Roy Mason, Steve Price, George Brose April, 1998 Outside the Silver Cafe, Franklin, Ohio before our
departure to the Dogwood Relays in Knoxville
This blog is twelve years old, but it's conception happened at least 40 years ago when a friendship started between three ne'er do wells, myself, Roy Mason, and Steve Price. Roy and Steve have excellent coaching credentials, I was a dabbler. Roy coached for years in Southern California at Bellflower HS and the La Mirada Meteors and possibly has one of the best male and female high school mile combinations ever with Debbie Heald 4:32 in 1972 and Bob O'Brien 4:08 also around that time.
Steve Price started with the Kettering Striders in Ohio and went on to coach at the U. of Dayton, Bowling Green State University, and after he 'retired' went on to coach at Findlay University making a 102 miles trek each way every day. He would also stop and play piano at nursing homes on his way up there from Piqua, OH. Instead of the Borscht Circuit, it was the I-75 Circuit. His teams at BG broke into the Midwest cross country dominance of the Big Ten and Notre Dame, being one of the few women's teams outside those schools to qualify for DI nationals.
Roy and Steve and I began writing to each other when Steve was coaching in Bahrain in the Middle East and I was in Zimbabwe. Our letters were forwarded to each other and that is how I initially became acquainted with Roy. Then we found that it was as much fun to take hand held cassette recorders wherever we went and record our impressions of life, at the drop of a hat. Over the years the three of us were actually together only three times, once in California, once in Montreal, and once in Ohio. The last time was 1998. I remember that date because it was the weekend before I started working full time as a mediator. We got together in Dayton and drove down to the Dogwood Relays in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Steve passed away last year after a long, long competition with cancer. He really suffered a lot but never, never complained. Somehow he was always able to raise our spirits.
Last week, Roy found one of those tapes we had exchanged. It was from 1992 at the time of Steve's 50th birthday. He had just been at Bowling Green about two years, and the program was still struggling to get off the ground. BG was in the process of completing an indoor facility which would help recruiting. Steve and family were still getting used to living in a campus community. There's not much else in Bowling Green, Ohio. So here are a few excerpts from that tape recording shared amongst friends. I'm sure all of you have had friendships over the years and I hope this helps you remember and reflect on those experiences. It's what adds depth and color to our lives and makes it worth the struggle to get through it. George Brose
Steve's words or thoughts will be highlighted
The BG indoor facility is just about to be completed.
Recruiting is a pain in the ass.
We have to go though Paid and Unpaid visits by prospective athletes. They get five paid visits to colleges which can include hotel for parents, gas and meal money. Can take as many unpaid visits as they want. If you lived in Cleveland would you take a paid visit to BG when you can get paid ones to Florida, Texas, Penn State, and two others? We wouldn't have the budget to give a kid a paid visit anyway.
George got me the book "Blue Highways" by William Least Heat Moon for my birthday and made made me a video of some tele-evangelists.
Mid American Conference MAC meet coming up soon in Kalamazoo, MI. We could be anywhere from 2nd to 7th. We were 8th last year.
Some of the kids' names rang a bell to me as I used to go on some of the trips with them. Chicago is the one I particularly remember. Sherri, Tracy, Jill Strasser, Suzanne Isco.
George stole a campaign sign from another county and put it in my yard during the election "Price for Clerk of Courts" It has caused some confusion in Bowling Green as there is no
one running here by that name.
I said something to one of the runners yesterday. "Where have you been all my life?" She answered, "Mostly unborn."
The team toilet papered my office last night. I don't know how they got in as it was locked and I was there until 8;00PM.
Conference meet went down the toilet. Sherri should have won but came in 7th. Winner Julie Rhodda 17:53 from Miami.
Not looking forward to staff meeting tomorrow . Football team doing good.
I think Urban Meyer was coaching BG then before going to Florida and then Ohio State.
Staff meeting. Two hours of going over new rules about sending a copy of grad rates to kids parents, coach and high school counselor of your recruits.
Michigan St. reps coming to test our kids' knowledge of drugs. They chose several colleges
as to do this research.
"College sports is turning into a monster. This was 1992.
My Car problems: had a rebuilt water pump and rebuilt alternator installed by the garage. Total bill was $119.00.
Ohio High school XC Jenny Brown a 14 year old freshman won in 17:15
One of my runners said, "She's just too young to appreciate it."
I've got to stop and buy a lottery ticket. It's $20 million tonight. If I win, I'll help out my family members and with what's left start a business with George and get David Rapp to manage the money. David Rapp is one of Steve's former high school runners from Kettering Striders. He didn't win, and any business that Steve and I might have started would have been doomed from the get go.
I'm meeting George in Bloomington IN for the district XC meet. The fun will be cruising back through southern Indiana and going to hear several bands in Dayton Saturday night. My sister-in-law Julie has a housewarming in Dayton near George's..
Went to Kalamazoo for MAC meet. Beautiful course in a woods, hilly muddy, deer on course. Last time I went there was as a 19 year old freshman at Miami. We got our butts kicked.
What I've learned about coaching: "No matter what the results of the other teams were last week you cannot really prepare for this week expecting them to perform the same." Only took twenty five years to learn that.
I sent this out initially to Bruce Kritizler, Bill Schnier, and David Rapp, all good friends of Steve. They
wrote back as follows:
great! thanks for sharing. You missed Urban Meyer’s 2 yr stint sucking all the $ out of utah’s athletic dept.
bg & utah do not sponsor men’s track. coincidence? doubt it
heard wottle is signing golf hats at BG
Thank you George and Bill for sharing this with me.
I remember that tape recorder being omnipresent in Steve's car and the occasional interruption in conversation b/c Steve had to record something before he forgot it.
I also remember Steve's 50th birthday party as I had just turned 25 and had recently moved to Columbus to resettle refugees for a Church World Service sponsored organization called Interfaith Refugee Services of Ohio.
I also remember car trips with Steve and lottery ticket purchases that never hit it big. I would have been happy to manage his riches. Turns out, what he didn't have in dollars, he had in friends... a much more valuable currency.
Ya'll take care now and thanks again for keeping in touch.
Cheers,
Rapper
Glad the tape is getting some play among friends. Have to diminish my coaching achievement. Wish Debbie had run 4:32. Was 4:38.5. On the other hand, Bob was ready to drop his 4:08.8 to sub 4:07 when he came down violently ill before the state meet. No matter the times, it was a joy working with both as they were totally dedicated. Roy
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