Columnist Steve Carp: Rationalizing death is a futile task

IT WAS THE kind of news that numbs you at first. Then, once it sinks in, it sort of devastates you. Eventually, you get around to shaking your head sadly and asking out loud, "Why?"

Death rarely provides a plausible explanation. So to try and conjure up a reason why Sheila Tarr Smith is no longer with us might be an exercise in futility.

A native of Las Vegas, she exemplified Nevada -- battle born, rugged and ready to take on all challenges. She was a three-sport athlete at Bonanza High. She could have gone anywhere to college, but chose to remain home and attend UNLV.

She had been a world-class athlete, good enough to nearly make the U.S. Olympic team in 1988 in the heptathlon. She was good enough to cut the mustard as a Clark County firefighter. She was good enough that she was elected to not one, but two halls of fame for her athletic achievements.

She was only 34.

It makes you shake your head sadly and ask, "Why?"

She was UNLV's first great women's athlete. She was the NCAA heptathlon champion in 1984, the school's first individual champ. She was the runner-up in '85. She still is the school record-holder in the shot put, both indoors and outdoors, and is in the top five in five events.

But Sheila wasn't about records. Her thing was competing and doing what she loved to do. And she loved track. For her, trying to clear the bar in the high jump or get another couple of feet out of the discus was what drove her.

She was a throwback to the days when it wasn't about competing for endorsements or prize money or appearance fees. It was simply a test of whether or not on a given day she could run faster, jump higher or throw longer than the competition.

That zeal, that love, carried over to her civilian life. She chose to become a firefighter, a noble profession indeed. She hoped her small contribution of helping others would make the world a better place.

In the meantime, she met someone, fell in love and eventually got married. For a change, a good person who gave so much of herself was getting something back in life. And it was well deserved.

Then she was stricken by a disease that basically shut her body down. Even though she was a fighter all the way, this was one battle she couldn't win.

It makes you shake your head and wonder, "Why?"

It hurts to see anyone leave so early. Especially the good people. And I'm going to miss Sheila Tarr Smith.

At one time, I was a big fan of track and field. I remember Sheila trying to make the '84 Olympic team in Los Angeles. I remember her competing up in Eugene, Ore., at Hayward Field, the mecca for the sport.

In those days, and they seem like so long ago, Carl Lewis, Edwin Moses, Florence Griffith-Joyner and Jackie Joyner-Kersee were dominating the scene, and Sheila was part of that scene.

Today, American track is in shambles. You'd be hard pressed to name more than a couple of athletes. I can only imagine Sheila looking at the state of her beloved sport, shaking her head sadly and wondering, "Why?"

Instead, it is left for us to do the head-shaking on her behalf.

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