Tribute to those we have lost since we last met…. by Larry Knuth
It is now two years since our annual T&F Reunion Lunches have been held and it is appropriate that we pay tribute to those members we have lost during that period. The majority of those lost had a strong connection to Mt. SAC, and all but one attended at least one of our reunion lunches. It is a select, prestigious group that left their mark on our great sport. Two-time Olympian, Rafer Johnson (1934-2020) To those of us who had the pleasure of meeting Rafer at an early reunion meeting in Newport, it was to be in the presence of a man with immense charisma, and a gentleman of great pride. Rafer left a lasting mark on our sport’s history early on in his career. Kingsburg HS: ’53 Central Section Prep T&F Athlete of the Year; ’54 State 120 HH Champion-14.3; won unofficial state prep decathlon in ’53 &’54; three-sport letterman. UCLA 1955-58: Rafer exploded onto the collegiate scene as a freshman scoring 25 points in leading his team to victory over rival USC frosh. A few weeks prior he entered six events against a strong Mt. SAC team, winning all six. To top off his first year at UCLA he anchored the mile relay to an NCAA freshman record-3:15.4. UCLA Highlights: Johnson won a gold medal at the Pan American Games in 1955 while competing in just his fourth decathlon. At a welcome home meet afterward in Kingsburg, California, he set his first world record, breaking the mark of a two-time Olympic champion and his childhood hero Bob Mathias. In the ’56 USC rivalry dual, he scored eighteen points winning the 100, High Hurdles, Long Jump (25-5.75) and taking a second in the 220 (21.0). Weeks later at the NCAA meet he placed second place in the long jump and high hurdles. In the ’56 Melbourne Olympics Decathlon, he was runner-up. In’57 a knee injury prevented him from competing except in the javelin, but he surprised and won the PAC-8 Conf. javelin at 243-10. In ’58 he was honored with the Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year cover award and was elected UCLA ASB president, the third African-American to ever serve that office. In the first-ever Russia/USA dual in ’58 (Moscow) Rafer broke his decathlon world record by 300 points (8,302). In the ’58-’59 UCLA basketball season, he started for John Wooden’s basketball team. ’60 Rome Olympics: Olympic Decathlon Champion, First African-American USA Olympic Captain; USA Olympic Team Flag Bearer On June 5, 1968, Johnson was working on Kennedy’s presidential campaign when the Democratic candidate was shot in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Johnson joined former NFL star Rosey Grier and journalist George Plimpton in apprehending Sirhan Sirhan moments after he shot Kennedy, who died the next day. Rafer found the California Special Olympics and in 2016 he was honored with the UCLA medal for extraordinary accomplishments. The UCLA track is named after him and his wife.
’64 Olympian Ron Larrieu…. One of the great Mt. SAC Mounties whose career was long and progressively successful. Ten years after he left Mt. SAC he was fourth in USA 10k rankings-part of a 14-year career. He improved lifetime bests in at least two events EVERY single year.
Ron came to Mt. SAC from Palo Alto HS where he won the ’56 state mile at 4:20.1 (also had a 15:24.3 5000 that was 3rd all-time in ’63). 1957-Mt. SAC T&F: State mile (4:15.7) and two-mile (9:22.3 NJCR) titles…1957 XC: So Cal JC Finals-4th (no state JC xc meet until ’64)…1958 T&F:So Cal mile 1st 4:21.4; his leg speed placed him on the Mountie mile relay that broke the NJCR mark with a 3:14.9 time in the Compton Invitational; in other open competition he broke the NJCR for two miles at 9:19.5…1958 XC: So Cal JC Finals-2nd to Santa Ana’s Charlie Clark, future Olympian…. Larrieu led the Mounties to the So Cal Championship in both of his cross country seasons. Cal Poly-1960 T&F: 1500m- 3:49.44 PR; ’60 XC-Won the Coast Collegiate Championship at Stanford Post collegiate highlights: Sometime in 1961 Larrieu decided to turn his future in running over to the legendary Hungarian coach Mihaly Igloi who had left the Santa Clara Youth Village group to lead the LA Track Club-immediate improvement resulted; ’62 Culver City AC: SPAAU 3 mile-1st14.01.6; ’63 Modesto 2-mile 2nd 8:45.8; Summer-’64 at Pierce College: edged Billy Mills in a battle to set American 6-mile record of 27.54.2; ’64 Olympic Trials 10k-3rd 29:20.4…’64 Tokyo Olympics 10k-24th 30:42.6; won the AAU National XC titles in ’65, ‘66 Ray Lodge’s recollections of Ron: “I chatted with Ron for a few minutes at the February T&F reunion Mt. SAC hosted. Had not seen him in about 50 years. My first memory of him was connected with MSAC during the ‘57 championship season. That year he won the mile and 2 mile at Modesto, and with Bob Jordan (880 winner) and Jerry White and the mile relay, MSAC won the State title. “I also had a distant memory that he had run on the mile relay in ‘57 or ‘58 and clocked a 47.7 leg. He corrected me, that he had run a split of 47.4. Amazing! “He was talking about "regrets" at the reunion, that he did not put it all together on the big day in Tokyo. And that the following year, at the USA-USSR meet in Kiev, he was a close third behind two Olympic Champs -- Schul and Bolotkinkov in the 5000 -- and felt he could've kicked earlier and won the race (I agree, I was there and saw the race). “Recalling his prodigious accomplishments -- first American to break 28 minutes in the 6 mile (Pierce College, 8/12/1964), 2nd American (behind Schul, Compton, 1964) to break 13:45 in the 5000; two time National AAU cross country champ; 10,000 winner in the 1966 International Meet in Berkeley, over Van Nelson. American record holder not just in the 6 mile, but also, in Toronto in 1965, set the American 3-mile record before being broken at the 65 AAU meet in San Diego by Schul. The only "great" long-distance runner that Ron never beat, was Ron Clarke. He did have his share of victories over all the others. And when Ron Larrieu was in a race, no one could sleep. He was an "attack runner" and could be relentless to the finish line. I mentioned much of this to Ron, and I hope it was planted in his head and heart, that he was one of the pre-eminent American and international distance runners of the 1960s!” …RIP, great one! Ray Lodge Editor's note: For those not aware, Ron Larrieu was the older brother of multiple time Olympian Francie Larrieu-Smith. Gold Medalist Olympian Arnie Robinson ….
A member of the Mt. SAC Relays Hall of Fame .… Arnie Robinson was one of those heroes. As a jumper, I was in awe of his talent. When I grew up and finally met Arnie, I was stunned at how humble and warm he was. I truly understood why he was so admired by all the other athletes. To lose a man like Arnie is to lose an icon. My heart is broken and I will truly miss him.” -Olympian Willie Banks, former triple jump world record holder Arnie Robinson graduated from San Diego’s Morse High School and was primarily a high jumper with a 6-4 PR. At San Diego Mesa CC Arnie developed under the legendary Coach Dick Coxe placing 4th in the ’67 state JC meet HJ at 6-6, and after a year off returned in ’69 to win the Mt. SAC Relays JC long jump competition at 23-9. In 1970-71 at San Diego State Arnie improved to national-caliber performances winning the 1971 prestigious Compton Invite and then taking the NCAA title at 25-10.25 and the AAU Nationals at 26-10.75. That summer he took the Pan Games (Colombia) LJ title at 26-3.75. The following year, 1972, Arnie won the San Diego Relays, the Meet of Champions, the West Coast Relays, the Portland Rose Festival, and the AAU Nationals, all with jumps over 26 feet. ’72 Trials-1st 26-4.75… ’72 Munich Olympics-3rd 26-4.25 In the years leading up to the ’76, Montreal Olympics Arnie won the ’75,’76 Mt. SAC Relays titles and the ’75 AAU Indoor Nationals. His ’75 PR was 27-2.75. At the ’76 Trials, he won the event and later set a 27-4.75 PR in taking the gold medal at Montreal. His career included six AAU National titles. He was head track and field coach at San Diego Mesa CC for 23 years, served as USATF national Youth Committee chairman from 1994 and 2004, and was the San Diego USATF association’s vice president from 1997 to 2007. His ’98 Mesa women’s team won the state T&F title. Hall of Fame Honors: USATF-2000; Calif. Community College -2005; Mt. SAC Relays-1980 Mark Covert remembers Arnie…. Arnie Robinson was my friend. I met Arnie in 1990. He was coaching at San Diego Mesa College, and I was in my first year at Antelope Valley College. I knew the name and who he was, but we had never met. He was wearing his black sweatpants, a Mesa sweatshirt, and was talking about automatic timing. As all of us can remember, there was a time when all the entries, timing, and results for track and cross country meets were done by hand. Arnie was talking about a camera, not AcuTrack, that took pictures of the finish line. This Hawkeye camera was much more accurate and could be read much faster. I was interested. A couple of years later my team was at a track meet at Mira Costa College. When we got there, as always, we had to fill out entry cards by hand, with our entries. This would take a long time as there were always many lane changes. By the time everything was done, the cards, like always, were a mess. At the end of the meet waiting for results and looking at the cards, it was hard to read names and the times or marks that were recorded. That’s when Arnie said “We can’t keep doing things like this. Our meets must be better than a bad high school meet.” That would be the start of Southern California Community Colleges entering the new world of automatic timing. Within a year, our conference was using automatic timing at all our meets and using the DOS version of HyTek. Arnie was timing most of the SoCal championship meets while still coaching his San Diego Mesa team. Along the way, Arnie was also helping several of us learn how to do the same. Within a couple of years, I had talked my school into buying us a FinishLynx camera and HyTek. I could call Arnie anytime to ask a question and he was always there. The first year I had my system, I called him with a HyTek question, while I was timing and coaching my team at a meet. Arnie was at his meet doing the same. Without missing a beat at his meet, he talked me through my problems to get my meet back on track. Later that night when he was on his way home, he called to make sure I did not have any other problems. He did that for many of us over the years. He brought us out of the dark ages. That was Arnie. Over the years I knew Arnie, I never once heard him talk about being an Olympic Champion. I knew him as someone who would help anyone, not just the kids on his team, but anyone, including coaches that would ask about anything track and field. He was someone who never said no. He wanted to only make everyone better at what they were doing. For all of us that were coaching Community College Track and Field that meant having better track meets. Meets that you could leave with results in your hands and know that the results were correct. For many, Arnie was an Olympic Champion. To others, he was a teacher and a mentor. To all that knew him, he was a friend. Mark Covert….Antelope Valley College Head T&F/XC Coach 1990-2017; So Cal CC Rules Chair 1998-2015; 7th USA ’72 Olympic Trials Marathon; first inductee NCAA D-2 cross country hall of fame; for 45 years never missed a day of running; co-authored with son Chris “Never Missed” (Warren Publishing-2018) Dick Bank…(1929-2019) To look at the Golden Era of USA T&F in the 50s and 60s and not recognize the name and impact of Dick Bank would be a serious oversight. Many remember his iconic NBC call (“Look at Mills, Look at Mills”) of the ’64 Olympics 10k upset win by American Billy Mills, but his impact on our sport was pervasive and indelible. “At one of our early Orange County T&F Reunion Lunches Dick showed up and Sid Wing, the co-founder of the annual reunions, handed Dick the microphone and asked him to introduce each of the fifty-some attendees. This he did with a remarkable photographic memory of their careers and accomplishments. It was a head-shaker! -Larry Knuth A proud Los Angeles HS graduate with a photographic memory and a love affair for track and field. Dick’s father nurtured Dick as a young child to USC athletics taking him to USC home football games. From 1952-55 Dick was the USC Sports Information Assistant to H.D. Thoreau and the two would send their T&F releases with times including the non-winners out to the media from “Cromwell Field.” They unofficially coined the term as the facility had no official title. 1954 T&F News: Dick was the T&F News Prep Page Editor producing the first prep annual. His eye for talent and tenacious recruiting brought USC future Olympians Max Truex, Rex Cawley, Rink Babka, and Canadian Murray Cockburn to the campus. In 1959 Dick was a key figure in organizing the first Los Angeles Indoor meet and that spring-assisted announcing and giving color at the inaugural Mt. SAC Relays for KTTV, Los Angeles. He called the historic U.S-Soviet Union meet at Stanford University in 1962. Soviet coach Gavriil Korobkov told Bank, “You know more about my athletes than I do.” As longtime friend Tom Walsh remarked, “Once he got stuck on something he gave it 100 percent.” Probably Dick’s biggest impact on the sport came when he orchestrated the move of Coach Mihaly Igloi in 1961 from the collapsing Santa Clara Valley Youth Village program to Los Angeles with the help of three wealthy Los Angeles businessmen who loved track. The Los Angeles Track Club roster was a wealth of American distance talent that went on to set American and world records and tour Europe. It had a very positive ripple effect on American distance running as well as gaining international respect. For fourteen years beginning in 1959, Bank was a correspondent for European newspapers and magazines on the sport. From 1962 through 1965 he worked for ABC’s Wide World of Sports that included three USA-USSR meets. He served as an Adidas rep from 1962 into the early 70s. Dick Bank is an iconic name in American track and field history. Rick Sloan remembers: “Following the 1967 US Championships, I was approached by Dick Bank and long-time official Mort Tenner. They asked if I had ever considered trying the decathlon. When I told them I had not, they offered to help me get started if I had an interest. Dick and Mort set up an invitational meet at Mt. SAC in which I scored 7869 pts. Following the meet, Dick came to my home with EVERYTHING you would need as a beginner in the event. He presented me with all the required shoes, several tracksuits, bags, a shot and disc (and bag to carry them) as well as other Adidas items. I was completely blown away by his encouragement and generosity. I quickly realized this would be my best chance to make the 1968 Olympic Team. I will be forever grateful to Dick and Mort for seeing the potential in me and guiding me on that path.” -Rick Sloan – 7th in’68 Olympics Decathlon; Washington State- 20 yrs. Head T&F Coach Olympian Jim Grelle …(9/30/1936-9/13/2020) ….A member of the Mt. SAC Relays Hall of Fame In the history of the Mt. SAC Relays, few athletes have left an indelible mark such as Olympian Jim Grelle did. At the 1962 Mt. SAC Relays, Jim became only the 4th American (and first Relays participant) to break 4 minutes for the mile. This established a new meet record that stood until 1998. In 1964 and 1965, Jim repeated as relays mile champion. In 1966, he successfully moved up to the 3-mile event, where he won his last Mt. SAC title. The “game-changer” for Jim was moving to Los Angeles in 1961 to train under the guidance of Mihaly Igloi, legendary Hungarian distance coach (in ’55 his runners held world records in ten different distances). Training under Igloi and with Jim Beatty, Ron Larrieu, Max Truex, Bob Schul, and Bob Seaman brought the best in Jim’s latent talent. He held down a full-time job with Colgate Palmolive while enduring twice-a-day training with LATC. In 1963 Grelle won the Pan Am Games 1500 at 3:43.62. In 1965, Grelle lowered the U.S. record in the mile to 3:55.4. But only nine days later, Jim Ryun broke that record by a tenth of a second. And in 1963, it was Ryun who finished together with Grelle, as both lowered the U.S. two-mile record (8:25.2) at a race in Los Angeles. At Oregon Grelle was NCAA mile runner-up in ’57 &’58 and won the title in ’59 at 4:03.9. The following year he qualified for the USA Olympic team. At the ’60 Rome Olympics, he placed 8th in the final. By 1967 Grelle broke the 4-minute mile barrier 21 times, the most by any runner in the world at the time. 1966-72…University of Portland coaching T&F Career PRs: 1500-3:38.9….Mile-3:55.4….2-mile 8:25.2 Hall of Fame Honors: Oregon Sports; Univ. of Oregon; Mt. SAC Relays Some Duck memories of Jim Grelle… “My Oregon running career ended after college, but our friendship (with Jim) lasted 68 years.” ….Phil Knight, Founder/CEO of NIKE “The Oregon track team was eating a pre-meet breakfast in a Seattle hotel-restaurant. Jim had Roscoe Cook, a sprinter, wrap a bath towel around his head and pretend to be an African who spoke only his native language. Jim would “interpret” the gibberish Roscoe would say with additional gibberish. Roscoe would look at his menu and talk in pure nonsensical jibber-jabber. Jim would answer back in the same unintelligible gibberish and then turn to the waitress and “interpret” Roscoe’s order in English. The team was in stitches. The other restaurant patrons were mesmerized by the deft and skill Jim in his “interpreting.” Jim and Roscoe kept serious straight faces and convinced the waitress and other customers that they were speaking some native African tongue.” -Red Estes, Jim’s Oregon teammate and close friend. Estes was the longtime head coach for Fresno State T&F/XC and has been a regular at the T&F reunion lunches. Steve Smith (1951-2020)…Competitive, colorful, talented “Steve Smith was one of the greatest all-around athletes I have been around-he was a very special athlete,” reflected Ron Allice, former USC, Long Beach State, and Long Beach CC hall of fame coach. When Steve turned pro with ITA he returned to give Allice a check covering his Long Beach State scholarship. In his athletic career, Steve Smith set state records in the pole vault in high school at South Torrance, tore through the collegiate competition while at Long Beach State, earned a spot on the cover of Sports Illustrated at the age of 21, cleared for the first time the then-fabled 18-foot mark indoors, and represented the USA in the 1972 Olympics. He was a professional track and field star and is remembered by his outspoken, colorful style and massive jumps on big stages. South Torrance HS: ’68 State-1st 15-2.50; ’69 CIF-1st 15-3, State-1st 16-0 MR Long Beach State: ’72 NCAA Indoors-6th 16-6 World Ranking: ’72-6th; ’73-1st …World ranked top 10 six times, ’69 -‘82 Smith and his fellow pole-vaulting teammates, which included 1968 gold medalist Bob Seagren and Jeff Johnson, had already qualified for the event by way of the Olympic Trials on poles that were slightly lighter than their traditional counterparts. “It’s like the difference in fishing poles. If you’re going to catch a marlin, you’re going to bring a heavy rod…If you’re going to catch a trout, you’re bringing a little, flexible rod,” Smith said. “(What these poles did) was make it like a trout rod and give it the flex and response of a marlin rod.” When the issue was brought to the IAAF’s attention just weeks before the games, the group immediately banned the poles. An appeal was eventually made, claiming that the poles were not carbon fiber and the governing body granted the appeal, reversing its decision. After they had won their appeal, Smith thought they were good to go but the IAAF once again reversed its decision, this time claiming that no new equipment could be used that wasn’t available to the general public six months prior to the start of the Olympics. “They just took these poles away arbitrarily,” Smith said. “We had no backup poles…I had a short-run pole that you use to run half the length of the runway…It’s much, much weaker. So that’s what I ended up having to jump on,” Smith said. “I ran from a 50-foot run-up instead of 130 feet and jumped 15 feet 9 inches…It was a disaster.” The letdown at the ’72 games acted as a springboard for Smith’s career. He rededicated himself to his sport and put together the best stretch of his career. He was the first man ever to clear the 18-foot indoor mark achieved at Madison Square Garden in 1973, was ranked No. 1 in the world in the pole vault, appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and set several world records. The Smith/Seagren rivalry was used as a promotional item for the new professional tour of the International Track Association (ITA). After the ITA folded in 1976, Smith applied to regain his amateur status having it restored eventually in 1979. He pursued legal action to enable him to take part in the Trials for the ’80 Moscow Olympics from which he was initially banned. Smith finished fourth at the trials making him the alternate if one of the top three finishers could not compete. ….2012-USA Pole Vault Hall of Fame induction 
Mel Hein Jr. (1/10/41-7/8/20)
Mel was an engaging, personable man with an infectious smile who made you feel that he really cared about what you were saying. He was a loyal Trojan who loved his family. Mel Hein Jr. was a pole vaulter at USC who set the world indoor record of 16-5.75 in 1965 at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. He placed 5th in the ‘62 NCAA meet and 6th in the ’63 championships. He was a member of the NCAA title Trojan teams in ’61 and ’63 and was ranked ninth in the 1964 world pole vault rankings. Hein went on to win two City Section girls’ track championships and one boys’ title as coach at Woodland Hills Taft. He was an assistant coach for Taft’s 1986 state championship team led by future 400-meter Olympic champion Quincy Watts, who called Hein “a father figure.” “He just cared about you,” Watts said.
George: All great memories to recall. At the 1969 Golden West meet I saw the best high school Pole Vault I had ever seen. It was won by Casey Carrigan at 17’ I believe that Steve Smith was 2nd at 16’ 6”. I had taken an Ohio high jumper, Gary Cameron, to the meet. He had battled Tony Wilson at the State championship, and was 3rd, then he defeated Tony at the Golden Midwest meet and on that basis he got invited to go to the Golden West. What a treat that was for me.
Joe Rogers
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