Calvin Hassel of Grand Island, Nebraska, seen here paddling in the bow with Bill Torongo manning the stern, is a living legend of North American style marathon canoe racing. When I conducted this interview with him in 2005, he had won 38 USCA national titles in solo and tandem classes. By now the total must surely top 50.
Hassel fell short of adding to the total at the 2017 nationals at Dubuque, Iowa, a week ago, while a Michigan paddler named Mike Davis looked like his heir apparent. Hassel took second to Davis's first in the C1 class, and Davis and Kyle Stonehouse won the C2 class convincingly over Hassel and Torongo. Davis and his wife Rebecca teamed up to win the C2 Mixed class, in which Hassel did not race this year.
So even a living legend is not immortal. But in a career spanning several decades Hassel has given this rather obscure discipline that is not contested internationally a bona-fide superstar.
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