It came down to the last race.  An Olympic Gold Medal was on the line. The American 470 crew of veteran 47-year-old Kevin Burnham and his 40-year-old skipper, Paul Foerster, had to defeat Great Britain in the final race off Athens, Greece.  The British sailors, Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield, were four points behind.  The American crew took the lead after the start and covered their rivals tack after tack,  jibe after jibe all the way around the 40-minute racecourse.  One simple mistake and the tide would turn.  Both Americans had won Silver Medals in previous Olympic Games with different teammates.  At their relatively advanced age in the International 470 class, they both knew this was likely their last chance for at a Gold Medal.  Foerster and Burnham kept the British back.  Just after crossing the finish line, world renowned photographer Daniel Forster captured a barefoot Burnham doing a back flip off the side of the 470.  To show how competitive the 470 fleet of 27 boats was in Athens, the American crew had a 7.1 average place finish. They were now Olympic Champions.

Kevin Burnham played tennis in high school and was intrigued when a New York sailor showed up at a nearby marina with a boat on the roof of his car.  The sailor was Steve Benjamin, an Intercollegiate Sailor of the Year from Yale University who was in Florida for winter training.  Benjamin’s crew was not traveling to Florida for a few weeks, so he invited Burnham to go for a sail.   At the time, Burnham was 6’ 1” tall and about 150 pounds.  They set a spinnaker and went skimming across Biscayne Bay.  Burnham was hooked on sailing and stopped playing organized tennis.  He told his mother he wanted to sail in the Olympics someday.

Over the course of his short life, Kevin Burnham won eleven World Championships in several boats.  He was equally comfortable sailing an Olympic dinghy as he was serving as a crew on an around-the-world racer.  He became a highly sought after coach after the Athens Games.  When asked how he kept his emotions in check as a coach, he explained, “I don’t keep my emotions in check.  I am in the boat with them.  I am excited when they do well and disappointed when they don’t.”  As for sailing barefoot he said, “I feel the boat better with bare feet.  I put non-slid fabric on the rail, so I don’t slip, and I sail better.”

In 1992, he raced with Morgan Reeser in the Olympics off Barcelona, Spain.  Burnham reports that the style between Reeser and Foerster were completely different: “Paul is quiet on the boat, while Morgan isn’t.”  The pair won a Silver Medal in Barcelona.  He added, “Paul Foerster is one of the world’s best helmsmen and should be an America’s Cup driver.”

Kevin Burnham was always upbeat and enthusiastic when you spent time with him.  He loved sailing and worked hard to help others improve his skills.  He died of pulmonary disease on November 27, 2020, at the age of 63.  In his memory, his wife, Elizabeth Kratzig and their children Edward and Kyla Burnham, with lifelong friend Steve Benjamin created an endowed Award and annual Grant for a memorial fund through US Sailing.  “It is given annually to a competitor (or team) who best exemplifies Kevin’s spirit and embodies these characteristics: passion, perseverance, persistence, sportsmanship on and off the water, love of the sport and love of his/her competitors.”

~ Gary Jobson