TESTIMONY TO DALE MEDDOCK

This is Allen Cap logging on to the Dale Meddock Testimonial Post.

Everything has a starting point. The starting point of Dale Meddock’s gymnastic coaching career was Baden Economy Jr. High School. I am probably the oldest of Mr. Meddock’s ex-gymnasts. My starting point as a gymnast was also B.E. Jr. High.

Somehow Dale locked on to me, even though I did not have the requisite qualities of strength, flexibility and kinesthetic awareness to be a good all-around gymnast.

Dale started his gymnastics career by producing a gym show which was viewed by the school and also by the public. We started with rudimentary equipment: leather covered steel, flying rings, canvas mats filled with felt, P-bars, a horse with cast iron bases, and a 6 feet wide high bar.

As gymnastics equipment and the difficulty level of the sport evolved, so did Dale’s gymnastic program.

In my first gym show, I performed in a synchronized flying ring routine. I had done the routine many times, but on the night of the public performance, I forgot my routine and did my dismount at the beginning of my routine instead of at the end. My straddle dismount landed me a few rows into the bleachers.

From these humble beginnings, I went on to continue my gymnastics at Rochester High School and the Rochester Turners. Dale continued to evolve as a gymnastics coach.

I was probably the first B.E. gymnast to compete at the collegiate level. I eventually became Captain of the Slippery Rock Gymnastic Team.

After college, I started a high school gymnastics team at Peters Township High School in the South Hills area of Pittsburgh. My team competed against Ambridge. One year, some of the Ambridge gymnasts were injured, and my gymnasts were healthy. That year Peters Township almost beat Ambridge. The meet came down to a showdown on the high bar. We ended up losing by just a few points. Peters Township placed second in the State Championship. Ambridge was first.

I coached gymnastics 12 years at high school level. I then went to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). I taught gymnastics and weight training to Physical Education majors. I was runner-up in the Mr. Nevada Contest, and worked on my doctorate in Education Administration. I took chemistry classes as a pre-requisite to my aspirations to become a chiropractor. I ended up attending California Western School of Law. I graduated from California Western and passed the Nevada Bar.

I have been practicing law in Las Vegas, Nevada for about 25 years. Four years ago, I started my own law firm. You can check out our Website at Cap and Kudler. Also check out my son, Andrew’s, band (hardcore, scream metal) at The Murder Ballad. He plays lead guitar.

So, what was it that Dale did that made us pursue the sport of gymnastics? What did he teach us about how to succeed in life? Here’s my view on this:

I believe that the most important thing that he did for all of us was to expose us to his formula for success in the sport of gymnastics. His formula certainly could be applied to other areas of accomplishment.

The formula was as follows:

1. Spark of Motivation - He showed us something which appealed to us. But more importantly, Dale pushed us to get started. He constantly made us get up off our butts. Motivation means nothing without action. He made us active.

2. In order to succeed in any endeavor, you must have a source of knowledge about what it is that you are trying to accomplish. That information can come from a mentor such as Dale, or from other sources, such as books, magazines or the internet. Dale was our mentor. He provided us with requisite knowledge about the sport of gymnastics. We all saw those Olympic gymnastics 8 millimeter films hundreds of times. He took us long distances to practice with college gymnasts and their coaches.


3. Success involves a lot of hard work, practice, repetition, sacrifice, re-evaluation, and staying out of trouble. Dale helped us all out when we got into trouble. I need not say more about the hard work.

4. Dale encouraged us to take the final step to get things done. He pushed us to go for that trick. He taught us to put everything on the line for the sake of competition.

After our gymnastics careers were over, we all used this formula, whether we knew it or not. We all took it with us to aid us in our attempts at success in other endeavors.

This was Dale’s gift to all of us. Dale evolved to be one of the best gymnastics coaches in the country. We continued to evolve in other endeavors long after our gymnastics days were over. For this, I will be eternally grateful to Dale Meddock.

Circumstances do not permit me to participate in The Boys Night Out with Dale Meddock, but I’ll certainly be there in spirit.

Thank you, Dale, for getting us started.


Allen Cap