LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER

Finding pictures for some SI stories can be a lot like looking for buried treasure, according to picture researcher/editor Sue Maynard. "Athletes are like anybody else," she says. "They have been photographed throughout their lives. The pictures are there; you just have to dig for them."

Maynard played treasure hunter again for Pam Shriver's diary (Part I begins on page 46). She had to get White House clearance to use a photo and note of Vice-President George Bush, borrow a picture from a family room of Shriver's parents in Lutherville, Md. and pore over file photos and agency offerings.

Maynard provided a camera so that Shriver could take pictures in places like the women's locker room at Wimbledon, and you'll see the results in Part II. "Pam has a good eye," says Maynard. "There's no way my tennis is as good as her photography."

That may be true, but Maynard, who grew up in Bronxville, N.Y. and attended Mount Holyoke College, is no athletic slouch. She spent five summers teaching tennis and archery at Teela-Wooket Camps in Roxbury, Vt. One of her students was Abby Fuller, now the rider of Mom's Command (SI, July 15). Although Teela-Wooket was known for its horses, Maynard kept her feet on the ground. "I was scared of horses," she says, "but I enjoyed watching them in action. My camera gave me an excuse to hang around the riding rings." What started out as an excuse nearly became a full-time pursuit, and Maynard photographs have been featured in 10 books, as well as in SI, PEOPLE and equestrian publications.

She is particularly proud of a picture that she took at the L.A. Olympics and that SI published. "I was in a seat about 20 rows up from the track when Mary Decker fell," Maynard says. "She was right in front of me. I realized the light was poor, so I automatically opened up the lens." What she got was a dramatic photo of an agonized and stunned Decker (now Mary Decker Slaney) lying in the infield after her collision with Zola Budd. "It's a very special memory for me," says Maynard.

PHOTO

GEORGE TIEDEMANN

MAYNARD GAVE SHRIVER A CAMERA, BUT USED HER OWN TO SHOOT DECKER HITTING THE DECK

PHOTO

SUE MAYNARD

[See caption above.]