend and teammate he was. In our last email I wished him a happy birthday and he talked about buying a home and even coming back to USC. Thinking about this makes it even harder to imagine he is gone.
We’ll miss you Joe
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I remember that meet like it was yesterday...damn Stansberries! Didn't one of the coaches tell us we had the meet won, all we had to do was not disqualify the last relay? Well, that coach added up the score wrong...
We had a lot of those meets that year...Texas was another...I remember him and all us seniors being so proud of how we upstaged them that day swimming but lost the total (swim & diving).
When I think about Joe as a swimmer many things come to mind, one stands out more then any other. Joe has many great qualities as we can all remember, if you can’t just take an hour and read all that has been written about him on this blog site. Everybody has been talking about how great Joe was at everything. Well I am going to be the first person to say what he wasn’t good at.
Joe wasn’t good at BEAN. He probably thought he was among the elite, but the elite (and you who you are, Gausman, Ilika, Bridgewater……and maybe Vendt, Klete was pretty good too) very well knew he wasn’t. Joe was strong, determined, passionate, but those traits just weren’t enough to put him at the top with the very best. For those of you who don’t know what BEAN is…it is a game of finesse and quickness, you had to be highly skilled at taunting your enemies as well as flexible so your counter attacks would be known as fierce by your enemy. Essentially it was just a game of tag in the pool. (If someone can find the website that Mark W made and post it that would be awesome.)
For some reason which I have yet to put my finger on Joe was just not that good at BEAN. Now if he were able to read this and or if he ever found out I was posting this he you better believe he would have an argument on why he thought he might have been “elite,” but NO Joe I’m sorry, this was one game you just weren’t that good at.
I wanted to bring BEAN up because I know this was one of the many things that brought all of us together. If anybody has a BEAN story about Joe….please comment. This is a subject that can bring smiles to many of our faces and help us remember some of the good times we had in practice with Joe.
hahaha.. that's a great point Gausman.. Joe wasn't that good at bean. But just like everyone said on this site, he would put his heart into it. I can remember trying to tag him and looking at his face underwater laughing.. This reminds me of the face that Joe would make when he would flex in the mirror. He would walk past the mirror, look in the mirror like "how you doin?". Then he would start flexing. So great. After I caught him doing it a couple times, he just admitted to the fact that he was making the face.
hah!That's so funny about bean. I remember one time, Joe and Wark we're arguing about a tag that may or may not have taken place...Joe, as usual, was winning the argument over Wark. Then Warkentin, threw out the bomb, "Joe, you're just a decoy in this game!" hahaha.
And Ilika; nothing like catching Joe look in the mirror at himself...GOD did he love checking out his body. Another funny story about Wark and Joe ( Ilika you can sympathize with Warkentin on this haha)...Well, Warkentin always told me sometimes he could put on about 5lbs over the weekend because his body just added weight so rapidly. So, one time, Joe came into workout eating some Del Taco (our lunch of choice in college) and Warkentin said, "Wow, you're gonna get so fat." To which Bridgwater replied, "Wark, unlike you, Joe can eat what he wants and still look that way." It was so true, he could Del taco three times a day and still stay as cut as anyone I've seen.
Side note: Both Ilika and Warkentin are both very, very fit now...love you guys! hahah
Joe wasn't the best bean player, but he always did try hard (of course who am I to talk since I was in the sprint group and our bean games were a little weak). However, he was excellent at touching the backstroke flags. He would always opt for the foot touch, and I'd say he did it at least 90% of the time.
Oh the flag run!...Best I got was with my hand, never even came close to the foot
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