Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2004 | 10:48 a.m.
Ron Kantowski is a Las Vegas Sun sports writer. Reach him at [email protected] or (702) 259-4088.
As she got off the airplane at McCarran International Airport Monday night, her third Olympics softball gold medal draped around her neck and surrounded by friends and family, Las Vegas' Lori Harrigan basked in what had to be one of her proudest moments as an amateur athlete.
At 33 and at the end of her career as one of America's premier women's softball pitchers, there had to be a few mixed emotions. But under her arm was this week's Sports Illustrated, the one with her picture and those of her teammates gracing the cover that she had picked up during a layover in San Diego, so it was a heck of a way to go out: On top and out front.
Yet, Harrigan found it difficult not to let her mind wander to her Team USA coach. Somewhere, perhaps at Tucson International Airport, a few miles down the road from the University of Arizona where he is head women's softball coach, Mike Candrea probably was getting off a plane, too.
No doubt he also was greeted by friends and family. But not by the one most dear to him. Sue Candrea, his wife of 28 years, suffered a fatal brain aneurysm while traveling with the team July 18 in Stevens Point, Wis.
Now you know why Team USA outscored the Rest of the World, 51-1. With sport so driven by emotion, the IOC should have just mailed the gold medals and those olive branch laurels to the States on July 19 and told everybody to stay home and work on their rise balls.
Nobody stood a chance. The Australia team had Tanya Harding (no, not that one) on the mound in the gold medal game. But not even Jeff Gillooly and his lead pipe could have stopped the spiritually charged USA team.
Surrounded by his extended family -- his players -- and entrusted with the task of overseeing Team USA's most dominating performance yet, Candrea found strength and comfort during the games.
But now, with the possible exception of Jennie Finch, Nicole Giordano, Lovieanne Jung and Leah O'Brien-Amico, who played for him at Arizona, Candrea's players have gone their separate ways. And with football season almost under way and NBC having returned to its originally scheduled programming, the cheers are going to stop pretty soon, too.
At some point, Candrea will find himself at home. Alone. And that's why Harrigan thinks about him.
She literally was the first one there at the airport in Wisconsin when Sue Candrea, who had quit her accountant's job to travel with the team on its pre-Athens tour, was stricken.
"As soon as she collapsed I ran over to her ... because with my job at the Bellagio (Harrigan is a security supervisor) we are trained to handle all kinds of medical injuries and emergencies," Harrigan said. "I wanted to do what I could, to see if I could stabilize her."
Harrigan said it was immediately apparent that there was little she or anybody else could do for Sue Candrea. Except maybe pray.
"We knew it was going to be hard on him, and on Mike and Michelle, coach's son and daughter. It had to be a bittersweet thing, to win the gold medal and dominate like we did. But then to know he's hurting so much, that he's crying tears of joy for the job he had done, but also because she's not there to share it with him."
Harrigan, who as the oldest member of the team was considered its guiding light and "team mother," said she and her teammates made sure that Candrea was rarely alone upon rejoining the squad after the funeral.
"We thought if we could keep him busy, maybe he'd only think about Sue a thousand times a day instead of two thousand," Harrigan said. "I can't believe how strong he was. But we have all agreed that we're not going to forget about him now, just because the games are over."
So Candrea can expect to receive an invitation from Harrigan in the very near future, when she coordinates the unofficial Team USA reunion in Las Vegas. This will be the second year the Olympic players have rented a houseboat for a little R and R on Lake Mead.
But other than that and having already announced that three gold medals are plenty, Harrigan plans to rest.
"Right now, I want to take a break from softball, period," Harrigan said. "But I do want to give back to the sport, whether it's coaching or private lessons."
Harrigan appeared in three games in Athens and was spectacular in her only start, a 4-0 victory against 1996 silver medalist China coached by Shan McDonald, the former Rebels coach who had recruited her to UNLV.
The very first hitter Harrigan faced reached base via a bunt. The next 20 returned to the dugout dragging their bats in the dirt.
She said it would have been special to close out her Olympic career by throwing the last inning in the USA's 5-1 victory against Australia in the gold medal game. I told her had that happened, the final composite victory margin probably would have been 51-0 instead of 51-1, as the Aussies picked up a consolation run in the last inning.
"Darn right!" Harrigan said with a laugh.
And it's not as if her contribution to Team USA's success went unnoticed. Basketball whiz LeBron(ze) James even wanted to bet that he could get a hit off her. "Sure," Harrigan said. "Your Nike contract against mine." That ended that nonsense.
Then later in the week, Harrigan was asked to give the No. 2 reason on David Letterman's "Top Ten Signs You're Not Going To Win a Gold Medal in Olympic Softball."
"Your pitcher leaves in the fifth inning to beat the traffic," was her "response."
So you can close the book on Harrigan's Olympic career with a one-hitter and a one-liner. And enough gold in her equipment bag to start a fort in Kentucky.
I'd say softball has been berry, berry good to Lori Harrigan. And she to it.
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