V 11 N. 88 Remembering the Early Days of the UTEP T&F Program

 This came to us from Mike Solomon, former member of those early teams at University of Texas El Paso (UTEP).  In those days the university went by the name Texas Western.    I remember when the school first came on the national scene in 1966 winning the NCAA basketball championship with five African American starters leading the team.  That year Ole Miss had a great team led by Bailey Howell, but the university withdrew from the tournament rather than play against an integrated team.  That program faded but then came Wayne Vandenburg who first put together the track program into a major power in the NCAA.  Much of the 'help' came from overseas, especially Tanzania and Kenya as well as the Nordic countries in those days with Michael Musyoki, Sulieman Nyambui, Charmaine Crooks and many, many others.

Javier Cortez, Sports Editor, "The Prospector"
September 9, 2014

They walk among us. They are in our classes, we see them passing by and we don’t even know who they are.

For years, UTEP students have been oblivious to the sheer number of track and field stars that surround them.

Everyone flocks to the star basketball player and handsome quarterback, but the real athletes have always shined brightest on Kidd Field. Although UTEP track and field has not produced a national championship since 1983, the heralded program has continually produced a substantial amount of All-Americans, national champions and Olympians.

UTEP’s track and field program is the only program that keeps UTEP athletics from being mediocre, the combined national championships in indoor, outdoor and cross country account for 20 of the 21 national championships UTEP athletics holds.

           

Javier Montez represented the US at Helsinki in the 1500 meters

Javier Montez Article El Paso Times  (see link to article from Oct. 21, 2021 by Trish Long)

The inception of track and field began 81 years ago with the creation of the men’s program in 1933. John William Kidd, who served as acting dean of the Texas College of Mines from 1922-27, pushed for an athletic program. Dean “Cap” personally funded and coached the early track and field teams before the team took a better organizational direction under Harry Phillips in 1940.

Nine years later, Dale Waters took the program over and UTEP saw its first Olympian—Javier Montez, who was one of the greatest mid-distance runners in the program’s history.

The next two coaches that took over the program changed UTEP track and field forever.

                                Wayne and Russ Vandenburg

UTEP alumni and Miner allegiant Ross Moore became the fourth head coach in program history. It was only fitting that UTEP made the next step under a coach with as much passion for UTEP athletics as Moore. During his 42 years at UTEP, he played football, coached basketball, football and was the school’s first-ever athletic trainer.

Moore’s 12-year run as the head coach is the second-longest stint in school history Moore essentially got their beaks wet, but it was UTEP’s next coached who opened
the floodgates.

Hans Hoglund 7 time All American from Sweden

Wayne Vandenburg took over the men’s program in 1967 and a new standard was set. Although there are coaches who have had longer tenures and have won more, it can be said that Vandenburg was the architect of UTEP track and field. In reality, Vandenburg was the architect, construction company and developer, he truly did it all.

“I was like the program’s decathlete,” said Vandenburg. “I ran, I threw and I jumped. I did a little bit of everything. The university was so under-resourced when I was there, and if I didn’t do anything, no one else would do it.”

                Suleiman Nyambui (center)

Under Vandenburg, the Miners saw immediate success. In his second season at the helm, Vandenburg led the Miners to top- 10 National finishes in the outdoor and indoor season, followed by the Miners’ first national championship in 1969 in men’s cross country.

Vandenburg would only stay six seasons at UTEP, but his success would not go in vain.

Ted Banks succeeded Vandenburg and took the Miners down a path of dominance. During Banks’ tenure, the Miners won 17 NCAA championships (six cross country, six indoor, and five outdoor), 27 WAC championships, 47 NCAA individual champions, and 189 All American honors.

The Miners dominated the mid-‘70s to early ‘80s under Banks. Once Banks left in 1981, the men’s program started on a slow decline and eventually found themselves out of contention for NCAA titles. Vandenburg believes if more of the athletes of the later stages of the ‘70s stayed around, UTEP track and field would be even better

“If everybody had stayed, it might have been the greatest track and field program that has ever been, it was spectacular and quite a track team,” said Vandenburg. “One after another, there was eight or 10 spectacular athletes that left.”

But as the old saying goes, when one door closes, another door opens. Just as the men’s program started to slowly descend, the women’s program started to ascend. The ‘80s saw a long list of Lady Miners star and go on to have successful professional careers. Ria Stalman, Charmaine Crooks, Kim Turner, Cynthia Henry, Jeanine Brown, and Esther Otieno headlined the greatest era in the women’s program history.

Charmaine Crooks, Canadian and 5 Time Olympian

The 1984 summer Olympics were the best representation of how much talent the women’s program had during the ‘80s. Ria Stalman would win the gold medal in discus, Charmaine Crooks won the silver medal in the 1,600-meter relay and competed in three more Olympics and Kim Turner would win the bronze in the 100-meter hurdles.

Although the women’s program has never won a national title, the long list of All-Americans, individual national champions and Olympians made UTEP women’s track and field into one of the most decorated athletic programs UTEP has had.

Both programs have had their unprecedented eras of dominance—the years of national championships, sold out meets and overall national contention might be dormant as of the last decade, but both programs have still consistently produced great athletes.

Blessing Okagbare, Osayomi Oludamola, Halimat Ismalia, Mickaël Hanany, and Anthony Rotich have represented the new age of Miner greats. Okagbare, Oludamola, and Ismalia all medaled in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Hanany set a French national record in the men’s high jump, and Rotich is rewriting the UTEP record books and cementing his legacy as one of the greatest long-distance runners in the school’s history.

“They’re doing a great job,” said Vandenburg. “Great times are in front of them, I talk to Mika (Laaksonen, current head coach) all the time and his athletes, and I think they are doing great.”

UTEP’s two biggest and most popular sports, football and basketball with their combined years and success can’t compare to what track and field have done.

One hundred years of UTEP has now come and track and field have carried UTEP sports over the line of mediocrity. Maybe by the next 100 years the track and field teams, coaches and athletes of the past will get the respect they deserve by the university and the city of El Paso, not only as a great program but as the main representative of everything great about UTEP sports.

And they are still going strong today.

Emmanuel Korir former UTEP runner wins Tokyo 800m

And Who Can Forget Larry Jessee?

V 11 N. 87 What Would You Pay for a Silver and Bronze 1928 Olympic Medal?

 Last night while channel surfing I came across  an "Antiques Road Show" segment from Great Britain.

Immediately some items being displayed caught my eye as Olympic type medals, which they were.   

They had been won by Jack London, England's "first" black medallist in the 1928 Games in Amsterdam.  London finished second in the 100 meters and ran on the third place 4x100 team.    I was able to quickly freeze and set the record mechanism on my tv and take some pictures of the medals and other mementos to share with you.  Then I found better photos on a BBC news spot from November 11, 2019.  The story mentions that the medals were to go on auction.   That makes it too late now to try to purchase those medals from the family.  

But was he Great Britain's first Black Olympic Medallist?  I think Antiques Roadshow made a mistake. See conclusion at end of this story.  

Jack London

13 January 1905 – 2 May 1966

Here is an interesting comment that came in from Bill Pileggi who knows more about these prices and medals than we do.

"The Medals in the wooden presentation case are, from left to right - 1928 Olympic Participation Medal (bronze), Gilded Winner's Medal and Silver Winner's Medal (from 100m. race). I'd suggest the Gilded Medal was his Bronze Winner's Medal from the Relay. Olympics Winner's medals have never been common, cheap or easy to acquire - the niece's story probably family lore. Bill Pileggi (part-time Olympic Researcher)."

Blazer Badge

The website Olympedia.com gives this brief biography of London.

Full name	John Edward "Jack"•London
Used name	Jack•London
Born	13 January 1905 in Georgetown (GUY)
Died	2 May 1966 in London, Greater London, England (GBR)
Measurements	183 cm / 75 kg
Affiliations	Polytechnic Harriers, Westminster (GBR)
NOC	Great Britain
Nationality	Guyana

Biography

Jack London was a superb natural athlete who clocked 10 second in his first 100y race and cleared 6-2 (1.88) in the high jump without any special training. Although he had yet to win an AAA title, he failed to win the 1928 Olympic 100m by less than a metre, after equaling the Olympic record of 10.6 in winning his semi-final. At the Southern Championships, he won the 100y (1926, 1928), 220y (1926), and high jump (1927). He was even more successful at the UAU Championships, winning both the 100y and 220y four times (1925-28), high jump (1925-26), and shot (1926), for a total of 11 titles. Born in British Guiana, he was brought to England when he was three months old and remained for the rest of his life. After reaching the final of the AAA 100y for the last time in 1930, he retired from track and pursued a moderately successful career on the stage and in films. In 1948 he wrote an instructional book aimed at the younger athlete. He was the first Briton to use starting blocks and was initially coached by Sam Mussabini, and later by Albert Hill.   (Sam Mussabini was a major character in the film "Chariots of Fire. ed.)

Personal Bests: 100y – 9.9 (1926/28); 100 – 10.6 (1928); 200 – 22.2 (1928); HJ – 1.88 (6-2) (1927).

There is no mention why London did not attempt to run in the 200. ed.

                   Approaching the Finish of the 100, Williams Leading Followed by London

                                     Result:   Percy Williams, CAN    10.8

                                                   Jack London GBR         10.9

                                                   Georg Lammers GER    10.9

                                                   Frank Wykoff  USA         11. 0

In the 4x100 the result was:     USA    41.0  Frank Wykoff, Jimmy quinn, Charley Borah,Hank Russell

                                                 GER     41.2   Georg Lammers, Richard Corts, Hubert Houlen, Helmut Konig

                                                 GBR   41.8   Cyril Gill, Teddy Smouha, Walter Rangely, Jack London

     Jack retired from athletics in 1930 but followed his talents as a pianist into a second career on the stage. His great niece who appeared on the Antiques Roadshow bit noted that he accompanied several Noel Coward productions in British theater.  He also appeared in several films of a very stereotypical nature which will not be mentioned in this piece.  

The question that several of our more astute readers may be asking is why there are three medals in the London collection when he only won a silver and a bronze.  Where did the gold medal come from?  His niece responded to that question saying that a replica third medal was acquired somewhere and it was gilded to make a complete set.

It was also mentioned that London went on to serve his country during WWII as an air raid warden and medic.  

Oh yes,  and  how much were the medals valued for by the Antiques Roadshow experts?   3,000-4000 British Pounds.

Not taking anything away from Jack London's Olympic accomplishments, we must disagree with the conclusion of Antiques Roadshow that he was Great Britain's first Black Olympian.  Earlier we reported on  Harry Edward  as having won the bronze at 100 meters in the 1920 Olympics.

Harry Edward Story in Once Upon a Time in the Vest  link

                                        Harry Edward receiving congratulations from King George V at the                                                                       1922 AAA's meeting

Harry Edward's remarkable story includes having been interned as a teenager in a civilian prisoners' camp in Germany during WWI and then being released to move to England after the war.

 Quite interesting about Jack London, the runner not the writer.  I don't have any interest in buying anyone else's medal because they are there to be won, not bought.  However, I do know that other people treasure things won by others.    Bill Schnier

V 11 N. 86 Al Franken West Coast Track and Field Promoter R.I.P.

I didn't know of Al Franken, but I'm sure many of our readers did know him.  This article just appeared in today's L.A. Times.  Throughout the country there must be a handful of guys like Al Franken, and I'm sure they all had some great stories told about them.  

Al Franken was a well-known track and field promoter who entertained crowds by staging unique events in Southern California.

(Courtesy of Franken family)

BY BILL DWYRE

DEC. 8, 2021 UPDATED 7:59 PM PT

The very bad news is that Los Angeles lost its own P.T. Barnum on Wednesday. Al Franken died at age 96.

(No, not that Al Franken. Not the comic who became a senator from Minnesota and was tossed out of that prestigious job because of doing some stupid stuff. Comics are supposed to do stupid stuff. Senators aren’t, but the jury remains out on that).

This was our Al Franken, a force of energy, innovation and craziness, a man who made gimmicks into staples and sports into fun. The current-day, politically correct, humorless internet typists would be pushed to the brink by Franken. If he saw an idea that was on the edge, maybe slightly unethical or even illegal, he wouldn’t even pause. If it sold tickets, or even it would just be fun, he’d try it.

Mostly, he was a track promoter. Mostly indoor track. Yes, they used to have such things. Much more on that later.

He grew up in Los Angeles, a child of the Depression. He helped the family with paper routes and side hustles that would put food on the table. He went to Fairfax High, then trained Navy troops after World War II, which created funding for college. He got accepted by Harvard and turned that down to go to UCLA. There, he became sports editor of the Daily Bruin, where he replaced a guy named Jim Healy.

(Who goofed?!!!! I’ve got to know!).

He became a prep editor at the Los Angeles Mirror, one of four papers in the city that was reduced to two when the Chandler family conned the Hearst Corporation into taking the afternoon market and leaving the morning for The Times. The Herald Examiner’s sister paper, The Herald Express, was folded. The Times took the morning market and folded its afternoon paper, The Mirror. That was January 1962.

Franken, already dabbling in things outside the newspaper business, landed some public relations work with the newly arrived Lakers and also took over, for many years, the job promoting the Los Angeles Open golf tournament at Riviera Country Club. He remained a member at Riviera until he stopped playing golf. At age 90. In that time, he established a new international golf leniency record by making every five-foot-and-closer putt a gimme for every player in his foursome.

“That’s good,” he’d chortle. “All’s well.”

Franken decided that a great way to make a living would be to promote indoor track meets. He did so in San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles. And he did so unlike any other promoter in any other sport. Others had rules. Franken had none, just instincts.

His Sunkist meet at the old L.A. Sports Arena was a smash hit. His son, Don, says that, of all the indoor meets he ran, well into the late 1990s and even a bit into the 2000’s, “only one failed to make money.” Usual attendance was between 10,000 and 13,000.

Al Franken, left, sits next to U.S. Olympic track and field champion Wilma Rudolph in an undated photo.

(Courtesy of Franken family)

The Sunkist meet ran in the winter and competed for fans and attention with the Los Angeles Times Invitational, a meet held at the Forum in Inglewood and also run in the winter. The Director of Special Events at The Times was Glenn Davis, also known to football fans as Army’s Mr. Outside. Davis was a Heisman Trophy winner and a three-time All-American. He was much better at football than journalism.

At one point, Davis became so angry at the coverage his own paper was giving Franken’s Sunkist meet, compared to his, that he stormed into the sports editor’s office to demand why. He was told it was because the Sunkist meet was a better one. Mr. Outside slammed the office door and went outside.

That same sports editor forgot his building pass one day and was trying to convince the guard in the Times famed Globe Lobby that he was not a terrorist. Franken walked by without showing any ID, saw what was going on and told the guard, “He’s OK. I’ll vouch for him.” The guard said, “OK, Al,” and the sports editor, by then having worked at the paper for a decade, was allowed to enter.

From the start, and for more than 40 years, Franken’s meets were both a joy and a carnival.

He once had a long-jumper leap a car. Fortunately, he made it, and the cameras clicked away.

He had world-class high jumper Dwight Stones take on a dog in a Frisbee jumping-and-catching contest. When it was the dog’s turn, he watched as the Frisbee was tossed, zipped under the bar and caught it.

“Pretty smart dog,” Franken said.

Franken was the first to get Mary Decker-Slaney back on the track after her traumatic fall in the Coliseum during the 1984 Olympics. Later, when she was pregnant, he proposed a race for just pregnant women. That didn’t happen, but lots of newspaper stories about it did. He once proposed, and promoted, a race between rivals Decker-Slaney and Ruth Wysocki as “A Race Between Decker and Angry Ruth Wysocki.” It wasn’t essential that his ideas came to fruition. It was essential that somebody wrote about them.

For his events in San Francisco, he had his milers race cable cars. He once asked Aussie distance runner Ron Clarke, who set 17 world records, to run across the Golden Gate Bridge. Clarke did, was stopped at the end by police for impeding traffic, and fined. Franken happily paid the fine. As P.T. Barnum would say, that was the cost of doing business.

Barnum would also say, “Without promotion, something terrible happens…nothing.” Franken lived that.

For his meets, Franken had two of the best public address announcers in the business in Stan Eales and Scott Davis. They prided themselves in keeping the meet moving, but they ran into a roadblock one year when Franken hired the Royal Drummers of Burundi, who never stopped pounding away and drowned out much of the P.A. system.

Franken was suspended three times for various sins by the once important AAU (Amateur Athletic Union). One sin was for attempting to hire Ben Johnson, the notorious drug cheater from Canada, who left a blotch on the Seoul Olympics in 1988 by winning the 100 meters and quickly testing positive for steroids. Franken was going to have Johnson race against a couple of NFL running backs. The AAU was appalled. That race never came off, but Johnson did run in the Sunkist, and lose, in a sprint in 1991.

Franken simply ignored his suspension and went on doing his business. It turns out that, according to Don Franken, the AAU’s attorney was also Franken’s attorney. The AAU’s usual complaint was that Franken was violating the sport’s most sacred rule — paying the athletes. Johnson allegedly got $30,000 for his appearance. The AAU never stopped warning Franken and threatening him. He never stopped slipping envelopes under the table.

Franken painted his Sunkist track lemon yellow and orange orange and handed out bushels of fruit at the meets. Just about every world-class track star ran for him, many even stayed at his home. Oregon star Steve Prefontaine was the occasional bartender at Franken’s parties. Irish star Eamonn Coghlan, a three-time Olympian and world champion in the 5,000 meters, bunked at the Franken Westwood residence.

“I shared a room with Kip Keino (Kenya’s two-time Olympic gold medalist), and I played pool with Ralph Boston (three Olympic long jump medals),” Don Franken says.

Franken is survived by son Don, daughter Jill and brother-in-law Arnold Fazekas. His wife Shirley died in 1995.

Other survivors are not blood relatives, just sad people at the moment.

“Many of dad’s best friends were sportswriters,” Don Franken .

Bill Dwyre

Bill Dwyre was a three-times-weekly sports columnist for the Los Angeles Times from 2006-15. Before that, he was sports editor of the paper for 25 years. Dwyre was named national editor of the year by the National Press Foundation in 1985 for the paper’s coverage of the ’84 Olympics and winner of the Red Smith Award in 1996 by the Associated Press Sports Editors for sustained excellence in sports journalism. He was sports editor of the Milwaukee Journal from 1973 to 1981, when he joined The Times. Dwyre was named National Headliner Award winner in 1985, sportswriter of the year in Wisconsin in 1980 and sportswriter of the year in California in 2009.

COMMENTS:

sent by Rick Lower:

More Stories from Orange County Register

Dear George:

Great article!

Now all God has to worry about is having BOTH P. T. Barnum and Al Franken up there trying to out do each other.

Take care,

Tom

George:

I had two years while serving as the s.Cal. Striders Ath. Dir. of dealing with and working together with Al Franken

While he was the Meet Director of the Sunkist Indoor Meet. He was a rascal and he got the job done!

John Bork

I got a picture with Al and Don at a British Business Council event that had Sebastian Coe as the speaker.  I was able to get to know Al over the past 10 years or so through my good friend, his son, Don.  What a nice man who treated everyone with respect and kindness..  

About 5 years ago I went to the USC vs UCLA dual meet with Al and Don at USC.  Al had a free parking spot on the street about a mile away from the track stadium that he liked.  We parked there and Al walked to and from the track stadium in dress slacks and dress shoes at age 91 or so with no problem.  On our way back to the car, Don ran into a former thrower (I forget his name and don't want to ask Don right now) who competed in some of Al's meets in the early 60's.  He asked Don in a hushed tone how his dad was doing, thinking that if Al was still alive he was probably in assisted. living.  Don said he's right behind us.  The thrower was shocked to see Al and how spry he was.

Al had a long and fun life well lived.  I was lucky to be able to spend some time with him.

Al was the last surviving male member of a bridge group.  This is a link to a 4 minute video of his 92nd birthday celebrated with the bridge ladies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=678og1Vf9Ik

This is a link to his induction in the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame

https://scjewishsportshof.com/franken-al.html

Barry

V 11 N. 85 Catherine Ndereba Road in Nairobi gets trashed and literature on Running You May Never Have Read

One of the things I enjoy about blogging is never having to answer to an editor or someone looking over my shoulder and having to justify what I put on the blog.   Today I read a miserable story about an incident in Nairobi, Kenya where 40,000 slum dwellers were dispossessed of their 'homes' and what little they owned to widen a road so the rich could get into the center of the city from the airport more quickly.   Almost no warning was given before the bulldozers arrived supported by the police.  The reason I think I can get away with reporting this on a track and field blog is that the street that was cleared out had been named to honor Catherine Ndereba one of Kenya's world champion marathoners.  Anyone who has visited Kenya in recent times knows that it's a miserable two to four hour ride to cover the 10 miles into town because of traffic and people congestion.  The super rich who can afford a top-end safari can take a helicopter or small plane from the airport out to the safari destinations  But the common man has no choice.  I once went through that airport and became stranded for two days when ground crews and gate workers went on strike.  It was a time to see people, the tourists, behaving badly.   Fortunately my Peace Corps Swahili helped me find a friendly official who granted me a visa on the spot and sent me out to a fancy golf resort for two free nights accommodation until the workers were brought back at gun point to reopen the airport.  Things often work a bit differently in Africa.   No Kenyan distance runner ever trained in Nairobi.  They may have come into town to race but not to train.  Those folks all live out in the western part of the country around the Great Rift Valley where they can breathe the thin clean air and run to their heart's content on the dirt roads that meander  through the forests .  Anyway before I start telling some personal horror stories, here is the  article from the Dec. 8, 2021 The Guardian about the infamous clearing of land in the slums of Nairobi.

Land Reclamation Kenyan Style

Now on the slightly lighter side:  

I've been reading an Inspector Morse crime novel "The Remorseful Day" by Colin Dexter.  Some of you may be familiar with the series seen for many years on PBS with the setting in Oxford, England, often filmed on location in that famous university.  In this book Dexter makes several references to running, usually literary, in the form of quotes by others.

Here are a few.

At the beginning of Chapter 43 p. 244 we see

                 "For coping with even one quarter of that course known as 'Marathon' - for coping without frequent halts for refreshment or periodic bouts of vomiting - a man has to dedicate one half of his youthful years to quite intolerable training and endurance.  Such dedication is not for me."        

Here's the kicker,   this piece from "The Joys of Occasional Idleness" was written by one Diogenes Small, but Small it turns out is just a character that Dexter has fabricated for his novels.

 However 

At the beginning of Chapter 54.  Dexter quotes the opening lines of "To An Athlete Dying Young"   by A.E. Housman in  "Shropshire Lad"

   The time you won your town the race

   We chaired you through the market place.

   Man and boy stood cheering by,

    And home we brought you shoulder high.

    Today the road, all runners come,

    Shoulder high we bring you home,

    And set you at your threshold down,

    Townsman of a stiller town.

Now here is the full poem

To an Athlete Dying Young

BY A. E. HOUSMAN

The time you won your town the race

We chaired you through the market-place;

Man and boy stood cheering by,

And home we brought you shoulder-high.

Today, the road all runners come,

Shoulder-high we bring you home,

And set you at your threshold down,

Townsman of a stiller town.

Smart lad, to slip betimes away

From fields where glory does not stay,

And early though the laurel grows

It withers quicker than the rose.

Eyes the shady night has shut

Cannot see the record cut,

And silence sounds no worse than cheers

After earth has stopped the ears.

Now you will not swell the rout

Of lads that wore their honours out,

Runners whom renown outran

And the name died before the man.

So set, before its echoes fade,

The fleet foot on the sill of shade,

And hold to the low lintel up

The still-defended challenge-cup.

And round that early-laurelled head

Will flock to gaze the strengthless dead,

And find unwithered on its curls

The garland briefer than a girl’s.

                 

V11 N. 84 Christmas Card Opportunities This Year

 Last year we brought your attention to the plight of Jim Kerr former US Olympic Pentathlete living in The Virgin Islands and many of you responded generously by sending him a card to his care facility.

We're happy to say that Jim is still alive and kicking in his new home in California.  I recently received this email when I wrote to the care facility where he was staying.

Thank you so much for reaching out again.  Mr. Kerr is no longer in St.Thomas. He relocated to California several months ago

and is in a facility where family can visit with him. His leaving was a sad occasion for all of us but we realize it is much better for him to be 

closer to family. Before he relocated, it was clear to us that he was understandably slowing down and having some memory loss.

His brother said he is much more acclimated to the new environment and is now  interacting with staff. I call him  from time to

time, but he does not pick up. However, if a worker is in the room they will get the phone to him.  Here is his new p

address: 

  Jim Kerr 2nd from left

               Address: The Inn At Park Ventura 

               21200 Ventura Blvd. 

                Woodland Hills, California 91364

Again, thank you for reaching out and I know Mr. Kerr will be happy to receive greetings from Canada.  Do have an enjoyable Holiday Season. Felecia

Here is a link to last year's article we did on Jim.     Jim Kerr Story

Then we have 1964 Olympic Gold medallist in the 5000m, Bob Schul.  As recently reported, Bob has been moved to a care facility in Middletown, Ohio.   If you care to send him a card, his address is:  

His contact info:

Bob Schul

Bickford Assisted Living 

 4375 UNION RD
Middletown , OH 45005
Phone 937.550.4911

If any of you know of other former track and field athletes who could use some cheering up and know that they are not forgotten please let us know at   irathermediate@gmail.com

V 11 N. 83 Another Potentially Ball Breaking Report from the Guardian on Lamine Diack

Dec. 6, 2021

Reporting today in The Guardian  writer Sean Ingle never ceases to amaze us with his inside stories on the world of international athletics (track and field)  and other sports like football, weightlifting, etc.  Today's article implies that Papa Massata son of  the late Lamine Diack former head of IAAF may be ready to spill more beans on the kitchen floor of that august body with who was in whose pocket regarding selection of Olympic sites, doping cover ups, and on and on.  Even the Brazilians are now imprisoning some of their own people over the revelations of corruption in the selection of Rio for the 2016 Games.   Diack died recently with a four year prison sentence over his head and Massata is facing five years if he returns to France, although he is most likely sequestered in an air-conditioned mansion in Dakar, Senegal.  I doubt he will be deprived of Chateau Lafitte Rothchild while in exile.

Lamine Diack's Ghost

Comments:

The idea that Seb Coe was that disingenuous in taking over the mantle of what has become World Athletics simply doesn't compute.   Diack was dirty on so many different levels it would have to take a blind, deaf fool, who was not allowed to smell or touch Papa to imagine the guy was legit.   Coe has escaped the scrutiny he'd otherwise be treated to because of his storybook celebrity.  And the idea that he's little more than a version of a cuckold spouse isn't working over here.    Richard Mach

V 11N. 82 While We Are On The Subject, This Dec. 6, 2021 Will Be The 75th And Last Fukuoka Marathon

 

This December 6, 2021 will be the 75th and last Fukuoka Marathon.  It has always been a race for elite runners.  We were privileged to be in Fukuoka in 1989,  unfortunately not at the time of the marathon, but our host drove us along the course and we were able to go into the stadium where it starts and finishes while there was high school track meet going on.  So we got a small bit of the atmosphere.  The  magazine "Canadian Running"  has recently sent out a bulletin that a film on the historic Fukuoka Marathon has been released.  The title is  Inside the Outside: When the World Came to Fukuoka  Canadian Brett Larner of "Japan Running News has produced this film as a series of interviews with previous foreign winners.   

 We are lucky that "Canadian Runner" has also given out a link to the entire film which you can see by opening the link at the bottom of this piece.  When you open the article there is an untitled picture that any old timer will recognize as Canadian marathoner Jerome Drayton who was a two time winner of the race.  It is something that you may have to watch with a couple of beers by your side to see all these previous 'foreign' winners speak on their computers to address their feelings about Fukuoka and the race.  Interestingly no Japanese winners were interviewed for this film, and this last race will be for Japanese runners only.  Hope you enjoy.     Please note that after each runner introduces himself, there is a brief pause or freeze,  but it will start up again.  Some speak in their native language and there are subtitles provided.   George

Canadian Runner, The Fukuoka Film

V11 N. 81 An Old Program and Memory from Fukuoka

December 3, 2021  

Vancouver Island, British Columbia

I was reminded this morning while reading Walt Murphy's   "This Day in Track and Field" that today was the 43rd anniversary of the 1978 Fukuoka Marathon.    Forty-three is not a significant anniversary about anything unless it was the day you were born or died, but in this case a glimmer of a memory went off and I thought I had a program from Fukuoka in my hallowed 'stuff'.  I dug it out and saw that the 1978 race was indeed run on December 3, forty-three years ago today.

If you take a close look at the top photo you can see that Bill Rodgers, the defending champion, has signed  near the top.   It is also signed by Anthony Sandoval, Chris Wardlow (AUS 7th) , Lionel Ortega, Len Johnson, Rich Hughson (CAN 10th) and Trevor Wright (GB 4th).   Bill Rodgers only finished 6th in 1978, but it was later learned from others that he was suffering from a bout of flu.  He did not mention this nor did he use it as an excuse.

The cover photo is most likely from the 1977 race, and in it you can see Rodgers, Tom Fleming, and Lasse Viren, and Kita.  I'm not sure who is next to Bill.  Number 3 may be Leonid Mossev of the then Soviet Union.

The reason I have this program is that I had been a grad student at the Human Performance Lab at Ball State University from 1977-1979.  While there my family lived in married student housing near a Japanese family, the Hirota's, who had children about the same age as ours.  We became friends and shared family events and travelled sometimes together to see sights in the Midwest.  I remember they were particularly interested in visiting James Dean's boyhood home in Fairmount, IN.  I taught the father, Minoru, to drive and sold him our 73, Chevy Nova.  He was so polite at four way stops that Hoosier drivers often lined up frustrated behind him.  

When they returned to Japan, Minoru, an English professor at Kyushu University, specializing in the Bronte sisters, remembered my running background and bought the program and sought out the runners at some point, maybe before the race and got signatures.  He also had a signature of Bill's wife, Ellen,  on the back of the program.  He carefully hand wrote the results and included those along with several clippings from the local newspapers which you can see below.

When our family was evacuated out of Beijing in 1989 after the Tiananmen Massacre, the Hirota's hosted us in their home in Fukuoka for several days.  It gave us some time to decompress after those heady and stressful  times and to renew our friendship with them.  We still write to each other every year at this time.  George Brose

This is a clipping from the Fukuoka paper showing Seko and Shigeru Soh battling it out during the race.

This is Minoru Hirota's handwritten results and mention that Waldemar Cirpinski was 32nd and Jerome Drayton

dropped out around 10Km.

Seko crossing the finish line.  from a  Fukuoka newspaper

Hi George-

Thanks for the Fukuoka memories; Mary and I attended in 1980, when Harry Johnson brought a AW group that included Sandoval and Ortega ( I didn’t realize they had also competed in 78). None of them ran well. Seko was unbeatable at that time( your newspaper photo shows him ahead of Shigeru Soh , not Kita) We got to go to the post race party representing NIKE which was fun. Also had lunch the day prior with De Castella and his wife, who I had never heard of…The next day we escorted the AW group to Pusan Korea(it’s a very short flight and I remember the RT ticket was $40),  where we showed them the Nike factories, where I was working.

I think I have a 1980 event brochure buried somewhere 

Take care!  Rick