Mary Lou Retton

On another wet and cold day, the Huntingdon Woman’s Club met for their monthly meeting on February 2. Ten members arrived at the Old West Steak House conference room to a table of pink sequin sheen and teal blue accessories. The center piece for the table consisted of a beautiful flower arrangement of pick and red carnations with the addition of purple daisy and statice.

Here’s a Kanawha County Olympic story that most people do not know. The Olympian given credit for igniting the running craze in our country, Frank Shorter, lived part of his early childhood in the upper Kanawha Valley. Shorter is the only American to win a gold medal in the men’s...

Mary Lou Retton competes in the vault at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, where she won five medals. / Focus on Sport/Getty Images. In the summer of 1984, a spunky high school sophomore with an electric smile vaulted her way into America’s hearts. With a victory margin of 0.5 points, Mary Lou Retton became the first American to win the Olympics gymnastics all-around title—the first American individual gymnastics gold medal of any kind—and left the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games as a sensation.

America’s most accomplished Olympic gymnast has the full support of the nation’s first superstar in the sport. “She would never say this about herself,” said Mary Lou Retton, the United States’ first women’s all-around gold medalist in gymnastics of Simone Biles. “But we’re here to say, it was heroic. Seriously. To pull out of the Olympics? I never would have felt comfortable to come forward and say anything.”

West Virginia athlete Mary Lou Retton was only 16 years old when she became a household name after she made the American gymnastics team and competed in the 1984 Summer Olympics Games held in Los Angeles ... where MLR took home the gold medal in individual all-around, as well as two silver and two bronze medals.

Thump…Thump…Thump go my eyeballs, brain, and core trying to recover from Saturday night's wedding. Rare are expectations met on such a satisfying scale – that all parties are consumed within the joy a newly wedded couple exude. The matrimony of Kevin Holtberg and the former Annalicia Luis nailed the landing like Mary Lou Retton in 1984 . . .

To quantify 4word’s Virtual Gala on Feb. 27, readers should know the following numbers: $200,000 raised, 400 guests in attendance, 10 years of 4word and one single hour. The Virtual Gala: An Evening with Mary Lou Retton was moderated by motivational speaker Molly Fletcher. Broadcasted from Dallas’ The Slate media studios, the Gala was directed by Emmy-award-winning reporter Shelly Slater, and Toyota produced the event.

The 4word 2021 Virtual Gala: An Evening with Mary Lou Retton, is Feb. 27. The gala event is moderated by trailblazing sports agent Molly Fletcher and presented by Toyota. The sixth annual online celebration, filmed live from The Slate multi-media studios in Dallas, features an entertaining discussion with its celebrity guests.