In all the years I covered sports the least interesting--make that the dullest--people I talked to were people who competed in horse-jumping events. The one glorious exception was Bill Steinkraus. November 5: Bill Steinkraus Values the 'Unattained Ideal' The mature champions are the most interesting. Bill Steinkraus is 43, an editor of books, the father of three boys, the winner of an Olympic gold medal, and a man who brings some perspective to what it's like to be a winner. Steinkraus said, "It's the old line. Winners know that winning is better than losing, and losers know it, too." Steinkraus won the International Jumping event of the first evening program of the horse show last night. He's won at the Garden before, and nothing he ever will win will ever be quite like his Olympic gold medal victory. But he is a competitor and there was comfort in the way he won. He took a 17-year-old horse named Bold Minstrel through the opening round and the jump-off without knocking down a barrier. Six competitors went through the first round cleanly; only Steinkraus had a clean round in the jump-off. Steinkraus has been competing since he was 10. His Olympic gold medal at the 1968 games in Mexico was one of the highlights for the United States. He is articulate, knowledgeable and, in every sense, strikes people as a winner. At a time when winning is a deadly obsession among some of the top dogs in other sports, does Steinkraus find himself identifying with them? "I think it comes down to this. There are basically two kinds of people. There are the ones who compete against themselves and a standard they have set for themselvde. There are others who compete against the field and are completely non-idealistic about it; they don't care how they win if they win. I'm AC-DC about it. I have my own standards and basically am out to try and come up to that. In our sport we try to press as far as we can without falling through the ice. My approach to winning would vary. If I, say, go in against a guy who is much better than I and who I figure might knock me out in the second round, then I would be happy if I went the distance and lost the decision. On the other hand, if I felt I was much superior to a guy, I would be unfulfilled if I didn't knock him out in the second round." Steinkraus' victory last night was met with warm applause. He is probably the kingpin rider of them all. Sombebody wondered if this could mean Steinkraus is a better rider than anybody--meaning jockeys and rodeo riders. "That would be like comparing apples and pears," he said. "We are each good in our own ways. A person knowledgeable about riding wouldn't think of such a comparison. Among riders of horses, I think we each would appreiate what the others did well. In my own case I believe I'm as good as I know how to be. "We have kids who come along that have a good eye and timing and have good stock; they do well right away. The hard thing is to stay good when things go bad, when you've sort of lost your bug (an allusion to the racetrack concept of an apprentice rider losing his weight allowance). It's like Tom Seaver; he won 25 games during the year, but he didn't have it in the playoff or the first game of the World Series. He came back in his second Series game and he'll no doubt pitch well in future Series games because he's that kind of gifted pitcher in every sense." By this time Steinkraus was taking off the hunter's pink coat in which he competed. "I couldn't walk out onto the street with this, could I? Or maybe I could if I walked south. The way people are dressing these days, I guess nobody would even turn an eye."
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Man Behind Knicks: Big, Though Small 
