Advice to Kimball: Stay Away From Diving Trials

Don’t dive, Bruce.

No, this is not part of the petition drives, campaigns and crusades that have been launched in Florida to prevent Bruce Kimball from diving in the U.S. Olympic trials, which start Wednesday at Indianapolis.

It’s just the feeling of one outside observer. Bruce shouldn’t dive. Even though this Olympics was to be the grand finale of his glorious career, even though he has been neither tried nor convicted of a crime, even though he has served as a symbol of athletic excellence and courage, Kimball should pack his bags and go home.

Kimball is due today to make an announcement, presumably on his decision whether he will compete in the trials. Or, if he doesn’t dive, whether he will hang around town as a glorified cheerleader for his diving buddies.

Go home, Bruce. As quietly as possible, out of respect for the dead and wounded.

Two weeks ago, Kimball drove his sports car at high speed down a dead-end street in a small town in Florida, according to police reports. Charges filed against Kimball indicate that he was legally intoxicated. His car crashed into a crowd of teen-agers gathered at the end of the street. Two were killed, two seriously hurt, four others injured.

It was over as quickly as a dive from the 10-meter platform.

Because Kimball is an athlete, the tragedy became a sports story, and the big question became this: Would Bruce still dive in the Olympic trials?

The national governing body of the sport said: It’s up to Bruce.

Of course it is. This is still the United States, and sports bureaucrats have not been given the powers of criminal judges and juries.

The question now is: Should Bruce dive?

And the advice here is: Don’t dive, Bruce.

If Kimball were to make the Olympic team and dive in Seoul, he would be the focus of intense media and TV attention. The grieving family and friends of the two dead teen-agers would also be dragged back into the spotlight. Come September, it will be difficult to ignore the Olympics. The horror would be stirred up all over again.

Kimball has no right to pursue his dream of personal glory at the expense of extending the suffering. If the parents of the dead teen-agers object to Kimball diving, he shouldn’t dive.

Also, Kimball and his father should realize that this is a time for extreme sensitivity. Kimball’s father, diving coach Dick Kimball, said recently, “I don’t know if he’s ready to dive in a meet of that nature (U.S. trials) with all the harassing he’s going to get. But I would never rule Bruce out, because he’s been taught since he was a little boy never to give up.”

I wonder whether the parents of the dead teen-agers read those statements, too, and thought about what lessons they tried to impart to their children, lessons that no longer mattered. I wonder if those parents care at this time to hear what a doggedly competitive fellow Bruce is.

One 17-year-old boy struck by Kimball’s car had a leg severed. It was surgically reattached and is now held together with metal plates. The boy was a high school athlete whose sports career is most likely over. His parents probably don’t have time right now to admire Bruce Kimball’s never-give-up attitude, or to relate to Dick Kimball’s fatherly pride.

All this is not to ignore the tragedy of Bruce Kimball. Two years ago, he had his body mangled and his face broken to pieces when a drunk driver crashed head-on into his car. Bruce battled back with incredible courage, and this year he was rated a decent shot at upsetting the legend, Greg Louganis, in the Olympics. This was to be the moment for which Kimball has trained a lifetime.

Some would argue that Kimball is wracked with enough personal torment and guilt, and for him to take himself out of the competition would not bring back the dead or heal the injured.

This has become an emotionally charged issue in the Tampa area. Mothers Against Drunk Drivers and Students Against Drunk Drivers have led a campaign to have Kimball barred from the trials. High school students stand outside convenience stores and collect signatures on “Stop Bruce” petitions. Angry callers have bombarded radio phone-in programs.

The heat from the public is so intense that Kimball has been barred from training at the area’s two top diving facilities. There is even some fear for his life, as some segments of the populace seem bent on revenge.

This seems like a lot of malevolence to lay on a person who, until one recent night, had done nothing worse in life than pile up a record for reckless driving. Punishment should be meted out by a court of law, not by a segment of society that has taken on some aspects of a mob.

But if I’m forced to choose between feeling sorry for Bruce and feeling sorry for the family and friends of the dead, the choice will be easy.

And if Kimball has to choose between lessening his own suffering and easing the grief of the mourners in Florida, the choice will be extremely painful but crystal clear.

Don’t dive.