Rick Riley nominated by wife to be torch bearer

Forty-seven-year-old Richard "Rick" Riley was nominated by his wife, Jill, for the honor of being a torch bearer for the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Riley, a consultant from Washoe Valley, will be running his portion of the course on Jan. 21 along with his father, Harold Riley of Georgia. He said it was a fluke that he gets to run with his father.

"I nominated a bunch of people on the computer," said Riley.

"The computer asked, 'Did I want to delete my last entry?' and being computer worthless, I did. I then had to use other names from my family to nominate others -- including my dog. One of the six I nominated was my father, and he became a running mate.

"He lives in Georgia but is running in Carson City. This is so special. My children, who are 6 and 8 years old, will get to watch their father and grandfather run together. Very special," he said.

Rile and two other Carson City torch bearers have the distinction of likely geing the only amputees to carry the torch. They work in the fabrication and manuvacture of prosthetic limbs and will be running with the prosthetics they help produce.

"I'm incredibly proud and honored to be able to do this," Riley said.