Lesson Learned In Track Still Factor In Decisions

It’s a lesson Dan Lyden never forgot, and wishes he never had to learn.

While competing in track for Coeur d’Alene High School in 1981, Lyden was pretty brazen he would qualify in the pole vault for state.

“I had cleared 13 feet, and I was the No. 1 vaulter in the area,” he said. “There wasn’t anyone around who was really close to me.”

Lyden’s closest competition was his teammate, Shawn Thomson, who had cleared 12 feet. But Thompson broke his foot a few weeks before the meet and wasn’t expected to vault.

“He decided the day of the meet to do it,” said Lyden. “He was out there, bad foot and all, but I still didn’t take it very seriously.”

When the event started at 10 feet, Lyden chose to pass rather then risk missing at such a short height. He nonchalantly passed at the 11-foot mark and 11-6 inches.

“All I would have had to do was clear 11-6 to qualify for state, he said. “But I passed.”

When the bar was raised to 12-6, Lyden confidently grabbed his pole and went for his first attempt. He was relaxed and sure of himself.

He missed.

Undaunted, he composed himself, shook it off as a fluke. He would not be denied a second time.

He missed.

Now shaken, Lyden tried to regain his poise. With state on the line, he knew he had to clear the bar or risk everything he worked for that spring. He was more determined.

He missed.

“That was the biggest disappointment of my life,” he said. “It was a bad decision on my part. If I hadn’t been so overconfident I could have gone on and maybe won. Instead, I stayed home and Shawn went to state.”

Lyden still uses that turning point as a guide in his life.

“I coach my kids now,” he said. “And I tell them that story to let them know nothing is always the way it seems.”

That doesn’t mean he still isn’t willing to take a risk. He just won’t do it with his eyes closed. After graduating from high school, Lyden moved to Alaska and went to work for Arco. He had given college some consideration but only wanted to go if he had an opportunity to play football.

“I was a defensive back,” he said. “I would have had to walk on somewhere. My brother, Mike, did that and got hurt. So I followed him to the Alaska oilfields instead.”

It was a prosperous decision. Within six years, Lyden was making six figures as a facility operator. But even that kind of money didn’t assure happiness.

He married his high school sweetheart, Bae Gilmore in 1985, and they moved to Anchorage and started a family the following year. Lyden’s schedule was not ideal for a new father.

“I had to fly to work in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, and stay for two weeks,” he said.

“Then I came home for two weeks and had to leave again. It meant Bae was alone.”

They moved back to Coeur d’Alene, but Lyden maintained his work schedule.

“It was a good trade,” he said. “At least while I was gone, Bae could still be around family.”

But he was unhappy being alone. He didn’t like missing his kids’ ball games or events. He didn’t like not being a part of their everyday life. He was thinking about this when he started talking to a man on a flight about a new investment in the bottled water industry. This time he didn’t pass. This time, he jumped.

Lyden had become a silent partner in an excavation business with longtime friend Chet Morris. Despite their best efforts, there wasn’t a profitable demand in North Idaho.

“So we investigated the water venture,” he said. “We learned there was a market for it here, so we went after it.”

Lyden took an early retirement option from Arco, and he and Morris poured their energy into their new investment. That was five years ago and that idea developed into the Rocky Mountain Clear Inc. (1840 W. Dakota), a bottled water company that is booming.

Rocky Mountain now serves customers as far north as Bonners Ferry, all through Spokane to the Silver Valley and Plummer. Eventually they will go into the smaller bottle industry.

It hasn’t produced the revenue Lyden used to make, but he is optimistic.

“The key thing now is I am home every night,” he said with a smile, “and I am having fun.”

This sidebar appeared with the story: WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

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