H eadlines
Former Temple Gymnastics Coach Talks Olympics
S P ORTS
JARRAD SAFFREN | JE STAFF
since retired from: making the
Olympics. In 1992, Minicucci qualified
for the Summer Olympics in
Barcelona as part of the U.S.

men’s gymnastics team. The
team brought each gymnast’s
personal coach to the games
as part of the coaching staff,
so Turoff went with Minicucci.

The gymnast didn’t medal
after making a single mistake,
but told Turoff on the floor
M LE
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AS A GYMNAST, Fred Turoff
tried to make the U.S. Olympic
team in 1968, 1972 and 1976.

But injuries to his right knee
and shoulders prevented him
from realizing his dream.

“I said, ‘Enough,’” Turoff
recalled of his ‘76 effort. “My
body won’t take it.”
So, the Philadelphia resident
and Philadelphia Jewish Sports
Hall of Fame member retired
from competition and became
a coach, leading Temple
University’s men’s program
from 1976-2014. Turoff’s Owls
won 18 conference champion-
ships and sent several athletes
to international competitions.

One, Dominick Minicucci,
even helped his coach realize
the dream that he had long
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Fred Turoff competes as a gymnast.

after his last event, “I’m satis-
fied with my career.”
The Temple coach was satis-
fied with his own career, too,
he said.

With this year’s Summer
Olympics starting July 23 in
Tokyo — barring any further
COVID-related setbacks
— Turoff will be among the
billions watching the events
on television or via streaming.

But unlike most, he knows
what it’s like to be there and to
participate. So this past weekend, he
shared reflections on the
experience, the one he waited
almost two decades to enjoy.

What was it like to walk out
onto the floor?
Turoff: When you walk into
the competition hall and you
have all those people watching,
and the apparatuses are all
up on platforms, it’s a great
feeling. It just makes you smile.

All the work you put in to
get there is paying off. It’s an
uplifting feeling. A feeling of
satisfaction. How did you feel watching
Minicucci perform?
Turoff: I was just hoping he
would perform as well as he
did in practice. I was watching
other people perform and
Courtesy of Fred Turoff
saying there’s an awful lot of
great gymnasts here. These are
the top guys in the world.

It was neat. It just makes
you smile. You say, ‘Boy, he
does that so well. He makes it
look so easy.’
Did you witness any all-time
great gymnasts up close?
Turoff: Vitaly Scherbo
from the Unified Team. The
Soviet Union had broken up.

He won the all-around compe-
tition. The (Unified Team)
men won the team (competi-
tion). He won five individual
(gold) medals. He was quite the
dominant gymnast.

It was seeing a guy that had
reached the pinnacle of his
sport. He does the hardest stuff
and makes it look easy. That’s
what a performer aims for: He
wants you to enjoy what he’s
doing. Did the experience of coaching
make up for not getting there
as an athlete?
Turoff: It was just another
path. I would have preferred to
compete myself. But I did have
several international compet-
itive experiences. I was proud
to help produce an Olympic
gymnast. I know how hard it is to get
to an Olympic team. So the
fact that USA Gymnastics sent
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H eadlines
personal coaches over there to
help out with the team was a
very nice gesture to acknowl-
edge the work we did.

What else did you do when
you were there?
Turoff: I went to see some
of the other sports. The diving
event was held in a pool that
had the city as a backdrop. It
was quite a site to see. Watching
these guys and girls dive with
the city as their background.

I was also going to track
competitions and marveling
at how fast people move
compared to me. Same thing
with watching swimming.

education. The coaches made a
point of traveling around and
seeing the society. Barcelona
is the home of (Antoni) Gaudi,
an avant-garde architect.

There are a number of build-
ings there that are really quite
striking. There are also Picasso
paintings and sculptures in a
Picasso museum. So we made a
point of appreciating our time
there. What advice do you have for
anyone going to this year’s
games in Tokyo?
Turoff: Train well. Keep a
clear head. Perform as best you
can. How much fun did you have
Make sure you see more
in Barcelona outside of the than just the gym. l
games? Turoff: Whenever you go jsaffren@jewishexponent.com;
to another country, it’s a good 215-832-0740
Fred Turoff, top right, with the 1992 U.S. men’s gymnastics team that competed in the Summer Olympics in
Barcelona 
Courtesy of Temple University
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