MORGANTOWN — For the longest time, the Olympic gold medal sat on top of Dr. Ed Etzel’s refrigerator, or maybe it was in his guitar case.
It collected dust over the years, for the most part, but also drew a lot of interest.
“People would come over and they would see it lying around,” said Etzel, who was WVU’s rifle coach from 1977-1989 and then spent 30 years at the school as a tenured professor in the College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences (CPASS) before retiring in 2019. “They always wanted to hold or wear it. I would always say, ‘Sure, knock yourself out.’”
Over time, that medal from the 1984 Summer Olympics in the men’s 50-meter free rifle prone event began to rust, prompting Etzel to take it to a local jeweler in Morgantown.
“I had him take a look at it and I asked him what it was actually worth,” he said. “He looked at it and said $30. I thought that was truly ironic.
“You work for years to climb that mountain and then you finally get there. You do it all for $30. I just always thought that was kind of funny.”
To be sure, Etzel has scaled his fair share of mountains since arriving at WVU to become the school’s rifle coach in 1977.
It marked the beginning of what has become WVU’s most-successful sport with 19 national championship trophies to back that up.
In 1977, it was a different story. The legend of those early days was WVU shooters spent just as much time shooting at rats as they did the targets inside the rifle range located at old Mountaineer Field, which was part of the downtown campus at the time.
Over his 12 years — he took a sabbatical during the 1988 season — the Mountaineers went on to win four national championships. They lost all of five matches during that time.
That, in itself, is an extreme standard of excellence, yet there are other chapters to Etzel’s story.
He was an officer in the U.S. Army, was an All-American and part of two national championship-winning teams as a collegian at Tennessee Tech.
By the time he was 22, he had already competed internationally in Finland. He was a member of Team USA in the 1978 World Championships in Seoul, South Korea and the 1979 Pan American games in Puerto Rico.
And then a crowning achievement in 1984, now 40 years ago, as the 2024 Summer Olympics are set to begin in Paris on Friday with the opening ceremonies.
“Never in my wildest dreams would I ever had imagined that shooting a rifle could take me to the places it did,” Etzel said. “I mean, who would ever think that way? I never thought it could take me to college, let alone around the world.”
On target
Growing up in North Haven, Conn., Etzel’s interest in shooting began as a kid going out in the woods with his brother and father.
By the time he was 12, he had won a state junior title.
There were other interests like basketball and baseball, but a passion had grown inside him to shoot.
“I found it quite interesting, because the people were interesting,” Etzel said. “There was an emotional and mental control that goes with the sport unlike any other sport. I guess golf would probably be another great example.
“For me, I just did something I had a passion for and something I could continue to get better at.”
It is you, a rifle, a target and your concentration and focus.
And there are no excuses, no one to blame but yourself for a shot that slides a thumbnail to the left or right.
“There is a physical component that most people may not associate with the sport,” Etzel said. “But the mental focus you have to have is unlike anything else.”
As part of Etzel’s life achievements, he is also a licensed psychologist and served as a sports psychologist for WVU athletes while at the school.
“That was something I discussed with many athletes over the years, the mental focus it takes to not only succeed, but to keep moving forward,” Etzel said. “Much of what I spoke of came from my own personal experiences.”
The Olympics
At the time, the story of the 1984 Summer Games centered around who wasn’t there.
In all, 19 countries boycotted the games, led by the Soviet Union. The United States had boycotted the 1980 Summer Games, held in Moscow, as a protest to the Soviets’ 1979 invasion of Afghanistan.
“It was definitely a big deal at the time,” Etzel said. “For me, I never let it become a distraction. I had already competed around the world previously, so I was already familiar with most of the competitors who were there or weren’t there. It personally had no effect on me.”
History has since judged those games in a positive light.
The 1984 Summer Games were the beginning of a decade of dominance for U.S. sprinter Carl Lewis — Etzel sat next to Lewis on the bus ride to the opening ceremonies — and was yet another showcase for U.S. hurdler Edwin Moses.
Those games gave us a national hero in gymnast Mary Lou Retton, a Fairmont native, as she became the first American to win a gold medal in the all-around competition.
There was also an early glimpse of what was to come in men’s basketball with Michael Jordan and Patrick Ewing.
“Michael was still just a kid back then,” Etzel said. “I happened to be in the elevator with him and Patrick Ewing. I shook hands with Patrick, and he had the most-enormous hands I have ever seen. His hand engulfed mine. They were both very nice people.”
As to Etzel’s determination and mental approach to those games, he recalled a story from Sports Illustrated that had listed him as the favorite to win the men’s 50-meter free rifle prone event.
A writer from the Los Angeles Times asked him about going for the gold.
“I remember telling him I wasn’t concerned with winning a gold medal,” Etzel said. “I simply told him I was here to do what got me here. That’s how I approached the games from my own mental standpoint.”
What exactly is the men’s 50-meter free rifle prone event? Shooters are on their belly and take 60 shots at a target, with each shot worth a maximum of 10 points.
A perfect score is 600. Etzel won the gold with a 599, which stood as the Olympic record until Germany’s Christian Klees broke it in 1996.
The aftermath
The funny thing about Etzel’s Olympic story is he’s not exactly a nut for the Olympics.
Even now, “If the Olympics just happen to be on the channel I’m watching, I may watch a little bit of it,” he said.
In 1984, Etzel’s event came in the first days of the games.
“I was there for maybe a week,” he said. “I wanted to get out of there.”
He returned to Morgantown and resumed his coaching duties at WVU, which he points out paid him about $16,000 a year.
“When I was first hired as a professor, I got a raise,” he says. “I was making $30,000 a year then.”
As for individual competition?
“I gave it up the next day after winning the gold medal,” Etzel said. “I never competed again and never really had the urge to compete again.”
New passions have come into Etzel’s life these days, like gardening and painting. Some of his paintings have been donated to the West Virginia Botanic Garden and sold at auction.
He plays the guitar and still works out regularly at HealthWorks in town.
“I have new passions now that have become a part of my life,” Etzel said. “I keep pretty busy, but I will always have memories of those ’84 games. Just to be able to represent your country and then win a gold medal for your country, I mean, how many people can say they’ve done that?”
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