Vol. 3 No. 67 More Timeless Photos from the Banks of the Seine and a Story about Franjo Mihalic and the Sao Sylvestre race in Brazil

Two more photos, rarely seen,  from Jerry McFadden

George,

Here are more of the old photos I promised you last week

Photo 1. shows Gordon Pirie (1) leading in the March, 1953, "Cross Des Nations" (precursor to the modern International XC Champs) at Vincennes, France, in front of Thys (15) and Van Wattyene (16). The Englishman Pirie was the favorite but faded to 6th. Mihalic from Yugoslavia won. Pirie set 5 world records in his prime, including 5K in 13:36.8 and 3K in 7:52.7 in 1956. He also took a silver medal in the 5K in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.  Mihalic took the silver in the marathon at Melbourne and won Boston in 1958.

Photo 2. shows the XC hurdles in the middle of the same race. Mihalic (135) eventually won, Surprisingly, the final distance was not listed in newspaper article, although the winning time was 47:53.1. 

Jerry

A clear view of Mihalic the winner is not evident in these pictures

but his head is partially seen behind Gordon Pirie's head.

 

Note the close distance between these barriers

Click to see enlarged copy of meet results

 

More about  Franjo Mihalic (Yougoslavia) the winner of Cross des Nations  1953

 

Who was Mihalic?  Probably you have forgotten that Franjo Mihalic won the Boston Marathon in 1958 and a silver medal in the marathon in 1956 behind Alain Mimoun in the Melbourne Olympics. 

 

A brief youtube clip can be seen at  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyU9VtZi_D0

Longer and rather bizarrely edited clips also show up on youtube if you type in Mihalic's name.  What is remarkable is that the man was such a good international runner for a long period of time.  Born in 1920, he would have spent his best years surviving Nazi occupation during WWII and probably not being able to do much training.  A twenty years old healthy male most likely spent a lot of time in the military.  If you speak Serb or Croatian,  you  may be able to learn more about him on the youtube clips, some of which are over 20 minutes long.   At 93 years of age he is still alive today.   An interesting thing that came up in googling his name is that he ran in the Sao Sylvestre New Year's Eve run with Zatopek in Brazil in the 1950's.   A picture of him on the podium with Zatopek can be seen at the following website, and more interestingly you will have a history of that famous race.  It has been computer translated from Portugese to English, so there are some glaring translation mistakes, but you can still get this gist of the story.

 

http://www.microsofttranslator.com/BV.aspx?ref=IE8Activity&a=http%3A%2F%2Fhistoriacontemporanea-mlopomo.blogspot.ca%2F2010%2F12%2Fcorrida-de-sao-silvestre.html

 

Mihalic in Europe

Mihalic and some of his hardware

Mihalic counseling  French singer and actor Charles Azanevour who played a Czech marathoner (Zatopek?)
in the film "The Games". 

With Veikko Karvonen, and Alain Mimoun in Melbourne after the Marathon

Vol. 3 No. 49 Photos from the 1950's

Some great photos from the 1950's, sent by Jerry McFadden  ,  a 4:05 miler from U. of Missouri , 1963.  He has contributed a number of pieces to the blog.  We ran against each other when I was at the U. of Oklahoma.  We both had served in the Peace Corps, he in Morocco, me in Tanzania, both married French women we met overseas.  Two of the athletes  Jerry coached in Morocco knew me when I lived in Quebec.   For thirty years they always asked me if I knew Jerry and where he was.  We finally reconnected two years ago.  George Brose


George,

I have no idea if these old time photos are of any interest to your blog or not but I thought I would send them along. 

2 are of Vladimir Kuts when he set the 5,000 meter world record at 13:46.8 on September 18, 1956 at Belgrade.

Another is of Zatopek during the 10,000 meters at the European Championships at Bern in 1954

2 are of Roger Bannister winning the 1.500 meters at the European Championships at Bern in 1954

Another of Alain Mimoun in front of Becket in the 3 mile in the France vs. GB at White City in August, 1951 in 14.11.4 

Finally, a photo of a "young" Michel Jazy defeating  Michel Bernard at the French National Championships in August 1956.

All of these were taken from copies of  the magazine Le Reflet du Sport  that I found at the old booksellers along the river Seine in Paris.

Hope all is going well.

Jerry

Roger Bannister

Bannister

Michel Jazy leading Michel Bernard

Vladimir Kuts

Kuts

Mimoun, note the low cut shoes

Zatopek

Vol. 3 No. 40 Alain Mimoun R.I.P.

Alain Mimoun b. January 1, 1921, d. June 27, 2013 at age 92.  He was the great rival of Zatopek in the 1950's and winner of the Marathon at the the Olympic Games of Melbourne in 1956.

Leading at Melbourne. He would win in 2 hr. 25 min.
Zatopek finished 6th in 2 hr. 29 min.

Born in the arrondissement of Maïder in the town of Telagh, then in French Algeria (his birth name was Ali Mimoun Ould Kacha), Mimoun lost several years of competition to World War II. After the war (in which he was a combatant), he was French champion in the 5000 metres and 10000 metres.

Schade, Zatopek, Mimoun

Into the Homestretch
Helsinki 5000
Herbert Schade, Germany(14:08.6), Alain Mimoun , France (14:07.4),
Emil Zatopek, Czechoslovakia (14:06.6) ,
 Chris Chataway GBR on the  ground  would finish 5th in 14:18 behind Gordon Pirie

Mimoun's path to an Olympic gold medal was blocked in both 1948 and 1952 by Czech runner Emil Zátopek. Mimoun won silver medals in 10000 metres in 1948 and 1952 as well as another silver medal in 5000 metres in 1952. His second place finishes behind Zátopek gave him the nickname "Zátopek's Shadow." He finally won a gold medal in the marathon at the 1956 Summer Olympics inMelbourne, Zatopek finished sixth.

Mimoun made the French team for the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. He won his final national championship in 1966, twenty years after his debut.

With Zatopek after the 1952 Helsinki 5000m

Cross Country, French Style

                                                                                    photo  by Jerry McFadden

George,

I do not know if this will interest you but this is a photo of Alain Mimoun that I took in the mid-70's at a cross country race in Chartres, France. He was in the age group competition at the time but as you can see, he was still pushing the younger runners. The photo originally appeared in Runner's World Complete Runner, 1974 edition.

Jerry McFadden

From The NY Times  June 30, 2013

By RICHARD GOLDSTEIN

Published: June 30, 2013

Alain Mimoun was a virtual unknown in international track and field when he won a silver medal for France in the 10,000-meter race at the 1948 London Olympics. The Algerian-born Mimoun soon became one of the world’s most brilliant distance runners.

But gold eluded him. He was the runner-up twice at the European championships in 1950 and twice more at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.

Emil Zatopek of Czechoslovakia, perhaps the greatest distance runner ever, won all five of those races, leaving Mimoun tagged as his “shadow.”

Mimoun finally ran the race of his life at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. At 35, he won the first marathon he ever entered. Zatopek, the winner of the 1952 Olympic marathon, was far back, in sixth place.

When Mimoun died on Thursday at 92 in Champigny-sur-Marne, a suburb of Paris, he was hailed for the grandeur of his achievements and for his grit.

His death was announced by France’s athletics federation.

“He left a deep mark on the history of French sports,” said France’s president, François Hollande.

But Mimoun, whose victory proved a precursor to the arrival of great international runners from Africa, was remembered as well for embodying the amateur ideal. The story of the respect he showed for a rival who had become his friend, and whom he had ultimately vanquished, was told once more.

On Dec. 1, 1956, a crowd of more than 100,000 cheered the 5-foot-7 Mimoun, a mustachioed man with a blue jersey bearing the French tricolor and the number 13, as he ran a seemingly effortless final marathon lap at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on a day when the temperatures reached about 100 degrees. Mimoun had looked back for a glimpse of Zatopek or anyone else challenging him in his final strides, but there was no one in sight.

After crossing the finish line, Mimoun lingered among the officials.

“I was sure Emil was there at my heels,” he told Sports Illustrated in 1972. “I was hoping he would be second. I was waiting for him. Then I thought, well, he will be third. It will be nice to stand on the podium with him again. But Emil came in sixth, oh, very tired. He seemed in a trance, staring straight ahead. He said nothing. I said: ‘Emil, why don’t you congratulate me? I am an Olympic champion. It was I who won.’ ”

Mimoun continued: “Emil turned and looked at me, as if he were waking from a dream. Then he snapped to attention. Emil took off his cap, that white painting cap he wore so much, and he saluted me. Then he embraced me.”

“For me, that was better than the medal,” Mimoun said.

Ali Mimoun Ould Kacha was born on Jan. 1, 1921, in Telagh, in northwest Algeria, the eldest of seven children in a farming family. He began running as a teenager, then joined the French Army during World War II and was wounded in the foot at Monte Cassino in the Italian campaign.

He faced possible amputation, but the wound healed and he moved to Paris after the war. He joined an athletic club and took the French name Alain. When he showed promise as a runner, he was named to the French Olympic team for the 1948 London Games.

Zatopek beat Mimoun by nearly a lap in the 10,000-meter run in London. They became friends, and Zatopek invited Mimoun to visit Prague as his guest. Their rivalry resumed at the 1950 European championships in Brussels, where Zatopek and Mimoun finished 1-2 in the 10,000 and the 5,000. Zatopek bested Mimoun again in the 10,000 and in the 5,000 at the Helsinki Olympics.

Mimoun hoped his luck would change in a marathon, and he dutifully prepared for Melbourne over a two-year period. When the French team arrived there, he shunned distractions.

“He woke me at 5:30 in the morning to go run, and in the evening, he made me go to bed at 8:30,” his fellow Olympic runner Michel Jazy told the French commercial radio network RTL on Friday. “Even though we were at the Olympics, I couldn’t go to any of the parties.”

But there were other matters on Mimoun’s mind. His wife had remained in France expecting their first child. Word came a day before the marathon that she had given birth to a daughter. The Mimouns named her Olympe.

Mimoun took the lead about halfway through the marathon and shunned the cups of water on tables lining the course as he pulled away. He lost nine pounds, but he finished in 2 hours 25 minutes, about a minute and a half ahead of the runner-up, Franjo Mihalic of Yugoslavia. Zatopek, who had undergone hernia surgery six weeks earlier, finished 4:34 behind Mimoun.

Mimoun never raced against Zatopek again, but his career embraced a host of superlatives beyond that rivalry. He won the International Cross-Country championship four times from 1949 to 1956. (Zatopek did not compete in those events.) He won six French marathon championships, the last when he was 45, along with many other French national running titles. He made his last Olympic appearance at Rome in 1960, finishing 34th in the marathon.

He worked as a physical education instructor and ran recreationally into his 90s. Many French streets and municipal running tracks bear his name.

Information on survivors was not immediately available.

When Zatopek died in November 2000 at 78, Mimoun was deeply affected.

“I haven’t lost an opponent,” a Czech newspaper quoted him as saying. “I’ve lost a brother.”

Comment from Phil Scott, Clayton, OH

I was never more happy for someone else winning a race, than when Mimoun won the marathon gold in 1956! 

Thanks George

George,  Every day i check my "score" in the obits to see how many people younger than i died.  today i had my best score ever; 20-1.  Who was the one you ask?  it was the incomparable Alain Mimoun, that's who.  Toledo Blade ofJjune 29, 2013.  Richard Trace

Vol. 3 No. 6 Track and Field Sports Cards

While looking for a photo of an obscure Norwegian javelin thrower, +Sverre Strandi, I stumbled across the following link that deals in track and field trading cards that date from the present back to the 1880's.

http://www.oddlyquirky.com/trackandfield/cards/cdMtoO.html#c43

I did not know such things existed, but even the title  "Oddly Quirky"  summarizes the character of such cards and their collectors.   I am including a few samples to whet your appetite and perhaps you will go to this site.  These cards were distributed much like baseball cards in the U.K. , Australia, Germany, Holland, and some of the Nordic countries as well as here in the U.S.  Companies that produced them were often cigarette and tobacco, baking goods, candies,  etc.  Many of the pictures of some of the more famous athletes are ones I've never before seen in sports books and exhibits.  I include a few below and will put some on subsequent postings along with our regular comments.  Some of these cards are reprints from much older collections, some are instructional, almost what  you would find in a Boy Scout Manual if you were working on your Broad Jump merit badge.   Do any of our readers collect these?

Charly Paddock   American 300 meter world recordholder in 33.2     Produced in Germany, by Abdulla Rekord Cigarettes



American card circa 1990.  Where did you go to get these things? I think I ran against George on this track in Tuscon in 1963.  

Of course you recognize ++Ron Clarke on this Spanish? card.  If you are a track freak you would know the second runner. It also mentions Clarke carried the olympic flame in 1956 in Melbourne.

Verrry British production

You could get this for 2 deutsch marks paid through your post office bank account.

Bravour Cigarettes will stunt your growth.

         Eddie Tolan double gold medalist at Los Angeles and looking chique in those white shoes and U. of  Michigan vest.  This company is also touting their album and that you can get 10, 25, or 50 cards in teh Mratti Privat brand of cigarette.

German cigarette brand called Bulgaria, probably close to Turkish tobacco.  +Nurmi referred to as the Iron Finn (eiserne Finne)

German 100 meter Champ  +Erich Borchmeiner  and one of Hitler's secret 100 meter dudes.

Peter Koelln-haferflocken is....a brand of Oatmeal "only in the blue pack"



Rosa Grosse saw little hope in becoming a cheerleader and so turned to playing the game.



+Georg Lammers 1928 German Olympic sprinter brought to you by Three Bells egg noodles and macaroni

           All you need to know about the history of the German 4x400 prior to WWI brought to you by the friendly folks at Erdal-Kwak  shoe and floorwax. 

                           You too can learn to appreciate the long jump thanks to Erdal Kwak



Finish of the Germany women's 800 meter championship in 1927.  The flower of German Youth
A new world record of 2:23.7 by Fraulein Batschauer of the Phoenix club in Karlsruhe.  Second was Fraulein Spangenberg of Sport Club Apolda in 2:26.3



Need we say more?

             

Vol. 1 No. 26 October 1956

OCTOBER, 1956
I don’t have the September issue so obviously some information, including the results of the four US tune-up meets, has gone missing. Additionally, I don’t have the November issue, so this will be it before the games begin.
European distance runners are setting the tone. Sandor Rozsnyoi, the world record holder at 1000, 1500 and 2000, adds a fourth WR with an 8:35.6 steeplechase. Four distance WRs makes him the second coming of Henry Rono. Oops, make that the first coming. This is not to say that Rozsynoi is unbeatable. Gordon Pirie jumps on the WR bandwagon by beating Rozsynoi at 3000 in 7:52.8 to Roz’s 7:53.4. Pirie previously set the 5000 WR of 13:36.8. But wait, the records continue to come. Vladimir Kuts of Russia just ran 28:30.4 at 10K to break Sandor Iharos’ record by 12 seconds. Throw in Iharos, England’s Chris Chataway, who recently finished a 5000 with a 38.8 300, and the great Emil Zatopek and the Melbourne distances look to provide great entertainment. Zatopek was recently operated on for a hernia and is reportedly in poor shape. He will concentrate on the marathon though he may run the 10K on the opening day as a “warm up”.
The middle distances are equally unpredictable. Ireland’s Ron Delany has the world’s fastest mile this year, 3:59.0, but was beaten by England’s Derek Ibbotson at 1500. 3:44.4 to 3:44.6. Rozsnyoi’s 3:40.6 makes him the favorite, but with so much time left before the Nov. 23 start of the games, one wonders who will maintain fitness and who will be run out. Norway’s 1:46.4 man, Audun Boysen, undefeated at 800 and the prime competition for Sowell and Courtney, says he will pass on the Olympics. The guess here is that they conflict with ice fishing season.
Two American throwers have suddenly put themselves in medal contention. Bud Held set the national record in the javelin with a 270 foot toss. Hal Connolly did him one better, breaking the WR in the hammer at 218-10+. With our contingent in the shot and discus, the throws should go well for the US.
The high school list fills a page and a half. Jerry White of Corcoron, CA is tied for the lead in the 100 with 9.5 and dominates the 440 at 46.7, but oddly is not listed at 220. He did make the list in the 880 at 1:55.6 . Speaking of the 880, the leader is Jerry Siebert of Willits, CA. I am fascinated by this guy. Willits is a town of 5000, 25 miles north of Ukiah, in the middle of nowhere. Many years ago I stopped by to see the records posted in the gym. He held (and I guarantee you he still does) the 220, 880 and mile, but oddly, not the 440 which wasn’t anything special. As he was a stalwart on those great Cal mile relay teams, I found this strange. Hayes Jones hurdled 14.3 for a tie for seventh fastest mark. Willie White of LA Jefferson leads the lows at 18.9 along with being tied with four others for the 100 lead at 9.5. He is not the only LA Jefferson national leader. Oscar Bean broad jumped 25-4+. Jefferson lead the country in the 880 relay at 1:25.9. They definitely had some sprinters. The quartet is pictured. Bean isn’t one. Jeff also lead the 8 man mile relay (don’t ask) at 2:56.3. (Just did some research on Jefferson as I don’t remember the school being mentioned in any sports context in recent years. Apparently it has been restructured without sports.) In a burst of record keeping accuracy, Marv Sturgeon of Cannelton, IN is listed as 13th in the 880 at 1:55.8, but in a section at the end of the lists entitled “Other Events” is credited with an 800 mark of 1:52.5. Apparently conversions were frowned upon at that time.
Page 10 has a photograph of five pole vaulters. Bob Richards, a Long Beach guy, is shown wearing an LB Poly shirt with the script green on faded gold “Poly” just as I remember it from my Poly days.
Lots of columns, the fun stuff: Track Talk (Cordner Nelson), On Your Marks, Bank Notes (Dick Banks) and So They Tell Me (Bert Nelson). On Your Marks (no author mentioned) mentions that five soon to be US college athletes will be competing for Jamaica: George Kerr, Ernie Haisley, Keith Gardener and the Spence twins, Mel and Mal. O’Brien’s shot and discus double in Eugene was the best ever. Not having last month’s issue, we don’t know what it was. Houston’s cross country success is assured for the near future as John Macy and Jerry Smart have just enrolled. Ohio State coach Larry Snyder is in India “helping to train the Olympic squad there.” Was he the coach or did he just happen to be in the neighborhood?
Track Talk is principally about a book on nutrition, “Let’s Eat Right to Keep Fit” by Adelle Davis. “Lack of protein causes flabbiness of muscles and ligaments. Too little fat in the diet can cause overweight.” And a bunch of other stuff. Looked it up on Amazon.com. It is out of print, but you can still get copies. Hardback goes for $205, paperback $80.
So They Tell Me informs us that “Perry O’Brien now utilizes slick soled track shoes – absolutely no spikes – as a development of his form.” “He will only use spikes on a rough and uneven ring.” My lack of knowledge in this area left me puzzled. Haven’t shot and discus rings always been cement? No, apparently dirt was common. In Melbourne they will be cement. Former Stanford and present San Francisco Olympic Club coach, Dink Templeton, says that there will never be another great shot putter who does not use the O’Brien technique. At the other end of the prediction continuum, Percy Cerutty prophecies that when runners develop a relaxed style, “men (will) run three miles at 4:10-4:15 rate, around 4:20 for six miles.” He also predicts an 800 time of 1:40 and a mile between 3:40-3:45.
Apparently the two great “down under” coaches, Cerutty and Franz Stampfl, had philosophical disagreements and a contentious relationship. A letter appears in this issue defending Stampfl’s training methods. It is written by a young Ron Clarke.
Bank Notes deals primarily with the college choices of high school athletes. Willie White is going to California (extension) whatever that is. Dave Davis will be at USC (extension) as well. Jerry White will be at Mt. SAC. Ron Gregory, who apparently held the HS mile record for a day or two before Jim Bowers broke it, is reported going to Kansas. Not so, the brother of comedian/activist Dick Gregory studied at Notre Dame, a fact I know because I ran against him (more accurately, behind him) in the ’59 Missouri AAU Championship two mile. The highlight of the article is that the seventh ranked miler in the country would be attending Kansas. That would be 4:21.4 man Cliff Cushman of North Forks, ND. Banks says Kansas coach “Bill Easton is pointing him towards the steeplechase and he looks like a natural.” In an amazing double, Cushman is the 11th ranked high hurdler at 14.4, only 0.4 behind the leader. I’m betting that 4:21.4 and 14.4 are still the best mile – hurdles double in US high school history, not that there is a long list.
The more things change, the more they stay the same dept: Track and Field News is no longer 25 cents. Now it costs $3 for a year. There is still time to join the TFN Olympic Tour if you have $1444. And yes, Cliff Severn still sells…….well, you know.
Coming up: The Olympics

Vol. 1 No. 1 First selections 1952 and 1953

This blog was created to honor a friend, maybe a better term, would be living legend. I'm talking about Roy Mason, a longtime track and field coach, teacher, raconteur, and now a budding writer who has begun capsulizing past issues of Track and Field News. With that delimiting factor, you can be certain this will be a very faithful yet small group of followers and hopefully contributors.

Roy coached Debbie Heald in the early 1970's. Debbie is still the national high school record holder for the indoor mile (39 years and counting, only Gerry Lindgren's 2 mile record is older), and more spectacularly she defeated the world record holder in the Russia-US dual meet in North Carolina, when she was still in high school.

Roy came upon a collection of T&FN's starting from 1952. He begins there and synopsizes each issue slowly moving into the future. Some of the issues are missing, so don't expect this to be a complete narrative. If you are over 50 years old, have an interest in the sport, and enjoy reading a witty and insightful commentary of the times you will find this a great remembrance of things past and an analysis of how the sport has evolved over the last 60 years. I will try to throw in some pictures to go along with the articles. If you have comments to send in, you will see them in this blog unless you specifically request that they not be there.

Good reading and good running, if you still can.

George Brose,

Kettering, OH August , 2011

SEPTEMBER 1952

Gaston Reiff sets a WR 8:40.4 in the 2M

Reiff defeating Zatopek in London 5000

Sverre Strandi of Norway becomes the first 200’ hammer thrower with 200-11

OCTOBER 1952

Emil Zatopek breaks the 30K record by 3 ½ minutes with 1:35.23.8. (Had he been able to continue at that pace for another 12,195 meters he would have run a 2:14:11 marathon.) He also has the fastest 5 and 10K times, 14:06.4 and 29:17.0

The triple jump is the hop, step and jump

The recently departed Ollie Matson has the seventh fastest 400, 46.6n.  Ollie would go on to fame as an enduring running back in the NFL.

Track guys were “thinclads”

The top 1500 time was 3:43.0 by Werner Lueg of Germany. Using the conversion of 17 seconds to make a mile, maybe he could have been the first four minute miler. He probably never ran one.

Only six jumpers in the world bettered 6’8”

The 16th best shot put on the world list was…….52-10.

Lengthy features on Harrison Dillard (Baldwin-Wallace gym so small that he could only practice out of the blocks over one hurdle) and Josy Barthel of Luxemborg (won 26 of 27 races between 800 and 2000 – what middle distance runner races 27 times now? – and “lost 22 lbs during the season”).



SEPTEMBER 1953

Three world records: Fortune Gordien, the holder of 16 of the longest 18 discus throws in history nails 194-6, breaking his month old 190-7½. This is described as “history’s greatest track and field achievement” based on the IAAF tables which had it superior to a 3:55.9 mile, 27 foot broad jump and a seven foot high jump. All this at an all comers meet in Pasadena….

Yuriy Litytev of the USSR takes down Glenn Hardin’s WR of 50.6 set in 1934 with a 50.4 in a dual meet with Hungary….

Andun Boysen runs 1000 meters in 2:20.4 beating Mal Whitfield’s 2:20.8 set earlier in the summer. Had he been able to continue at that pace for another 500 meters, he would have run a 3:30.6 1500. But then that’s just crazy talk.

The top milers are some guys named Bannister, Santee and Landy with marks of 4:02.0, 4:02.4 and 4:02.8

Walter Davis, the Olympic champion and world record holder at 6-11 5/8, a height 1¾” better than anyone else this year, retires from the sport by signing a professional basketball contract with the Philadelphia Warriors.

As this particular issue has the autograph of Paul David Kamanski in the upper right hand corner, I’ll take a moment to explain his significance, both to the sport and to the state of Ohio. Dave was the coach at Bellflower High 15 years before I was. It was he who told me where the old copies of T&FNews were stored in an attic storeroom above the coaches’ office. He coached my lifelong friend, Buddy Cox. When I coached at Bellflower, Dave was just down the road at Cerritos College where he coached track and XC. Dave was a personable guy, a man’s man, a guy who always had time to talk. When Cerritos was installing a new all weather track, Dave asked if he could bring is new transfer sprinter over to work out on our track. It was Houston McTear who had burned a few bridges behind him. The guy didn’t last long at Cerritos which I think was his last stop. Something about attending classes.


Not that class attendance was a major obstacle for Dave. Eric and I had a kid who had super potential on the track, but not in the classroom. He had run 52.0 without training, but dropped out to take a $3/hr. janitorial job his senior year. Dave got him enrolled at Cerritos and assured me grades would not be a problem, “He’ll be taking 10 credits of Kamanski” – volleyball, wrestling, handball, principles of officiating. The kid enrolled each spring and ran 51+ for the intermediates and 47.0 on a relay leg.

Here is the Ohio connection. Dave was best known for being one of the top referees in D-1 football. It was common to see him doing PAC-10 games most weekends. He was also the referee for four Rose Bowl games. (One of our rituals was asking him what time it was. “Well, let me check.” Elaborate extension of his arm. “I see by MY ROSE BOWL WATCH that it is 4:25.”)

Dave was the referee for the 1980 Rose Bowl in which Charles White leaped into the end zone to score the winning touchdown on fourth down with less than a minute to play, giving SC a 17-16 win over the Buckeyes and plunging the state of Ohio into mourning. Unfortunately the cover of the following week’s SI showed White crossing the goal line without the ball. Oops! When asked about this, Dave had a stock answer, “The camera lied”.




                                                         Gaston Reiff   Belgium