I was born and raised in Gaston County, NC - and have lived most of my life here. I traveled halfway around the world (twice) and back (twice, also) while in the US Marine Corps, but never saw anywhere that I would rather live! My wife of nearly 23 years, Wanda, and I have one son, Chip, who is now attending college with hopes of becoming an elementary school teacher.
I have always been a competitive athlete. I was a wrestler, runner, and high jumper in school and in the Marine Corps. After leaving the Marine Corps, I competed in tennis and volleyball tournaments before returning to my early love of running. This eventually lead me to the sport of triathlon, and the discovery that I had some talent for bicycle racing. As I became older I cut back on the road cycling in favor of the safer discipline of time trial racing and compete throughout the warmer months in the Time Trial Series at the nearby Lowe's Motor Speedway. I still participate in endurance cycling events such as the annual Blood Sweat and Gears Century challenge in the NC mountains near Boone, and have the scars to prove it! (I'm still recovering from a serious crash this past summer.) However, my greatest success has come in triathlon where I have competed in all race classifications, up to and including the Ironman distance - and received an Honorable Mention on the USA Triathlon All-America selections for 2005.
Having said all of that, my greatest pride comes from seeing the progress made by the soccer players that I have coached, from under-7 year olds at the local YMCA all the way up to club select and high school teams.
