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Pat O’Shea, taken during bike tour of
Ireland
March 10, 1930 - October 30, 2004
Active to the very end, sports-scientist and
Professor Emeritus at Oregon State University, Pat O’Shea
collapsed after a workout and never regained consciousness. What a shock. So lively and fit, it seemed that
Pat would live forever. It
sometimes took us a while to get his jokes, but he was a wonderful and
attentive friend. Carol and I came to like and admire him greatly. We’ll miss
his frequent emails, notes and calls—and the wine from his Shea of the Hills
Vineyard that he shared with us at Christmas time.
As many of you know, Pat was the proud author and
publisher of Quantum
Strength Fitness and
Quantum Strength Fitness 2
(which you’ll find listed on our products page). His training philosophy, as lovingly
and expertly explained in Quantum 1 and
2, was that athletic-type lifting is the most effective
method of achieving total strength fitness. To Pat, other forms of strength
training were secondary. (See articles 5 and 12 on this site.)
I
knew about Dr. Pat O'Shea long before coming to know him
personally in the last decade. I read about his lifting prowess in Strength
& Health magazine years ago. I was aware of his landmark textbook Scientific
Principles and Methods of Strength Fitness, which
introduced strength training to many thousands of people in and out of college.
And I learned about his genius as a teacher, in 1989, through an
anonymous mention in Dr. George Sheehan's extremely popular column in Runner's
World.
Sheehan wrote about
a friend who taught a much-in-demand fitness course at a state university. The
protocol was not unusual, weights one day and jogging the next, yet students
rarely dropped out. The reason, Sheehan explained, was because it was a
mountaineering course. The students were preparing to climb Mt. Hood.
I've used this
story many times, in writing and speaking, to illustrate the critical importance
of goal setting, but it was some years later that it dawned on me that Sheehan's
friend was one and the same as my friend Pat O'Shea.
Pat was a great athlete,
great teacher, great man, and a great friend. Along with his family,
students and many others, Carol and I will miss him greatly.
Pat with Clarence during a visit to NM in December 1999
For full details on Pat’s life and his family, read
the glowing obituary published in the Corvallis
Gazette-Times:
Ripped Enterprises, 528 Chama, N.E., Albuquerque, New Mexico 87108, Phone (505) 266-5858, e-mail: cncbass@aol.com, FAX: (505) 266-9123. Office hours: Monday-Friday, 8-5, Mountain time. FAX for international orders: Please check with your local phone book and make sure to include the following: 505 2669123
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Copyright©2004 Clarence and Carol Bass. All rights reserved.