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• Chris Humbert reminisces about his time on the Olympic water polo team

• 'Clean family entertainment'

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• Donations being accepted for abused baby, mother

• Pirnejad leaving Lodi for Bay Area planning

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November 2nd, 2009

• Deputies name suspect in fatal Acampo shooting

November 7th, 2009

• Lodi High graduate was at Fort Hood

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• Tour packs buses as birdwatchers admire Sandhill cranes

• City of Lodi staff looking into possibility of limiting number of taco trucks

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• Out of control

• Homicide suspect Anthony Hubbard arraigned

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• New Lodi Memorial rule to combat spread of H1N1: Visitors must be older than 16

November 6th, 2009

• Short sales make up nearly half of Lodi market

• Regional Roundup

• Lodi man accused of smuggling drugs, weapons for inmates at state prison

• 'I-5 Strangler' sentenced to 6 terms of life

• Jury convicts Acampo man of torture, assault of his girlfriend

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November 5th, 2009

• A lower Lodi Lake

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November 4th, 2009

• Candle fire

• Rep. Jerry McNerney sets telephone town hall for Thursday

• Jason Behrmann is unanimously named Galt's city manager

• Regional Roundup

• Galt City Council argues over ordinance hiring residents

• San Joaquin County sues state over prison hospital planned for Stockton

• Big win for Allen Baroni in reclamation election

• California sends Democratic loyalist John Garamendi to Congress

• Bicycling father raising awareness of teen suicide

• Lodi City Council weighs raising fares to restore some bus service

November 3rd, 2009

• 500 attend service for Kyle Coumas

• Correction

• Galt considers ordinance that would require city contractors to hire locally

• Regional Roundup

• Have you seen a missing guide dog puppy in Lodi?

• Galt man dies after weekend Highway 12 crash

• Jason Behrmann is top candidate for Galt city manager

• Deputies name suspect in fatal Acampo shooting

• Clarification

November 2nd, 2009

• Downtown Lodi trick or treat

• Public Meetings

• Correction

• Kyle Coumas funeral today

• 27-year-old man shot to death Saturday night in front of Acampo home

• Regional Roundup

• Group investigates reports of haunting

• Sandhill Cranes Festival comes to Lodi next weekend

• Lamborghini lovers gather for show, fine wine, luncheon in Woodbridge

• Lodi's 'Biggest Loser' Christy Richesin runs 5K Halloween race

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Chris Humbert reminisces about his time on the Olympic water polo team

Chris Humbert was angry. The Italians were playing rough, and he was just about ready to give it back to them, but worse.

So Humbert, sick of a stuck-up, aggressive opponent, went ferociously after a ball, but with a little too much strength.

The player went home in an ambulance.

"I just plain knocked him out," Humbert said. "The rest of the game was just a huge fight with the Italians."

Humbert? Well, he left with a torn eyebrow. Nothing new for him, as both of his eyebrows have been stitched about 10 times.

Water polo at the highest levels, after all, can be brutally physical.

"There was one time I broke my hand on somebody's face," Humbert said.

"Oops."

Perhaps Lodi's greatest Olympian, Humbert played on three Olympic water polo teams.

Chris Humbert competed in the 1992, 1996 and 2000 Olympics. (Brian Feulner/News-Sentinel)

Standing 6-feet, 7-inches, with broad shoulders and hands the size of dustpans, he sat relaxing at his mother's house on Friday. Humbert and his family were visiting Lodi before a trip to Disneyland.

With his wife nearby and his daughters playing at his feet, he reminisced about his days of glory.

"It was fantastic. It's 12 years of my life that I would never give back," Humbert said.

Before busting hands and breaking records, Humbert was an energetic high schooler known for his skill, fairness and leadership on and off the field.

"He was a deadly package," said former Tokay High School coach Courtney Porter. "He never once put himself before another teammate and was never rude to teammates, just a very dynamic (part)."

Porter also said Humbert had great "court vision" because when not in the water, he was playing basketball.

"He could see things before they happened," Porter said. "He played inside and outside. If he scored one, he would want to score 10 more."

After playing at Tokay, Humbert accepted a water polo scholarship to the University of California, Berkeley.

After one season there, he was recruited by the national men's water polo team.

Playing college water polo, he advanced until he was top in the country. Upon graduating with a degree in history at age 22, Humbert found himself training for the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.

Though the United States team went home without a medal, Humbert said that after that Olympics, he had a spot as the team's center — the top offensive and often the roughest position in the pool.

"That's all I needed. I didn't do anything else. It's just what I did," Humbert said. "Water polo just took me everywhere."

In 1993, a dislocated shoulder kept Humbert in physical therapy for about six weeks, but by the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, he was ready.

There, Humbert experienced his fondest Olympic memory. Walking into the opening ceremonies with tens of thousands of American fans cheering is something he will never forget.

The 2000 Olympics in Sydney were Humbert's last shot at gold, and though the team finished sixth, he said it was still all worth it.

Though Humbert hated the training, consisting of more than six hours of swim practice and an hour of weights every day, he loved the competition. Twelve years of international water polo was more than he could ever ask for.

Yet, in 2001, as his water polo career ended, Humbert married his wife, Greek model and actress Annita Nathanail.

Their meeting was an interesting twist of fate, involving Nathanail rooting for the team Humbert was playing against and finding her future husband completely unattractive.

"I was supporting the other team and remember seeing him and thinking, 'What an arrogant guy,'" Nathanail said of her first time meeting Humbert.

But two years later, they started dating. They now have two children, Cynthia, 6, and Tereza, 4.

Humbert recently started his own computer business in Greece, PC Express, and oversees four employees.

The sometimes-bloody battles in the water are over.

Now Humbert embraces the rewarding challenge of raising children and running his own business.

But as he heads off to Disneyland with his children — their last destination before heading back to Athens, Humbert is happy as a dad, and very much OK with the changes.

"It has to end at some point," Humbert said. "I'm just at a different place now."

Contact Natalie Flynn at natalief@lodinews.com.