The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1523120
JULY/AUGUST 2024 ■ 47 That praise was important, because Goodhew and Easterling had a compli- cated and combative relationship, espe- cially during the swimmer's freshman year, in which he trained with team- mates Steve Gregg and Dan Harrigan for the 1976 Montreal Games. "There was a time in his freshman year that, if he would have had a gun, he would have shot me," the coach once said of his imported star and one-time team captain. "But he learned to work and give of himself, and it paid off in the Olympics." 'An Awful Lot Inside' Goodhew came from an affluent and privileged background, no doubt. He was considered by some a "country club" swimmer who needed to sink a little before he could reach his swim- ming potential. "I was a head case," he said, inten- tionally drawing attention to his most prominent feature. All of that is true, but it doesn't take into account the difficulties he faced as a child. At 10, he fell from a tree while imitat- ing Tarzan and suffered nerve damage that caused all of his hair to fall out, a rare condition called alopecia. At 13, he was diagnosed with dyslexia, another rare malady in 1969 that had few remedies and caused no end of aca- demic difficulties when he reached the United States. At 15, his father — the man who built a homemade swimming lane in the fam- ily's backyard so his son could become a world-class swimmer — died, leaving Duncan's future in great peril. Swimming saved him. Through his difficult days, especially academically, Goodhew knew he was drowning. Easterling was the life ring cast in his direction. He offered the 17-year-old breaststroker — his first international recruit — a full scholar- ship to join the Wolfpack's seven-time championship program without ever seeing him in the pool. As a freshman, with Olympians Gregg and Harrigan leading the way, the Wolfpack came in seventh at the 1976 NCAA Champion- ships, the highest finish in Easterling's tenure. "We had not had a world-class breaststroker before Duncan — several great ACC breaststrokers, but not one that could compete on an international level," Gregg said. "Duncan gave us something special, especially in relays at the national level." There were lessons he needed to learn, however, and those epiphanies were not easy. As a freshman, he needed to break several bad habits, not the least of which was smoking cigars, something he had been doing occasionally since the age of 5. (His family's business was in restaurants and nightclubs, and such after-dinner indulgences were common in 1970s London. Don't judge.) It all came to a head at practice one November afternoon when Easterling sent Goodhew to the other end of the pool for loafing during the drudgery of his daily laps. "Chromedome, you piss-ant," East- erling said. "I've had enough of you. Go down to the diving end where I can't see you." Kickboards fly freely when flung, but not always with great accuracy. Good- hew missed. "The truth was, I wasn't going to quit, but I did want to be sent home," Good- hew said. "I think Coach knew this." As happened with almost all of his swimmers, Easterling eventually ex- plained why he was being so demand- ing. "Duncan, if I don't work you as hard as I possibly can, I'm cheating you," Easterling told him. And then it all became clear. "It cut right to the point: I couldn't do this on my own," Goodhew recalled. "Where was I going to go? I needed him to take me on my journey. And that was the point. "Everything changed significantly from then on. It caused a seismic shift in my understanding of a coach-athlete relationship, which was a major mile- stone for me to win gold." Easterling, who won 17 men's and women's ACC titles during his coach- ing career and died in 2023, loved to tell stories about breaking Goodhew's stub- born spirit, and he loved watching his chromedome bob through the water, one of the four Wolfpack Olympic med- alists he coached during his career. Goodhew continued to improve. In his career, he won four ACC titles in the 100 breaststroke, three in the 200 breaststroke and four in the individual medley. He won eight All-America des- ignations. At the 1978 Commonwealth Games, he won silver medals in both individual breaststroke events and the medley relay. He performed just as well at the 1978 World Championships. "In November 1975, he was not work- ing as he should," Easterling once ex- plained. "I got upset with him. He threw a kickboard at me and left, said he was going back to Britain. Later, he stopped by my office. He said he had been smok- ing since he was 5 years old and if I let him come back on the team, he'd quit smoking. "I knew something was there." A few months later, the two were at it again and had another poolside con- frontation the day after Goodhew pulled an all-nighter studying for an exam in accounting. Likely overtrained and ex- hausted, Goodhew was coming to grips with a demanding training regimen, a new education system and a social structure that was completely foreign to him. "As a freshman, Duncan was spoiled, didn't know about hard work," East- erling said. "We were training down in South Carolina, and I threw him out of three or four practices. The third time I threw him out, though, he sneaked off to the weight room. Then he came back " When I was young, I realized I'd been dealt some cards that weren't very good. I was always at the back of the class. You could say I was drowning in the classroom. The life preserver thrown to me was swimming." Goodhew