President Kathy Myers welcomed Rotarians.
Patriotic song God Bless America was led by David Dix on piano followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.
Laing Kennedy offered today’s invocation.
David Dix played piano while the group sang Home on the Range and Don’t Fence Me In.
Visiting Rotarians None
Guests
Rachel Kerns introduced her sister, Melissa Altintas, visiting from Istanbul, Turkey where she has taught English for that last 25 years.
Announcements
Kathy Myers shared the following:
Tomorrow, August 11th, is a happy hour at Water Street Tavern from 4 – 6 pm.
On August 17th the meeting will begin promptly at 12 pm followed by a group photo at 12:45 pm. The last time a group photo was taken was 2009.
Thankful for Amanda Senn continuing to organize fabulous lunches for the weekly meetings.
August 17 - lunch will be a Taco Bar provided by the NEW Center at NEOMED
August 24 – lunch will be offered by Erie Street Kitchen
August 24 meeting will take place at Stanton Middle School in the auditeria.
Randy Smith announced that there are sponsorship opportunities available for the 100th Anniversary Celebration. Sponsors so far include Bissler and Sons, Davey Tree, and Metis. Individual sponsorships are also available. Contact Randy or Carol Crimi.
Chas Madonio invited everyone to Dog Days of Summer next weekend on August 21 from 11 am to 4 pm at Hometown Bank Plaza. Bring your dog and enjoy food trucks and entertainment.
Carol Crimi announced that the Foundation Board will be meeting tonight at 7 pm at Carol’s house.
100th Anniversary Moment
Jim Myers shared a story from 1947 involving Harry Longcoy’s donation of $500 in support of local 4-H youth farmers in the community. This is also the year that Rotary’s founder, Paul Harris, died. He founded Rotary in 1905 to fulfill his dream of creating a worldwide service club.
Birthdays
Jeff Roeger is taking over birthdays from Sherry Joy. The question this year is, “Looking back over your life, what is your favorite memory of service to others?” August birthdays are listed at right.
Speaker
Asad Khan introduced today’s guest speaker, Scott Cavendish, a fictional character in no way related to Todd Kamenash. The comedic talents of Todd Kamenash had the entire room in stitches while he presented a brief history of the Olympics from 1896 through 2020 (even though they were played in 2021).
The first modern Olympics were held in 1896 in Athens, Greece and featured only 9 sports with 43 events and about 280 athletes, all male. In contrast, the 2020 Olympics featured 33 sports and over 11,000 athletes competing in 339 events. The Olympics have only been cancelled six times including 1916 Berlin, 1940 Tokyo and 1944 London due to wars. 2020 is the first year the games have been postponed.
This year’s Olympics cost over $20 billion to put on. Did you know the medals aren’t really made out of the metal they represent? A gold medal is only 5% gold, plated over silver and a bronze medal is made of copper and zinc.
In 2020 San Marino became the smallest country to win a gold medal after waiting 61 years to win one. The largest country to have never won a medal is Bangladesh with over 150M people. There are 72 other countries that have participated and never won a medal. Only two continents have never hosted the Olympic Games, Africa and Antarctica.
In 2020, the games included 18 new events that added 474 more athletes. The oldest Olympian competing this year is a 66 year female equestrian from Australia. The youngest athlete this year is a 12 year old Syrian table tennis player. The youngest American participating in 2020 is 15 year old Katie Grimes in swimming.
Todd featured local stories of Ohio athletes and those with connections to Kent Rotarians, including Joe Schroeder, a member of the men’s USA rugby team who is related to Bill Childers.
We also learned that Dr. Spock won a gold medal in 1924 in Paris for crew. Harold Sakata (Oddjob in James Bond film Goldfinger) won a silver medal in 1948 for weightlifting. General Patton competed in the 1912 Stockholm Olympics coming in 5th in pentathlon. Bob Anderson, the actor that played Darth Vader, competed as a British fencer in 1952.
Overall, team USA was successful this year with 66 women winning medals. Women made up 58% of the medals won by US athletes. The US has won the most medals in the last 7 consecutive games. The only sports in which the US has never won a medal are table tennis and handball. The US has hosted the Olympics 8 times.
Today’s responder was Laing Kennedy.
Happy Bucks
Many happy Rotarians closed out today’s meeting by donating a few bucks when sharing their happy news. Happy Bucks today came from Will Underwood, Paul Organ, Brad Ehrhart, John Flynn, Larry Lohman, Rachel Kerns, Mark Pennell, Bill Childers, Roger Sidoti, Chas Madonio, Asad Khan, and Sabrina Christian-Bennett.
President Kathy closed the meeting by reciting the 4 Way Test.
Respectfully submitted,
Stacey Richardson
