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Taft Olympian gets help in funding trip to Beijing for family

BY ZACH EWING, Californian staff writer
e-mail: zewing@bakersfield.com | Wednesday, Jul 16 2008 11:48 PM

Last Updated: Thursday, Jul 17 2008 8:49 AM

Billy Nelson’s mother, Rhonda Blythe, has some wonderful memories of watching her son, Taft’s finest, qualify in Eugene, Ore., last month for the Beijing Olympic Games.

Thanks to some friends of the family — and the generosity of Kern County — she might be able to add more in China next month.

Nelson, a former Taft High runner and a University of Colorado alumnus, finished second in the steeplechase at the U.S. Olympic Trials, giving him a free ticket to Beijing.

Blythe and her husband, Bill Blythe, Nelson’s stepdad, knew they had enough funds to send Rhonda to Beijing, but they decided Billy’s fiancée, Alisa Crane, and 1-year-old daughter, Arabella, should go instead.

“But Billy said, ‘Mom, you have to go,’” Rhonda Blythe said. “And so his buddies have lit the town on fire. And the town was waiting.”

Josh Bryant and Don Schock, Nelson’s best friends from Taft High, knew as soon as they saw him qualify that they’d do whatever they could to help.

“I was watching (the trials) on TV ... and I’m screaming,” Bryant said. “I’ve never been so elated for someone else in my life.

“This is his time to run and to shine and not worry about anything else. I talked to Don, and we said, ‘If it happens, we’re going to do it.’”

“It” turned out to be helping send all four members of Billy’s family — the Blythes, Alisa and Arabella — to Beijing. All they needed to know was how much it would take.

The answer? Between $15,000 and $20,000, about half of which the Blythes could afford on their own. That left Bryant and Schock with a goal of $10,000 to reach by about July 27, giving the family enough time to make accommodations before visiting the Chinese Embassy in Los Angeles for visa and passport information.

“It’s been four or five days,” Bryant said. “We’ve got (about $1,000) in the bank and we got some news that we’re going to get $2,000 or $3,000 from local businesses.”

To make up the difference, Bryant and Schock, with help from Pride Athletics in Taft, are selling commemorative Billy Nelson Olympic T-shirts for $15, organizing a car wash and asking for flat donations.

“We can’t run the race for him, can’t give him extra energy,” Bryant said. “So we’re doing this. He’s our brother, and we’re carrying him on our shoulders.”

Donations can be sent to: The Billy Nelson Olympic Fund, United Security Bank, 523 Cascade Place, Taft, CA 93268, or by purchasing a T-shirt from Pride Athletics at 661-765-9193.

Nelson, who’s in Europe for some warm-up races, already has provided his mom with a long list of great memories from the trials.

Some of Rhonda’s highlights: Giving his shoes to a boy who asked for them after the race, then running a celebratory lap barefoot; giving a girl a flower from his bouquet after she’d been squeamish about requesting an autograph; and the crowd in front of them parting like the Red Sea so they could meet Billy after he’d qualified.

“It’s beyond words,” Rhonda Blythe said. “The outward affection of people in the United States has been tremendous. We’ve seen him win several races, but nothing is like this. At that point, I was just like, ‘I’m going (to Beijing).’”

Thanks to a little help, that might just be true.