California dreaming for Cup grinder

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

Veteran America's Cup grinder Larry Mialik is torn - he wants to be in two places at opposite sides of the globe on January 1, 2000.

Mialik would love to be in a crowd of 100,0000 in California to see his son, Matt, play in the Rose Bowl, the crowning game of the American college football year.

But it's more likely that the 43-year-old former professional footballer will be out on the waters of the Hauraki Gulf, competing for Stars & Stripes in the first race of the Louis Vuitton Cup semifinals.

Mialik, who played tight end for the Atlanta Falcons and San Diego Chargers, knows his job is here sailing for Dennis Conner.

But he was still in raptures when the news came through that the University of Wisconsin had made the Rose Bowl. The call came from 19-year-old Matt when Mialik senior was out on the water, racing against the Swiss challenge.

The mobile phones had just been taken off the boat, so the proud dad had to wait seven hours before being greeted back at the dock by signs of congratulations made by the shore crew.

"It's a huge deal. They call the Rose Bowl the grand-daddy of them all, because it's been around so long," he said.

"Matt's a freshman, a young guy just earning his way in the team. He's going to do something that I never did - get a championship ring."

Father and son have a lot in common - Mialik senior also went to Wisconsin and played tight end. Larry Mialik went on to play professionally in the NFL in the 1970s, and after he retired, was asked to become a grinder on Heart of America in the 1987 America's Cup in Fremantle. He then won the Cup in 1992 on board America3.

Young Matt became part of the team in both campaigns.

"He cleaned the bilge every day, and he was so little we'd send him up the mast to do things," Mialik laughs. "We wouldn't do that now - he's 235lbs these days.

"But if he wasn't playing college football, I'd have him out here sailing with us."

Like a number of grinders in this America's Cup, Mialik knew nothing about sailing but was called on because of his physical strength and competitive edge.

"It's not very often that you get a second chance in life to compete at the top level of sport," said Mialik, who is not a full-time sailor, but has a food business.

Mialik's wife, Jane, and 16-year-old daughter, Megan, a promising athlete, will travel the world for their successful family. Their first stop will be Auckland for Christmas, but they will be back in Pasadena to watch Matt play against Stanford University on January 1.