BEIJING — At the end of an Olympics that opened with a tragic murder and closed in improbable triumph by the U.S. men’s volleyball team, everybody back home, everybody who loves sports and everybody who ever has felt cheated by a death wanted to hand coach Hugh McCutcheon a hankie, so he could have a good cry.
McCutcheon kindly refused.
The coach was determined not to let his tears tarnish a golden moment by his players, who upset Brazil 3-1 Sunday in the championship match and became the first American males to win a medal in volleyball since 1992.
It was as brave and generous an act of willpower as anyone will witness at the Summer Games.
“This is the best of times and worst of times,” said McCutcheon, whose father-in-law was a victim of a bizarre murder in China. The day after the Games began, Todd Bachman was stabbed dead without provocation at a popular tourist site, by an attacker who ended the bloody assault by hurling himself off the 13th-century Drum Tower.
Some pain is so private it’s none of a worldwide audience’s business.
This is what McCutcheon wanted us to see instead:
A 2-year-old boy named Max, his golden-curled, smiling photograph plastered on a large red, white and blue poster that had been inscribed with the words “Yeah, Daddy, Yeah!”
“My son couldn’t make the trip; he’s back home with his grandma. But I wanted to bring a little piece of him to China,” said Suzanne Millar, who waved the poster from her seat above the court.
Her husband is a blocker on the U.S. team. And she didn’t want Olympic champion Ryan Millar to forget the simple words his son uses to cheer every victory.
“We hope this can put a smile on the face of Hugh and members of the Bachman family, even if only for a second,” Suzanne Millar said.
What does a man do when his Olympic dream comes true, yet the last page of a storybook ending is unable to wipe away the sadness?
McCutcheon shook hands with coaches to salute the upset of a longtime volleyball powerhouse, then silently turned away from the celebration on the court, as Millar and other U.S. players climbed into the crowd for hugs and kisses. The coach ducked through a doorway of Capital Gymnasium, to be alone with his own proud, broken heart.
“I had to step out and collect my thoughts and collect my emotions,” McCutcheon said.
The Olympics forever can change a man’s life, with memories guaranteed never to fade.
Not even a gold medal, however, can bring a man back to life.
How will McCutcheon ever be able to think of China without seeing the Drum Tower?
Elisabeth “Wiz” McCutcheon, a former Olympic volleyball player, returned home with the body of her father and her grieving mother, who also was severely injured in the attack, leaving the coach in China to put team before his personal anguish.
After the victory, all she wanted was to hear the coach’s voice.
“She said, ‘You won, you won, you won,’ ” recalled McCutcheon. “Nothing else to say there . . ., just listening to each other smile on the phone.”
What we are left to wonder is how the coach has kept his focus, never cracking in public, through two weeks filled with grief.
“You keep doing your job, and hope the routine of things will carry you through each new day,” U.S. player Gabriel Gardner said.
His work done as coach, McCutcheon boarded an airplane out of Beijing and turned his eyes toward loved ones who need him.
“Life is more important than the medal, and family always goes first,” Brazil captain “Giba” Godoy Filho said.
The Bachman funeral is set for Friday.
By then, Millar also will be home in the States, knocking around a ball with his 2-year-old son.
It’s love over gold. Always.
Mark Kiszla: 303-903-1053 or mkiszla@denverpost.com
