V 6 N. 74 Shakespeare Knew Cross Country

October 6, 2016, 12:48 pm

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SHAKESPEARE UNDERSTOOD CROSS COUNTRY

When I first saw Henry V performed on the silver screen  by Kenneth Brannagh, I was so moved by the St. Crispin’s Day  speech before the Battle of Agincourt that I felt like getting up in the cinema and kicking someone’s you know what.   The Bard caught what many in modern times call the pre-game or pre-meet coach’s speech  and set it alight.    It was  meant  to inspire people who would go into battle seemingly not caring if they  lived or died as long as their side carried the day.  He tells them that later the survivors would be able on the Feast of St. Crispin to  roll up their sleeves and look at the scars they earned and tell their grandchildren what happened on that day.  He talks about the men who stayed behind in England when his men would be fighting.  How they would regret not being there.  He invokes the passions of men to overlook the odds and go forth and believe in themselves.  Pure mind over matter. 

The battle took place in April, 1415 near the end of the Hundred Years War between England and France.  On this day the  French knights greatly outnumbered the English and they were on their home ground.  They definitely had home field advantage as Henry and his men had been on the march for some time and were cold and wet and short of rations.  However this battle was to turn the medieval  way of warfare on its head.  The French army consisted of armed nobility, men who had all taken vows of chivalry.  They did not use the common man to represent them in battle, (one)  as they did not want to arm the peasants and risk an uprising, and (two)  because warfare  was considered a gentleman’s privilege.   Were that not still the case.

The English however were not kin to those thoughts having also fought a ‘civil’ war (The War of the Roses) for years between themselves and resorted to the recruiting,  training,  and arming of the less than noble folk.  Furthermore the English were on the cusp of weapons technology and had developed the longbow which was capable of piercing French armor.  When Henry’s men set arrow to the bow, the French knights were doomed.   This battle demarked the end of the middle ages and the beginning of the Renaissance.  Two hundred years later Shakespeare was able to reignite those times in his plays.  

The King is referred to by his men as King Harry.  This is a corruption of Henri or what it  sounded like in the ears of the common  folk.  Henry V had blood mixed with the French in his veins.    In fact it is a derivation from the French  Henri and the original Old German  Heinrich or Haimirich..  Harry became a very popular name in England and was even used in the phrase, ‘every Tom , Dick , and Harry’. 

So what we have here is a modest attempt to update the story in the context of a late  season cross country meet.  The team of coach Harry is attempting to get through the NCAA district meet and on to the nationals at  Terre Haute, a name perhaps lost  on the unwashed and unschooled.

When starting this little exercise I thought of Coach Harry Groves the venerable dean of Penn State Cross Country and Track and Field.  Harry is a living legend and the epitome of the salty toughness of the old time coaches.  I’ve never met the man, but the stories about him can be found on the Penn State alumni track blog.  How do you say ‘reverence’ and ‘fear’ in the same breath?  Read the blog and get the answer.

https://psutafalumnigolf.blogspot.ca/

My own college coach at Oklahoma, Bill Carroll, used to say before the big races.  “This ain’t no county meet.  And if you’re not ready to go all out and give 100%, just get on the bus and wait there.  We won’t say a thing.”

You will see on the left, the original St. Crispian’s Speech as Shakespeare wrote it.  On the right side our updated Cross Country Version.  You may also reference the speech as Brannagh and Sir Laurence Olivier delivered it. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-yZNMWFqvM  Kenneth Brannagh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9fa3HFR02E   Laurence Olivier

George

The Life of Henry the Fifth

Wm. Shakespeare

Act 4  Scene III

The English Camp

The Characters:

Coach Harry, venrable coach of the Puxatony State Groundhogs XC team

The Runners:  Gloucester, a third year chemistry major, suspected of creating PEDs in his alchemy courses, Bedford, a transfer from Great Britain, said to be a former world class six miler,  Exeter, another Englisman transfer from McNeese State, Erpingham, red shirt frosh out of east Texas, Salisbury, a born again runner from Timmons, Ontario
Westmoreland,  grad assistant coach recently retired from the US military

Enter  GLOUCESTER, BEDFORD, EXETER, ERPINGHAM, SALISBURY and WESTMORLAND

As W. Shakespeare did write it                                    Updated Version (with apologies)

GLOUCESTER                                                        GLOUCESTER

Where is the king?                                                      Where the f--- is Coach Harry?

BEDFORD                                                                BEDFORD

The king himself is rode to view their battle.            He’s in his golf cart looking

O’er the cross  country course and laying

Strategy in his seasoned mind.

                                                                                     

WESTMORELAND                                                WESTMORELAND

Of fighting men they have full three score

 thousand                                                                    The French are  loaded with studs.

EXETER                                                                   EXETER

There’s five to one;  besides, they are all fresh.         They’ve all been tapering and Harry’s

                                                                                    Dusted our asses at practice every night

                                                                                    This week.

SALISBURY                                                             SALISBURY

God’s arm strike with us! ‘tis a fearful odds.                         If God is on our side, but  I fear He’s

God be wi’ you princes all; I’ll to my charge:                        not, we’ll all be in shit by the mile

If we no more meet till we meet in heaven,                           mark.  Good luck you guys, I’ll be

Then joyfully, my noble Lord of Bedford,                            over at the coaches’ tent  and

My dear Lord Gloucester, and my good Lord Exeter,           watch the JV and varsity races from there.

And my kind kinsmen, warriors all, adieu!                            Meet you at the vans afterward.  

BEDFORD                                                                            BEDFORD

Farewell, good Salisbury; and good luck go                          Best to ya,  Sali.

With thee!                                                                               (Aside to Exeter)  He’ll be rollin’ in

                                                                                                Shit himself  after  that JV race.

EXETER                                                                               EXETER

Farewell, kind lord; fight valiantly to-day:                            Luck , Sali – Do your best,

And yet I do thee wrong to mind thee of it,                           That’s all we can ask.

For thou art framed of the firm truth of valour.                      (Aside to Bedford) Bleedin’ Sali

                                                                                                Stole  my spikes!

EXIT , SALISBURY RUNNING LIKE HELL.

BEDFORD                                                                            BEDFORD

He is full of valour as of kindness;                                         Yeah, he’s a two faced lying,

Princely in both.                                                                     Arsehole.

WESTMORELAND                                                            WESTMORELAND

O that we now had here                                                          Why can’t we recruit a few more

But one ten thousand of these men in England                      Milers like we did in Viet Nam?

That do no work to-day!                                                         To get a better body count.

KING HENRY V                                                                  KING HENRY V

What’s that he wishes so?                                                       What’s that freakin’ Westmoreland

My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair                                 trying to pull over on me?

Cousin:                                                                                    I gave him that grad assistant job

If we are mark’d to die, we are enow                                     ‘cause our mothers are sisters, and

To do our county  loss; and if to live,                                     he goes behind my back, the lout.

The fewer men , the greater share of honour.                         I’d rather run with five guys, lean

God’s will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.                   And mean than take them down with

By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,                                      numbers.  Get those JV’s out of my

Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;                                sight. Those high school wonders

It yearns me not if men my garments wear;                           All wanting full rides, they never

Such outward things dwell not in my desires:                        produce.  I’m down to my jockstrap

But if it be a sin to covet honour,                                           for a budget. 

I am the most offending soul alive.                                        All I want is to win this f---ing

No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England:                  District.  And no more spikes to hand                                                                                                       Out.  I was  hoping for Mizunos and the 

                                                                                                Bloody Exchequer sends us Nike                                                                                                              Tailwinds.

                                                                                                If we can get by Michigan

God’s peace!  I would not lose so great an honour                We’ll win the Nationals on the

As one man more, methinks, would share from me               Terre Haute come

For the best hope I have.  O, do not wish one more!              Thanksgiving Day.

Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,            Have faith , cousin Westy, do not

That he which hath no stomach to this fight,                         seek one more replacement if you

Let him depart, his passport shall be made                            value your assistantship.

And crowns for convoy put into his purse:                             Let any of these Slackers who is not

We would not die in that man’s company                              ready to give 110% just get on the

That fears his fellowship to die with us.                                 Bus right now and never show

This day is called the feast of Crispian:                                  Himself again at practice.

He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,                    Today is the feast of St. Crispian,

Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,                           And even though we are a state

And rouse him at the name of Crispian.                                 Sponsored university, we will undo

He that shall live this day, and see old age,                            That PC sanction and honour our

Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,                         saintly heritage.  And someday when

And say ‘To-morrow is Saint Crispian:’                                 We are Farts Redundant, shall we pull up our trouser legs

Then will  he strip his sleeve and show his scars.                  And show off our

And say ‘These wounds I had on Crispin’s day’                    Spiking scars at the Legion Hall.

Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,                                  And the lads swilling the cheap beer

But he’ll remember with advantages                                      will remember our names-

What feats he did that day: then shall our names.                  Coach Harry, Bedford, Exeter,

Familiar in his mouth as household words                             Warwick, and Talbot , Salisbury, and

Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,                                      Gloucester.  They will teach their

Warwick, and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,                   sons and daughters now, and St.

Be in their flowing cups  freshly remember’d.                       Crispin shall never go by without

This story shall the good man teach his son;                          The world remembering how we few

And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,                                We happy few, we band of brothers;

From this day to the ending of the world,                              did meet the test,

But we in it shall be remember’d;                                           Achieved and sustained Lactate

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;                          Threshhold, and crossed the line in

For he to-day that sheds his blood with me                            Victory!!

Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,                                Those who did not answer that call

This day shall gentle his condition;                                        but instead stayed home watching porn will curse themselves and hide

And gentlemen in England now a-bed                                   their senseless tattoos when we are

Shall thin k themselves accursed they were not here,             Honoured with our teammates on  

And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks               St. Crispin’s Day.

That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.                      

Re-enter SALISBURY

SALISBURY                                                                         SALISBURY

My sovereign lord, bestow yourself with speed                     Coach, enough with the small talk

The French are bravely in their battles set,                            We haven’t even  our numbers on

And will with all expedience charge on us.                             Our beating breasts.

We need some run outs.  The Frogs

                                                                                                Are all on the line, ready to go.

KING HENRY V                                                                  KING HENRY V

All things are ready, if our minds be so.                                 It’s mind over matter , Lads!

                                                                                                To Hell with run outs!

WESTMORELAND                                                            WESTMORELAND

Perish the man whose mind is backward now.                       Salisbury has my f------g spikes fer

                                                                                                Chrissakes!

KING HENRY V                                                                  KING HENRY V

Thou dost not wish more help from England,coz?                 Then run barefoot, Westmoreland

                                                                                                You sorry piece of rotten codfish!

WESTMORELAND                                                            WESTMORELAND

God’s will! My liege, would you and I alone                         OK, coach, but don’t say I didn’t

Without more help, could fight this royal battle.                   Warn ye.

KING HENRY V                                                                  KING HENRY V

Why, now thou hast unwish’d five thousand men;                 We can pull this off, my Boys.

Which likes me better than to wish us one.                            You’ve just got to believe in

You know your places: God be with you all!                         Yourselves.   And may the

                                                                                                Almighty light a fire under your

                                                                                                Collective arses.

ENTER MOUNTJOY, A MESSENGER FROM THE FRENCH

MOUNTJOY                                                             MOUNTJOY (at coaches’ meeting)

Once more I come to know of thee, King Harry.       Well, Harry, you can pull out now and go

If for thy ransom thou wilt now compound,               home before your lads lay strewn across

Before thy most assured overthrow:                           bloody meadow, spiked to  shreds,

For certainly thou art so near  the gulf,                      Achilles ruptured, ACLs torn.  They’ll

Thou needs must be englutted.  Besides in mercy,     naught be ready for the indoor season. 

The constable desires thee thou wilt mind                 You’ll have to red shirt the entire team.

Thy followers of repentance; that their souls             Go home now and suffer no more

May make a peaceful and a sweet retire                     humiliation at French hands.  Indeed,

From off these fields, where, wretches, their             we are on our home turf. You shall

Poor bodies  must lie and fester.                                 Rot in the sun.

KING HENRY V                                                      KING HENRY V

Who hath sent thee now?                                            Who sent you with this piece of crap

                                                                                    Message of foreboding?

MOUNTJOY                                                             MOUNTJOY

The Constable of France                                             ‘Tis the surrogate of the French, one

                                                                                    Dassler from the Rhinelands,

                                                                                    Purveyor of a magic footwear that will

                                                                                    Make us invulnerable to your Fearsome

                                                                                    Farm Lads.  Beware the three stripes

                                                                                    Shall leave a mark on your backsides!

KING HENRY V                                                      KING HENRY V

I pray thee, bear my former answer back:                  I tell you, Man, take this my answer back to

Bid them achieve me and then sell my bones.            Your Kraut purveyor , that your offer to

Good God! Why should they mock poor fellows thus?         Retreat insults us too much to accept.

The man that once did sell the  lion’s skin                          There will be no baby cast out with the

While the beast lived, was killed with hunting him.            Bath on this playing field.

A many of our bodies shall no doubt                                     We’d rather leave our bones upon

Find native graves; upon the which, I trust,                           Your campus to fester and reek sores

Shall witness live in brass of this day’s work:                       upon your coeds, than walk away

And those that leave their valiant bones in France,                from our fate with tails ‘twixt our

Dying like men, though buried in you dunghills,                   Loins.

They shall be famed; for there the sun shall greet them,        Let me say with pride that we are

And draw their honours reeking up to heaven;                       Gay Warriors cloaked in Crimson

Leaving their earthly parts to choke your clime,                    And Gold and Fuschia  though a bit

The smell whereof shall breed a plague in France.                Soiled from this incessant French

Mark then abounding valour in our English,                          Reign, if you so deign a wretched

That being dead, like to the bullet’s grazing,                          Pun.  Is there no decent dry cleaner

Break out into a second course of mischief,                           in this forsaken land?  Our secret is

Killing in relapse of mortality.                                               A second wardrobe, Versache no less

Let me speak proudly: tell the constable                                While you French must be content in

We are but warriors for the working-day;                              your derivative Dior and Louis

Our gayness and our gilt are all besmirch’d                           Vuitton  Purses. 

With rainy marching in the painful field;                               You will go running backwards and

There’s not a piece of feather in our host—                           From these Fields bare arsed when

Good argument, I hope, we will not fly—                             We English are finished with our work.

And time hath worn us into slovenry:                                     Come no more with offers of

But, by the mass, or hearts are in the trim;                             Surrender, Mountjoy.

And my poor soldiers tell me, yet ere night

They’ll be in fresher robes, or they will pluck

The gay new coats  o’er the French soldiers’ heads

And turn them out of service.  If they do this—

As if God please, they shall, -- my ransom then

Will soon be levied.  Herald, save thou thy labour;

Come thou no more for ransom, gentle herald:

They shall have none, I swear, I swear, but these my  joints;

Which if they have as I will leave  ‘em them,

Shall yield them little, tell the constable.

MOUNTJOY                                                             MOUNTJOY

I shall, King Henry. And so fare thee well:                You shall hear no more from

Thous never shalt hear hearald any more.                  The likes of me King Henry.

                                                                                    You, Sir,  may mange de la merde!

ENTER YORK

YORK                                                                        YORK

My Lord, most humbly on my knee I beg                  Coach, please do  please let me set the

The leading of the vaward                                          pace on the first mile.  A 4:15 is

                                                                                    Within my legs.

KING HENRY V                                                      KING HENRY V

Take it, brave York.  Now, soldiers, march away:     Take it out hard, fair York.

And how thou pleases, God, dispose the day!            And should God care a hoot

                                                                                    This day will be England’s and you

                                                                                    Shall wear the noble boot.

Exeunt                                                                         Off they go

                        

---

V 6 N. 75 Knowles Dougherty R.I.P.

October 10, 2016, 6:51 am

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Knowles Dougherty R.I.P.

By Paul O’Shea

Cross Country Journal Publisher and Editor Knowles Dougherty died September 1, 2016 in his Austin, Minnesota home.  He was 82 years old.  While a man of varied interests and accomplishments, we knew Knowles as an important figure in our sport for more than three decades.

Knowles was born in Austin and went to its high school where he became a competitive runner on the track and on cross country courses.  He went on to run at the University of Colorado and Swarthmore College.  Following graduation he joined the American Friends Service Committee, serving in Guatemala, Mexico and San Salvador.

He continued to pursue higher education and received a master’s degree in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a doctorate in education from Harvard University in l968.  Knowles’s interest in alternative education led he and Darlene, his wife, to found the Warehouse Cooperative School in Boston.  They moved to Missouri in l975 where he worked as a teacher and farmer.

Knowles formed a publishing company and launched Cross Country Journal 32 years ago.  The publication was suspended in 2015 with his illness.

Cross Country Journal’s audience consisted of many of the sport’s most accomplished coaches.  Early on Knowles established a Board of Advisors which included Joe Newton, Olympic coach and widely regarded as the most successful high school cross country coach in history, Doris Brown Heritage, two-time Olympian and Hall of Fame honoree, Bob Larsen, Hall of Fame inductee, Ken Reeves, twice named the national high school cross country coach of the year, and Jerry Popp, high school coach of the year and member of the coaches Hall of Fame.

On learning of Knowles’s death readers remembered him for his service and leadership in the sport.

Tom Coyne, Vice President for Student Services, Emeritus at Western Michigan University said:  “When one has a passion, no matter how obscure it seems to the wider world, that passion can sustain, encourage and inspire in ways beyond measure.

“Knowles Dougherty was a runner, wrote about running, encouraged running and provided inspiration and information about running to countless others who also had to, wanted to, run.

“Whether it was for the experienced coach, or better yet, the young runner trying to find his or her way, the gifts of information, advice, encouragement found in Cross Country Journal for over three decades were a true legacy.”

Ed Ernst, head track and field and cross country coach at St. Ignatius College Prep High School in Chicago: “ I started writing for CCJ in the very last years of the publication.  When I was stuck and didn’t want to write anything, I would get an email from Knowles full of excitement for an idea he wanted for CCJ.  Then I would get to work on it, because of his enthusiasm and because he needed it right away.

“Knowles gave us space in CCJ to celebrate our inaugural Magis Miles, a night of mile races on the track and really one of Chicago’s only current big track events.  I wonder how many other events he helped that way over the years?”

I was privileged to write articles for the Journal for almost twenty years.
Many of us who cherish the integrity and guidance he brought to the sport will only appreciate his wider contributions now that he is gone.

Paul O’Shea, a long-time contributor to Cross Country Journal now writes for Once Upon a Time in the Vest from his home in northern Virginia, and can be reached at Poshea17@aol.com.


Ed.  If you are looking for something you may have missed in Cross Country Journal, I found this on the internet.  It is a compilation of Best Cross Country Workouts from the first twelve volumes of Cross Country Journal published in 1995.

Cross Country Journal   Best Workouts

V 6 N. 76 1964 Yonkers Marathon A Conference Call

October 12, 2016, 1:00 pm

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The 1964 Olympic Marathon Trials

Yonkers, NY

Conference Call with Some of the Participants

Buddy Edelen after the Yonkers Race  (AP photo)

     On June 8, 2016 I was privileged to listen in on a conference call organized by Gary Corbitt, son of the late Ted Corbitt, with several of the runners who ran in the first of two Olympic Trials Marathons in 1964.   The date of the race was May 24, 1964.  It was 93 degrees Fahrenheit and humid.  The race went off at midday.  The winner of that race would automatically be selected for  the US team that would travel to Tokyo in the Fall.   The winner that day was Buddy Edelen in 2 hrs. 24 min.  For the losers, a second chance would be theirs for the remaining two places in a race on the West Coast at Culver City, CA.    

            The participants in the phone call were Abe Assa, Jim Green, Hal Higdon, Dick Weis, John Galth, and Gary Corbitt.      The following text is written from notes that I took while listening to the conversation of these men.   You may see there is not 100% agreement on what went on that day, especially with regards to water distribution.  But then how well do you remember any  of your races from 52 years ago?  In those days it was not common for race organizers to provide water to marathon runners, and also start times were not necessarily made with much understanding of the effects of heat and dehydration.  David Costill's depletion studies were still several years away.   I in no way can vouch for 100% accuracy as to what was said and how it was said in this conversation. There was much more said, and I missed writing down some stories for example about the very colorful Jim McDonagh, an Irish transplant and iconic figure on the East Coast in those times.   Gary is in the process of putting the actual conversation as recorded on his website   tedcorbitt.com .  He didn’t think anyone would be upset if I did this piece without their permission, but if they are, I can be reached for correction or response to their libel filings at  irathermediate@gmail.com. 

George Brose

Ted Corbitt in London to Brighton race

Garry Corbitt   I  saw so many runners ahead of Dad that day.   He passed 5 miles at about 36  minutes and finished in 3 hours 20 min. 32 sec.  He carried a sponge all the way and walked the last mile.  Wanted to quit at 3 miles.  Working in air conditioning may have hurt him.

Abe Assa  It was brutally hot.  Everyone in this phone call DNF’d.  I went down to the river a couple of times (to cool off).  ed. This statement may not be accurate, but it's the way I heard it.   Went back to the finish and watched Edelen come in at 2:24.   Twenty minutes later  Adolph Gruber then Kelley came in .  Only five runners were under 3 hours.    Thirty-seven were under 4 hours.  It was the Olympic Trials and National Championships.  Everyone clumped around the leaders was running to win.  When they saw that wouldn’t happen with the way Edelen was going, they dropped out and decided to try again at Culver City.    Everyone in those days would run Boston (five weeks earlier) then the trials at Yonkers.   If that didn’t work, then Culver City, and if successful Tokyo.  So that would be 4 marathons in a relatively short time frame.   

            We more or less personally knew all the East Coast runners, and with ‘Long Distance Log’ we knew all the rest of the runners in the country- about 1,000.  Everyone was a racer, no joggers.

            People who influenced me were my training partners.  Tom McCarthy, I met almost everyday.  We didn’t make our training runs into races.  I ran a bit with Jimmy O’Connell in 1965 after McCarthy went home to Ireland.  We met at Aqueduct Loop in Van Cortlandt  Park .  We never thought running would grow the way it has.  Amazing how Track and Field has not grown as a spectator sport.  Three meets in Madison Square Garden each year packed in 18,000 people.  Now 5,000 is really something indoors.  Boston was 175 runners with a $2.00 entry fee.

Hal Higdon Thinks Boston entry fee was only $1.00.  Jock Semple asked him if he thought doubling the entry fee would be too much.

Hal Higdon

John Galth  There was no water on the Yonkers course. 

Hal Higdon  Lots of water in the first ten miles, not much in the 2^ndhalf.   Buddy was hydrating very well.  Fred Wilt was handing it out to him. Edelen trained in double sweats thinking it would be  hot in Yonkers.

     At Culver City there was only one person handing out water at the water station.

It was in 1968 that David Costill (Ball State University Human Performance Lab) did a hydration study with Amby Burfoot and Higdon.  They ran 20 miles  3 times on a treadmill.  Once without water, once with water, once with Gatorade.

Some runners today show up in ice vests.  Wonder how people run with water bottles and ice vests.  At Yonkers Buddy wore a handkerchief tied on his head.  Abe and Jim both ran Culver City.  Hal ran there but had a bad last five miles.

Jim Green     I was a teacher.  Trained alone for the most part. It was rare to see somebody running while I was running.  From 1958-1971 I trained along the Charles River in Boston.  It was truly the 'Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner'. (popular book by Alan Sillitoe, later film with Tom Courtenay, the actor). Probably ran all out every other day.  Ran 6 days a week.  Created discipline.   Buddy’s race was phenomenal.  I had some blistering.  Asked a few bystanders if there was a pharmacy where I could go in and get some Vaseline.  In the 1958 Boston Marathon at about 18 miles I went into a gas station got some  axle grease and finished 11^th. 

About 1960 or 63 some runners got DQ’d prior to the race (probably failed the pre-race physical check.   ed.)  They ran anyway and got 6^th , 7^th, and 9^th. 

     In 1958 Ted Corbitt, John Lafferty, and Jim Green were asked by Jock Semple to do a training run with Franjo Mihalic, Yugoslavia,  (Silver medallist at Melbourne in 1956)  ,  from the 10^th to 22^ndmile marks.  They hit the street and took off.  Near a cemetery,  Franjo said in Russian, “This is the end.”  Mihalic would win Boston that year.

      During races we never communicated with other runners.  A code of silence existed.  My proudest running accomplishment was 2 hr 23 min in 1960, and Olympic Trials in Culver City.  Badly blistered at 16 miles going head to head with Joe Tyler sixteen years after racing each other in the 2 miles at Compton.  In those days the college runners didn’t have the mileage to do well on the roads.

John Galth   The 12:00 noon start at Yonkers made it a killer.  Culver City started at 8:00AM.  Boston in 1961 was light snow at start of the race.  In ’62 a little rain at the end.  Gaps in races were much bigger ie. margin of victory.  Foreigners often came over a month before Boston to  train.  Local guys all had jobs.  Dr. Warren Geil hosted Bikila and Wolde at his home before the race.  They ate everthing in the house , finished 4^thand 11^th.

Hal Higdon  In 1964 my mindset was to go to Boston to win.  Olympic Trials at Yonkers were not on my horizon due to Edelen coming and  only one person going on from there to Tokyo.  Buddy was there to beat us up.  (ed. Buddy had been living in England, teaching school, and training for several years. See link below.)  I stayed at the hotel with Buddy and Fred Wilt who was coaching us both by mail.  Buddy less so.  Buddy ran very conservatively the first 10 miles.  I got out of the pack and dropped about 50 yards. Then came back up.  I didn’t take any  water,  although Fred was driving along handing it out.  Buddy took off at 10 miles.  I stayed in sight for 4-6 miles running with Norm Higgins.  Higgins took off after Buddy.  Johnny Kelley had ringing in his ears at 16  miles -slowed – ringing started again.  He got off the course at 17 miles.  Higgins ran well until 23 miles.  Course went left, Hig went straight into a wall.  Ended up in the hospital.  I thought maybe Buddy went too hard and took off too soon.  Should have taken it easier and that  may have ruined the rest of his career.

Norm Higgins winning first NYC Marathon in 1971.  Only 127 runners started and the race was entirely in Central Park.

            Harold Harris,  U. of Chicago Track Club, started very, very conservatively and kept moving up but not passing anyone (ed. Due to dropouts), and finished 4th  (in 2hr. 55 min.  I went to Mt. Holyoke a year later and did a Harold Harris, kept moving up place wise but not passing anyone due to drop outs.

Yonkers was a very difficult course.  Boston was the last hold out to provide water and did it in 1978 thanks to complaints of Jerome Drayton (Canada)  who won in 1977.

Buddy’s last mile or so was pretty slow at Yonkers.   Ron Daws was hospitalized after Yonkers.  Canadians all crashed and burned at Yonkers after doing so well in Boston that year.

Gary Corbitt Was Norm Higgins doing windsprints before Yonkers?  At Culver City, Higgins was taking a long warmup.  This may have been the Igloi effect.

Dick Weis,  Gaelic AC  I remember the heat of Yonkers.  I asked Adolph Gruber, “Are you going to warm up, Adolph”?      “Nein, Nein, these people are stupid”.

“When will you warm up”?     “The first ten kilometers”.  

Adolph Gruber

He finished second in 2hr. 44 min.  That was 44 seconds per mile slower than Buddy. ( See Adolph Gruber website  below.)

     There was nothing out there on how to train until Wilt’s book.  If you were on the road, it’s cause you couldn’t win on the track.     I don’t remember any water on the course..     Weis coached Bob Fitts before he went to Cortland State.  (ed. At Cortland State,  Dave Costill was Fitts’ coach.  That was before Dave became the famous exercise physiologist.)

     Gaelic AC lasted about 4-5 years.  Buddy liked Guinness.  He got a case of Guinness sent to Tokyo.  US officials confiscated it then let him have one each evening.

     What Should History Books Say About This Era?

Browning Ross getting Road Runners Club of America Started.

No official timers at some races.  The leader would carry the stopwatch and hand it off if someone passed him.  The winner would stay at the finish line calling off times of the next incoming runners.

Jock Semple and John A. Kelley

     Buddy Edelen was the shoulders on which Frank Shorter stood .  Yonkers, 1964 he was at his best.  Bob Campbell, Fred Brown, Jock Semple kept the sport alive in the 1950s.

Ted Corbitt and Bob Campbell

At this point I stopped note taking.  I either ran out of ink, wrist , or Gary terminated the conversation.

The results of both Marathon Trials in 1964 were as follows:

Yonkers May 24                                                                  Culver City July26

1.     Buddy Edelen                      2:24:25.6                 1. Peter McArdle     2:27:01

2.     Adolph Gruber (AUT)        2:44:11.4                  2. Billy Mills              2:27:29

3.     John A. Kelley                     2:44:46.4                 3. Jim Green            2:30:58

4.     Harold Harris                    2:58:28                     4. Wayne Van Dellen  2:31:39

5.     Anthony Sapienza              2:59:03                     5. Joe Tyler               2:32:58

6.     Abraham Forbes (PUR)    3:01:42                     6. Nick Kitt                2:36:06

      Edelen had set a World’s Best in England at 2:14:28 the year before.  Culver City was won by Pete McArdle with Billy Mills second completing the US team for Tokyo.  Edelen would finish 6^th behind a new WB by Bikila 2:12:11.2  Mills after winning the 10,000 was 14^thand McArdle was 23^rd.*

*Data from Richard Hymans “History of   US Olympic Trials – Track and Field”

The website Sports Reference reports on the Tokyo race as follows:

Athletics at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Games:

Men's Marathon

Top of Form

Events: Select Event Men's 100 metres Men's 200 metres Men's 400 metres Men's 800 metres Men's 1,500 metres Men's 5,000 metres Men's 10,000 metres Men's Marathon Men's 110 metres Hurdles Men's 400 metres Hurdles Men's 3,000 metres Steeplechase Men's 4 × 100 metres Relay Men's 4 × 400 metres Relay Men's 20 kilometres Walk Men's 50 kilometres Walk Men's High Jump Men's Pole Vault Men's Long Jump Men's Triple Jump Men's Shot Put Men's Discus Throw Men's Hammer Throw Men's Javelin Throw Men's Decathlon Women's 100 metres Women's 200 metres Women's 400 metres Women's 800 metres Women's 80 metres Hurdles Women's 4 × 100 metres Relay Women's High Jump Women's Long Jump Women's Shot Put Women's Discus Throw Women's Javelin Throw Women's Pentathlon

Bottom of Form

Host City: Tokyo, Japan
Venue(s): National Stadium, Shinjuku, Tokyo
Date Started: October 21, 1964
Date Finished: October 21, 1964
Format: 42,195 metres (26 miles, 385 yards) out-and-back.

Gold:	Abebe Bikila
Silver:	Basil Heatley
Bronze:	Kokichi Tsuburaya

Summary

Defending champion [Abebe Bikila] was back and was considered the favorite, having lost only one marathon in his career to that point – the 1963 Boston race. But he had several strong contenders, among them the American [Buddy Edelen], who in 1963 had broken the world record with 2-14:28 in the Polytechnic race in Britain, and had also won the Košice marathon in Czechoslovakia in 2-15:09.6. Britain had two top marathoners in [Basil Heatley] and [Brian Kilby]. Japan was led by [Toru Terasawa], who had won the 1963 Fukuoka Marathon, and broken the world record early in 1963 at the Beppu Marathon.

But there was only Bikila. The race began at 1 PM, and was contested over a very flat straight out-and-back course. Bikila ran in the lead pack right from the start. By the turnaround point, this time running in shoes, he was leading by 15 seconds, and from there to the finish, he simply extended the lead, winning by over four minutes. Heatley finished second, but had been third entering the stadium. Third went to a native son, not Terasawa, but rather [Kokichi Tsuburaya]. Brian Kilby finished fourth, and Buddy Edelen, hampered by a sciatic nerve injury, placed sixth.

Tsuburaya was crushed that he had been passed on the track by Heatley in front of the Japanese crowd. He vowed to improve and pushed himself in training, but it resulted in multiple injuries. Finally, in early January 1968, he committed suicide by slashing his carotid artery with a razor blade. The note he left said simply, “Cannot run anymore.”

Final Standings

Rank	Athlete	Age	Team	NOC	Medal	T
1	Abebe Bikila	32	Ethiopia	ETH	Gold	2-12:11.2	WB
2	Basil Heatley	30	Great Britain	GBR	Silver	2-16:19.2
3	Kokichi Tsuburaya	24	Japan	JPN	Bronze	2-16:22.8
4	Brian Kilby	26	Great Britain	GBR		2-17:02.4
5	József Sütő	27	Hungary	HUN		2-17:55.8
6	Buddy Edelen	27	United States	USA		2-18:12.4
7	Aurèle Vandendriessche	32	Belgium	BEL		2-18:42.6
8	Kenji Kimihara	23	Japan	JPN		2-19:49.0
9	Ron Clarke	27	Australia	AUS		2-20:26.8
10	Demissie Wolde	27	Ethiopia	ETH		2-21:25.2
11	Lee Sang-Hun	26	South Korea	KOR		2-22:02.8
12	Bakir Ben Aissa	33	Morocco	MAR		2-22:27.0
13	Eino Oksanen	33	Finland	FIN		2-22:36.0
14	Billy Mills	26	United States	USA		2-22:55.4
15	Toru Terasawa	29	Japan	JPN		2-23:09.0
16	Kim Yeon-Beom	29	South Korea	KOR		2-24:40.6
17	Giorgio Jegher	27	Italy	ITA		2-24:45.2
18	Václav Chudomel	32	Czechoslovakia	TCH		2-24:46.8
19	Ron Hill	26	Great Britain	GBR		2-25:34.4
20	Paavo Pystynen	32	Finland	FIN		2-26:00.6
21	Fidel Negrete	32	Mexico	MEX		2-26:07.0
22	Nikolay Tikhomirov	33	Soviet Union	URS		2-26:07.4
23	Peter McArdle	35	United States	USA		2-26:24.4
24	Heinrich Hagen	28	Germany	GER		2-26:39.8
25	Pavel Kantorek	34	Czechoslovakia	TCH		2-26:47.2
26	Nikolay Abramov	30	Soviet Union	URS		2-27:09.4
27	Ray Puckett	28	New Zealand	NZL		2-27:34.0
28	Eino Valle	32	Finland	FIN		2-27:34.8
29	Jeff Julian	29	New Zealand	NZL		2-27:57.6
30	Ricardo Vidal	34	Chile	CHI		2-28:01.6
31	Bob Vagg	24	Australia	AUS		2-28:41.0
32	Guido Vögele	26	Switzerland	SUI		2-29:17.8
33	Balkrishan Akotkar	27	India	IND		2-29:27.4
34	Jean Aniset	30	Luxembourg	LUX		2-29:52.6
35	Thin Sumbwegam	34	Myanmar	MYA		2-30:35.8
36	Constantin Grecescu	35	Romania	ROU		2-30:42.6
37	János Pintér	27	Hungary	HUN		2-30:50.2
38	Gerhard Hönicke	34	Germany	GER		2-33:23.0
39	Manfred Naumann	31	Germany	GER		2-33:42.0
40	Antonio Ambu	28	Italy	ITA		2-34:37.6
41	Oskar Leupi	31	Switzerland	SUI		2-35:05.4
42	Ivan Keats	27	New Zealand	NZL		2-36:16.8
43	Harbans Lal	26	India	IND		2-37:05.8
44	Armando Aldegalega	26	Portugal	POR		2-38:02.2
45	Chrisantus Nyakwayo		Kenya	KEN		2-38:38.6
46	Constantino Kapambwe	24	Zambia	ZAM		2-39:28.4
47	Omari Abdallah	21	Tanzania	TAN		2-40:06.0
48	Muhammad Youssef	26	Pakistan	PAK		2-40:46.0
49	Naftali Temu	19	Kenya	KEN		2-40:46.6
50	Ju Hyeong-Gyeol	25	South Korea	KOR		2-41:08.2
51	Mathias Kanda	22	Zimbabwe	ZIM		2-41:09.0
52	Tony Cook	28	Australia	AUS		2-42:03.6
53	Víctor Peralta	22	Mexico	MEX		2-44:23.6
54	Trev Haynes	34	Zambia	ZAM		2-45:08.6
55	Abraham Fornés	25	Puerto Rico	PUR		2-46:22.6
56	Robson Mrombe	23	Zimbabwe	ZIM		2-49:30.8
57	Laurent Chifita	21	Zambia	ZAM		2-51:53.2
58	Chanom Sirirangsri	29	Thailand	THA		2-59:25.6
AC	Viktor Baykov	29	Soviet Union	URS			DNF
AC	Bhupendra Silwal	28	Nepal	NEP			DNF
AC	Hedhili Ben Boubaker		Tunisia	TUN			DNF
AC	Ganga Bahadur Thapa		Nepal	NEP			DNF
AC	Mohamed Hadheb Hannachi	26	Tunisia	TUN			DNF
AC	Jim Hogan	31	Ireland	IRL			DNF
AC	Nguyễn Văn Lý	22	South Vietnam	VNM			DNF
AC	Andrew Soi		Kenya	KEN			DNF
AC	Osvaldo Suárez	30	Argentina	ARG			DNF
AC	Mamo Wolde	32	Ethiopia	ETH

Buddy Edelen Teaching in England and Obit  from Benfleet Community Archive

Adolph Gruber website

V 6 N. 77 Simone Schaller Oldest Olympian dies at 104

October 25, 2016, 9:57 am

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Simone Schaller competed in the 1932 and 1936 as a hurdler for the US team, going head to head with her more famous contempary  Mildred 'Babe' Didrickson.   In the prelims in Los Angeles, Schaller tied  Didrickson both  setting a World Record in the 80 meter hurdles.  However in the finals she could only manage a 4th place while Didrickson won setting a new WR.  There is very limited detail about Simone in recent obituaries.  One picture surfaces the most, that is this one below of her with the US team leaving for Europe in 1936.  She is in the lower right.

Several pictures appear of the finals at Los Angeles, with Evelyne Hall going head to head with the Babe.  The first I found is Hall leading over a hurdle on the inside lane , Babe right next to her.

Finals   80m hurdles        Evelyne Hall Lane 1, Didrickson Lane 2, Clark Lane 3, Alda Wilson CanadaLane 4, Violet Webb Great Britain Lane 5, Simone Schaller Lane 6 well behind at this hurdle.

Three views of the finish below

Didrickson and Hall breaking tape together in WR 11.7.  Marjorie Clark, South Africa is 3rd in 11.9, Betty Taylor, Canada is 4th  in 12.0

Video clip of the 80 M Hurdles final   Note how Evelyne Hall comes back at last hurdle to almost tie Didrickson.

The Mystery

Looking further,  two other photos surface from 1932.  

One thing that doesn't add up in these photos is the appearance of  Michiko Nakashini next to Didrickson in this heat. This photo has been mentioned in the past showing Nakashini's hurdle as being set too high.  The more I look at this picture though, it appears that Nakashini is two lanes over from Didrikson, and no one is seen in the lane next to the Babe.  Or is it possible Didrickson is in the lane with the hurdle set too high?  The photos make it appear that Didrickson is in lane one which seems  evident in the second photo below.   But really she is in lane 2 and the runner in lane one run  has not yet come up to the camera to get into the photo.   In looking at the prelim records on Sport Reference only one preliminary round is listed with  only two heats  for the 80m hurdles.  Nakashini is a DNF in the first round.  So I think we can conclude that Didrickson set the WR at 11.8 along with Schaller, while Didrickson went over one hurdle that was too high.  One other thing that still leaves me wondering is the absence of Marjorie Clark in the dark uniform in the two pictures below.  She supposedly finished 3rd in this race.   She may be in the outside lane and hidden by the lane 5 runner.

Same hurdle, slightly different angle

Now that Simone Schaller has passed away, the new story is who is the oldest living Olympian, who is the oldest living Amerian Olympian? I think we can assume that Harrison Dillard now in his nineties is the oldest living gold medallist.  When you google the question,  past stories come up noting various athletes who have held that honor.  

V 6 N. 78 Greatest Ultra On US Soil

October 26, 2016, 3:54 pm

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This article has just been lifted from Gary Corbitt.  For more information on US history of long distance running and links to Road Runners Club of America site go to   tedcorbitt.com
The link on that site will take you to RRCA and from there you can find and open all the old copies of Long Distance Log.

The Greatest Ever Ultramarathon on United States Soil

October 18, 1970 – 46 Years Ago

U.S. National 50 Mile Championship

Rocklin, California

 Joe Henderson called it “the best race I ever saw.”

The American Record was broken by nearly 23 minutes by Bob Deines

 in 5:15.19.2. His margin of victory over Skip Houk was just 3 seconds.

The world record in 1970 was 5:12:40.

The first six runners were under the American Record.

Natalie Cullimore finished 18^th in 7:35:57 and became the first female to establish standards of global excellence that caught the eye of other talented women.

Changing of the Guard:

In Ted Corbitt’s 33 U.S. ultramarathons since 1959, he finished in the top 2 places in all but two races. 

This race represented a changing of the guard in U.S. ultramarathon history.  Corbitt at age 51 finished in sixth place while establishing an age group world record that still stands today.

Ted Corbitt said the following in a letter to John Chodes: “If I had not been aware of the force that the West Coast has become it would have been like walking into a big, big, ambush.  I was aware and on one occasion a few weeks ago I figured that I could break the American 50-mile record and finish as high as 10^th place.  I expected to break the American record even if I had a bad day and my run was not good.  As you know I had at least three efforts which were considerably better than the record in longer races.  Now the new record is most respectable – but it can be had.”

There were many notable individuals in this race:

Ken Young who helped invent the sport with his pioneering work in record keeping finished 11^th.

Prolific racers Paul Reese and Walt Stack finished 19^th and 22^nd respectively.

Jim McDonagh past national champion and first American to beat Ted Corbitt in an ultra, dropped out at 35 miles.

Tom Derderian Boston Marathon Author/Historian and Greater Boston Track Club Coach ,dropped out at 35 miles.

Bruce Dern the actor, dropped out at 30 miles.

Joe Henderson running pioneer and author, dropped out at 30 miles.

Pete League running pioneer and a first-generation course measurement certifier, dropped out at 15 miles.

The Finishers
1	Bob	Deines	5:15.19.2
2	Skip	Houk	5:15.22
3	Darryl	Beardall	5:18:55
4	Jose	Cortez	5:30.42
5	John	Pagliano	5:33.03
6	Ted	Corbitt	5:34:01
7	Gary	Dobrenz	6:03.12
8	Randy	Lawson	6:05.45
9	Bryan	Geiser	6:07.40
10	Rost	Bruner	6:09.55
11	Ken	Young	6:20.37
12	James	Bowles	6:25.50
13	R.	Paffenbarger	6:26.15
14	Tobe	Lusionam	6:31.38
15	Peter	Mattei	6:39.29
16	Al	Meehan	7:02.43
17	Pat	Crevet	7:12.43
18	Natalie	Cullimore	7:35.57
19	Paul	Reese	7:38.49
20	Brad	Gieser	7:56.09
21	Phil	Schaffner	8:04.52
22	Walt	Stack	8:08.58
23	Dave	Cortez	8:32.18
24	Mitch	Kinsery	8:51.27
25	Rex	Dietberich	8:53.39
26	Mike	Ipsen	9:41.55

V 6 N. 79 September , 1966 A Tale of Two Milers

October 27, 2016, 7:48 am

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Roy wrote to me that very little happened or was reported in the September, 1966 T F & N, but noted that there were two nice pictures of two young men running sub four minute miles.  One was the second high school miler to break four minutes,  Tim Danielson from San Diego's Chula Vista HS and the other was Ricardo Romo, a recent University of Texas graduate.  Both men's pictures appear in the issue. As most of you already know, both men's paths took very different turns in life.

Ricardo Romo

Tim Danielson and Ralph Gamez

Danielson would go on to BYU but return a year later and finish his college career at San Diego State.  He would become an engineer and live a quite below the radar life working in the aerospace industry.  An introverted individual, whose life in later years would take a horrible turn when he would be charged with killing his ex-wife and then unsuccessfully attempting to kill himself.  He was defended on the plea that he was suffering from depression and one of the side effects of his medication was possible erratic behavior and suicidal tendencies.  The jury didn't buy it, and now he will probably spend the rest of his life in the California penal system.

Tim Danielson article NYT by Jere Longman  "After the Mile"

On the brighter side, Ricardo Romo's life was well underway with All American status, the mile record at the U. of Texas which would last 42 years, a running career on the rise, although he would be injured by 1968 and see his dreams of Olympic achievement go by the wayside.  However Ricardo had a plan.  He was already beginning graduate work in Los Angeles and would complete a PhD. in History, write a hugely successful book on Latino history, and begin an upward climb in the academic world culminating in the presidency of the University of Texas at San Antonio.   He recently announced his retirement, but I'm sure this will not be the last of Ricardo's public service.  For more about Ricardo's remarkable life you can find an incredible piece on Wikipedia, but a year or so ago I asked Ricardo about his own thoughts on his early life.  He sent me a copy of a short memoir of his early days which I have already put on this blog , but it is certainly worth repeating:

Ricardo Romo Memoir



Ricardo Romo's retirment announcement



Seeing these two accounts of very different lives, one wonders how this can happen,  how one individual can turn out so well and another turn out so badly.  It is certainly one of life's mysteries.  We are often told as children that achievement in sport will enhance our success in life, in our careers, that it will open doors,  but sometimes that is woefully not so.  There are so many other factors that will influence us on the way, and probably the one that is least recognizable or controllable is our mental health.  How we see relationships and who we partner with leads me to suspect that pure blind luck is also a significant factor.  If we are born into a good family, we are incredibly lucky.  But we still have to make difficult choices along the way, and when bad choices are made to recognize them, accept them as  error and move on toward something better.  Some people overcome growing up in a bad family, but many, many never do.    For anyone to run a sub four minute mile requires a tremendous drive and at least a modicum of intelligence and self control.   But that ability to be challenged and to succeed must constantly be renewed as we go through life.  A sudden unexpected tragedy or illness or the  illness of a partner can change everything.   I truly wish the best to both of these men.  Even a life in prison is still an opportunity to do better.  Life on the outside with a wonderful family and career  also presents many challenges.  Best to both of you.  GB





On the lighter side I thought I would put some of the ads that appeared in the Sept., 1966 issue of TF&N in this post.   Many of the mainstays in today's shoe world were already operating in their infancy.   Nike had yet to appear, well, they really were there in the persona of Blue Ribbon Sports.  Also this ad for 'corners' to put down in gymnasiums was a hoot. I distincly remember that ad from fifty years ago.  Did your A.D. ever buy these?

Basketball uniform? Canvas gym shoes?  Call Sam in Marketing, we need to have a talk.

We called these  'tank treds'

All of Peter Snell's Secrets for $4

Blue Ribbon Sports, the precursor of Nike

I enjoyed Ricardo Romo's memoir again.  You put me in touch with him about my father's ministry in the Mexican Missions in San Antonio.  He was very interested and very kind.   Bill

George,

Those photos of the shoes really brought back memories:

• 1959/60 - Going from high school & the red dot wilson rummers to the Adidas three strippers at Mizzou made me feel like I was in a whole new world Such luxury!
• 1963/64 - Then the Peace Corps provided me with the New Balance Trasksters with the waffle soles It became my trademark shoes for my Moroccan runners, They would spot my waffle traces on our loose cinder track or in the sand where we ran dunes and know that I had already been there that day, Even José still makes remarks about that!

You guys are always putting out good stuff. 

Jerry

V 6 N. 80 "Today We Die A Little" a Book Review by Paul O'Shea

November 1, 2016, 8:07 pm

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Before The Bullet Train, The Czech Locomotive

A Book Review

By Paul O’Shea

My Czechoslovakian mother objected when I joined the high school cross country team. You’ll wear yourself out, it’s bad for your health.  Look how tired you are when you get home from practice. 

The year was l949. I was thirteen and had just entered St. Ignatius High School, confident I could earn a place on the freshman football team. Two days later my gridiron hopes fizzled, but a different future beckoned across the way from the practice field. Around the perimeter, a dozen shirtless boys were relentlessly running laps. They were the school’s cross country team, one of Chicago’s finest.

While the runners didn’t look happy in their pursuits, there was an aura of dedication and camaraderie. And I didn’t need a coach’s approval to join this resolute band. Catching the back of the peloton, I jumped in, and rather than embracing a winning Hail Mary (I was, after all, attending a Jesuit institution), I discovered the sport of a lifetime, competitive running.

As I evaded Betty O’Shea’s oversight that September, thousands of kilometers to the east another athlete with Czech blood was also wearing himself out, but with more success. He was Emil Zatopek. By the time he retired from athletics in the late 1950s, he had won five Olympic gold medals, set 18 world and four Olympic records, and collected three European titles.  He broke Czechoslovakian records, most his own, fifty times.

When we hear his name today, many of us recall a week in the summer of l952 when Emil Zatopek bequeathed the sport a priceless heirloom.  In eight days at the Helsinki Games he achieved what no other Olympic distance runner had ever accomplished: three Olympic victories, each an Olympic record. It was Zatopek’s Golden Week, still an unequaled hat trick.

Widely respected as one of history’s greatest distance runners (in 2013 Runner’s World named him the Greatest Runner of All Time), the name Zatopek takes its place with the incomparable Nurmi, Viren, Gebrselassie, Bekele. But Zatopek’s record isn’t widely known since it took place generations ago. American high school athletes have long since eclipsed his personal bests of 13:57.2 and 28:54.2.

On rare occasions biographies of the same individual surface at the same time. Recently, three books about Zatopek were published. They are: Endurance: The Extraordinary Life and Timesof Emil Zatopek, by Rick Broadbent (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2016).  The second: Quicksilver: The Mercurial Emil Zatopek, by Pat Butcher (Globerunner Productions, 2016). Today We Die A Little! The Inimitable Emil Zatopek, The Greatest Olympic Runner of All Time (Nations Books, 2016), is the subject of this review.  

Richard Askwith, executive editor of The Independent, recounts the story of the man who, by his inexhaustible pursuit of competitors, titles and records, came to be known as the Czech Locomotive. The author set himself a formidable challenge. Earlier this year he told Kate Carter of TheGuardian: “I assumed that everyone knew his story—and I was shocked to find that most people, or most people under 40, had never heard of him.

“I think of Zatopek as the patron saint of runners,” Askwith said. “He didn’t just revolutionize the sport—he reinvented it.  He rewrote the record books and redrew the boundaries of endurance, redefining the whole idea of what was humanly possible.  No one else before or since dominated distance running in the way that he did in the late l940s and early l950s.”

With Czechoslovakia emerging slowly from World War II’s devastation, Emil Zatopek almost was a Did Not Start.

Born in Koprivince in l922, the carpenter’s son from a poor Moravian family left home at fourteen to improve his career prospects.  He arrived eighty kilometers away in Zlin and found work at the Bata shoe factory (placing shoe lasts on the conveyor belt, he’s the original Shoe Dog).

In l941 the nineteen-year-old was conscripted to run in a company race but rebels. “My knee hurts.” A company doctor checks him and declares Emil a malingerer. To avoid running (an amusing irony), he hides in a reading room, but is dragged out to the starting line. His biographer declares: “The next five minutes would set the path of his adult life.”  One hundred men and boys start the 1,400-meter race.  Without any training Zatopek beats all but one.

And so began a period of running for the Bata club team while working in its factory.  He runs a promising 4:20 for 1,500 meters, then 4:01.4. Four years later he had set national records at 2,000, 3,000 and 5,000 meters, and placed fifth in the European five thousand.

In a career that lasted 17 years, Zatopek ran hundreds of races, according to Bob Phillips in his Za-to-pek! Za-to-pek! Za-to-pek!, not a full biography but a useful overview. It was an era when the leading runners of the day (Mimoun, Reiff, Chataway, Kuts, Pirie) went head to head frequently, so different from today’s reluctance by shoe companies, national governing bodies, agents and coaches to risk their athletes’ reputations and economic bargaining power.

Looking at his body of work, principally the three-, five- and ten-thousand-meters (257 races), he won three of every four outings, ranking first in the world twelve times at these distances. He lost only eight of 62 ten-thousand-meter races. At five thousand meters, he won 120 of 141 events. Competing at three thousand meters he was defeated just eight times in 54 races.

One May to September, he raced twenty-two times in eight countries, winning all but once. In the seldom-staged one-hour run he covered a world record 20,052 meters.

Askwith tells us, “The young man who just eleven years earlier had feigned injury to avoid running less than a mile through the streets of Zlin had, in the words of The New York Times, forced ‘the once –peerless Nurmi…to yield his pedestal as the greatest distance runner in history.’” In Lausanne, Switzerland, a bronze statue of Emil Zatopek sits outside the Olympic Museum in its lovely sculpture garden.

If any runner could be labeled “tireless” it was Zatopek.  By his training, competitive strategies and will, he showed the sporting world how countless sessions of intense preparation translated into faster times and victories.

For its time his preparations were extraordinary. Fred Wilt wrote in his How They Train,“Before Zatopek, nobody had realized it was humanly possible to train this hard.” In one ten-day period, he daily ran sixty 400-meter sixty-second intervals.  In one build up to a major fixture he ran one hundred 400-meter intervals in the morning, another one hundred in the afternoon.  Twenty-five miles of quarters.  He believed, and his record proves it, that multiple fast repetitions with minimal rest periods were the key.  “Why should I practice running slow.  I already know how to run slow.  I want to learn to run fast.”

What were the qualities that made Zatopek such a fearsome opponent? The competition changer was his ability to endure pain.  When he faced exhaustion, he went harder. Then harder still. In training and in races.  

The Czech trained in all types of weather.  When Eastern European snows piled high, he ran in place, inside his officer quarters (he had joined the army), or at home.  Before Onitsuka Tigers were a gleam in an Asian eye, his trainers were military combat boots.

One much discussed characteristic was his unusual running style, earning him the Czech Locomotive sobriquet. Head tipped to the side, he thrashed about, looking like a man trapped inside a beehive, but below the waist he was Sebastian Coe smooth. Well aware of what others were saying about his agonized expression and flailing arms, he countered: “I shall learn to have a better style once they start judging races according to their beauty.  So long as it’s a question of speed my attention will be directed to seeing how fast I can cover the ground.  It is not gymnastics or ice skating, you know.”  

Another task Askwith set for himself was to challenge some of the myths that grew around the legendary runner.  Did Zatopek really run intervals with his wife, Dana, sitting on top of his shoulders?  Once, but probably not more.  

Days before the 1952 Olympics, which would feature his unique performances, did he threaten to sit out the Games if the Czech authorities didn’t allow teammate Stanislav Jungwirth, a political apostate, to compete?

The first flight to Helsinki left with about one hundred athletes, but Jungwirth and Zatopek were absent.  A week later, following tense negotiations the government relented and both were on the second flight.  

Another much-told story involves the marathon and a mid-race discussion between world record holder Jim Peters and first timer Zatopek.  There have been many versions of the exchange, but the most authentic is that about half way through the 26.2 miles, the Czech is supposed to have asked, “Jim, the pace,is it too fast?” Peters is said to have responded, “No, it has to be like this.” Again Zatopek questions the tempo.  Peters, now a bit irritated: “Actually,it’s too slow.” The Czech responded by increasing the pace, and his competitor fell back by ten seconds at twenty kilometers.  Zatopek went on to win by more than two minutes.  Peters was DNF.

More than a half-century later Askwith is persistent in pursuing the truth or getting as close to it as possible. One of his primary sources is Zatopek’s widow, Dana, in her nineties, who provided answers for the British journalist.

Emil and Dana Ingrova met briefly at an international meet in Belgrade, only to discover that they were born on precisely the same day, month and year, a delightfully romantic coincidence.  She was a national class javelin thrower, while he was building his international reputation on the cinders. They won gold medals minutes apart in l952 at Helsinki.   

The book’s title stems from the start of the l956 Olympic marathon on a stifling hot Melbourne day, at least 86 degrees, with Zatopek the defending champion.  Askwith recounts: “Emil was past his best by then and, to make things worse, was not fully fit and still recovering from injury.  He looked around with a grim smile. ‘Men, today we die a little.’” Zatopek finished sixth.

The yearsafter competition were difficult and sad. Zatopek initially was a national hero and used by the Communist Party while serving in the military for many years. He lived in a country that would be invaded by the Soviet Union after the nation had sought political liberalization.

Before the Prague Spring in 1968 he sided with the more democratic elements of the Party, and the national hero was rewarded for his disobedience with brutal work in Czech uranium mines, collecting refuse and digging wells. “In the end, they broke him,” Askwith concludes. Later, as the reformer Vaclav Havel assumed the presidency once the Soviet Union imploded, Zatopek was rehabilitated and lived quietly in Prague with Dana to the end of his life in 2000 at age 78.

Askwith’s To Die A Little! is a well-written treasure for the distance running buff who wants to return to a largely forgotten era. Seventy pages of notes attest to the diligent research that went into the 377 pages of text. This biography is not the author’s first entry into the running genre. Feet in the Clouds, his book about fell running, was named one of the three best running books of all time by Runner’s World. He also wrote Running Free, a personal take on running in the English countryside.

My Czechoslovakian mother never knew of her countryman’s triumphs. Sport was not part of her daily life. Betty Achilles (yes, her maiden name) came to the United States with her parents in 1930, settled in a Chicago suburb, started working at Western Electric Company, met my Irish father, and they married.  I was born in Brooklyn, and our family moved back to the Midwest when my father took a job with a Chicago printing company.  

From a western suburb I commuted into the city and discovered the sport where I survived, often enough, dying more than a little.

Like the Bullet Train, today’s distance runner elites are sleeker and faster, typified by the exploits of Mo Farah, surely destined to join the Nurmi to Bekele pantheon.  The Czech Locomotive’s timetables were comparatively slower, but they remind us that it is not just the journey, but also the destination.

Paul O’Shea is a lifelong participant in the track and field world, as competitor, coach and journalist.  After retirement from a career in corporate communications, he coached a girls’ cross country team and was a long-time contributor to Cross Country Journal. He now writes for Once Upon a Time in the Vest from hishome in northern Virginia, and can be reached at Poshea17@aol.com.


We didn't want to mix the photos in with Paul O'Shea's wonderful review, so now here are a few pictures from another book Zatopek in Fotographien a German publication. Thanks to John Cobley (racingpast.ca) for letting me borrow his copy. Credits for pictures are below. A number of them are by Eastern bloc photographers in those days and were probably part of the progaganda machine that was extolling the joys of the socialist state. Another interesting part of the Zatopek story is the history of the Bata Shoe factory, a Czech enterprise that survived the Communist takeover and thrives today as a multinational corporation. Plenty can be found about it on Wikipedia. GB

High School/ Trade School yearbook photo. The caption reads  "Later he worked in the factory in Zlin and visited the vocational school

One of his early races

Always looking for an opportunity to find a training site, he is working out in a riding school stable.

"As he progressed he was gaining knowledge of the importance of tactics and changing gears duing his races."

Close up of what appear to be his training shoes.  Tennis anyone?

Racing the Hollander Slikhuis

Dana and Emil boarding the plane for Helsinki

Wedding Day

Helsinki 10,000?

Hitching a Ride on a Fast Freight

The night before a race in Ostrava, Emil calculated his splits to the tenth of a second.

Followed by Schade, Chataway, Mimoun, Pirie in the 5000 at Helsinki

Running with the Swede Gustav Jansson.  Emil would win in 2:23.03, Jansson third in 2:26.07.

The Olympic Gold Medal Couple

With his Parents

Post Race or Training Maintenance.    Goon squad in the back?

Looking somewhat Kerouacian

The famous winter training.  Snow doesn't look quite so deep this day.

Photos above are made by the above photographers and appear in the book below "Zatopek in Fotografien"

Two more of my favorite photos of Zatopek  are by Gerald Bloncourt a French photographer, poet, artist who has photographed  some interesting sports figures on his website earlier but which no longer appear there.  I got these from the Suddeutshc Zeitung Photo site.  They were taken at the cross country meet sponsored by the leftist newspaper in France  L'Humanite  known as  Le Cross de l'Humanite.

Obviously some party officials behind Zatopek, or maybe secret police keeping an eye on him.

Our good friend Geoff Williams in Victoria, BC added this to our posting.

Truly a wonderful piece.  I will be getting a copy of the book as soon as it is available.  ( one small addition)-the book “Zatopek in Fotografien” is actually mine and I lent it to John Cobley.  I received it in my twenties in London ( probably around 1957-8) as a gift  from a pen pal ( manager of a Czech soccer team ) that I corresponded with in Czechoslovakia for a few years .  That correspondence originated from a letter I wrote to World Sports after the 1952 Olympics when I objected to the fact that they commented on Pirie’s “failure” in 4th place in the 5K as compared with Bannister’s “success” in 4th place in the 1500m.  Some years ago I checked online to find that the book could be had for about $300!  As you know I also am the proud possessor of F. Kozik’s book “Zatopek the Marathon Victor” which Emil autographed for me at a London book signing.  ( also signed by Jim Peters who was sitting behind me).  Kozik also produced the above mentioned book.  I had earlier been to see Zatopek get beaten by Pirie and one other ( Norris?) over 5K at White City at the twilight of his incredible career.

 

As another sidebar I have been an email correspondent with Bob Phillips for a few years and mentioned my letter to World Sports and he says he likely saw it as he worked for them during that period.

 

No wonder we all love Athetics ( that’s English for Track and Field). 

 

Hope you are doing well.

 

Regards.  Geoff

V 6 N. 81 Track Guy in the Newsroom and Walter Cronkite

November 6, 2016, 10:22 am

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This week when there were some newflashes reminding us of the 100th anniversary of Walter Cronkite's birth, I remembered this picture of Walter I put on my first blog  U. of Oklahoma Track and Field Blog
When I was visiting my alma mater The University of Oklahoma, I saw this picture of Walter interviewing an OU Sooner prior to the Oklahoma Texas football battle in 1937.  Cronkite must have recently graduated from the U. of Texas and was on assignment up in Norman, as that appears to be the old Owen Field west grandstand.  In those good ole days the track was still in the stadium.  Of course in a few years Walter would be covering much more important battles in the European Theater of WWII and many gruelling presidential campaigns, and it was his announcement  of President Kennedy's death that is most remembered.  But since this is a track and field blog, and there is no record of Walter running track, I thought it would be inappropriate to mention this picture without also remembering an earlier post about a newsman who did run track.  That was Howard K. Smith, not as well known as Walter Cronkite but still a fixture in the American press at the same time as Cronkite.  We did have an earlier recognition of Smith and it can be found at.

Walter Cronkite in Owen Field , Norman Oklahoma, 1937

Howard K. Smith  on Once Upon a Time in the Vest

Click on Howard K Smith and the piece will open.  However you must scroll well down into the article to see the section about Smith.

Howard K. Smith, a 14.5 hurdler at Tulane in 1936

Thanks to Sheppard Miers my former teammate at Oklahoma I was made aware of the following story about Cronkhite which recounts that Cronkhite was the first play by play announer for OU football.  Please forgive us for straying so far off the track and cross country course for this one, but it is just an interesting story that some of you might like.

newsok.com/article/3386402

Walter Cronkite was a 'Five Ws' man

JOHN ROHDE Published: July 19, 2009 12:00 AM CDT

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Working for WKY radio in 1937, a 20-year-old Walter Cronkite, center, interviews Oklahoma football player Beryl Clark, left. Cronkite died Friday at age 92. (Photo courtesy University of Oklahoma)

Editor’s note: This story originally appeared in The Oklahoman on Aug. 29, 2002

In the eyes of Walter Cronkite, journalism has slowly decayed into a featurized state.

Cronkite is a "Five Ws” man. He wants the who, what, when, where and why — and he wants them pronto.

"I’m so tired of stories starting, ‘Maud Jones was walking her dog down Broadway.’ You’ve got to go over to the back page somewhere to finally find out the damn dog was run over by a truck,” Cronkite said. "Get the thing told, for heaven’s sake. Everybody doesn’t have to be an O Henry.”

So, here it goes:

Hall of fame broadcaster Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. was the first play-by-play radio announcer for Oklahoma football, making his debut Sept. 25, 1937, when the Sooners lost to Tulsa 19-7 at Skelly Stadium.

Cronkite described his debut as a disaster, but said the experience taught him a valuable lesson in preparation.

He left WKY radio within a year and eventually became "The most trusted man in America” as anchor for the CBS Evening News.

And that’s the way it was...

That voice

It’s been 21 years since Cronkite signed off from the anchor desk, but that familiar voice on the other end of the telephone immediately rekindled memories of the CBS Evening News.

Cronkite is 85 years old and still carries a quick wit.

Speaking from inside his home at Martha’s Vineyard, Cronkite struggled to hear questions over the yard work being done to his lawn.

"Do you hear that?” Cronkite shouted into his phone. "With the equipment this guy’s using, he could have saved those nine Pennsylvania miners in about 10 minutes.”

Cronkite continued to joke as if he were covering breaking news.

After another intrusive stretch of noise, Cronkite deadpanned: "It’s a miracle. They’re bringing the first miner out now.”

Cronkite then pondered how to alleviate the problem. "I could change telephones,” he said, "but that would mean getting up.”

After a loud bang, Cronkite said, "My God, he’s coming through the door.”

Finally, as the mower left the grounds, there was one final roar. "Well, I think that was one of ours that just flew overhead,” Cronkite said. "Now, where were we?”

Cronkite was addressing the state of journalism. With the onslaught of cable television, is there an oversaturation of news?

"I think there’s an oversaturation of scandal and feature stories today on television,” Cronkite said. "I think newspapers are doing a better job, but television has slipped terribly in the importance of the broadcast. Most of the people, according to polls, are still getting their news from television, which means most of them are inadequately informed.”

Cronkite said he misses his days at CBS.

"Oh, yes. Sure,” he said. "I miss particularly the managing editor role on the Evening News. Appearing (as anchor) was not that important. Helping set the day’s agenda and deciding what we used and editing it, that was a journalistic high point. I liked reporting as well. Just doing the news — the live performance — wasn’t important. Working on the desk was.”

Voice of the Sooners

Cronkite was a measly 20 years old when WKY manager Gayle Grubb hired him to do the first live broadcast of an OU football game.

Cronkite had been a campus reporter for Scripps-Howard News Service and did sports scores on radio while attending the University of Texas in 1933-1935.

He gradually dropped out of school to pursue journalism.

After a stint as a cub reporter with The Houston Press, Cronkite was hired as an announcer for KCMO in Kansas City, Mo., where he did simulated play-by-play off Western Union sports bulletins.

But at WKY, Cronkite was hired to do live play-by-play.

"I had never done live football,” Cronkite said. "I had done wire reports on football and, of course, that’s a vastly different thing. It takes a lot of imagination doing that. I didn’t need many facts and just used my imagination.”

Upon his arrival at WKY, and in an effort to better describe the action, Cronkite invented an electronic board that would provide information directly in front of him. Cronkite hired a couple of spotters to identify players.

"The spotters would punch up who was carrying the ball and who made the tackle, and the light would flash,” Cronkite said. "The spotters turned out to be impossible, and I was looking at the board and not the game. My design of the board was far too fancy. It got out of whack. So it was a disaster.”

Grubb was on hand for Cronkite’s debacle.

"He was standing behind me in the radio booth and muttering defecations — several fits of profanity — and getting louder and louder as the game went on,” Cronkite said. "When the game was over he said, ’Stay here. I want to talk to you.’ ”

Grubb and Cronkite sat on the last row of the bleacher seats next to the radio booth and stayed until the stadium was nearly empty.

Grubb: "Well, what did you think of that?”

Cronkite: "It was terrible.”

Grubb: "What are you going to do about it?”

Cronkite: "First, I’m throwing out this automatic board...”

Grubb: "You mean if you’re going to be going on with this.”

WKY radio was owned by The Daily Oklahoman and Times. Grubb and Cronkite were called in for a 6:30 Monday morning meeting with The Oklahoman’s Edward K. Gaylord. "Grubb was certain we both were going to be fired,” Cronkite said. "Then Mr. Gaylord said, ‘Well, I thought that was pretty darn good.’

"I thought Grubb was going to faint, and I thought I must have misheard Mr. Gaylord. He said: ‘Yeah, I got some good comments. Just keep on doing the good work.’ ”

Before the next game, Cronkite and color commentator Perry Ward ("A great gentlemen,” Cronkite said) memorized names, numbers and hometowns of players on both teams.

"I was going to have it all in my head. I was not going to have to look at any board,” Cronkite said.

In preparation, Cronkite and Ward tested each other throughout the week.

"We’d shout out numbers,” Cronkite said. "I’d shout, ‘Oklahoma, No. 22,’ and he’d tell me who that was. He’d shout, ‘Nebraska, No. 15,’ and I’d tell him who that was. We really drilled and rehearsed this thing.”

The overall improvement was immediate.

"The rest of the season went marvelously — very well,” Cronkite said.

After the season, Cronkite was assigned to the WKY news staff. Within months, he accepted a job as public relations manager for Braniff Airways. A year later, he joined United Press International to cover the war.

After informing Americans through three wars, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, numerous political conventions and the space race, Cronkite stepped aside when CBS imposed a mandatory retirement age of 65 for its employees. Cronkite’s final broadcast was March 5, 1981, and Dan Rather replaced him.

Since then, no news anchor has come close to Cronkite’s popularity. During the Richard Nixon years, the Ladies’ Home Journal polled its readers on which newsman they most trusted.

Cronkite won with 40 percent. "None” was second with 30 percent. Rather finished at 4 percent.

Although Cronkite attended UT only briefly, he was there long enough to learn he was required to hate OU.

"Oh, yeah,” he said with a chuckle.

This one last bit of Cronkite history coming from another born and bred Oklahoman, Stephen Fisher now permanent resident of Dar Es Salaam , Tanzania. A bit of worldly wisdom he heard attributed to Cronkite.

Never trust a fart 

Never pass up a drink 

Never ignore an erection 

---

V 6 N. 81 Diane Palmason, Canadian Legend

November 7, 2016, 12:01 pm

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Diane Palmason

Canadian Distance Running Royalty

Diane Palmason at home in Comox, BC

     Amby Burfoot recently wrote a book titled “The First Ladies of Running”.  He covers the lives of twenty of the pioneers of women’s running, and narrowing that list down to twenty must have presented some interesting decisions to Amby and his editor.  I’m not writing to question or debate the selection process ,  only to add another name to the list of might have beens.   That name is Diane Palmason.   Diane is a Canadian runner whose career goes back to before women were allowed to run anything longer than 220 yards in competition on the North American continent.  As a sixteen year old, Diane represented Canada in the 1954 Empire/Commonwealth Games held in Vancouver.  These were  the games where the first of many Miracle Miles would be run, that one being the  famous Bannister-Landy mile.   Diane witnessed the race from the stands that day.  Her games were already over as she had been eliminated in the heats of the 220.    At sixteen the Montreal based  runner was  seeing   the end of her running career rapidly approaching  and would  go on to university, get a teaching degree, marry and have four children, settling in on the far North Shore of the St. Lawrence River.   Twenty-two years would roll by until Diane seriously returned to the running scene.

     But let’s turn back the clock a bit to when Diane’s running career truly began.  Like Grace Butcher whom I wrote about recently,  Diane found she could run fast at an early age, and she liked it.  At the age of 5 or 6 she started running at a  Sunday School picnic in her first home town of Calgary. By the time she was ten, the family was living in Montreal.  This was 1950.  Her first coach was Myrtle Cook McGowan the former World Record holder for 100 meters in 1928.   At the 1928 Olympics, Myrtle had been disqualified after two false starts in the 100  meters final, but later in the 4x100 she anchored the Canadian team to a gold medal over the Americans, easily holding off Betty Robinson who had won the 100m.  The Canadians set the world record that day in 48.4 seconds.

                            Myrtle Cook Edging Betty Robinson Seen Celebrating A Bit Early in the 4x100M

The following note is from Sports-Reference website.

 In April 1929 Cook moved to Montréal and began a pioneering career as a sports columnist for the Montréal Daily Star, and she wrote for that paper for 44 years. 

One Of Myrtle Cook McGowan's Regular Columns With Her By Line.

She later organized the Montréal Major Ladies' Softball League, the Montréal Major Ladies' Hockey League, and formed a branch of the Canadian Ladies' Athletic Club and became its athletic director. During World War II she was the track coach for the Canadian Armed Services in the Montréal area.  When she died in 1985, she was celebrated as the grande dame of Canadian women’s sports.

Personal Best: 100 – 12.0 (1928).

Diane's written invitation from Myrtle Cook McGowan to join the Mercury Athletic Club dated May 31, 1951

The Picture Taken By Myrtle Cook McGowan

Myrtle Cook McGowan was Diane’s coach and one might also say, her publicist.  Diane recalls running the 50, 75 , and broad jump in a meet and Myrtle taking her picture in the starting blocks  which ended up on the front page of the Sports Section of the Montreal Daily Star. 

Diane was part of an all girls track team the Mercury Athletics Club.  They trained at the Mont Royal HS track.  She also did figure skating, and at the age of ten won her first trophy  for a one mile skating race.  If there had been speedskating  for girls that would have become Diane’s sport.  By the time she was 11 she was 5’7”.   Hereditary factor?  Her mother had done some sport as a paddler in the Winnipeg Canoe Club in the 1920s.  Her dad was Icelandic.  His work was farming.

By the age of 14 Diane was making in roads into the sport and coming in contact with some American coaches of national reputation such as Brutus Hamilton, Ken Doherty, and Fred Wilt.   She made it to the Canadian Olympic Trials in 1952 as a relay runner.  She was considered to be too young to compete in 220 yard races.  Excuse me?  Did I hear that right?  She would have  to get a waiver to run in races longer than 100 yards.  Guess the Canadians were a bit prudish in protecting their women.  Diane mentions that  once that she was told that races longer than 220 yards were not good for young ladies’ reproductive systems.  In that case she questions why men should be permitted to run races over hurdles for the same reason.   Diane  was second in the Province of Quebec to Rosella Thorne, a ‘classic black sprinter’.  She got to go as part of the Quebec 4x100 relay team.  She did not run fast enough to be considered for selection, but she got to experience running against some of Canada's top women sprinters.   She wasn't quite ready, and it was a tough pill to swallow, but she stayed with the sport.   

Then in 1954, the year of the Empire/Commonwealth Games in Vancouver,  Diane was invited  to a training camp  in Toronto to receive  special coaching instruction from Hamilton and Doherty.  Kids were brought in from all ten provinces.   One of the little known stories that came out of that gathering was an account of Wes Santee being spooked by elephants.   At the end of the training camp, there was a track meet organized during the Canadian National Exposition.  The CNE  is something like a big state fair in the US.  It is huge.  On the infield of the track there was a circus to be held later in the day and there were a lot of performers,  acrobats, clowns, trapeze artists, and jugglers wandering around the infield.   A number of name runners had been invited for special events including Santee in the mile. On one of the laps during the race he came of a turn and was confronted by three elephants that had gotten loose and he had to make a quick detour.  He still finished the race, but in a slow 4:25.   

Account of the Elephants on the Track

 


      Diane remembers that Bob Richards was there and gave a pole vaulting clinic as he was then the reigning Olympic champion.  For part of the class he gave his speech  while walking on his hands to demonstrate the strength needed to be a vaulter in those days.    

From this meet, Diane was invited to move on to Vancouver for final selection to the Canadian team for the Empire/Commonwealth Games.  This time she made it as a 220 yard sprinter, but again it was not without controversy due to her age of 16.  Still considered too young to compete, the officials argued that she couldn't compete in those 'long' races around one turn.  But her coach Myrtle Cook argued on her behalf that she could, because there was no rule against competing in 'international competions' at that age, only in Canadian competitions.  Diane made it as the number two 220 yard sprinter for the Canadians finishing second to Gerry Bemistor.  She was less successful in the 100 and finished 7th in the trials.  And so she made the team and stayed in Vancouver for the month leading up to the meet.  She was the youngest person on the Canadian track and field team.   Again Myrtle came to her rescue and served as a chaperone for Diane.  At the Games she ran a PB in the 220 but was eliminated in the semis by the Australian Marjorie Jackson-Nelson.

Diane on the Canadian National Team at the Empire/Commonwealth Games 1954

   

In her memories about those Games of course was witnessing the epic Bannister-Landy mile  duel and then the near tragedy of Jim Peters collapsing on the last lap of the Marathon.  Those events happened within minutes of each other.

After the 1954 Empire Commonwealth Games, she came home and continued to train in 1955 at Molson Stadium on the McGill University campus.  It was then she discovered she could stay with the boys at 440 yards.  Perhaps an indication that her strength might be in the longer races.   In the fall of 1955 she matriculated to Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, and that was it for Track and Field.  She received a B.A. in History and Poly Psy.  Got a scholarship to McGill and a degree in Sociology.  She then moved up to the north shore of the St. Lawrence  to the town of Port Cartier and taught  Kindergarten  to high school in Algebra, trigonometry, and Phys. Ed. in the English community,  eventually ending up with a husband and four children and moving through a series of towns including Port Cartier, Buckingham, and Toronto.   While she was teaching physical education the Canadian Air Force 5Bx and 10BX exercise routines were popular.  In 1970 one of the tests of fitness in the Aerobics workouts of Ken Cooper  was to see how far one could run in 12 minutes.  She covered 6 laps on the track.  She would occasionally jog at night with her dog to get out of the house and relax away from the kids.  But if she saw someone on the sidewalk, she would slow down to a walk, so people would not think she was crazy out running on her own.    In 1975 she had a spinal fusion and was told that running was no longer  an option.  A year later she would compete in her first road race, the National Capital Marathon. No build up with 5ks 10ks or half marathons.   This sounds typical of Diane.  In fact this marathon in 1976, her first road race, was just the beginning of a long and incredible distance running career that would lead Diane to competing internationally and holding every Canadian Masters record from 50 meters to 80 kilometres at one time or another in her racing history.  Her son Craig, already a good athlete (50.1 in 400m IH) helped coach Diane in 1975.  She worked out with the Ottawa Kinsman Harriers.  Her husband at the time wanted her to crew his sailboat in a regatta.  She had other intentions.  Prior to that first Marathon she did win an Ottawa Businessmen’s Olympics 1500 race at around 6:00.  She phoned in about six weeks before the marathon to get registered and two weeks before the race  did her first 20 miler.  In that first marathon she went out at 9:00 pace and finished in 3hrs. 54 minutes.    That Fall she ran the Skylon Marathon (Buffalo/Niagara Falls ) in 3 hrs. 22 min.  She was on her way.  By 1979 she was racing in Hannover, Germany in the World Masters Championships finishing second to Miki Gorman in the marathon,  and in 1980 she won the Penn Relays 800 in 2:20.9 at age 42.  That was her first race on the track race since the 1954 Commonwealth Games.  Then she started getting really good running a 2hr. 46.21 in the Twin Cities Marathon in 1984 at age 46 . This was also a Canadian national record.  She got her first World Records at 400 and 800 metres.   Other victories included the Bonne Belle 10Km in New York in 1988.   She also turned in a 37:19 10,000 on the track and has run 78 marathons over the years. 

By the early 1980’s Diane was using her skills to get involved in the administrative side of the sport and public fitness working for the Canadian Medical Association as an editor of their journal, also serving the  Jewish Community Centre, interning with the Canadian Track and Field Association  working for the Ottawa Athletic Club.  By 1986 she was manager for the Womens’ Program for Sport Canada and became in involved in Women’s Rights in Sport and the Canadian Association for Advancement of Women in Sport.  By 1990 she realized she was burning out from so many activities and decided to limit herself to coaching.  She earned her Canadian coaching certification, then moved to Colorado with her second husband Ernie Black.  Ernie had always worked as a geologist with mining companies and Diane began operating Women’s Running Camps from 1993 until 2001 and continued to train and run for herself as well.  She got her US coaching certification in Provo, UT.   Diane and  Ernie  were mainstays in the Colorado running community during  those  years.  Her company was called 'Running Unlimited'. In one of those eight years one of Diane's protogees Katie Kilbane won  the Masters 40+  1500 and Diane won the 50+ 1500.  In 2003 when signing up to run the 400 and 800 at the US Masters meet, an official confronted her about being a Canadian and not being eligible to run  in that meet.  Diane replied that she had dual citizenship and was eligible.  The US official blurted back, "If you run in this meet I'll see you never run again in an international meet." Diane called the official's bluff and was so infuriated that she set two Age Group world records in the 400 and 800.  

In 1984 Diane was the first woman in the Helsinki Marathon and won this trophy depicting Lasse Viren She modestly mentioned that the top Finnish women were all running in the L.A. Olympics and were not present for this race.

    One of Diane's toughest competitions was in 1987 participating in the Ultimate Runner competition in Jackson, Michigan.  This event was run for several years, then ran out of crazies willing to participate.  It moved down to North Carolina for awhile and like the 24 hour relays that we've reported on, it faded from view.   The Ultimate Runner was a one day event that consisted of a 10Km road race, a 400 meter sprint and a 100 meter sprint on the the track, followed by a one mile race and finally a full marathon.  Diane won the Masters division of this event when she was 49 years old.  Her times were:  10Km 41:29, 400m 75.9, 100m 15.8, Mile 6:03.8, Marathon 3:20:38.  Any one of those times would be considered very strong on its own for a 49 years old mother of four.  

   To be closer to Diane's mom who was in senior care in Sidney, BC, she and Ernie moved to Blaine, Washington in 2001 and continued running and coaching in nearby Bellingham.  In 2008, they  finally moved back to Canada following her daughter up to Vancouver Island where she became a member of the Comox Valley Road Runners which is where I first met Diane.   In talking over the old days, we discovered that we both ran our first marathon in that same  Ottawa National Capitol Marathon back in 1976.   Diane is a stickler for details.  When the Comox Valley club got together to run a mile to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Bannister's 4 minute mile, Diane was there to measure the extra nine meters on the track and break it down into 440 yard intervals to give accurate splits. 

It was only this Spring that Diane lost Ernie to a tough struggle with Parkinsons Disease.  Today Diane still runs regularly but non-competitively.  Her latest project is writing a book about her great aunt who migrated to Canada alone from Iceland in the late 19th century.  Certainly this pioneering spirit of her great aunt is an indicator of the strength Diane has shown over all these years of motherhood, work, racing, caregiving  and being an ambassador of our sport.  

V 6 N. 84 Zatopek, Zamperini, Film and Margaritas

November 14, 2016, 6:39 am

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We received this note from Mike Solomon a few weeks ago:

George,

Before we went to the L.A. Coliseum to see the Cal-USC game we had dinner at the El Cholo Restaurant in downtown Los Angeles.a watering hole for SC football coaches.

Thought that you'd like the part of the restaurant that honors Louis Zamperini.

I've been there a couple of times and it's a great Mexican Restaurant ( even though the sign out front says Spanish cuisine)? Had to take a photo of the room for some of my running pals.

great margaritas! A L.A. landmark going back to 1923.

El Cholo Restaurant

1121 S. Western Ave.

Los Angeles, Cal.

Thanks, Mike.   Hope to see you there someday.

Note:  There are several places in L.A. called El Cholo's, make sure you go to the one on S. Western Ave. if you want to be in the Louis Zamperini room. ed.

Moving on, I am currently reading another of the new books about Emil Zatopek,  "Quicksilver, The Mercurial Emil Zatopek" by Pat Butcher,  loaned to me by John Cobley, my friend who writes the wonderful distance running blog  Racing Past.   Where we only scratch the surface, John goes in depth and to the heart of the matter.  There you will find his review of "Quicksilver...." , so I 'll spare you reading mine.  However I will remark on the style in which it is written as much in the author's first person telling about how he made contact with sources and then the interviews with Zatopek, his wife Dana, and coaches and friends which to me was much more interesting than a totally chronological account of Zatopek's life. You learn about the hardships of training while a war was going on in Europe.  The friends who were arrested and imprisoned for not going along with the views of the state.  In fact it is noted that the whole Czech hockey team which won the world championship in 1947 was imprisoned and condemned to work in a uranium mine for years.  Zatopek himself was sent there after the Prague Spring in 1968.

 I will also mention two films that are cited in the book.   One is a Czech production about the doping world in track and field from the Eastern bloc standpoint.  I've only been able to find a trailer for this film.  See Fair-Play.    It is  by the Paris based Czech director Andrea Sedlackova.  Although I haven't found a source to view the entire film, some of you more astute teckies may be able to help us with that.

The second film is a documentary about a refugee ,  Salah Ameidan, from the Western Sahara.  The Runner    Again we can only connect you with the trailer

George Roy and Steve

V 6 N. 84 November-December, 1966

November 15, 2016, 9:37 pm

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NOVEMBER – DECEMBER 1966

    Once again a paucity of hard news has forced us to combine two issues of Track and Field News. We will get back to the one issue format in January.

NOVEMBER

    Oddly, the most significant cross country race leading up to the NCAA meet took place on Nov. 12, but was only casually covered in one sentence at the end of a column entitled Cross Country Report. That would be the Northern Division championship in which Oregon State's Tracy Smith left Gerry Lindgren of Washington State in the dust by 33 seconds. Inexplicably other meets on that weekend, the Big Ten, the SEC, the WAC, the IC4A, the Central Collegiates and the NCAA college division meet listed team scores and top finishers.

Russ Hodge

Bill Toomey

    The top decathlon guys are training in Santa Barbara. Russ Hodge, Bill Toomey and Dave Thoreson share an apartment and train with Paul Herman, Gerry Moro of Canada

Gerry Moro

and Olaf Lange of West Germany. The lads have been hitting the weight room as measured by Hodge's and Toomey's bench press PRs of 430 and 330. Thoreson, who has high jumped 6-10, has cleared 6-2 with a 20 pound weight vest.......

See Sports Illustrated article  April 12, 1971.   The Ineligible Married Man by William F. Reed.

I found this googling Dave Thoreson Decathlon.  Don't know where  it came from.  I think our friend Phil Scott may have competed in one of these 30 minute Decathlons on a beach in California.  Only he can tell the real story.   Phil?

RECORDS FALL IN 30 MINUTE DECATHLON 
Back in 1971 California school teacher Dave Thoreson got bored with his training routine. And so he invented a challenging and looney event for decathletes who don't like to wait for scheduled competition days .....The 30 minute decathlon. The rules are simple. All ten events must be contested in order. The athlete must begin the 1500 meter run within 30 minutes of the start of the 100 meters. In August of '71 Dave claimed the WR with 6233. It did not take the two day-event community long to catch on to Thoreson's idea and in 1974 Swede Inge Hermansson took Dave's record away. 30 minute action picked up this summer with Santa Barbara's John Warkentin giving it a crack in August at UCSB. He carme away with the WR 6747 points. John corresponds that "we had about 10 spectators, and after it was over, everyone agreed that it was one of the most exciting events they had witnesses. myself including." John's marks included: 11.2 632 1407 192 53.2 15.3 4602 396 5960 6:00.3. Six weeks later carme  the newS that WUG champ Josep Zeilbauer took a crack at the 30 minute affair in Vienna as a special TV exhibition. His 6854 made Warkentin only the American record holder. Rooney Magnusson notes Sepp went to 2.00 hj after 1.90 and also thought he'd cleared 4.20 in the pole vault. It was remeasured at 4.17. His marks (10/3/77) 10.8 647 1489 190 57.2 15.8 4000 417 5762 5:48.0. We now await the first 7000 half-hour decathlon.

UCLA and Kansas will meet in annual dual meets in Los Angeles for the next three years. UCLA has plans to build a Tartan track with seating for 12,500......Speaking of new tracks, we have a couple odd ones for you. The Rose Bowl has a new Grasstex track which measures 386 yards, a concession to space limitations. The opposite is true at Boston College where a Tartan track of 476 yards has been installed. As the university went overboard on the length, perhaps economic considerations affected the width – only six lanes.

DECEMBER

Brown and coach Harry Adams

Lindgren

Lawson Leading Brown Up What Is Now Known As Lawson Hill in Lawrence in NCAA Nationals 1965

    The significance of the Northern Division meet is made clear in the reporting of the NCAA Championship in Lawrence, Kansas. Lindgren, suffering from a sprained ankle in that meet ten days earlier, is now healthy. He opens up an early lead, which Smith can not close to less than 25 yards, and wins by ten seconds. The team title is never in doubt. Villanova coasts to an easy win with 78 points. Kansas State (155), San Jose State (183), Iowa (193) and Washington State (208) follow.

    Five days later in Los Angeles suburb of Woodland Hills, the AAU championship is held on the hilly Pierce College course. Aside from Doug Brown (5^th in the NCAA, 8^th here), it is a different cast of of characters. Ron Larrieu leads the So. Cal Striders to a four point team victory over the New York AC, as he wins by 47 seconds over John Lawson and Joe Lynch. Kenny Moore of the Oregon TC is fourth.

    Bits and pieces: Wonder what it feels like to be 19 and have a book written about your life. Jim Ryun is going to find out in March when the appropriately titled, Jim Ryun Story, published by Track and Field News, will be released. Just checked. Yes, a used hardback copy is available from Amazon.com for $48.95 ($3.99 shipping).

If you prefer the paperback edition, that goes for $179 plus shipping. No, we don't know either.....Just in, the UPI in Europe has announced its Sportsman of the Year award. Jim Ryun was second with 143 votes. Tommie Smith was third with 132. The winner with 232 was a boxer, Casius Clay. Don't feel sorry for the track guys. Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year is Ryun......World Sports, “the British equivalent of Sports Illustrated” has Tommie Smith as its International Sportsman of the Year with Ryun second and Ron Clarke tenth......From The On Your Marks column: “A number of New Zealand distance runners like a drink call Shandy-ale, which is half beer and half lemon-ade”. Our crack team of researchers is working to come up with the recipe. Watch for our next posting......From the Letters to the Editor column: Marian Cyprus of Bronx, NY asks the question that has bothered so many for so long. He writes, “Give me one reason why the discus circle is one foot, two and a half inches larger than the hammer circle.” Fifty years have passed and this inequity still exists. The sport of track and field needs someone like Marian today to stand up against this sort of disparity.

    We'll close with a harbinger of an early track season. Jim Hines of Texas Southern ran a 9.3 hundred into a 10 mph gale at the Bluebonnet meet in Houston on Dec. 16. The season can't be far off.

    Remember, we meet next Friday at the Dew Drop Inn. While we debate throwing circle diameters and odd sized tracks, perhaps Doris will bring us Shandy-ales all the way around. See you then.

V. 6 N. 85 Jay Birmingham, Story of an Ultimate Runner

November 18, 2016, 9:32 am

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This piece comes from  the blog "The History of 20th Century Running in Greater  Cincinnati'
written by old friend Bob Roncker.   I've met Jay Birmingham several times through mutual friend Steve Price.  Even ran a few miles once in West Central Ohio with Jay when he was on his attempt to run through every state.  Bob, you did a helluva job on this article.   GB

V.1 #46 Jay Birmingham - USA Transcontinental Run Record Holder

Jay Birmingham – Ultramarathon Man

In January of 2016 there was a gathering to honor Don Wahle.  Germinating from that evening was the idea for this history blog. Jay Birmingham was among the invited individuals. Since he lives in Florida, he was unable to attend. However, Jay wanted Don to know a couple of things. They were his feelings, for both Wahle and the Ohio Valley Track Club that Don started, plus how Don and the OVTC influenced Jay’s running career. 

This blog begins with the letter that Jay wanted to be read that evening. That’s followed by the story of his exploits as an ultramarathon runner.  Jay, our third of five individuals with local ties who performed extraordinary distance feats, certainly fits into the company of earlier mentioned Dan O’Leary and Ted Corbitt.  Most of the quotes in this story are from interviews Jay has given over the years. These include articles by Mark Woods and Mike Spence about the transcontinental run.

 I have a particular connection with Jay. In August of 1978 both of us were going to race up Pike’s Peak. He had a tent, which he shared with me the night before the ascent. At that time Jay had a running shop in Jacksonville. Talking with him about the store rekindled an interest that I previously had about starting my own running shop. Reconnecting with Jay that weekend directly led to what eventually became Bob Roncker’s Running Spot.

MY FIRST TRACK CLUB, 1964

By Jay Birmingham

     Mounted on the wall of my bedroom is a shadowbox, housing a running singlet.  A genuine relic of my running past, the 50-year-old garment has survived college, grad school, two-dozen moves to six states, and half-a-dozen life changes. That it lasted to the present day is a minor miracle.

      It was discovered, as fossils often are, in a box of running t-shirts. Among the other treasures are shirts from six River Runs, the 1990 Pikes Peak Ascent, and the 1976 New York City Marathon.  A white singlet with blue piping, it says OHIO VALLEY TRACK CLUB.

     My wife, Debbie, rescued it from my Colorado cabin, washed it for the first time in probably 35 years, and mounted it in the box.  I glance at it every day now, and the memories come flooding back.  The OVTC was my first track club.

     In May of 1963, I was a freshly retired runner, my prep track days complete.  No one I knew raced after high school, and there was no adult running going on in Ohio, or so I thought.  By mid-summer, however, I missed running enough to go to Riverside Park in Dayton for an evening jog. It changed my life.

     Chaminade High School was a track dynasty at the time, producing bunches of crack milers whose times made me feel pedestrian, although I had experienced some success at rural Wilmington H.S.  There they were, a dozen of them, hammering across the grass, charging up a steep hill, and shouting at each other.  They were emaciated and tireless, excited over the results of their time trial.

     A week later, I returned, hoping to see them again.  I jogged around, warily, and was startled by a voice.

     “Would you like to run with us?”

     Thus began my return to running and my introduction to the sport of cross-country.

     By Labor Day the next year, 1964, I placed eighth in an open cross-country event in Cincinnati.  There I met Don Wahle, the founder and leader of the Ohio Valley Track Club.  Six feet, three inches tall, with Coke-bottle-bottom eyeglasses (I’m serious), Don was friendly and quite old - I think 32.  He and two other older guys wearing Ohio Valley TC uniforms came up to me.

     “Would you like to run with us?”

     Since I was not yet eligible to compete at my new college, I was game.

     The OVTC was solely a competitive group:  no meetings, no newsletter, and a roster that changed from week to week.  We converged on a parking lot in northern Cincinnati, piled into the largest car, and drove out to challenge the world.

     Barry Binkley was a stocky high school coach, famous for his 3:00-flat split for a ¾-mile leg of a distance medley relay while running for Bowling Green University.  Bob Roncker (former owner of several running specialty stores) was a Spanish teacher and a former standout at UC.  Don was the heart and soul of the club, a UC grad, who worked as a bookkeeper.  Jack Mahurin was an English teacher and Western Kentucky alumnus.  The five of us were joined by a half-dozen other locals, mostly post-collegians, who just couldn’t give up their running.

     We all trained hard and independently, and shared workouts and track articles with each other.  Don kept us connected through postal cards.  His large capital letters announced our next race.

     “U OF KY, 4 MILES XC, OCT 17, MEET AT DESC PARKING LOT, 6 A.M.”

     I don’t recall a time when fewer than five guys showed up.  We’d drive to the meet, run to exhaustion, grab a sandwich, and then drive back home.

     In the fall of 1965, led by Mahurin’s first place finish, we claimed the Kentucky AAU Cross Country Championship over 15 clubs and colleges.  I got to take the team trophy home for the week, a compliment for placing second man for the club.  Two weeks later, we captured third place in the Ohio AAU meet, behind Ohio State and Miami.

     I wore my OVTC singlet in my first marathon, Labor Day 1966, in Columbia, Missouri.  Later that fall, I won a one-hour run at the University of Kentucky, outsprinting club-mate Al Sewell during the final minute to prevail over a field of 17 guys, mostly collegians.

     I was—and I think most of us were—proud of our little club.  Although the singlet survives, my racing shorts are long gone.  Same goes for my dark blue warm-ups, which sported the initials, OVTC.

     Don said it stood for “Old and Very Tired Club.”  What a great couple of years for me, to race with those old, but not so very tired, runners.

Jay started running in middle school.  He graduated from Wilmington High School in 1963, where he ran the mile and 880.  Jay said that, “Had I not hooked up with the Ohio Valley Track Club near the end of my first year of college at the University of Dayton in 1964 and been exposed to road racing (which was not very popular back then), and cross-country, as well as track, I am certain that my running life would have been limited to a couple of years of track at Wilmington College.  Meeting Don Wahle and other serious post-collegiate runners from Cincinnati made all the difference.”  And what a difference it made.  Jay remained with the club through 1968.

At the suggestion of a club member, he ran the 1966 Heart of America Marathon in Columbia, Missouri. He finished in 2 hours, 51 minutes.

“I realized my future in running was going to be in the marathon,” Birmingham said. “I kind of became a marathon runner. I would run one or two a year because there weren’t many marathons back then. I thought I could break 2:30, 2:25 and qualify for the Olympic Trials.”

That never happened.

“My PR is 2:39, run in 1978 at Boston,” Birmingham said. “I trained really hard for 15 years and got good, but not really good.”

Birmingham understood his Olympic dream was not going to be realized, so he began dabbling in longer races like 24-hour runs and 100-kilometer races, and discovered he enjoyed it.

Jay started doing what he called “journey runs.” In 1967 he had his first successful long run of 51 miles around Clinton County.  In 1972 he went 166 miles from Cleveland to Grove City and in 1973 he did his first ultra race, the JFK 50-miler in Maryland.

In 1975 he did his first crossing of the Grand Canyon.  He said it “kicked my butt but I got out of there with only leg cramps.  I doubt I will ever go across again unless I have someone carrying my gear/drinks.  The 7-mile descent from the south rim beat up my quads and the steps, hollowed out by mules, were gravelly and steep.  The middle 7 miles were gently uphill and I pushed hard (1500 feet elevation gain); but I was dead over the final 7 miles (4000 feet of climbing).  It was hot and the final altitude is around 8200 feet but I had trained all summer at 8800 so I think the leg cramps (biceps femoris and sartorius) were simple overuse.”  Jay must have a short memory because he forgot his oath not to try it again. He made the crossing in 1985, 1995, 2005, and in 2015 to celebrate his 70^th birthday.  Will he be up for 2025?

In 1976 he “journeyed” 219 miles from Miami to Titusville, Florida, but that was only a prelude for what was to come.  Jay met Ted Corbitt and Corbitt suggested that he attempt a trans-America crossing.  He lined up a two-man support crew, the use of a camper and sponsorship money.

His first trans-USA attempt in 1977 ended after 238 miles after going from Los Angeles to Ehrenberg, Arizona. “I lasted seven days,” Birmingham said. “I got into Arizona and was doing 45 to 50 miles a day. I was very regimented. I would run for 45 minutes, take a 15-minute break, then run for 45 minutes and take an hour break. It was stupid. I didn’t train that way.”

 “I blamed the heat for my problems,” Birmingham said.  After prematurely ending the first time, he spent 10 days in the desert acclimating to the heat and started again. Again he followed his regimented running plan. This time he lasted two days.

“By then, my Achilles tendons were like broomsticks,” Birmingham said. “I literally couldn’t walk fast.”

The failure left Birmingham depressed. He broke out in a rash.  “It was just stress,” he said.

Birmingham thought that was the end of his dream of a trans-America crossing.  But the itch never left him and in 1979, Jay wrote to Corbitt and told him he was considering another trans-America attempt.

Corbitt asked him if he had considered doing it the way South African runner Don Shepherd had, running alone with no support crew and just a backpack for equipment. Shepherd had been the second man to make the crossing solo, completing the run in 1964 in a record time of 73 days, 8 hours.

Birmingham running with backpack

Birmingham prepped by running 180 miles a week and by reading and rereading Shepherd’s book “My Run Across the United States.”

“I almost memorized what he would do when he had a lumpy Achilles, when he got sore, when he couldn’t find food,” Birmingham said. “I became very confident I could deal with any unexpected situations.”

Birmingham followed the rules set by the Guinness Book of Records, gathering witness signatures along the way. He was required to have three per day but tried to get four or five.

Gathering the witness signatures proved to be a huge help. Birmingham said, “I learned it was a great introduction to learning about lodging, meals, and shortcuts where you didn’t have to run along a busy highway. The witness signature turned out to be a real boon to my progress.”

When Birmingham set off at 9:00 a.m. on May 20 from Los Angeles’ City Hall, he gave Corbitt a phone call telling him he was starting. 

Corbitt gave Birmingham a key piece of advice: Don’t let your rhythm be disturbed by people who are trying to give you publicity.

“I learned to become very independent,” Birmingham said. “I took advantage of every free meal. If all I could get was Pepsi and snack crackers from a vending machine, that’s what I would eat. That happened a couple of times. I’d done so much training, I figured if I ate poorly for a week it wouldn’t affect me much.”

He was cruising along at 35 to 40 miles a day until he got to the eastern edge of New Mexico.  “I ran for 17 miles through a rough gravel shoulder and hurt my left leg,” he said.

Birmingham limped from Tucumcari, N.M., to Amarillo, Texas, where a friend met him and took him to a doctor.

After an X-ray, the doctor recommended a month of rest. Birmingham took just one day.

“I had run 11 miles the previous day and none the next, and here the clock was running,” Birmingham said. During his day off, he fashioned a makeshift orthotic out of some old insoles and resumed running.

“I was able to go 28 miles the first day out of Amarillo,” Birmingham said. “By the time I got to Oklahoma, I was running freely again, over 35 miles a day.”

At that point, a heat wave hit. Birmingham endured 14 consecutive days of temperatures in excess of 100 degrees.

“I would find myself running in the middle of the road just to be in the shade of the power lines,” Birmingham said.

He took no chances in those conditions, limiting himself to no more than 40 miles per day. Gradually, he fell behind the record pace by a day and a half.  “I had 700 miles to go and was running out of days,” Birmingham said.

During a TV interview, Birmingham admitted he might not break the record.  “I think I’m just going to do the distance.” he remembers saying.

The turning point in the run came the next night when another TV reporter asked him about what he had said.

“To have somebody say that to me, my exact words back to me, was like a slap in the face,” Birmingham said.

“I hemmed and hawed for about 30 seconds and said it’s not really out of reach. I just need to average 50 miles a day the rest of the way.”  Birmingham decided to run 50 miles the next day no matter what.  “If you don’t give it your best shot, you’ll never forgive yourself,” Birmingham said he told himself.

He ran 50 miles that day. The clouds rolled in and there was an afternoon thunderstorm. Then, as he reached his hotel, he found a 50-cent piece on the ground.

“I thought that was an omen,” Birmingham said.

Birmingham discovered that he wasn’t any more tired. His blisters weren’t any worse, and he wasn’t hurt.

The next day he ran 59 miles. He started running 50 miles or more each day.

By the time Birmingham got to Philadelphia, he was about a day and a half ahead of schedule. He spent the last night of the run in Perth Amboy, N.J., where he called Corbitt again.

“We’ve got it all arranged for you,” Corbitt told him. “Be at the base of the Verrazano Bridge before 9:00 a.m.”

The New York Road Runners Club had a lane of the bridge shut down for Birmingham.  “I ran up through Brooklyn, across the Brooklyn Bridge and finished on the steps of City Hall,” Birmingham said. “Ted Corbitt signed my final witness card and marked down my time. It was perfect symmetry.” He covered 2,964 miles in 71 days, 22 hours, 59 minutes – a record that still stands.

Jay Birmingham being interviewed on the steps of New York’s City Hall upon concluding his trans-continental run

Rather than satiating his desire for ultras, this achievement seemed to spark his interest for more “journey running.”  Many of you have heard of the Badwater Ultramarathon.  Here is how Wikipedia describes it.

         The Badwater Ultramarathon describes itself as "the world's toughest foot race". It is a 135-mile (originally 146 miles) (217 km) course starting at 279 feet (85 m) below sea leve in theBadwater Basin, in California’s Death Valley, and ending at an elevation of 8360 feet (2548 m) at Whitney Portal, the trailhead to Mount Whitney. It takes place annually in mid-July, when the weather conditions are most extreme and temperatures can reach 130 °F (54 °C). Consequently, very few people—even among ultramarathoners—are capable of finishing this grueling race.

Originally the course went to the peak of Mt. Whitney. The idea was to connect the lowest point in the western hemisphere to the highest geographical feature in the contiguous U.S.  After three aborted attempts to complete the distance, in 1977 Al Arnold became the first person to successfully navigate the entire route. 

Jay, in 1981, was the second person to accomplish this feat.  His time of 75 hours and 34 minutes eclipsed the standing mark of 84 hours set by Arnold.  During the run in the desert, he endured temperatures over 120 degrees and on the summit of Mt. Whitney it was snowing.

In Death  Valley

On top of Mt. Whitney

The following year Birmingham undertook another journey. He ran from the northern tip of Maine, Ft. Kent, to Key West along the Atlantic Seaboard. This trip of 2,254 miles, which took 47 days and 5 hours, concluded on July 30, 1982.

However, his greatest challenge loomed.  In 1988, he embarked on an ambitious attempt to run through every state. He ran 4,526 miles and had passed through 26 states when he simply stopped and went home. This was six years before the movie Forrest Gump was released. Jay said, “I had run one and a half times the distance of my trans-America crossing. I was tired of running.”  Forrest too just decided that he had had enough.

Actually, Jay was tired of the grind, the daily interviews, and sleeping in a different hotel each night. Coincidentally, that run also ended on July 30, the same date that he ended his Atlantic coast run.

In 2004 he repeated Badwater and completed it nine hours faster than in 1981.  Jay says that his “journey runs” are now over but he continues to run everything from one mile through short ultras, about 2,500 miles per year. He goes at a pace now that truly qualifies as "pedestrian," the term used a century ago to describe ultra-distance running events.

Jay finishing Badwater in 2004

He teaches high school anatomy and physiology, and is head track and cross-country coach at his school.  He remains close to many of his former athletes and supports the sport in a variety of ways.

Is he still competitive?  Birmingham says, “I could do it today.  “I’m not as fast as I used to be, but I’m in as good a shape.”

V 6 N. 86 Passing of a Bronco , A Sighting of Zatopek, and a MAC Publicity Photo

November 19, 2016, 9:22 am

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John Bork (NCAA 880 Champ 1961, 1:48.3)  informed us of the passing of his teammate Richard "Dick" Greene in Las Vegas this past week.  Greene was a stalwart on that herd of Broncos that dominated nationally under coach George Dales.     Those guys included Bork, Jared Ashmore, Richard Mach, Dick Pond, and a host of others.   As a high school senior in 1961 I witnessed Bork, Greene and Mach sweeping the Mid American Conference (MAC) 880, completely dominating the rest of the conference.  They also won the Drake Relays 4x 1 Mile during their careers.   Greene set the school record in the mile at 4:05 in the early 1960's. In life he went on to teach school and coach  in Las Vegas high schools.   His last years were in a tough struggle with Parkinsons Disease although he still walked with the aid of a walker up to his last days.

George, 

Thanks for the remembrance of Richard Greene.  Since I too live in Las Vegas, I  was able to visit Dick every week.  It as sad to see such a fine athlete go through the agony Parkinson's Disease.  It seems as if some  great athletes are predisposed to PD.  John Walker and Max Truex for two.  My former Residence Advisor at Georgetown, Dr. Jack Reilly is another.   In fact, Jack felt a connection with Dick, as t hey were both 1963 graduates of their respective schools, ran fast miles (4:01 for Jack), and both had PD.  For the past two years Jack was having Track and Field News delivered to Dick at his group home.  Jack is also famous for his anchor leg of the two mile relay at the Millrose Games in 1962.  I was present for that meet at MSG.  It was also the meet that John Uelses broke the 16 foot barrier in the pole vault for the first time. Jack's split was 1:47.9 for the half mile on an 11-lap per mile track.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bc1yPzjkBGk  

Don Betowski

On another note,  I've been reading one of the three new biographies of Emil Zatopek,  "Quicksilver, The Mercurial Life of Emil Zatopek" by Pat Butcher.  It is filled with interviews with Zatopek and his contemporaries, and just a very knowledgeable piece of work.  Butcher himself was a decent runner and an outstanding journalist, so it more than gives credence to the man and his times.  During the Prague Spring in 1968 when the Czech government under Alexander Dubcek tried to forge its own path toward socialism, the Russians put tremendous pressure on the Czechoslovakians to toe the hardline.  The resistance put up by the Czechs led to  an invasion of the country two months before the Mexico City Olympics.  There was a lot of underground struggle going on and clandestine radio stations broadcasting support for Dubcek.  Zatopek was one of the most famous people in the country and he supported the resistance.   During the resistance  he was interviewed clandestinely by a French journalist in front of the cameras about his role.  In this clip he is speaking in an abbreviated French to the journalist.  I know many of you won't understand the interview, but the closeup of Zatopek more than reveals some of his character.  I think you will find it interesting.  He is rubbing his wrist and explaining while on manoeuvers with the army he fell out of a tree picking cherries.  He more or less downplays his role in the movement which makes some sense when one considers the consequences of acting against openly the Russian occupiers.    Interestingly Zatopek and his wife Dana were allowed to travel to observe the Olympics that year, and  Vera Caslavska the Czech gymnast who actually won more medals than Zatopek, and who was also openly critical of the Russian invasion of their country was allowed to go and compete in Mexico City.  It is also remembered that she turned her back on the Russian flag twice during medal ceremonies. For this she was ostracized on her return.  Both the Zatopeks and Caslavska were offered asylum by western countries but they chose to return to their homeland.   It indeed was a heady year with the Tommie Smith , John Carlos events of that Olympics.   Zatopek for his deeds was gradually demoted out of the army where he held the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.  He was sent to work in a uranium mine for ten years, possibly more. An equivalent to a prison term.    This was not an uncommon thing in those days.  In 1947 the whole Czech ice hockey team was sent to the same mine after they had already won the World Championship.  They had gotten in an altercation in a bar with some secret police who were keeping an eye on them and as a result several cops got figuratively 'sent into the boards'.

Here's the interview.  Zatopek Interview   Note you have to wait about 5-10 seconds for it to start rolling.


And lastly Steve Price sent us this publicity photo from about 1971 of Bowling Green State University's great Steeplechaser, cross country, and 5000 runner Sid Sink.    Sid adds the comment below.

 "The gal next to me is Kathy Baumann, runner-up Miss America!  This picture was taken prior to the CCC  meet held at BGSU".  Sid

We're going to take a little hiatus with the blog, as I'm scheduled for some surgery on Monday and will be on the mend for a few weeks.  Happy Thanksgiving.
George

V 6 N. 87 Stan Huntsman R.I.P.

November 26, 2016, 6:01 pm

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Stan Huntsman passed away at age 84 in Austin, TX where he finished his coaching career at the University of Texas.  He had also coached at Ohio University and University of Tennessee.

Stan Huntsman with cross country team members including Elmore Banton on left Robert Heller and Larry Smith

The Knoxville News  Sentinal remembers Stan in this article:
Stan Huntsman

In a similar article, The New York Times recalls that when Ohio U. dropped their men's track and cross country programs, Stan sent back his Masters Degree from the univesity and had his name taken out of their Hall of Fame.


I remember Stan as someone I wish I had been coached by at the end of my college career.  I was recruited by him and made a campus visit in the Spring of 1960.  It was my first trip away from home on my own where no familiar face would be waiting for me when I got off the bus. I was the only kid in my high school getting recruited for anything to do with sports at that time.  So no one  there could give me any idea what to expect.  To get to Athens in Southeast Ohio I travelled northeast from Dayton to Columbus, changed buses and headed back south.  I still  remember seeing a legless man in the Columbus bus station pushing himself along on a board  with small rollers.  He had what looked like an iron ring in each hand to propel himself along the ground, so his hands wouldn't be soiled on that station floor.  What was he expecting from me?  My world up to that time had been pretty narrow and protected.  Sixty years later I would see a man with a similar handicap directing the parking of buses in a station in Kigali, Rwanda.  How he kept from being crushed is anyone's guess, yet he was granted the dignity of being allowed to do so.

As the bus started getting into the beautiful hill country surrounding Athens I found the place enchanting.  Getting off the bus I asked  my way to Stan Huntsman's office and introduced myself.  I didn't know what to tell Stan or expect from him.  What should I say?  How much money am I worth?  I was just a junior and had had a reasonable sophmore year for those days 4;32 mile, 2:05 880. The state record then was about 4:29.   It was Spring and the track season was about to begin.  Stan really didn't seem to know what to say or ask either.  Certainly he was in no postion to be bargaining for my services.  I had two seasons ahead of me.  As it turned out, my junior year I barely improved on my times.  And I was probably not considered a good prospect after that stagnant third year.    I spent Friday afternoon and all day Saturday on campus and returned home on Sunday morning. Never visited a class, only talked to a couple team members for a few minutes.   That Saturday Ohio U. hosted the Ohio U. Relays.  It was coooold and blustery and even snowed during the meet.  But there were some outstanding talents there that day in the form of a young long jumper and hurdler named Ralph Boston from Tennessee A&I  and a very good 220 sprinter named Paul Drayton,  and oh yes a decent Ohio State boy named Glen Davis.    I shared a dorm room with another visitor Brad Hill,  a boy from Hamilton, Ontario  Talking to him opened another world to me, learning that people ran track in other countries and did things a little differently.  They ran in clubs for one.  They also had easy access to  purchase Adidas track shoes.    He told me of other Canadians who came down to the States to run, like Ergas Leps at Michigan.   What, you mean they come down here to run and go to college?  By the time I got on the bus, my planet was turning on a slightly different axis than it had when I left Dayton that Friday morning.  I would go on to have a very good senior year and got recruited by more far away places like Oklahoma.  Stan would get a couple of good high schoolers from the Akron and Cleveland area, Barry Sugden, Darnell Mitchell, and Elmore Banton and turned them into international class runners.  Might he have done that to me?  I'll never know and there are a lot of other things I'll never know about what might have been.  But I'm glad to say that I at least crossed paths with Stan Huntsman one time.
George Brose

V 6 N. 88 More on Stan Huntsman

November 27, 2016, 9:06 am

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Our little piece on Stan Huntsman's passing has brought in an outpouring of messages and memories about he man.  Apparently Stan had touched a lot of people in positive ways that they wish to make known, and we are happy to share those notes.    For that reason we are  putting out a second posting with these stories about Stan.  Included is a remarkable piece written by Stan himself that has been passed from David Milliman to Bruce Kritzler and on to us.  Thanks, Dave for sharing Stan's work. If more comments come into this blog, I'll place them on this particular posting/

Stan wrote the attached. For some time, he thought about writing a book. He entrusted his notes to me, and this was the result. This has continued to speak  to me over the years, and I introduce it to each and everyone I have ever coached and many runners I have known. He was one of Jimmy Carnes' closest friends. 

Stan was a great person. A great coach and a great man.

Jimmy, Sam and Stan are gone now. But NOT to be forgotten.

dave m.  

Dave Milliman
Managing Editor
Pace Running Magazine

Pace Running Shop

108 S. Main Street

Travelers Rest, SC 29690

The Fourth Dimension, by Stan Huntsman "History is the expression of social, political and economic forces." -Theodore Gronert, History Professor, Wabash College (1953) We can define the social, political and economic factors that affect history. These factors make sense to us as both readers of history, and as students of mankind. History can be seen to flow from these three factors as vectors of change. So too, can we analyze the body, mind and spirit of man.       Man delights in defining the course of history in tangible form. Historians view vectors of change through the eyeglass of social, political and economic forces. We are at once students of history as well as students of mankind. As we read history, so too, do we read the soul of man. We analyze the factors of change as we analyze men. The three dimensional notions of Body, Mind and Spirit relate depth, width and height to our concepts of man and his place in history. As the words of the official seal of the University of Texas state in Latin: "Praesidium, Civitatis, Discipline.”  We triangularize the education of man, just as we study his history.       Yet hidden in the cracks of this conception, is the non-transmittable, immutable process of life itself. The quality of life cannot be bottled and processed by the vectors of change, the idylls of academia. The forces of change cannot be pre-destined without the will of man, the joy of living, and the quality of the moment.       It is this moment, this zest of life, (this process) which is the Fourth Dimension. This moment exemplifies the character of a true champion. In track & field, the champion actualizes his moment better than his competitor does. He controls the flow of awareness from the backlog of experience and participates in the moment of competition, in the hours of athleticism that brings him life. In this way, the champion controls his destiny.       President Grant's success as a great general has been attributed to his fixity of purpose, but at least one historian has written that his "persona" was the trait that made the Union Army work. "Persona" is defined as a character trait. You can write the word down, but it is hard to define. You might see it now, but you cannot capture it in a bag and carry it home. As lightning in a bottle, it is only as alive as General Grant himself.       Many historical figures have had this fixity of purpose, this aura of person power and conviction, this certainty of direction and the ability to inspire loyalty. I felt this in the presence of Darrell Royal, the legendary Texas football coach. When he was talking, the depth, and the truth of what he was saying overcame me. Moreover, he was saying it directly to me and to me alone. The rest of the group might as well have not been there at all. His words had a disproportionate affect on me, much more so than if he had written me a letter or called me on the phone. The Fourth Dimension of history was at work on that day as he was speaking to me. I imagine this was much the same as when General Grant was addressing his troops in another time and another place.       Coach "Bear" Bryant had this sign on his desk: "Don't stand there, make something happen." This was Bryant's philosophy of life condensed into one sentence; these words reflect the key to the possibility of success. Use one's precious commodity of time to create something in the present, to capture the dynamic of the moment with diligence and with as much affect as possible.       A great coach, teacher or athlete will exhibit the traits of greatness in every hour of his/her life. The flow of its execution will be natural, not forced. It will be exercised in an eased and matter of fact manner, relaxed and with a smile. Tension has no place in the act of winning. Intensity without relaxation is worthless.       Two of the greatest athletes I have coached, David Patrick and Winthrop Graham, were great examples of the uninhibited flow of this winning philosophy in action. David Patrick was an intermediate hurdler who also was a National and World Champion. Graham was an Olympic Silver medallist. Each processed the ability to train like a champion, and to smile and take defeat graciously when it was asked of them. Two occasions that illustrate the character of these two men stand out in my mind. One spring day I met with my Tennessee squad of 40 or so runners and asked them to warm up on their own and to meet me at the track for the workout. This was an informal, inspirational workout, as we had no major upcoming meets. Practice was to be a relaxed, no pressure exercise.  Unbeknownst to me, a heavy rainstorm was gathering and we were caught in a deluge that lasted for far more than that half hour. I went to the track, thinking it likely that none of my athletes would show up. I stood in the storm for a minute or two, realizing the rain had destroyed my intention. Then I noticed a singular figure stretching in the cold, David Patrick. We were quite possibly the only two citizens of Knoxville crazy enough to be out in the rain. Nevertheless, no questions were raised, and no innuendos passed. Patrick did ten 300's in solitude, a champion in the making, the only team member who showed up that day.       In 1985 I left Tennessee and took the head coaching position at the University of Texas. David Patrick also moved to Texas. On an unusually blustery day in the dead of winter in Austin, I was to meet Graham and Patrick at the grass intramural fields for 400 meter repeats. We had planned a hard workout. When we arrived, the sky was spitting rain whipped with a bitter wind. The air was full of static electricity as a Texas sized winter storm gathered around us. Yet, the boys were all smiles and full of run. Even during stretching and warm-ups, I could see this was to be a special day. The three of us stood on the hill in solitude, alone at the complex, facing the wind and the cold. But, I remember the smiles during the intervals, the laughter, the relaxation, the last run to exhaustion, and the feeling of invincibility. I knew then that these men would be champions.       "Punctuality with an attitude" is a trait that radiated out from the champion athletes I have coached. They were most often the first to the locker room and the first to the field. They were anxious to get the show on the road. Even in the early morning hour of six a.m., the best would be ready to run with a smile. They were ready to get the day started, to prove themselves, to put in the miles they knew would lead them to success. This attitude has proven to be standard procedure with all the champions I have known.       A coach spends a vast amount of time with his athletes. He shares their good moments and their bad. He takes part in their triumphs, he ushers them into their first life away from home. He learns of their closeted skeletons, he gives advice of the heart. He becomes their friend and confidant. And when the time comes, he steps away. He is both a father figure and a mentor, but he cannot win for them.       Each man exposes his soul to the other. The process is a laboratory of scrutiny. The process builds character, for falsehoods will be magnified and exposed.  The phony will not pass muster, the insincere coach will be exposed. Neither the coach nor the athlete can fool himself lest failure ensue.       It is easy to get cold feet in the decisive moment, as race day approaches. However, the champion athlete keeps his poise and his philosophy in place. Smiles of confidence are readily displayed and a cool calm composure is necessary. The mentor and the mentored will mirror this calm.       The athlete who breaks down on game day undoubtedly has a flaw or weak link in his championship character. As the winnowing out process continues to shrink the competitive field, the world of the athlete becomes smaller. The practice field, the coach's house, the team meetings, the warm up track, the competitive arena; these all take on a new and more personal meaning. The athlete is alone against his competition, against his world. The same forces that guided the athlete must shrink and become one within him. The victor will embody this Fourth Dimension.       Victory is the ultimate focus on the task. It is here that the athlete reveals himself, with his eyes. The eyes are the beacons, the focus of the will. In his eyes, the athlete exposes his intent. The "eyes of the tiger" solidify the effort and reveal the champion on the day of competition.       David Patrick and Winthrop Graham processed these eyes. I only helped to bring them to focus. Patrick won the National Championship and the World Championship in the 400-meter hurdles in 1989 and 1992. He also was NCAA Champion in the 800 in 1982 and 1983. Graham was NCAA champion and won the Olympic silver medal in the 400 hurdles in the 1992.       Both of these men won championships. Both knew how to rise to the occasion. Both knew that to win the championship was to explore the instant, the instant of now. This process is a way of life. This was my way of life. From Phil Scott I was recruited by Stan but chose Santa Barbara City College, warm weather and O.U. did not have indoor track. Stan was very nice to me. A very good coach and man, I think a Decathlete also. Phil Phil, Huntsman was a decathlete at Wabash College, IN. Believe Wabash is the only "men only" college in US. Think Dick Bowerman is best(?) track athlete to attend Wabash. Went on to run 28:30, 2:13 for Oregon TC. His daughter Laura ran for Florida State, now coaching at New Mexico. Bruce Kritzler  From: Bill Schnier  Stan's father was the T&F coach at Wabash College but I thought Stan was a javelin thrower.  Maybe he was also a decathlete too.  I knew him first when he successfully recruited Lamar Preyor to Tennessee.  At that same time I opted to go to Indiana to work with Sam Bell, Jeff Dils went to Eastern Michigan to be coached by Bob Parks, and Gary Loe went to Wright State to train under Bob Schul.  All of us made very good decisions and were blessed by our mentors or college coaches.    Stan was always so kind to me, but then he was the same way with everyone.  Tennessee got credit for having a coach with southern hospitality, but he actually brought that aura from his family and Crawfordsville, Indiana.  He always seemed to be smiling yet he was a tough competitor who brought out the best in the Bobcats, Volunteers, and Longhorns.  Each school reached its pinnacle in our sport during his tenure.  He knew the sport through and through but he mainly brought out the best in people.  He never big-timed anyone yet was always in charge.  He valued every event and was able to relate to the culture of each event area.  He was an absolute giant in the coaching profession.    Sylvia came from Yorkville, Ohio, near Steubenville, and was just as gracious as Stan, if not more so.  Most wives are not especially known or remembered by their husband's coaching peers, but Sylvia was known by everyone, and with good reason.  She too made our lives better.  Each year they came to the national convention and were always surrounded by friends of long duration.  True to their spirit, they made each one of us feel as if we were the most important people in the building.  They also made each other feel the same way.  I cannot think of Stan and Sylvia Huntsman without thinking of Sam and Fran Bell.  The two coaches and their wives are inseparable in my mind.      Bill  From Richard Bowerman Stan and his brother Jerry  were tremendous athletes at Wabash College . Stan was a super football player - a fullback - Little All American - rushed for 259 yes against Ball State ! He was drafted by the Chicago Cardinals of the NFL . He was a decathlete in track . His father J Owen Huntsman coached at Wabash for about 25 years . I had the good fortunate to be coached by J Owen . StanS parents were like grandparents to me . My son is named after him . I first meet Stan in 1970 when he was at Ohio . He was returning from Drake where his runner Bob  Bertleson had won the NCAA 6 mile championship . I was a sophomore at Wabash then . Stan had stopped by to see his parents . Stan called me up and had me go for a run win with Bertleson to talk training .!! That run drastically changed my approach to training !  Bertleson was doing such workouts as 32 x 400 at 5-10k pace with a 100m jog interval .  I then trained with Stan at Tennessee in 1975/76 . Stan incorporated some of my 10k training methods that I had  learned from Fred wilt into his UT regiment . The 1975/76 year was the best of my life .  From  David L. Costill Stan was my freshman swimming coach at Ohio University.  1954-55.  Drank a few beers  with him. Dave From:  John Bork George,  I appreciated your recollection of your "recruiting" trip to Ohio U where you met Stan Huntsman. At the time we dominated the MAC and I did not yet understand what a fine Coach Stan was. By the time he went on to Tenn & then Texas, I realized that he was one one the rare college coaches who "coached" and inspired his athletes. Hey! I was at the Ohio Relays that weekend to. I remember Ralph Boston coming across the infield with an arm full of 5 Ohio U sweat shirt awards. We were star struck but managed to ask Him "hey Ralph, what do you have, there? Too which he replied "I've got 4 larges and an X-large for my wife!" We thought it so cool that he would talk to us and have a great sense of humor, too! John From: John Bork's teammate Richard Mach George - Those were my sentiments exactly and the first thought that came to mind when I learned of Stan's passing.  How much I wanted him to have been the coach that I would have preferred to have trained under most of all.  He was real.   And he was competing with the personable Bob Parks, who was JV coach for my last two years at Western.  Stan hailed me at the Indoor Champs back in Detroit one winter and asked what I'd been doing and told him I was developing this magazine, The Racer's Edge, all about bring the latest of research in science, medicine and technology to the art of running faster.  He told me he'd heard of it -- he'd heard of the motor oil additive -- and asked if he could subscribe.  I was so surprised, flustered and pleased as it was hardly more than an idea, and was still in the midst off drafting its first article on Harvard's what I called 'Fastrack', but said sure and I saw in him  in that moment how much he was all about supporting athletes in their endeavors.  He was the charter, as in first, subscriber, to the magazine that had quite a short life, but was read by subscribers from 32 different countries before it's demise at the hands of someone with the business sense of .... well, pond algae ... if that.   Rich

From: Bill Schnier

  What a fine article by Stan Huntsman.  Upon reading it was easy to picture Stan in the rain with those two champions.  Can the Fourth Dimension also be called the Holy Spirit?  I think so.  All of us are exposed to the same forces, but it seems as if only a few benefit completely.  I have always wondered if that competitive drive can be coached and improved or if it is only internal and ready made.  I still don't know but in a few I have seen it but the majority come up short.  It is very rare.        Bill Schnier

Ricardo Romo forwards the New York Times article on Stan

Stan Huntsman NYT obituary

from Bruce Kritzler
Just read a thread on tfn that confirmed Stan Huntsman was 200 ft javelin guy, and competed in 1955 AAU  Decathlon

This piece came from the Austin American Statesman Dec. 4

Austin Statesman Dec. 4

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V 6 N. 89 David Hunter, Writing for the Future Today

December 10, 2016, 6:53 am

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David Hunter, Writing For The Future Today

By Paul O’Shea

David Hunter

The journalist, it is said, writes the first rough draft of history. Historians of the future, who write the polished books and biographies about today’s track and field achievements, will be well served. Our journalists are one of the sport’s impressive strengths.

One journalist with a steadily rising reputation is David Hunter, who came to write about track and field after a successful legal and banking career. Hunter is now a prolific presence in our media, writing for enthusiast magazines and blogs, announcing at meets, and leading efforts to expand road competitions. All while disproving F. Scott Fitzgerald’s hoary observation that there are no second acts in American lives.

In print Hunter is a U.S. Correspondent for Track and Field News. He writes about a half-dozen pieces a year, and interviews elite athletes at the magazine’s tour events. On the Internet he produces a weekly column called “Right on Track” for RunBlogRun. At major competitions such as the Olympics and World Championships, he provides a daily story. In the last five years, more than three hundred articles have carried his byline.

As a journalist Hunter’s reported at three World Championships, an Olympics, and covered dozens of other major competitions including the U.S. Olympic Trials, USATF Championships, Diamond League meets and Penn Relays. His work also appears in Road Runners Club of America and Princeton alumni publications.

Larry Eder, RBR’s editor says, “David Hunter began writing for me nearly five years ago, on a fluke.  A mutual friend, Creigh Kelley, suggested that I give David a try as a writer.  I respect Creigh, and so I gave it a try.  David’s first few pieces were surprisingly good: grammar, pace, but most of all, appreciation for the sport.  For Hunter this is a second career.  David has been with me at the World Champs in Beijing, the Rio Olympics, and U.S. championships, for the past five years.  He is a great resource and great friend.  I learn something each time he opines on an athlete, coach or key player in our sport.”

Hunter’s extensive knowledge, both of the sport’s present day precincts as well as of its news clip history, opened up opportunities in broadcast as an on-site meet announcer and in telecasts.  He is the stadium voice for one of the Midwest’s prominent outdoor meets, the Jesse Owens Track Classic.  In the winter he is the meet announcer for the Millrose Games held at a sold-out New York City Armory. He’s also fulfilled assignments for the Spire Institute, the Big Ten Network, FloTrack and USATF.

“The Rio Olympics—my first—were terrific.  It surprised me to see how much I savored the medal ceremonies, especially since the U.S. won thirty-two, the most since the l932 Games, in a non-boycotted Olympics.  I had thought of those podium sessions as rituals, somewhat corny and overly dramatic--until I witnessed them.  They are truly stirring and in many instances, captured what certainly is the zenith of an athlete’s life.

“When the gold medalist was an American, I found myself lustily singing the Star Spangled Banner.  On the other hand, the low point came when the clueless Brazilians booed the athletes from other nations such as French pole vaulter Renaud LaVillenie and U.S. sprinter Justin Gatlin.  That stimulated me to write an article for RunBlogRun titled: “Excuse Me, No Booing at the Olympics.”  

Of all the performances he’s written about, the most impressive was the decathlon world record set by Ashton Eaton at the 2012 Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon. Before a crowd of more than twenty thousand at Hayward Field, Eaton ran the 1500 meter final event two seconds faster than needed to break an eleven-year old record.

“To be at Hayward among a packed crowd—that included every living American Olympic decathlon gold medalist—to witness Ashton’s dramatic decathlon world record performance was a track and field performance I will never forget.”

In addition to covering the sport’s news, the Ohioan played a leadership role in two events involving prominent road races. The first: Hunter led the near-miss bid by the city of Akron as it sought the 2008 U.S. Olympic Marathon Team Trials, one of four cities vying for the honor.  Though the effort was ultimately unsuccessful, his law background was particularly valuable.  

“During the in-person visit we received from the USATF, you could see that the representatives thought a quick, cordial visit would allow them to check the ‘Akron box,’ and then they would be on their way.  But as our two-day inspection unfolded, you could see their eyes get bigger as they learned we had an impressive and carefully assembled presentation.  While we ultimately didn’t get the nod, I was told privately that had the Long Distance Running sub-committee not been pre-disposed to award the bids to large urban areas, we would have been awarded one of them,” Hunter emphasizes.

He also played a key role as a member of the leadership team that in five years took the Akron Marathon from concept to national status.  In addition to designing the course with a colleague, he now serves as the event’s co-announcer, which draws one hundred thousand spectators. His website is www.TrackandFieldHunter.com.

A Buckeye native, his early days were spent in northeastern Ohio. As a high school freshman at Kent State University School in Kent, he became interested in track and ran a 4:44 mile.  Transferring to Western Reserve Academy in Hudson, he left with marks of 4:24 and 9:31 for two miles.  From there he matriculated at Princeton University and joined the track team, but a knee injury and surgery ended a collegiate career much too soon.  Later, in his thirties, he resumed serious running in Open and Masters events, eventually completing seventeen Boston Marathons.  

His crowning athletic achievement was running the 1983 Boston Marathon in a scintillating 2:31:40 where he was the 358th finisher.  Two elite women finished ahead, the legendary Joan Benoit Samuelson and 1980 Boston winner, Jacqueline Gareau.  “In 2010 I ultimately had to hang up my Asics, when a persistent and dangerous cardiac condition forced me to the sidelines.”

Hunter’s undergraduate degree, with a concentration in economics was conferred by Princeton.  He then attended the University of Akron School of Law, receiving a J.D. degree, and received L.L.M. honors in corporation law from New York University School of Law.

Hunter’s legal career spans more than forty years. He joined Brouse McDowell, a midwestern business law firm in l974, rising to Senior Partner, and became Of Counsel this year. Concurrently with working at Brouse he was chairman and chief executive officer of Valley Savings Bank for nearly a quarter century.  

The writer/lawyer crossover is not an unknown blending of talents.  John Grisham comes easily to mind; less so does Harper Lee, who dropped out of law school before accomplishing greater feats behind a typewriter. Even Franz Kafka had some legal training.

There was a seamless transition from corporate life to the world of track and field journalism for Hunter. Both demand accuracy, the discipline to meet frequent and unrelenting deadlines, and the ability to sift the wheat from the chaff, measured as carefully as a high jump world record.

His evolvement was based on a passion for the sport he was to write about. “My private law practice centered around banking law, real estate and corporate and business reorganization.  That involvement helped me to organize my thoughts in a logical way and develop the writing skills that were essential to producing interesting and informative pieces.”

And for a second calling, to contribute his own polished work to the historian/writers of the future.

When Bicknell Prize recipient David M. Hunter graduated from Western Reserve Academy in 1968 he held all of the school's records in track and cross country.  Legendary WRA coach Frank Longstreth considered Hunter to be the greatest distance runner in the history of the school.  After an abbreviated collegiate career interupted by injury at Princeton, Hunter enjoyed a distinguished legal career with the Akron-based firm of Brouse McDowell and was a lifelong, highly-competitive marathoner [2:31:40] and road racer.  He competed in 17 Boston Marathons and played a primary role in the development of the Akron Marathon.  David Hunter contributed to Western Reserve Academy in exemplary fashion over the course of 30 years as a member of the Board of Trustees, culminating with his being granted Trustee Emeritus status in the fall of 2015.  David's commitment to excellence, and his passion for the school were reflected in all that he did as a student alumnus and trustee of Western Reserve Academy. His life is a shining example of how to compete, serve and lead.

------------

Paul O’Shea is a lifelong participant in the track and field and running world as athlete, coach and journalist.  After a career in corporate communications, he coached a high school girls’ cross country team and was a long-time contributor to Cross Country Journal and Athletics, the Canadian publication. He now writes for Once Upon a Time in the Vest from hishome in northern Virginia, and can be reached at Poshea17@aol.com.

 David Hunter's writing was the essence of this article, but his announcing must surely be notable as well.  I have not heard him in action but I am confident he is very good.     Bill Schnier

V 6 N. 88 Betty Robinson and some Football Coaches

December 21, 2016, 8:19 pm

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Knute Rockne

     Football coaches are remembered for a long time,  think  Pop Warner, Knute Rockne, Red Blaik or Paul Brown. Whereas world class  track athletes have a much shorter time for instant name recognition. But it should not be forgotten that Rockne hired on at Notre Dame as a track coach and was there several years before becoming the football coach.  He is also credited with elevating the Drake Relays by bringing his track teams there made up of many of the well known football players thus helping attract major crowds to the meet.     Most of our readers hear the name  Wilma Rudolph and their minds quickly go back to Rome, 1960 and see Wilma outclassing everyone in the 100, 200, and 4x100.  But if you ask your children or grandchildren if they ever heard of Wilma, you get the 1000 yard stare.  Or, "Wilma? Was she in the Flintstones?"

     Well, here's one for you old timers.    Betty Robinson.   No she wasn't Mrs. Robinson  in "The Graduate" Football coach John Robinson's wife?  Guess again, lads.    It's Betty Robinson, 1928 Olympic 100 meters champion.  If you got that one right you get an extra deduction on your income tax this year.

Betty Robinson

     An old Peace Corps  friend Bill Gingrich of Philadelphia sent along a piece from the Philadelphia Enquirer November 27, 2016 issue by Frank Fitzpatrick titled "A Track Heroine Lost to History".    

     Betty Robinson was born in 1911 in Riverdale, IL about 14 miles south of Chicago.   A high school track coach recognized her ability running to catch a train.  And four months later he had the 16 year old running in the 1928 Olympics.

Robinson Winning the 100 meters Amsterdam 1928

Cook Winning Anchoring the 4x100 in Front of Robinson

 
     Robinson won the 100 in 12.2 defeating Fanny Rosenfeld of Canada and breaking the World Record.  The favorite, Myrtle Cook of Canada DQ'd at the starting line.    Cook would later hold off Robinson on the anchor of the 4x100 to give Canada the gold over the US.   I knew this only because we mentioned this race in a recent posting about the Canadian runner Diane Palmason who was coached by Cook.

     The remarkable part of Robinson's story is the comeback she made after being severely injured in an airplane accident.  She and her cousin, a pilot , went up in a biplane to cool off on a hot summer day and crashed into a farm field.  A witness to the crash pulled two bodies out of the wreckage and thinking they were both dead, threw them into the trunk of his car and hauled them to the local undertaker.  This guy obviously had not been to medical school, because it turned out that they were both stlll alive and breathing though unconscious.

    Robinson recovered from her injuries, but with a pin put into one of her legs, she was unable to get into a starting crouch to run the sprints.  Nevertheless she resumed training after four  months but failed to make the team for the 1932 games is Los Angeles.

Berlin 4x100 Annette Rogers, Helen Stephens, Harriet Bland, and Betty Robinson Stephens set the WR in the 100 at 11.6 which held up until Wilma Rudolph broke it at Rome

     Robinson didn't give up, and in a legendary comeback qualified to run the relay in the 1936 Olympics.  She ran the third leg and handed off to Helen Stephens.   The favored Germans bungled their last exchange, and the Americans won.  So almost 8 years after surviving that plane crash, she came home a winner once more.  However Jesse Owens' four golds overshadowed everyone else on the team,  and she was soon just a statistic in track and field.  Fame is fleeting and Betty Robinson was  prima facie evidence of that belief.  She died in 1999.  There was a 2014 biography  written about her by Joe Gergen, The First Lady of Olympic Track.  



     Recently the following comment came in from Joe Faust.  We're posting it here,  because it would only appear on four year old posting.  Joe mentions what he is up to these days.


Age 74: Designing busable short pack apparatus for standards, bars, and a landing apparatus. Still jumping in back yard. Watch-and-see Stage Zero CLL, City of Hope. Aiming for some masters HJ efforts in spring of 2017. Some email contact recently with Gene Zubrinsky https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Zubrinsky 



     Okay, I know you are asking , why did they even mention football on this track blog?  Ans.  It was just to put these following utterances from the football world on here for some levity.  This may or may not be our last posting of the year.  If it is, it has been another fun year, and we plan to keep chugging along for another twelve months.  Best to all of you for 2017.
George Roy and Steve

"Gentlemen, it is better to have died a small boy than to fumble the football "

  - John Heisman

"I make my practices real hard because if a player is a quitter,I want him to quit in practice, not in a game."

- Bear Bryant / Alabama

"It isn't necessary to see a good tackle, you can hear it!"

- Knute Rockne / Notre Dame

"At Georgia Southern, we don't cheat. That costs money, and we don't have any."

  - Erik Russell / Georgia Southern

George,

     There is a misspelling of Erk Russell's name. He was famous for banging his bald head against a players helmet to celebrate a good play, then having blood drip down his forehead. Erk died of a stroke while driving his pickup truck.

Florida State Crimenoles. Think Spurrier came up with that one.

Bruce Kritzler

Merry Christmas to all.

"The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely to be the one who dropped it."

  -  Lou Holtz / Arkansas - Notre Dame

"When you win, nothing hurts."

  -  Joe Namath / Alabama

"A school without football is in danger of deteriorating into a medieval study hall."

  -  Frank Leahy / Notre Dame

"There's nothing that cleanses your soul like getting the hell kicked out of you."

  -  Woody Hayes / Ohio State

"I don't expect to win enough games to be put on NCAA probation.  I just want to win enough to warrant an investigation."

-  Bob Devaney / Nebraska

"In Alabama , an atheist is someone who doesn't believe in Bear Bryant."

-  Wally Butts / Georgia

"I never graduated from Iowa.  But I was only there for two terms - Truman's and Eisenhower's."

-  Alex Karras / Iowa

"My advice to defensive players is to take the shortest route to the ball, and arrive in a bad humor."

  -  Bowden Wyatt / Tennessee

"I could have been a Rhodes Scholar except for my grades."

- Duffy Daugherty / Michigan State

"Always remember Goliath was a 40 point favorite over David."

-  Shug Jordan / Auburn

"I asked Darrell Royal, the coach of the Texas Longhorns, why he didn't recruit me ."  He said, "Well, Walt, we took a look at you, and you weren't any good."

  -  Walt Garrison / Oklahoma State

"Son, you've got a good engine, but your hands aren't on the steering wheel."

-  Bobby Bowden / Florida State

"Football is NOT a contact sport, it is a collision sport.  Dancing IS a contact sport."

-  Duffy Daugherty / Michigan State

After USC lost 51-0 to Notre Dame, his post-game message to his team was, "All those who need showers, take them."

-  John McKay / USC

"If lessons are learned in defeat, our team is getting a great education."

  -  Murray Warmath / Minnesota

"The only qualifications for a lineman are to be big and dumb.  To be a back, you only have to be dumb."   -  Knute Rockne / Notre Dame

"We live one day at a time and scratch where it itches."

  -  Darrell Royal / Texas

"We didn't tackle well today, but we made up for it by not blocking."

  -  John McKay / USC

"I've found that prayers work best when you have big players."

  -  Knute Rockne / Notre Dame

Ohio State 's Urban Meyer on one of his players:  "He doesn't know the meaning of the word fear. In fact, I just

saw his grades and he doesn't know the meaning of a lot of words."

Why do Tennessee fans wear orange? So they can dress that way for the game on Saturday, go hunting

on Sunday, and pick up trash on Monday.

What does the average Alabama player get on his SATs? Drool.

How many Purdue freshmen football players does it take to change a light bulb?

None.  That's a sophomore course.

How did the Auburn football player die from drinking milk?

The cow fell on him.

Two Texas A&M football players were walking in the woods. One of them said, "Look, a dead bird." The other looked up in the sky and said,  "Where?"

What do you say to a Florida State University football player dressed in a three-piece suit?

"Will the defendant please rise."

V6 N. 89 Miruts Yifter R.I.P.

December 23, 2016, 10:35 pm

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Miruts Yifter passed away today in .....Canada?  So the story goes.  Double winner of the 5000 and 10,000 meters at the Moscow Olympics 1980, Yifter was one of the early and great Ethiopean runners along with Abebe Bikila and Mamo Wolde who would inspire the modern day Ethiopians.  I had no idea about his Canadian residency as reported in the story below.  Further reading on news releases say he emigrated to Canada 16 years ago and was living in Toronto when he passed away from respiratory problems.  His finishes in races were absolutely devastating to anyone still on the same lap with him.

Yifter the Shifter

I took this pictute of Miruts Yifter at the Montreal Pre Olympic Meet in 1975

More unpublished pictures of Yifter can be seen on this posting from our blog three years ago.  They were taken by Jim Gerard of Kettering, Ohio.

Springbank Road Races

V 6 N. 90 (Satire) Project Shoeshot: A Business Plan to Produce a Sub-Two Hour Marathon

December 25, 2016, 7:52 am

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(Satire)

Project Shoeshot: A Business Plan to Produce a Sub-Two Hour Marathon By a Joint Venture of Nike Inc. and Adidas AG

Presented by Paul O’Shea

Recently, Nike (NYSE: NKE) and Adidas AG (Deutsche Borse: ADS) revealed separate programs designed to produce a runner who completes a marathon in less than two hours. Nike, with its GPS-spread resources calls its effort “Moonshot.”  Adidas has not given the test a nickname, though it is reported to be considering “The Dassler Brothers Redux” (“Redux”).  

Each of these initiatives would require substantial capitalization and staffing commitments while at the same time oblige invited runners to forego the lucrative certified major marathons.  This Project envisions another way to achieve the sub-two goal.

The following is a Business Plan offered as a way to obtain maximum acclaim for these two companies while conserving resources, both measured by financial and human capital.  In addition it will generate widespread public recognition and subsequent rewards that will accrue to the individual who completes the assignment.  The working title for this joint venture is Project Shoeshot.

Business Concept

No male or female runner has yet run 26 miles, three hundred eighty five yards (“the distance”) in less than two hours.  Project Shoeshot is a meticulously planned, fully financed program designed to consume fewer than seven thousand two hundred seconds.  Though it would break a long sought running barrier, our attorneys stipulate that this performance would qualify as a World Best, not a World Record.

Current Business Position

Nike and Adidas have been merciless competitors for decades in the world of athletics.  Though Nike, the Beaverton, Oregon based company, currently has about 60 per cent of the running shoe market, the last four runners to break the world marathon record have worn Adidas footwear.  Current record holder Dennis Kimetto ran 2:02.57 in 2014.

Nike elite runners have long graced multitudes of marathon podia.  But its senior executives, tired of having bestowed the running world with shoe contracts and equipment overstock, have authorized an emendation to its slogan.  The new tagline: Just Do It, Already.

In an effort to advance the boundaries of human achievement, recent discussions between Shoe Dog executives and descendants of the Dassler brothers have brought the athletic behemoths together. In an abundance of corporate altruism, each has voluntarily put aside market share and share price in an effort to crack the greatest running barrier since the four-minute mile (see under Bannister, Roger).

Shoeshot Plan and Participants

Three elite level runners will be selected to take on the challenge.  Additionally, four nonpareil distance runners (of the stripe of a Bekele, Farah, Rupp, etc.) will be enlisted to serve as pacemakers for each of four ten-thousand-meter segments.  To continue the pursuit a middle distance runner (Centrowitz, or runner of comparable standing) will run the next two kilometers at sub-world record pace. Celebrity commitments permitting, Usain Bolt will accompany the leader(s) to the finish.

Equipment

Each company would of course want the sub-two athlete to wear its shoes, without question.  Our program anticipates this dilemma and provides a solution: Each contestant will wear a different company’s shoe on each foot. A coin toss hosted by a short-fingered vulgarian will determine starting line positions.   

Anticipated Outcome

A final time of one hour, fifty-nine minutes, fifty nine seconds or less is anticipated. (Full disclosure: This achievement will not allow it to receive official world record recognition due to IAAF guidelines requiring medical checks, downhill course prohibitions, the Shoeshot plan to insert ten thousand meter pacemakers at twenty, thirty and forty kilometers, in addition to one who will take the pace from the start.) Shortsighted rules continue to hamper the growth of athletics, the international term for track and field.

Marketing Opportunities

The first individual to run one mile in less than four minutes, Roger Bannister, achieved lifetime immortality. Even his compatriots, Chris Chataway and Chris Brasher will forever be known as having vital roles in the barrier breakage.

When the announcement was made in 1954 by one Norris McWhirter that the race was won ”in a time of three minutes… those words will live forever in the memories of all who heard them at the Ifley Road track in Cambridge, England.  

Students of Shakespeare will recall Henry V’s speech on St. Crispin’s Day, when the English, vastly outnumbered before the Battle of Agincourt, heard the King say: “From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it shall be remembered—We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.”

Final Preparations

Concluding details are in work.  A team of internationally respected surveyors is seeking a venue that will have a significant down hill aspect. A closed course far from automobile and other pollutants is sought; climate change is providing an increasing number of sites.  In addition the medical community has offered its services pro bono in the run up to the sub-two attempt. Video cameras will be deployed at undesignated locations.  All runners must initiate contact with timing mats.

Shoeshot Awards

A first place medal will be awarded to the winner of the competition.  Participant ribbons to second and third place finishers.  Additional compensation based on performance.

Safe Harbor Statement: The information contained in this communication is confidential.  It is intended solely for use by the recipient and others authorized to receive it. Under no circumstances does this communication imply an offering of securities. The underwriter J.P. Morgan Goldman Sachs has not registered these securities with the Securities and Exchange Commission in anticipation that the Securities and Exchange Commission will soon cease to exist as a federal regulator.

Paul O’Shea is a lifelong participant in the track and field and running world as athlete, coach and journalist.  After a career in corporate communications he coached a high school girls’ cross country team and was a long-time contributor to Cross Country Journal and Athletics, the Canadian publication. He now writes for Once Upon a Time in the Vest from hishome in northern Virginia, and can be reached at Poshea17@aol.com.  His shoe of choice was the widely unknown Finnish Karhu, which served him well for eighteen miles of the 1978 New York City Marathon.

V 7 N. 1 A Needed Correction on Miguel White

January 2, 2017, 10:44 am

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Miguel White

One of our more interesting posts in the past was a collection of people who had been Olympians, and/or Olympic Medalists who had died serving their countries in war.
 Miguel White represented the Philippines in the 400 hurdles and was the bronze medalist.  We saw that he had died during WWII but with no details.  Recently we received this note from his grandson with more information about Mr. White, so we are posting this note from Major Romeo Nelson, USMC (retired)

Miguel S. White served in the Philippine Army after his participation in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. As reported by the office of the Philippine Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor (DBC), he was a lieutenant in the 52nd Infantry Regiment of the Philippine Army and is listed as Missing in Action and subsequently declared as Killed in Action sometime in 1942. My opinion is that he was most likely killed during the initial landing of Japanese forces into the Philippines. Please modify/correct all your documentation to reflect his involvement clarifying his service to his country! For further inquiry and confirmation of facts, I refer you to the representatives of the office of the Philippine Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor (DBC). Regards, Romeo Nelson Major, USMC (Retired) (Grandson of Miguel S. White)

Last hurdle in 1936 Hardin leading White and Loring

This is the 400 IH Finals results from Berlin 1936

	Glenn Hardin	United States	52.4
	John Loaring	Canada	52.7
	Miguel White	Philippines	52.8
4	Joe Patterson	United States	53.0
5	Sylvio Padilha	Brazil	54.0
6	Khristos Mantikas	Greece	54.2

Details of the 1936 400 IH can be found at the link below:
Hurdler 49 Race description