Frank Lynch (FL) and Antonio Douglas (AD)
FL: When I first met Antonio he was 270 pounds…
AD: Yes. I always have been kind of a…bad eater. If it didn’t move, I ate it and if it moved too slow I ate it. [laughs]
FL: So one day I says, ‘Look Antonio. I’d be really embarrassed if an old guy like me could run faster than you can.’ He was so anxious to get back at me he challenged me to this race. I says, ‘Okay, I’ll take you up on that. But I tell you what–this race isn’t going to be on this car wash lot. What we need to do is, we need to go out and rent a small stadium.’
AD: I had on a tank top that represented NAACP and he had one representing his people, the AARP.
FL: Unfortunately for him, in the first race he was beaten.
AD: I’d never ran a hundred meters in my life. Wasn’t no way I was going to beat him.
FL: After the race, I gave him a big hug, you know, and I said it was amazing what he’d done, everybody was so proud of him. So, we had a subsequent race the following year–in the second race, he’s been in the gym for twelve months and he’s been psyched up by his son who’s telling him what an embarrassment it is for him that his father get whipped by a geriatric guy like me. And guess what? He won the second race. There was only one person in the stadium that was happier than Antonio and that was me.
AD: Over the years I think I’ve learned more him than any one individual I’ve ever met. He is the most influential human being in my life. I don’t know where I’d be without him. I just thank God for him.
FL: I think that Antonio Douglas has been one of the important things in my life. Something I’ve been really proud to be associated with and, um, I love him.
