June 2012 - Toni Dreher Callan

     The ads on television have started for coverage of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Every time I see them, I think back to when I did an interview with 1988 Montpelier grad Toni Dreher who had direct connection with a previous summer Olympic games. That got me to thinking that catching up with Toni would be interesting to Leader readers.

     Toni, now Toni  Callan, attended The Ohio State University after high school, and that started her on the road to the Olympics and her “far from home” life in Colorado.

     “I went to OSU.  While I was there, I worked for the men's gymnastics team and through them met someone who worked for the U.S. Olympic Committee,” explained Toni. “I found out they had an intern program, so I applied and got hired in their National Events department.  My internship ran August through December 1992, and I returned to Columbus to finish up in June 1993.  After that, I packed up my car and moved to Colorado.  I actually ended up getting re-hired in the National Events department and that's what started 15 years of Olympic involvement.”

     Toni remembered the article in the Leader, her hometown newspaper.

     “I was working in NYC when you did the article about my involvement with the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. I worked in Colorado Springs a couple of years when the opportunity came up to work in the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) fundraising office in NYC.  We did a LOT of events leading up to the Games and we had a huge event after the Games with 100 Olympians at a dinner in Madison Square Garden.  I loved living in "the city"… I had a great group of friends … but I also knew it wasn't my forever place.”

     “There was a job opening back in Colorado Springs where the USOC is based so I packed up the U-Haul and moved again.  (Obviously, the idea of moving and finding a new home has never bothered me much.)  I worked for the USOC until 1998 when I went to U.S. Fencing-- the national governing body for the Olympic sport-- as their National Tournament Director.  In 2000, I spent 10 weeks working at the Olympic Games in Sydney and then doing some travelling in Australia.  Wow!  Australia is awesome!  All I can say is if you get a chance to go, you definitely should!  I didn't have a job to come home to after Australia but I thought that was a small price to pay after such a great experience.”

     ‘But I found a job in yet another area of the Olympic movement at USADA.  USADA is the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and they do the drug testing for all the Olympic sports.  I was Manager of Event Testing which meant I organized the testing that was to be done at various National Championships, Olympic Trials or other major events that required testing.  I was on staff at USADA until 2002 but I continued to work for them as a contract employee until 2008.  I worked at the Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City too.  At that point, I was married and felt like I'd had a great run with my Olympic life and wanted to turn my attention to family. My daughter was born in 2002 and my son in 2004.”

     No longer involved with the Olympics, Toni has taken a career turn recently. “I went back to design school in 2008 and I just finished on May 11.  I am working for a commercial design firm here in Colorado Springs and taking on some kitchen & bath projects on the side.  It is a complete departure from the Olympic world but I'm really enjoying the work and the flexibility too since being a mommy is still my first job. Josie is nine and just finishing 3rd grade. Right now she's in dance, guitar, student council and girl scouts.  Jack is seven and finishing 1st grade. He's into boy scouts, baseball, and he says he's ‘dying’ for some golf lessons, too.”

     Life in Colorado is obviously different from the flatlands of northwest Ohio.

     “Colorado is considered ‘high country desert’ so it's pretty arid but that means no humidity and not so many bugs as NW Ohio.  I'd fallen in love with the mountains during my internship and even with the weather. It can be crazy with 2 feet of snow in April, but winters are typically pretty mild which makes the outdoors really accessible year-round.  I've taken up skiing since being in Colorado, a sport which I'd never even thought of back home.”

     And did growing up in Montpelier help or hinder Toni’s life journey?

     “I certainly don't think it's hindered my journey!  I know it made me curious to see what was beyond.  The world's a big place and I wanted to see it.  I've travelled a lot within the US and I've seen a good bit of the world, too.  I've tried to keep a small town mindset though in my travels and in meeting new people, and by that, I guess I mean being open and friendly, understanding that they may speak another language but we're all pretty much the same.  I've also found that I have an expectation of knowing my neighbors. That definitely must be from growing up in a small town!”