Stephen Thomas Gough (1946 – 2021) Stephen Thomas Gough, Marine, author, historian, screenwriter, coach for Olympic weightlifting, loving son, husband, father and grandfather died shortly after his 75th birthday on October 15, 2021. His life’s journey was like a rock thrown into a lake, sending ripples ever outward into the future and having a positive effect on everyone he came in contact with. He was perfect. Stephen Thomas Gough, a Virginian by birth, roots and heritage, was raised in San Francisco, California by an Irish family from the notorious mining town of Butte, Montana. He never forgot where he came from and frequently looked back, with pride, on generations of forefathers from colonial Jamestown to the roughhewn frontier life of eking out an existence dirt farming by the Slate River in Buckingham County to the storied campaigns of the Army of Northern Virginia with the 57th Virginia Infantry and Sgt. John A. Gough, his great grandfather. Growing up, Steve lived in Ingleside, a San Francisco neighborhood where there was that automatic, post WWII sense of community, where everyone always had their door open and kids played outside all day. He delivered papers and frequently reminisced about entering “another world of wonderment” at the end of his street on Ocean Avenue where the El Rey movie theatre, grocery store, cable cars, pet shop, hobby shop were tempting a small boy with all sorts of treasures and new experiences. He never forgot the Christmas when his neighbor, Mr. Driscoll, dressed up as Santa Claus and visited all the families on his street to bring gifts for the kids. As the holidays and hospitality would have it, each home offered Driscoll a little holiday cheer before moving on to the next house. By the time he got to the Gough’s, he was teetering like a boulder on the side of a cliff but still able to belt out, Pavarotti style, a number of Christmas carols before Steve’s dad drove him home. After high school, Steve’s tenure as a butcher’s apprentice was cut short. He joined the Marine Corps on a dare from his boss and a co-worker who said, “You couldn’t do that!” when Steve admired the celebrity of a field dressed Marine who came into the meat shop. As a young United States Marine in 1966-1967, a 45-caliber pistol on his web belt and packing a PRC-25 on his back as a member of an “arty” forward observer team attached to Delta Company, affectionately referred to by its members as “Dying Delta”, 1st Battalion, 26th Marines at Khe Sanh and Tet Offensive, the Republic of South Vietnam, Steve humped his fill of hills and swollen rivers, endured long sleepless nights and watchful nights, and monsoon rains and hunger, thirst, fear, angst, terror and sorrow. Despite the horrors of war, Steve loved the camaraderie and spoke of it often. He joined the San Francisco Police Department in 1969 and became an original member of the newly formed undercover Tactical Squad in 1971. Posing as a street vendor, a homeless person or a druggy Steve apprehended some of San Francisco’s most notorious criminals. He always astounded his partner by memorizing the daily “hot sheet” list of 10-20 stolen car license plates. He was in the midst of the flower children of Haight-Ashbury; involved in trying to solve the Zodiac killer murders; and, after a five-state manhunt, caught single-handedly a renegade murderer in Golden Gate Park. He once drove a police car onto China Beach, displacing the wheel lug nuts whereupon all the tires fell off, but he never wrote a parking ticket. Steve "Coach" Gough first discovered Olympic Weightlifting within the pages of Strength & Health magazine as a young boy. His mother fashioned a barbell from rebar and concrete and thus began his pursuit of strength. One day while lifting in the backyard a young Steve hoisted the make-shift barbell overhead and, like his idols from the pages of S&H, he split his legs to support the weight overhead. His back foot landed on a piece of loose plywood behind him and he lost his balance, falling to the ground, piercing his butt with a rusty nail and getting pinned under the huge weight. Hearing his calls for help, mom ran outside, apron strings flying, and with one hand lifted the weight off of Steve. As an adult, Steve joined the Sports Palace, a legendary "old school" gym in San Francisco's rough Mission District neighborhood. There Steve met the love of his life and best friend, Gale. There he also found a community of men and women with a singular goal in common: GET STRONG! They were led by three time US Olympic Team coach, Jim Schmitz. Schmitz has this to say about Steve: "Steve joined my gym, Alex’s Sports Palace then, in 1971. I had an Olympic style weightlifting program and that appealed to Steve. He embraced it with the great enthusiasm and energy that he put into anything he did in his life. He became my assistant coach and contributed immensely to The Sports Palace team. When we needed a place to hold competitions Steve and his partner on the job were able to secure the Police Officers Association Hall. We held many competitions there in the 1970’s and to raise money for the Pacific Weightlifting Association’s lifters travel fund, the club members held Crab Cioppino feasts. Steve was my assistant coach and competition director for the 1978 Junior Nationals (now called American Open), held in The San Franciscan Hotel Ballroom. In fact Gale, who had met Steve at The Sports Palace and would later become his wife, made the banner for the backdrop of the competition. Steve was also my assistant coach at the 1983 Nationals when The Sports Palace won its second national team championship and, again, helped raise money for the team’s travel fund.” In 1983 Steve moved to Fairfax, CA about 20 miles north of San Francisco in Marin County. There, he joined Fairfax’s gym and started his own team, the Fairfax Weightlifting Club. He organized competitions and began coaching a bunch of neighborhood rag-tag latchkey kids who went on to be national champions, record holders, professional athletes, Navy SEALS, screenwriters and Hollywood actors, to name a few. This was the beginning of an incredibly successful coaching career. His proudest moment as a father and coach came when his son Tom Gough finished in 14th place at the 1996 Olympic Games. Tom was also junior and senior national champion and 1995 Pan American Games Bronze medalist. In 1986 Steve, the Fairfax Weightlifting Club, and the Pacific Weightlifting Association (PWA) almost hosted the 1988 Olympic Team Weightlifting Trials. Steve had the location set, the Marin Civic Center Auditorium, with sponsors lined up and committed. We lost the bid to Boca Raton, Florida. However, the sponsors Steve secured had already committed $2500 to our PWA fund for this event, and they said we could keep the money for future travel funds and operating expenses. This was the seed money of the PWA fund which eventually grew to over $70,000, continues to grow and continues to sponsor PWA lifters. Steve and his Fairfax Weightlifting Club moved from the Fairfax gym into an old woodshop, which they subsequently renovated, in the back of Sir Francis Drake High School in San Anselmo a few miles east of Fairfax in what became known as the Marin Training Center. Many competitions took place there, and in 1993 Steve, his assistant coach, the PWA and all those recruited organized and hosted the American Open Championships. I could go on and on about Steve, we had many great times together, many laughs and just so many great experiences. Thank you Steve from me and all the weightlifters whose lives you positively affected. You will not be forgotten." Steve was three times assistant coach for the US Junior World Team and was head coach of the US Junior Pan American Team. Professional wrestler and World's Strongest Man, Mark Henry once introduced Steve as the “toughest man in America. Steve is the only weightlifting coach in history to have two separate personally addressed, hand written letters from Presidents of the United States. When he finally retired to Montana with his wife, Steve continued to coach strength athletes from around the country creating a new breed of national and international level weightlifters. But always percolating in the back of his mind, since he was 5 years old, was a story his dad read to him from True West magazine about John Colter. That story, combined with all his military experience indelibly etched in his spirit and mind, made him realize what it meant to have lived a warrior’s life. Of this he said, “All this occurred in the fine company of my fellow Marines without my ever comprehending the impact this experience would one day engender for me, a feeling of kinship and admiration, even a fellow-warrior camaraderie, if you will, to the adventures and legacy of a fellow Virginian, John Colter, and compel me to write and bring to life his story, albeit through historical fiction.” And so, Steve Gough wrote and had published his first book, Colter’s Run. It was a labor of love and his passion for this work resonated so much that it was picked up by a well-known director and a film will be made. Steve lived a storied and exciting life, the kind of life you dream of surviving. He left an everlasting mark of altruistic "tough" love and kindness on everyone he met. His greatest skill was his ability to connect with anyone who was lucky enough to know him. His friendships and family ignited the hearth that was his heart. He immersed himself completely with everything he did. He lit up a room when he walked in; his smile was 1000 watts; his electric blue eyes were always twinkling; his brain was as sharp as an obsidian knife. He was perfect. He was preceded in death by his father, Thomas Addison Gough, his mother, Helen Peatross (Seawell) Gough and sister, Katherine Clair (Gough) Lantz. He is survived by his wife; a daughter, her husband and two granddaughters; a son, a grandson; a brother and sister-in-law; a niece; nephews; many cousins, extended family and friends: Gale R. Gough; Maryann L. (Gough) Aguiari, Sebastian Aguiari, Danielle Aguiari, Julia Aguiari; Thomas William Gough, Stephen Thomas Gough; Armen and Rochelle Bogosian; Ashley Carter; Matthew Bogosian, Stephen Todd; Peggy Gough; Addison Gough; Ed and Carole Grinton; Margaret Grinton; Larry Grinton; Mark (Sue) Charles; Mike (Dianna) Charles; Bill (Karen) Charles; Bob (Marlene) Charles; and, fur baby, Daisy. There will be a memorial service for Steve on Saturday, October 30, 2021, 1:00 P.M. at Fairview Cemetery in Three Forks, Montana. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to the Veterans of Foreign Wars. In remembrance of Steve, please go on a mountain trail hike, tell some jokes, help someone who needs it, or just be an all-around good person.