http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/21/AR2007072101259.htmlA Local Life: Michael Lescault
Labor Official Found Joy in Family and Kept Pain Under Wraps
By Matt Schudel
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, July 22, 2007; Page C07
In the mid-1960s, Michael Lescault was one of the finest high school athletes in Massachusetts. He was the quarterback of his football team, captain of the lacrosse team, a talented baseball pitcher, an excellent skier and, with his older brother, a champion doubles player in tennis.
Upon graduating from Holyoke High School in 1965, he accepted a scholarship to the prestigious Hotchkiss prep school in Connecticut, where Lescault (pronounced LESS-koh) spent a year as what he called the "ringer" on the football, lacrosse and rugby teams. Notre Dame was said to be interested in him for football, even though he was only 5-feet-7 and 155 pounds.
Michael Lescault, shown during Army service in Vietnam, saw combat. Returning home, he joined Vietnam Veterans Against the War.
What he lacked in size, though, he made up for with a fiery, determined spirit. Over the years, his injuries included six concussions, nine broken noses and one ear torn off in a rugby match. (It was sewn back on.)
"Mike was incredibly competitive," said a longtime friend, Phil Comstock. "He was also the most courageous person I've ever met."
After a year of college, he went to Vietnam as an Army sergeant and saw combat. Returning home, he promptly joined Vietnam Veterans Against the War. He graduated from the University of Massachusetts and, in 1975, received a master's degree in labor relations from Cornell University.
Early in 1986, after more than five years as an AFL-CIO labor organizer in southern Africa, the 39-year-old Lescault -- still in his athletic prime -- climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. Within weeks, he became seriously ill, and his wife, Elisabeth, drove him to a hospital in Bloemfontein, South Africa.
FULL 2 page story at link.