LJ b water polo: Whitley and Tudor vied

John Whitley, grandfather of Henry and Simon

Glenister, attends the Viking-Don playoff

with his wife Vicky Sat., Nov. 15,

at Coggan Complex. (Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

For two playoff games, while taking photos of the Vikings and following their games as they progressed through the CIF Open Division playoffs Nov. 5 and 11, I caught verbal snippets of the lives of Vicky and John Whitley, the grandparents of La Jolla twins Henry and Simon Glenister, from Vicky. She has a beguiling accent, very South African and evoking the old country.

I also saw and met their daughter, Vanessa, mom of the field player (Henry, a top scorer this season) and the goalie (Simon, a reserve goalkeeper). Vicky said, "She was chased by rhinos twice." I was dying to hear more, but the confines of the games and the venue limited that.

Vicky said at the second game, "John took our daughter on safari." That's when Vanessa Whitley (later Glenister) got chased by rhinos as a child.

Finally, before the CIF Open final Sat., Nov. 15, I asked John Whitley about his experiences. "Your daughter got chased by rhinos twice. That's all I've been able to gain."

We were interrupted by introductions of the players. But I was happy to learn the following:

John, as Vicky proudly told me, was a champion swimmer in his prep days. He swam for Natal, the province they lived in in South Africa. He was a big star. He was a sprinter who swam freestyle and backstroke.

The best part of it was that John Whitley swam against Tudor Lacey, who sadly passed away this past summer. Tudor and he competed in 1960. "Tudor beat me," John admitted.

They were rivals then, but miraculously, their lives both led them to La Jolla years later, where Tudor served as the conditioning coach for the Viking water polo and swim teams for many years until his passing.

Tudor had told me only last year that when he was 14, his older sister was threatened by a crocodile. Their family dog, being very protective, moved to defend her and was promptly swallowed by the croc. I told the Whitleys that story.

Of course, to them, stories of rhinos and crocs are nothing new, because that was the environment that they grew up in in Africa.