Ryan Lochte, Conor Dwyer & Justin Zook Visit PCB!

Massive Crowds Come Out To Spinnaker To Support A Great Cause And To Meet Some Great Olympians!

As many of you know, the beginning of my full time coaching career began in Tallahassee, FL with the Area Tallahassee Aquatic Club (ATAC).  In those days, I had the privelege of sometimes working with and becoming very close to an incredible family named the Crutchfields.  When they lost their son, Mac, four years ago to a tragic turn of events, it was honestly the worst day of my life. 

Saturday, when I looked over the balcony from the upstairs deck at the Spinnaker Beach Club in Panama City Beach to see hundreds upon hundreds of fans, swimmers and supporters waiting in line to get into this year's Mac Crutchfield Foundation fundraising event, I got very emotional.  Yes, of course there were a lot of fans there who came to see Olympians and may not have even realized just what a great deed they were doing by showing up, but a large majority of the participants in Saturday's Ryan Lochte, Conor Dwyer, Justin Zook Olympic experience knew their money was going directly to an incredible cause to support the dreams of a young boy man Mac Crutchfield.

Those three Olympians gave so much more than most people realize on Saturday, and they did it so selflessly and without hesistation!  After multiple interviews with news crews and media for about an hour, Ryan, Conor and Justin sat down to begin an epic autograph session like none other.  As the crowds of over 600 people stood in line patiently awaiting their opportunity to meet some of the stars of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in London, these gentleman continued to put on smile after smile as they signed countless items and took countless pictures with fans.  As each participant made their way over to the Olympians, they not only were extremely cordial with each fan, they took genuine joy in meeting every person. 

While each participant who paid the $25 entrance fee to get into Spinnaker that day was able to head downstairs and enjoy some snacks, drinks and refreshments in a beautiful setting with the gorgeous beach in the background just off of the wooden deck, the boys just kept on signing.  For over three hours they gave out autographs and smiled for photos without a single break.  Once the sometimes seemingly never ending line finally came to a conclusion, they headed downstairs to participate in what I consider one of the funniest and coolest auctions I had ever seen.  Each athlete had signed numerous items that were to be auctioned off to sell as a part of the fundraiser.  At one point, Ryan Lochte even bid on a painting done by ATAC swimmer and Olympic Trial Qualifier, Malcolm Hosford.  By the end of the bidding, Ryan had pledged $1,000 for the painting and as the countdown was being called out, "Going once, going twice"..........Ryan, knowing full well that he already had the painting wrapped up............called out "$1,500!!" as he out bid his own original $1,000 mark!  Needless to say.....it put Mac's mother Maggie into tears, and I have to say, seeing that made my eyes fill up with tears too as I sat watching up in the upper deck.

Once the auction winded down, the three Olympians made their way to the stage to take questions from the fans, swimmers and supporters who remained at Spinnaker enjoying the show, the drinks and the comraderie.  After they wrapped that up, each of the stars of the day headed down to the beach to play volleyball with crowds of swimmers for over an hour as the sun was going down.  When I walked out there, I saw Ryan Lochte, Conor Dwyer, Justin Zook and one of their agents playing on one side of the court against about 25 PCST swimmers!  haha. It truly was somewhat surreal and I know our swimmers had a blast.  I also know those boys had to be exhausted after a day like that!

To all of our PCST swimmers and families, as well as all other supporters who showed up on Saturday to help an amazing young boy named Mac fullfill his dreams of helping the Special Olympics, the Paralympics and aspiring collegiate swimmers who need financial assistantce........................from the bottom of my heart................THANK YOU!  I don't think you realize how much it meant to me, to the Crutchfields and their extended family of friends and relatives.  Oh yeah.......and thank you for helping me show Maggie Crutchfield that we could in fact bring over 500 people to an event if she brought the Mac Fundraiser to Panama City Beach, haha!  I told her that over a year ago when we first came up with the idea, and couldn't be happier that we broke 600 participants and raised so much money!

And to Ryan, Conor & Justin................while I am constantly amazed and inspired by what you can do in the water, the true reason I have become a huge fan of yours is because of how big your hearts are.  You could have been off doing anything you wanted, making a ton of money in appearance fees elsewhere, celebrating your Olympic victories, or maybe even supporting another charity.  But you chose to come to PCB to support Mac and I cannot thank you enough for that.

CATCH THE WAVE!

Coach Jonathan