Born in October of 1959 (he claims just making it as a product of the 50’s), Whit grew up on the east coast of the US just outside of Philadelphia. After high school, feeling the need to explore, he ventured west in his 1966 VW bug and parked it in Arizona for 6 years.
Between high school and college he worked at Arcosanti, a solar architectural wonder in the high mesa lands of central Arizona designed by his Uncle, the world-renowned architect, Paolo Soleri.
When Whit finally ventured back to the books, he studied aviation at Cochise College in Southern Arizona where he received his private pilots’ license. He served a year on the student government as the schools “Entertainment Director” (go figure!), and was listed as one of the most outstanding students in the “Who’s Who of American Junior Colleges”.
In 1982 he transferred to the University of Arizona where he began his studies in Japanese. For his final year of school he joined an exchange program to Japan and The Kansai University of Foreign Studies.
After a year in Japan it wasn’t enough for Whit so he stayed and continued to absorb the language and culture for another 2 years. It was during this time that he discovered the sport of Triathlon.
Triathlon back then was in its early years of development and a relatively unknown sport. In May of 1986, Whit competed in his first ever Triathlon placing 2nd overall. He was in fact running in 1st and near the end with 20 meters to go a Japanese athlete clipped him at the line for the win. The event was televised nationwide in Japan and Whit became an instant star for “letting the Japanese guy win”!
In his 4th Triathlon race he competed in the Ironman Japan in Lake Biwa.
The date was August 1986 and it was one of the very first years of the qualifying system for the Hawaii Ironman. Whit placed 12th overall, qualified, packed up his things, shaved his legs, and moved to Hawaii.
After the 1986 Ironman Whit moved his base to Honolulu, which is where he really began to excel with his athletic endeavors. As an elite amateur, he won numerous Triathlon, Duathlon, and Running races outright and became a well-known entity in the multi sport arena in the US and Japan.
7 time Ironman finisher. 5 Hawaii, 1 Canada, 1 Japan
2 time Champion of the Keauhou-Kona Triathlon
Hawaii Volcano Marathon Champion
PR’s: 5K – 15:38, 10K – 32:30 (after 40K bike), 21K – 1:14, Marathon 2:52, Ironman – 9:38