I had forgotten (if I ever knew) that Mia Hamm was married to ex-Boston shortstop Nomar Garciaparra. They have twin girls who will be 16 next month, Grace Isabella and Ava Caroline, and a son, Garrett Anthony, who just turned 11. Mia is 50 now and was born in Selma, Alabama. Nice to see her in the puzzle today. The clue was: “Sports star inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 2021.”
Hamm is regarded as one of the greatest woman soccer players of all time, and has been called the most marketable female athlete of her generation. She signed endorsement deals with Gatorade, Nike, Dreyer’s Ice Cream, Pepsi, Nabisco, Fleet Bank, Earthgrains, and Powerbar. She starred in a commercial for Pert Plus, was featured on a Wheaties box, and endorsed the first Soccer Barbie by Mattel. She retired at age 32 in 2004, having scored a record 158 international goals. Her #9 jersey was “inherited” by midfielder Heather O’Reilly.
Hamm was mentioned in an episode of Friends. When Rachel had Joey put his hand on her belly, she says, “Aw, it’s unbelievable! Wow! She is kicking so much! Oh, she’s like, um, who’s that kind of annoying girl soccer player?” Joey asks, “Mia Hamm?” Rachel says, “Mia Hamm!”
Here she is, en famille.
It felt like women athletes’ day in the puzzle, because Mia was accompanied by soccer great Abby Wambach, and figure skater Irina Slutskaya.
Abby was named female U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year six times and is in the National Soccer Hall of Fame. She’s the highest all-time goal scorer for the U.S. team. She was born on June 2, 1980 in Rochester, NY, the youngest of seven. She credits her siblings with “toughening her up.” She played college ball for the Florida Gators. She is gay and was married to soccer player Sarah Huffman from 2013 to 2016, and is married to writer Glennon Doyle now. In 2016, Mattel unveiled a Barbie doll in her likeness, but it was part of a series that was not intended to be marketed to the public. Abby posed nude for The Body Issue of ESPN The Magazine. She wanted to send the message that no matter what shape you are, you’re beautiful. That Barbie doll looks a little creepy to me.
Irina Slutskaya, world-champion figure skater, was born on February 9,1979 in Moscow. Her dad was Jewish, but she was raised in the Russian Orthodox Church. She has three children, two from her first marriage and the third from her current marriage. She was a brilliant and groundbreaking (icebreaking?) skater. She invented the double Biellmann spin with foot change, was the first woman to land a triple lutz-triple loop combination in competition, and the first woman to land a triple salchow-triple loop-double toe loop combination. It’s hard to even type those.
Here she is, blowing Owl-Chatter readers a kiss. Love you too, Irina!
Owl Chatter readers who were planning to visit the Liberace Museum in Las Vegas are about 12 years too late: It closed in 2010 after a 31-year run. But in the “Liberace Garage” you can still see all 8 vehicles from the Liberace Museum, housed in the Hollywood Cars Museum. Also in the “garage” are the rhinestone-encrusted Radio City Baldwin piano, and stage costumes worn by Liberace.
Wladzio Valentino Liberace was born in Wisconsin on May 16, 1919, and died in 1987 at age 67 in Palm Springs. Sadly, he had an identical twin who died at birth. I remember his flamboyant piano-playing with the outrageous outfits, wild pianos, and his signature candelabra. [Note how the e in “candle” shifts to go in front of the l for “candelabra” — an example of a vowel movement.] At the height of his fame (from the 50s to the 70s) he was the highest paid entertainer in the world. He was in the puzzle today, clued with “Subject of HBO’s 2013 biopic ‘Behind the Candelabra.’”
Music critics were harsh in their assessment of his piano playing. Lewis Funke wrote, Liberace’s music “must be served with all the available tricks, as loud as possible, as soft as possible, and as sentimental as possible. It’s almost all showmanship topped by whipped cream and cherries.” Liberace himself said, “I don’t give concerts, I put on a show.” His favorite response to the critics was to note that he cried all the way to the bank. My mom got a kick out of him.
His TV show drew 30 million viewers, and he received 10,000 fan letters a week. It was broadcast in England and he became young Elton John’s hero. He denied being gay his whole life and even sued (and won) several defamation cases against publications stating he was gay. But there is no question that he was gay (not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course). In a 2011 interview, actress and close friend Betty White confirmed that he was gay and that she was often used as a “beard” by his managers to counter rumors of his homosexuality.
As flamboyant as Liberace was on stage, a lover of his stated that he was boring in his private life, mostly preferred to spend his free time cooking, decorating, and playing with his dogs, and that he never played the piano outside of his public performances.
A little known historical fact: William Penn’s mother had two sisters who ran a pie shop. Their pies were delicious and they charged very little for them. You could safely say “the pie rates of Penn’s aunts” were the talk of the colony. [That dreadful comment comes to us from egsforbreakfast on the occasion of 8D being PENZANCE, as in “The Pirates of.”]
And 13D was Double ENTENDRE, which led Lewis to share these actual headlines:
Kids Make Nutritious Snacks
Milk Drinkers Are Turning To Powder
Grandmother Of Eight Makes Hole In One
It’s only getting worse. Better stop now. See you tomorrow!
The Wellington Files 