V 12 N. 82 A Cross Country Quiz for the Ages and the Aged

 November 16, 2022

Hello Folks, 

This is the big week of NCAA nationals DI in Stillwater, OK, predicted 48 F and sunny on Saturday,   D II  in Tampa, FL,  and DII in East Lansing, MI going back to the original site.  Weather prediction this Saturday in East Lansing is 16 F and snooowww!  

Here is a link to the NCAA meet held in 1946, the year a small college runner won the race,  That man was Quentin Brelsford of Ohio Wesleyan University.  I have film of the finish of the race and am organizing a contest to guess who the guy with race bib 142 might be.  He appears at 2:58 of the film.    I had this on the blog a number of years ago, so some of you guys who took good notes might remember.  I found this film in the Kansas University library archives.  

Here is the link      NCAA Cross Country 1946

 While watching do note how they collected the runners and took names in the non existent finish chute.  Gets a bit dodgy mid-race.   I'll add the answer to this post tomorrow.  It's a marketing ploy to get more hits on the site.  

George

 This was very interesting.  I had just turned two and was unaware of almost everything outside our home.  I don't know any of the runners but still had a few thoughts:

1.  The MSU stadium was pretty small at that time but probably in the same location.

2.  Finishing on the track was not unusual in those days because it was flat and well defined.

3.  They had no chutes but eventually had three "chutes."

4.  My best guess is that they were asking for information once they crossed the finish line.

5.  Men in top coats and hats were assigned to each runner as he crossed the line, sometimes getting in the way of others.  Were they helpful or harmful?

6.  There was not much space for the runners to finish.

7.  At the start or even midrace they looked as good as the runners today.

8.  Miami was 4th in the team scoring, but today most people would assume that is Miami (FL) but was almost surely Miami (OH), the older and larger and better at cross country of the two Miamis.

9.  They could have used a second or third camera.

10.  But at least it was filmed.  Very nice job, MSU. Bill Schnier

Looks suspiciously like Detroit’s Mob up there ‘recruiting’ @ the ‘chute’ brazenly OUT in their trademark Fedoras.  A young fledgling Jimmy Hoffa may have been glimpsed.   142 is almost certainly otherwise a quarter miler trying not to faint after a robust set of 4 x 5:40 miles back-to-back.  

              Can’t say more.  Richard Mach

Hey, Richard, the top coat and fedora were de rigeur in those days.  You weren't a man if you didn't pssess both.  Just like a toque and knees cut out of your pants today from all the groveling.  George

You'll note the race was not on the Forest Akers Golf Course as subsequent races were.

Some top running names in that first four.  Tom Coyne

And the answer is.........  Bill Weaver who finished 59th in the race would later take to the stage and screen as Dennis Weaver.  He faked that stiff leg for years as Chester Goode in "Gunsmoke:  the went on to play "McCloud" and also was the lead in Steven Spielberg's first full length film that he directed  "Duel".

Other runners of note in this race were   1. Quentin Brelsford, Ohio Wesleyan U,  2.  Curtis Stone, Penn State,  19. Horace Ashenfelter, Penn State,   If you recognize others in the results below who later became influential in the sport or in life, please let me know.

idn’t recognize bill(dennis) weaver. i identified 142 as the drama queen with receding hairline, so wasn’t too far off. quite a stretch for a decathlete running 4mi xc though. Bruce Kritzler

Here is the link to our first mention of this:       Dennis Weaver