Where were you when Michael won his eighth gold?

Among the millions of people who were watching television last Saturday night when Michael Phelps, Brendan Hansen, Aaron Piersol and Jason Lezak raced for gold in the 400m swimming medley at the Olympics, I count myself among about 100, most of whom will never forget where they were when it happened.

I don't recall the name of the bar, but it's located inside the Crossroads hotel and convention center in Huron.

I was there along with more than 300 other people for the Huron College all-school reunion, a glorious opportunity to see many people with whom I went to college but most of whom I hadn't seen for 48 years. Incredibly a lot of them immediately recognized me, and in most cases I knew who they were, too.

While the HC reunion was going on in the convention center, so too was a large wedding reception in an adjoining room.

So as the 10:00 hour approached, the crowd in the bar began to grow. Vacant chairs became few and far between until there were none. There were reunion people there, there was the male half of the wedding party, and there were others who were probably just out for a Saturday night on the town.

I thought it rather neat that the barmaids yelled about three minutes before the swimmers took their places, "Any last orders before the race?" Apparently they, too, wanted to watch it and not be in anybody's way delivering drinks!

The wedding party guys, who were probably just past the age of 21, were fun to have in there. They began the tradiitional Olympic chant of "USA! USA! USA!"

As the medley began, one could cut the tension with a knife, especially since other countries' teams had the lead until Michael Phelps took to the pool for his butterfly leg. From then on, we bar patrons were yelling and cheering, imploring him to get the lead, which he did. From then on, as Lezak anchored the race for America, it was pandemonium. And as he hit the wall first to clinch the gold medal, people stood and cheered.

It was a great experience, and I for one will remember for a long time where I was when Michael Phelps (and his very valuable teammates) made Olympic history and swam their way into the record books.