Defying death with strength – MacKay’s way

Bob MacKay points to the bruise on his head, the residue from shrapnel in Vietnam. He laughs as he recounts how he chased away a knife-wielding robber at Los Angeles International Airport. He shrugs off being shot as a police officer in Turlock. He patiently breaks down the specifics from his two heart attacks that led to triple-bypass heart surgery least year.

He also details how he was back coaching at Modesto Junior College two weeks after the triple bypass. He hung the IV bag on the hammer throw-discus cage netting.

“I have a sense of mortality,” he said.

MacKay, 63, doesn’t mind being called MJC’s pied piper of the throwing events. It’s no coincidence that elite-level athletes in the javelin, hammer throw, shot put and discus flock to MJC like bees to honey and win state championships. They come to be coached by MacKay, an MJC assistant coach (he’s also served as line coach for the football team) and one of the state’s bona fide field events gurus.

When Daniel Roberts migrated from South Dakota to the Valley and annexed state titles in the discus, shot put and hammer last spring, he had MacKay to thank. In fact, he came here because of MacKay.

The former Marine, born in Canada, coached at MJC from 1983 to 2000 and – after an 11-year stay at Moorpark Community College – was happy to return to Modesto. There’s been one constant – state champions who benefited from his guidance, starting with Dot Jones in the early ’80s.

His expertise also is manifested by his son Lucais, a former NCAA hammer throw champion at Georgia and three-time entry in the Olympic Trials.

Since his stint at Moorpark, MacKay and the Pirates have celebrated state titles by Markus Sanders in 2013 (discus, hammer), Kianna Weinzhiemer in 2013 (javelin), Cara McClain in 2014 (hammer) and Roberts. He also helps Oakdale High’s three-time state medalist Hannah Chappell in the discus.

Not surprising, given his bio, MacKay specializes in showing athletes how to compete in the crunch of competition.

“I stay calm in the middle of stormy things,” he said. “That’s very important for athletes to learn.”

Q. How did Roberts bounce from Mobridge, S.D., to MJC?

A. I met Daniel at a camp when he was in eighth grade in South Dakota. He had to go to a junior college. He literally contacted me the day before school started at MJC. And he came here. When people complain about how we get our talent, I ask them where they were on the third week of July when I was in South Dakota meeting Daniel. He benches more than 500 pounds. That’s world-class strength for a freshman, and it makes the shot pretty light. Early in his freshman year, his marks weren’t impressive. He’s a lefty, so we switched him to a lefty, and he jumped 40 feet. You could see as a right-hander it wasn’t his natural movement. His (former) coach thought that going left-handed would mess up his discus. It didn’t.

Q. You’re often seen at track meets in the area and stay in touch with the athletes. What draws you to these meets besides the recruiting process?

A. It’s interesting to see how kids handle competition when they don’t know you’re recruiting them. The technical part of coaching is what I love. It’s a sense of artwork, and the molding, shaping and sculpting happens in the weight room. I think I’m good at that. Everyone here (at MJC) is a third choice – it’s Division I, Division II and then us. I’ve been very fortunate. I’ve had kids turn down scholarships to be here, especially for kids out of state.

Q. Can you tell us about your theory about athletes “being in the zone”?

A. We monitor their heart rates and do bio-feedback all the time. Our goal is to have them compete at their best when their heart rate is 10 percent above normal. That’s the optimum range. I got a lot of this from Al Oerter, a four-time Olympic champion who competed at the Modesto Relays. He always said, “I don’t compete against people. I compete with them.” It was an absolute epiphany for me. I’ve always talked to the best people and asked questions and learned from them. Oerter was never the favorite at the Olympics but won four gold medals.

Q. Isn’t that idea connected to athletes’ overall anxiety and how to cope with that?

A. It’s about arousal. In football, the closer you are to the ball, the more aroused you have to be. The farther away, the lesser. I’m a 25-cent sports psychologist, and I’m fascinated by the state meet, when you have to do your best. Kianna Weinzheimer won the javelin title on her last throw. I told her before, “Last throw, best throw,” and she winked. Tammy Anderson showed up at my first weight training session the year MJC hosted the state meet and I told her how excited she should be for that. Tammy said, “I always choked at state (in high school). I asked her from that point on that every time we ran into each other she had to say, “I’m going to PR at state.” And I think she did. She won the state in the 800 and 1,500 meters.

Q. Why did you return to MJC after your time at Moorpark?

A. It’s full circle, the circle of life. They were cutting sports at Moorpark. They cut wrestling and golf, and I sensed they were going to cut track. I cast my net out and had six job offers. I wanted to come back (to Modesto) and coach football for a couple of years besides track. It’s been a blessing. The athletes are still coming.

Q. How did you get into the Scottish Highland Games when you were younger?

A. My father was a pro bagpiping champion, and my aunt was a Highland Games dancing champion. I was burned out on that by the time I was 10. But when I saw them throwing the caber and the stones, I thought, “This is my game.” I was fifth in the world in 1987 in the heavy events.

Q. I know you consider yourself fortunate for having those close calls with death, but how did you recover so fast from your heart attacks and bypass?

A. The kids were my medicine. I’m really lucky in the sense that I’m back home, and I coach motivated athletes. It’s what I do. You teach them to love the sport.

This story was originally published June 28, 2015 at 5:59 PM with the headline "Defying death with strength – MacKay’s way."