<< Dominic Johnson AP 2003

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Paul Robb is a Tucson businessman, a graduate of Rincon High and the UA, who last year won the Tucson Triathlon Series in the men's 45-49 age group.

With his wife, Sherrie, the Robbs have helped run swimming meets in the Southern Arizona Aquatics Association. Their children, Hannah and Nicholas, spent seven years in the SAAA.

At the end-of-the-season banquet last summer, UA All-American Lacey Nymeyer volunteered to speak at the youth group's awards event.

"I know what it is to try to carve seconds off your swimming times,'' Paul Robb says now. "Lacey is a champion in my book.''

So when Nymeyer made the USA Olympic team a week ago, Robb heard that her parents, Tucsonans Aaron and Stacey Nymeyer, probably wouldn't be able to afford to accompany their daughter to Beijing, China. USA Swimming's travel agency quoted two Beijing travel packages for parents: $36,000 and $25,000.

In a gold medal performance of his own, Paul Robb got on the phone and got to work. He enlisted support from Tucson auto dealers Jim Click and Buck O'Rielly, worked through a travel agency and USA Swimming and within 24 hours had the Nymeyers booked for Beijing.

The total bill reached $20,000. Robb, Click and O'Rielly will divide it three ways. Click was very aware of the situation: He attended and was a featured speaker at Nymeyer's Olympic send-off Monday night at Mountain View High School.

"We are humbled, we are grateful and we are ecstatic,'' Stacey Nymeyer said. "These wonderful men have made it possible for us to watch Lacey swim in the Olympics. I can't say 'thank you' enough.''

They will leave on Aug. 6 and return Aug. 21.

"I've never been anywhere in my life. We are just regular people,'' Stacey said. "The generosity of this community has overwhelmed us.''

Amphitheater High and UA grad Dominic Johnson has been racing the clock to qualify for the Olympics.

The St. Lucia-born pole-vaulter competed for his native country in the 1996 Atlanta and 2000 Sydney Olympics but this year had been unable to clear the minimum standard of 18 feet 2 1/2 inches for Olympic pole-vaulters. Over the last few months, Johnson has scrambled to clear that height; he even went to Cali, Colombia, a week ago to jump at the Central American Games. And failed.

But Friday night at a sanctioned All-Comers Twilight Meet at San Diego State, Johnson, 32, was at his best.

He cleared 17 feet on his first attempt and in succession cleared 17-6 and 17-10 on first attempts. The bar was moved to 18-3. He cleared it on the first vault. He will be in China for his third Olympic Games for St. Lucia.

Married, the father of two daughters, the Sahuarita resident said there were about 40 people, all pole-vaulters, at the meet, and all were aware of the pressure for him to clear 18-2 1/2.

"My deadline to make it was July 23,'' he said. "It was a very positive atmosphere.''

In a four-year stint on the Champions Tour in the late 1980s, Tucsonan Bob Gaona had a best of fourth place, earning $28,000. By his late 50s, he was unable to retain his playing privileges, done in by the young guns who had just turned 50. Now comes Tucsonan Ronnie Black, director of instruction at Tucson National, who had a breakout week on the Champions Tour. He finished seventh overall and earned $51,000 last Sunday in Endicott, N.Y. To get that far, Black twice has had to survive Monday qualifying rounds. But because he was in the top 10 at the Dick's Sporting Goods Open, Black is fully exempt for the 3M Championships this week in Minneapolis. At 50, Black knows his clock has begun to tick a la Gaona of 1990. Only 10 events remain in 2008. … Former UA football coach Jim Young, elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1999, is 73 but living the life of a man 30 years younger. He is a teacher/counselor at the local Gospel Rescue Mission, he has reduced his golf handicap to about 15, he has earned a second master's degree, in military history, and over the last year he has written his memoirs. And not just a few notes about some football games. The manuscript is 404 pages, and it encompasses his head coaching career at Arizona, Purdue and Army. Young is a very private man, and his manuscript reveals details of a private side of him that go far beyond a typical sports book. If he decides to publish his memoirs to the general public, it would be a must-read. … Hassan Adams will get $425,000 from the Toronto Raptors next season and $730,000 in 2009-10 if the NBA club, at its option, decides to give him a second year. He couldn't ask for a better opportunity.

Former CDO and UA outfielder T.J. Steele received a bonus of $267,000 from the Houston Astros after the fourth-round pick signed with them last month. Steele is off to a blazing start with the Class A Tri-Valley Cats of Troy, N.Y. On Thursday, Steele's walk-off double (plus a home run and a second double) gave his team a come-from-behind victory. He was hitting .333 in his first 20 games as a pro. Above his bonus, Steele receives a monthly salary of about $1,400 and boards with a local host family. … When the Detroit Tigers paid former UA and Marana High School right-hander Ryan Perry $1.48 million last week, it put ex-UA teammate Daniel Schlereth's contract situation in context. Still negotiating with the Diamondbacks after being the 26th selection of the first round, Schlereth is apt to sign for about $1.3 million, no matter what he asks. Chris Friedrich, a left-handed pitcher taken No. 25 overall by Colorado, signed for $1.35 million last week. … Tucsonans Gary Williams, general manager of La Fiesta de los Vaqueros, and Greg Jamieson, chairman of our city's splendid mid-winter rodeo, were in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Saturday as the Tucson Rodeo Committee was inducted into the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame. Well deserved. They were one of 16 rodeo committees so honored on the 30th anniversary of the Hall of Fame. … Readers of Football Scoop, an Internet site devoted to college football opportunities and career development, polled its audience. It asked: Who is the best college football assistant coach to talk football with? UA offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes was first with 46 percent of the vote, beating Wisconsin's Charlie Partridge, who had 21 percent. Dykes is engaging and insightful and he's not afraid to share. Those coaches are in very short supply.

If Brandon Jennings and his entourage wish to get an education on what to expect in Europe, the first phone call should go to former UA signee Stephen Jackson of the Golden State Warriors.

The Jackson story should bring all to reality.

While at Oak Hill (Va.) Academy in 1995-96, Jackson failed his entrance exams to Arizona four times in 1995-1996. Sound familiar? Jackson then enrolled at Butler Community College in Kansas. He quit after one semester but was good enough to be drafted 43rd overall by the Phoenix Suns. The Suns cut Jackson in training camp that year.

Jackson then played in Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, for the Australian Sydney Kings and for the CBA LaCrosse Bobcats. He estimates he played for 15 teams before he finally reached the NBA in 2000-01. He has since earned $26 million playing with six teams. He is 30.

Jennings won't have difficulty finding a European team willing to absorb his baggage. The five leading countries for European basketball — Italy, Spain, France, Greece and Turkey — have a combined 256 pro teams of various levels. Spain alone has 72 teams in four divisions.

Opportunity isn't at question. Staying power is. If Jennings can endure the way Jackson did, he'll someday be a wealthy and successful young man, with or without a college degree.