V 14 N. 25 Ramona, Oklahoma Just Became the Center of World for Discus Throwing, Displacing Antilope Valley, CA

 

                                                                   Mykalos Alekna-Lithuania

Antilope Valley in Southern California has been supplanted as the Mecca of throwing for men and women of the discus by Ramona, Oklahoma.    In case you are wondering about Antilope Valley see the following link to a July 9, 1973 Sports Illustrated story about that hallowed ground.  Antilope Valley Wins in Their Sails  link

A "Field of Dreams" has been built in Ramona, Oklahoma. (Location about half way between Tulsa and Bartlesville as the crow flies).    However Kevin Costner will never get past central casting for this  'Field'.  We'll need someone like Duane Johnson to play the role of  Caleb Seal (throwing coach at U. of Tulsa) who seems to have put together a throwing ground where there's enough room you won't hit a Wendy's or a grade school if you have an errant toss of the discus, which is about the only reason you might want to migrate to Ramona.  It's flat and the wind blows fairly steadily which is what discus throwers like, because 'they ain't no rule against the wind a blowin'  in a discus slingin' contest'.  I think Strother Martin said that in 'Cool Hand Luke'.  But don't quote me on that one.

Seems Mr. Seal organized a gathering of behemoths who can spin like prima ballerinas in an eight feet two and a half inch diameter circle.  Amongst this gang of giants was a young Lithuanian lad of no mean DNA heritage.  His name Mykolas Alekna son of two-time Olympic discus champion Virgilijus Alekna, now a member of parliament in the Lithuanian government.  Virgilijus' all time best throw was 73.88 meters or 242 feet 5 inches, just shy of Juergen Schult's 74.08 meters in 1986 or 37 years 9 months prior to this Ramona, Oklahoma weekend.  Mykolas' report card showed that he had a silver at the 2022 WC's in Eugene and a bronze last year in Budapest.  

On Sunday April 14, 2024, in Ramona  Mykolas Alekna put together the following series.  The screams of his fellow competitors out decibeled the wailing from the Baptist church down the road.

    Round 1:    72.21 meters        236'  10"

    Round 2:    70.32    "              230'   7"

    Round 3     72.98    "              239'   1"

    Round 4     70.51    "              231'   4"

    Round 5     74.35    "              243'   10"   WR   Sorry Daddy, you are only #2 in the family now, and                                                                                         please pass the perogies.  

    Round 6     70.50    "              231'    3"

If you don't believe this, go to the youtube site:     Mykalos Alekna's WR Series  link

All six throws are shown in the video but it starts with the WR.   Normal speed and slow motion of every throw.  See you in Paris, Mykolas.

Additionally over the weekend on Saturday the Cuban thrower Yaime Perez threw into the all time tenth position for women with a 73.09 meter toss.

In case you are thinking of travelling to Ramona in the near future to try your hand at the discus or just to see this remarkable throwing ground, here are few bits and pieces of the town's history from Wikipedia.

Why Ramona?  Maybe Because It's There?

Ramona is a town in Washington County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 535 at the 2010 census.  It peaked out in 1920 with a population of 793.  

History

The town began as Bon-Ton, (some Cajuns outta the Bayou come up dere?) but changed its name to Ramona in 1899 in honor of the Helen Hunt Jackson novel of the same name.

Ramona was an oil town and was also a stop for the Santa Fe railroad. When the oil dried up, there was no other industry to support Ramona, so the town began to die out. Very little business remains in the town, aside from a garage, a bank, a medical clinic, a small grocery, and sundry other small businesses. For 30 years the town was under the jurisdiction of the Washington County Sheriff's Office, after the police department disbanded and the Chief of Police was sentenced to prison. Under the leadership of the former mayor, the late Robert Fiddler, the police department was reinstated, the water lines were repaired/replaced, and a grant was accepted from the Cherokee Nation to repave the streets. The town also supplies natural gas service to the Wal-Mart distribution center five miles north of town.

Recently, under the mayoralty of Cyle Miller, the Cherokee Nation opened the Cherokee Casino Ramona off U.S. Route 75 and Road 3200, which is a significant boom to the local economy. This led to Ramona annexing a considerable portion of land and greatly increasing the size of Ramona proper.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 0.8 square miles (2.1 km²), all land.

Demographics

]

As of the census^[3] of 2000, there were 564 people, 245 households, and 161 families residing in the town. The population density was 735.6 inhabitants per square mile (284.0/km²). There were 265 housing units at an average density of 345.6 per square mile (133.4/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 72.70% White, 0.18% African American, 14.72% Native American, 0.18% from other races, and 12.23% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.24% of the population.

Another note from the editor;   When you realize that Mickey Mantle grew up only about 60 miles from Ramona in the town of Commerce, you can understand why this part of Oklahoma is particularly sacred.

Thank you, Bill for your story of a chance encounter with Jay Sylvester.  When these kind of unexpected meetings happen many are often too shy to have a conversation.  Where to begin.  Just have to remember they are human beings too with all the fears and strengths of interaction.

V 14 N. 24 Olga Fikotova Connolly R.I.P.

 

                                                                         Olga Connolly

                                                                   Photo from Olympedia

A week or so ago, Walt Murphy noted in his  "This Day in Track and Field" the passing of Olga Fikotova Connolly.   With permission, here are Walt's words.

R.I.P.--Olga Fikotová-Connolly, the 1956 Olympic gold medalist in the Women’s Discus, passed away on Friday, April 12, at the age of 91. (see below a note from her children)

           Career Highlights

           5-time Olympian—Discus (’56-gold medalist, ’60-7^th, 1964-12^th), 

             1968—6^th, 

              1972-Qual. Round)

           5-time U.S. Champion (1957,1960,1962,1964,1968) 

           Set 4 American Records (best of 185-3 [56.46]/1972)

           Won the Olympic gold medal while competing for her native Czechoslavakia. While at the Games 

              In Melbourne, she fell in love with American Hal Connolly, who won the gold medal in the Men’s 

              Hammer Throw.  Coming during the Cold War, their love affair made them media darlings 

              in both countries. Couple was divorced in 1975.

           With Czech icons Emil and Dana Zátopek serving as witnesses, the couple got married in Prague in

              1957, despite initial objections from the Czech government.

           Said Olga, “…admittedly, it was unheard of that anyone would get across the Iron Curtain and get 

               married, but after much verbal fighting with the administration in Prague, enthusiastic support 

               from newspapers abroad, and approval by [US. Secretary of State] Mr. Dulles in the U.S.A. and 

               President Zápotocký in Czechoslovakia we received permission.”

        At 91, she had been the oldest living American female Olympian in T&F at the time of her passing

For additional reading on the subject I've put a link below to "The Olympians" that focuses not only on Olga and Hal around the time of the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo but also on several other love stories of athletes from that Games.    ed. 

The Olympians    link

V 14 N. 23 My First Track Coach Died This Week - Ed Jones R.I.P.

 

                                                           
                                                                      1935-2024

 

The reason I write today is because another old coach, my first track coach, died last week.  Ed Jones was a fixture as a coach and teacher at Belmont High School, Dayton, Ohio for many years, and after retiring he was a longtime pole vault official at high school meets in the Dayton area.  Ed and I remained in contact all these years since he first coached me as a freshman in 1958.  He passed away peacefully at his home with his wife Connie at his side.  Just fell asleep on the couch at age 91. 

 

Ed graduated from Fairview High School (same high school attended by Edwin Moses twenty years later) and had been a pole vaulter at Miami of Ohio under the legendary coach George Rider.    When I was a freshman, Ed taught photography and physical education.  I remember he let me run with the varsity, and my first meet was at West Carrollton High School.  Got my name in the box score for a fourth place finish in the mile, and I was sold on the sport. But  I still transitioned gradually from basketball.

 

Ed was totally no nonsense when it came to sport and training and life for that matter.  Yet he was willing to listen to his athletes and get their input when deciding what kinds of workouts to develop.   He was way ahead of his time in introducing weight training as part of our development program.  Since he was primarily a pole vaulter, and I wanted to be a middle distance runner, we learned a lot together as that aspect of track and field was not really up his alley.  There were perhaps two books on track in the Dayton Public Library which I kept checked out most of track season.  One was written by Franz Stampfl,  the Austrian interval running coach, and the other was a photography book by Leni Reifenstahl, the German filmmaker of the 1930’s.  We learned together from Stampfl how to go about getting ready to run the mile and half mile.  The end result for me was a college scholarship, and for Ed a cornucopia of what to do and not do in coaching runners.  In addition to track and field, Ed started the gymnastics program at our high school and was even better known in that sport as a successful coach.  He also gave the girls in the school their first ever opportunity to compete in a varsity sport.

 

I was away from home for many years, but I always stopped to see Ed and Connie Jones whenever I was back in town.  One of their five kids, Brian, was a very good pole vaulter and competed at the US Naval Academy.   After a  tour in China, my wife and I  ended up settling down in the Dayton area and bought Ed’s first family home in Kettering where we would live for over twenty years until we moved up to Canada.  We had been evacuated out of China a few days after the Tiananmen Student Massacre.   

 That first year back in Dayton after the China adventure left us with some PTSD and no immediate job prospects.  Ed offered both me and my son a high school freshman to work with him in his home remodeling business. By then he had retired from teaching.  It actually led to a career for my son Jacques.  We learned how houses were built and how you repaired them.  Ed’s humor came out in those days that I hadn’t seen as an athlete.  Two of his favorite quips were,  “I’ve cut that board three times and it’s still too short.”  And “A man riding by on a galloping horse won’t notice that.”  He was fair and honest.  Never needed to advertise.  His work came from recommendations from satisfied customers.  As a former pole vaulter he wasn't beyond taking some risks on the job.  Once we had to remove a limb of a tree that was threatening to fall and crush a garage.  Ed shinnied up the tree about 30 feet with a chain saw and a rope in tow.   He tied the rope out a way on the limb then got back closer to the trunk and told us to take up the slack on the rope.   "When I cut through this limb, you guys start running and don't let it hit the garage."  His plan worked.  The limb came down, missed the garage and my son and I as well.  

 

In retrospect, I see myself as very fortunate to have been under the leadership and guidance of Ed Jones. When a child goes to school or joins a team, their parents turn them over to  hopefully a responsible adult who will guide them in the right direction and teach them to look for, find, and hone their talents. In the world there are too many parents who think they can control the destinies of their children and that they can buy their way into the next stage of life. It rarely works that way, and the child soon finds themself torn between family expectations and an undeserving unqualified person to guide them along. I was lucky that there was a good man in place ready to take over the job of showing me how to comport myself, work hard, and hopefully reap the benefits,  with no guarantees. The only thing my parents had to pay was a city tax to support a decent public education system.   Today the world is full of incompetent parents and coaches. I was able to avoid those pitfalls with the help of my parents and Ed Jones.

George Brose

Below is a 1961 article about Ed Jones and me from the Dayton Journal Herald.

V 14 N. 22 Ned Price's 2024 Boston Photos

 

                                                   1962  University of Chicago Track Club Athletes

                                               left: Jim Brown (not 'the' Jim Brown) and right:  Ned Price

                                               Yes, 'the' Ned Price

Once again we rely on Ned Price our inveterate resident photographer to bring us the hottest photos on the internet market of the Boston Marathon from Ned's perspective.  And his incredible observations

From Ned:

"59 degrees 7.8 miles no wind"      (Very Hemingwayesque, Ned)

Women's lead pack  Emma Bates in front with

Hellen Obiri waiting patiently (black shorts, white top)

Men in chase pack,  Esa (orange shorts) eventual 2nd placer

Sisay Lemma already dominating the field

Ned's astute observation

"Hellen Obiri is no relation to the Irish women's Clydesdale runner   Helen O"Beerey."

I must confess that I got up late on the west coast and the race was already in its closing stages when I tuned in.  There was an African runner in the lead of what I thought was the Masters race.  Receding hairline, lots of grey hair.  Wow this guy can fly for his age.  But I was wrong again.  He was leading the men's race with an almost insurmountable  lead.  The doors had already been blown off the nearest competitors.   Furthermore he was built like a light weight boxer or a sprinter possibly.  He could no way walk through the typical marathon runner template without getting caught in the quads section of the template or the shoulders and biceps.  This guy was built for things other than marathoning, and yet he was destroying the field.  Sisay Lemma,  congrats.   And let it not be in doubt which company's shoe he was wearing.    Is it also possible now that shoe sponsors' logos are on the elite runners' race bibs?  Indeed it seems to be that way.   

Following photos from my TV screen:

Sisay Lemma,  no doubt about his shoe sponsor

                                                                      Hellen Obiri

Hellen Obiri as well is very strong and looks like she may do some work on the speed bag and heavy  bag in her gym.  My advice to opposing runners is keep a safe distance from her because 

those arms really fly to both sides when she runs, and you do not want to accidentally get hit by them.

Best wishes to both these great runners in Paris this summer.  Below are top ten results for men and women and men's wheelchair.  Unfortunately I missed the women's wheelchair results.  You also get a good look at the thermostat on my living room wall.    George

.

             Marcel Hug   Averaged 20.9 mph for 75 minutes 32 seconds.  The Beast.  Math by Richard Mach

There are no sprinters in Ethiopia, so guess Lemma had to move up to marathon.  Bruce Kritzler

 Thanks young fellow.       George, I think the first non-pro should be given an award of some kind.

This picture (below) is of the first guys coming by. They started 23 minutes after the Pro men. Numbers instead of names. Do you know if anything like this been done elsewhere?  Ned

                   Looks like everybody runs for Adidas at Boston, no matter what's on their feet.

Here's some additional info

Obiri's  splits    1st 1/2          1hr 12 min 33 sec.

                    2nd   1/2           1 hr 10 min 34      for a 2 hr 23 min 21 sec

Edna Kiplagat  finished 3rd  in 2 hr 23 min 21 sec.  She is 44 years old.

Sisay Lemma's splits    5Km  14:27   

                                     10Km 14:01    28:28

                                      15Km 14:15   42:43     Chase pack was 44:05 at 15Km

                                       1/2     1 hr 19 sec.       Chase pack was 1 hr 2 min 8 sec

                                       30Km  1 hr 26 min 56 sec    Lemma had 3:00 lead

                                        35 Km 16:00 5 km      1 hr 41 min 56 sec.

                                         full marathon 2 hr 6 min 17 sec.

                                         splits   1:00.19        1:05. 58

                                         Prize money $150,000.00     Olympic marathon winner will collect $50,000.  

                                         Remember Karsten Warholm's comment about Olympic prize money.

                                             "It's the glory, not the money."

V 14 N. 21 O.J. Simpson Expires

                                                                                

                                                              from UCLA digital library

Orenthal James Simpson , 76 years old, died today of prostate cancer. 

Attended the University of Southern Californina.  He once posted 9.4 seconds for the 100-yard dash and finished sixth in the NCAA 100-yard race in 1967. That year Simpson was also part of the USC Trojans' 4x440-yard relay team which secured a world record of 38.6

Note from Russ Reabold of Trojan Force:  

George,

OJ was also 6th in the 100 that meet and was 5th in the NCAA indoor 60.   Russ

And from Dr. John Telford: 

 When I officiated at the indoor NCAA at Cobo Hall in Detroit many years ago, I had a conversation with Simpson.  He was a 60-yard finalist.

He was also a Heisman Trophy winner in football in 1967 and NFL HOF member.  

He went on to other less honorable things later in his life but this blog does not care do go into those details.

Following is an account from 1987 of the twentieth anniversary of that 4x100 yards team of Earl McCoullouch, Fred Kuller, Simpson, and Lennox Miller from the  L.A. Times

EXTRA   EXTRA    OUR ASTUTE BLOG PARTNER NEVER LETS US DOWN WHEN IT COMES TO ACCURACY ON TRACK STATS.   SO WHAT IF HE LEFT HIS CAR RUNNING IN THE DRIVEWAY.

fROM ROY:   "It was 4x110 (said he who just left his car running in the driveway for an hour this afternoon).  The significance of this is that, because yard distances have been replaced by metric, the 38.6 SC ran in 1967 still stands as the world record.  OJ died a world record holder."

The USC 440-Relay Team That Secured a Place in History : 20 Years Ago Today, Trojans Burned Track

By MAL FLORENCE

June 17, 1987 Facebook

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

O.J. Simpson is renowned for his Heisman Trophy-winning season at USC, his record-breaking career in pro football and, of course, for hurdling suitcases in television commercials. But Simpson recalls that he never had more fun than he did as a member of USC’s track team in 1967.

It was a memorable year for Simpson and three other Trojans, Earl McCullouch, Fred Kuller and Lennox Miller.

Today is the 20th anniversary of their record-shattering feat, a world-record time of 38.6 seconds in the 440-yard relay in the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. track and field meet at Provo, Utah.

They broke the record by a full second and secured a place for themselves in track and field history, since yardage marks are a thing of the past in this age of metric measurements.

Even by metric standards, though, their time of 20 years ago holds up, not as a world record but as exceptional just the same. By making two conversions, from 440 yards to 400 meters and then from hand time to fully automatic timing, the 38.6 computes to 38.51, according to track statistician Tom Feuer.

How fast is 38.51? It would be the second-fastest time in collegiate history. Only Texas Christian has ever run a faster 400, a time of 38.46 at the 1986 NCAA meet in Indianapolis.

“They haven’t improved much on what we did,” McCullouch said. “We might have been right there at this particular time.”

Anatomy of a team:

McCullouch, the lead-off man, was also a world-class hurdler. In July of 1967, equaled a hand-timed world record of 13.2 seconds in the 110-meter high hurdles at the Pan-American Games in Minneapolis.

“And it was done on a dirt track, not a synthetic surface,” McCullouch said.

In conversion, McCullouch was also credited with a fully automatic time of 13.43 for his race in Minneapolis, which still stands as a USC record.Like Simpson, McCullouch was an accomplished football player, who had a distinguished career as a wide receiver at USC and later with the Detroit Lions of the National Football League.

Kuller, who ran the second leg, was simply very fast. His 9.3-second time in the 100-yard dash has been exceeded by only two other Trojans, Miller and Willie Deckard.

Simpson was the third man in the relay order. His accomplishments have been well documented. He was, however, a legitimate 9.4 sprinter, which just enhanced his skills as a tailback.

The Jamaican-born Miller was a superb sprinter. He was the silver medalist in the 100 meters in the 1968 Olympic Games at Mexico City, and the bronze medalist in the 1972 Olympics in Munich.

His school record of 10.04 seconds in the 100 meters, set in 1968, lasted for 12 years until it was broken by James Sanford with a time of 10.02.

Only national sprint relay teams could assemble a faster group.

It took some time, however, for the Trojan relay team to come together as a unit. Simpson had to regain his sprinting legs after spring football practice, and the team had to improve its baton passing.

Ken Matsuda, USC’s assistant coach at the time, recalls that the team initially used a right-left-right-left handoff system, then later experimented by passing with only the left hand.

While experimenting, USC lost to UCLA in the 1967 dual meet, the Bruins tying the world record of 39.6 set by Southern University in 1966.

Jim Bush, UCLA’s coach, had more than an inkling, though, that his team was not really in USC’s class.

“I knew if they got their passes down, it wouldn’t be a contest because they were a far superior team,” Bush said. “I made such an issue of their passing--and so did the newspapers--that they started passing the way we did (right-left-right-left), and we copied that style from Stanford.

“They were keeping the baton in the same hand, which meant you had to cross over on passes and you had to slow down, or you would rip a guy’s leg apart.

“I told our team that the way they were passing, all we had to do was stay ahead of them and, if the last man gets a decent pass, we’ll win.

“I knew they were better than us, but I also knew that we could beat them.”

Miller, now a dentist in Pasadena, had another recollection of the loss to UCLA.

“I was coming off an injury and had a two-week layoff,” he said. “Harold Busby, their anchorman, had a yard lead on me when I got the baton. I figured I could make it up, but I didn’t.

“We hated to lose in anything to UCLA.”

The loss, however, probably served as an incentive to USC. The Trojans also tied the world record of 39.6 on June 2 at the Coliseum-Compton Invitational. Texas Southern had also tied the record that season, so four teams were credited with 39.6 clockings.

The Trojans broke the logjam June 10 at the San Diego Invitational with a time of 39 seconds.

Then they went to the NCAA meet in Provo.

“I had never seen snow,” Simpson recalled. “When I think about that day, I remember some of us going into the mountains to see snow.

“I also remember that Earl was complaining about some other races he had to run and how cold it was.”

The Trojan foursome was concerned, too, about their individual events in the meet. McCullouch won the high hurdles, Miller was second in the 100 and 200, and Kuller was fourth in the 100, a race in which Simpson was sixth.

Including the relay win, they accounted for 41 of USC’s 86 points as the Trojans won their 24th NCAA championship.

“For sheer excitement, there was nothing like the relay,” said Vern Wolfe, USC’s coach then. “That really kicked things off for the meet. It ignited us.”

It was Matsuda’s responsibility to gather the relay team and make sure that they stretched properly.

“I couldn’t find them (at first) and when I did, I started yelling,” he said. “They said, ‘ Don’t worry, Coach,’ and they were very relaxed. They were very sure of themselves, and they backed it up.”

McCullouch had a blazing start, setting the tone for the race with his lead-off leg.

“It’s probably one of the fastest legs I’ve ever run,” he said. “I felt like I was really moving. I was in an outside lane and everything clicked.”

Said Simpson: “Earl was known for his start and I could see how great he was as I waited on the other end of the track. He made up the whole stagger on his leg and we were way out in front when I got the baton from Fred.

“I actually ran up on Lennox, but I waited for an instant to give him the stick. We didn’t waste any time, though. It was a safe pass in the middle of the zone.”

Said Miller: “Most of the job was done before I got the baton. Earl made up the stagger, Fred ran a heck of a leg and O. J. wiped out everyone who was left. No one was even close to me when I got the baton.”

It’s estimated that USC beat second-place Tennessee by 15 yards.

Wolfe recalled that he looked at his stopwatch in disbelief.

“I thought I had blown it,” he said. “How does it rate among my thrills as a coach? It’s in the top three and I don’t remember the other two.”

Said Matsuda: “They had a great relay race in Baton Rouge (at the NCAA meet) recently, but our guys would have won that race. What they did is more awesome as time goes by.”

The Bruins weren’t a factor in the race. Don Domansky and Tom Jones muffed the pass on the second to third legs. It was a habitual occurrence.

“I think we managed to drop the baton in five or six consecutive national championship meets,” Bush said. “We set a record that I hope no one breaks because I don’t want anyone else to be that embarrassed.”

Then, Bush added facetiously: “I coached it that way in the 1967 meet because I knew we would lose, and I wanted to have an excuse. Anyway, (USC) had three men who were faster than our best man.”

The following comments and great photos came from Don Domansky, UCLA sprinter of that era inspired by this article.

Hi George

Your OJ article brought back some memories.  Thought I would share pictures if two plaques I have. 

In the first picture. OJ is running third leg for USC. You can see that the handoffs for USC were always left hand to right where UCLA alternated hands.  Don Domansky

 In the second photo (below) Don writes:

The following plaque’s picture was from the first ever UCLA track win over USC the year before the world record.  It set the stage for a mental edge in beating USC in its coveted event the 440 yd yard relay the following year. 

     I found this picture of Don Domansky (1968 Canadian O Trials)   in our files along with Dave Kerr and Arjan Gelling

Following comment is from Bill Schnier former U. of Cincinnati coach.

Very interesting article and comments.  At that time the west coast runners were at the top before the SEC started to dominate.  I looked up my 1969 NCAA program and saw that OJ was not in the picture of the USC team so I guess he had graduated by that time.  San Jose St. won the 4x1 that year, still called the 440 relay.  Why did Ken Matsuda switch from right-left-right-left handoffs to all lefts which required switching hands?  Was it because they had lots of left handers on the relay?  Who knows?

By the way George, there are benefits to alternating hands in sprint relay handoffs.  The first and third runners run the curve and should be inclined to stay as close to the inside of the lane as possible. Moving the baton from one hand to the other does cost a split second every time.  Carrying the baton in the left hand throughout the relay is against both concepts.

Don

Not to be outdone by these comments by Messrs.  Domansky and Schnier, I looked into our archives and pulled out this witty commentary made by our star member of staff and co-founder of this blog Roy Mason. (Roy, could you check if the car is still running in the driveway?) Many years ago he described the 4x100 meters in the 1967 Pan Am Games in Winnipeg, Manitoba (that's in Canada for you who flunked geography).  But I digress.  Here is Roy's incredibly astute account:   see link for the complete article  Once Upon a Time in the Vest if you must.

    The 400 relay has to present a moral dilemma for Earl McCullough. He is leading off a team composed of Jerry Bright, Ron Copeland and Willie Turner that had bettering the world record of 38.6 as its goal. Alright, go get 'em Earl. But wait a minute, that record was just set by McCullough's USC team of Fred Kuller, OJ Simpson and Lennox Miller. As Earl is settling into the blocks, he is facing the conundrum of erasing his buddies from the list of world record holders. These are the guys with whom he runs the Coliseum steps, has towel snapping exchanges in the locker room, trains with in the off season and jokes with on bus rides. The instant the gun is fired, Earl will be attempting to deprive his pals of their place at the top of the track and field world.

    Familial integrity be damned. Earl's start indicates that he hasn't been silently humming “Fight On” (for old SC) during the starter's commands. His pass to Bright is crisp but the second pass to Copeland is slow. Willie Turner holds off a surprising Cuban team 39.0 to 39.2. An awkward greeting when OJ picks Earl up at LAX has been averted.

I believe that I recall an excellent article in Sports Illustated about that relay team.  I was familiar with McCulloch and Miller, less so with Kuller, and not at all with Simpson.  The author of the article seemed to spend more time talking to O.J. about the race and this article was sort of a "coming out" for Simpson.  It made you want the football season to start because he hadn't appeared on TV yet.  In the '67 USC-UCLA game, Simpson scored on a 60-plus yard sprint across the field.  It was one of the greatest runs-from-scrimmage that I've ever seen.  Also, I  heard Jim Bush speak at a clinic in Detroit at the NCAA indoors in '72.   Bush was talking about training quarter milers, focusing on Wayne Collett and John Smith.   Best speech I've ever heard a track coach give.   At the time, of course, Bush's UCLA track teams were almost as dominant as Wooden's basketball teams.

Thanks-great article

Bruce Geelhoed
Chair and Professor

Ball State University

Friends:

I my 1st. 2 years as the Athletic Director of the S.Cal. Striders. OJ ran on a couple of our sprint relay teams! He was a strong addition to those teams. But was gone to the Buffalo Bills before he might have become a fixture!

John Bork

Mike Solomon sent in this USC team photo.

Russ Reabold of Trojan Force kindly scoured the Trojan Force members and got the names of everybody in the team picture of the 1967 NCAA champs and did the overlay with numbers and names.  What a job in less than a day.  Thank you so much Russ.

Guys,  thanks for all your comments.  Everybody has an OJ story except Roy and me.  George