Vol. 3 No. 5 Debbie Heald and Mary Cain - March 17,1972 to January 26, 2013

+Debbie Heald defeating the Russians March 17, 1972

Mary Cain, Penn Relays 2012

January 27, 2013
The second oldest high school record on the books fell yesterday.  +Mary Cain, Bronxville , NY,  took down +Debbie Heald's girls' indoor mile record from 4:38.5  to 4:32.78 at the New Balance Games in New York.

My co-blogger Roy Mason was Debbie's coach back in 1972.  Their story is well described in a recent issue of Runner's World  (Dec., 2012)  by Steve Friedman.   Mary's story is becoming well known, now.   She is  coached by Alberto Salazar after leaving her high school program this Fall.  The  question now  is "How much better will she run?" The other great question is, " Why has it taken so long for this record to be broken?"  Everyone seemed to feel it would happen this year with the times Mary was putting up in the last few seasons.  She is indeed a remarkable young woman and athlete, and now there will be enormous expectations on her shoulders.  She seems a very pleasant , calm and reserved teenager.  I hope that the adults around her will be able to guide her toward achieving her potential without removing  all the other aspects that growing up in our culture require us to learn to be grounded and happy adults.  Mary has already achieved a lot of things that Debbie never had a chance of experiencing.   Debbie's career was hampered by injury and illness that made her life an American tragedy.  But having several nurturing adults along the way did save her life, though it has not been a life unchallenged by fear,  pain and rejection.   It must be remembered that when she set her high school record,  it was also the world record for the mile.  It was against the world record holder, and in a meet of maximum importance in the cold war era against a powerful Soviet team.  She was alone at that meet, 3000 miles from home, no coach with her, running   in a pair of worn out shoes held together with duct tape.    No shoe company thought she was good enough to merit a new pair of shoes.  After all she had only qualified as the second best American to be at that meet.

Vol. 2 No. 102 Roy Mason and Debbie Heald Appear on the pages of Runner's World

As many of you know,  Roy Mason is one of the co-writers of this blog, and one too modest to sound his own bugle.   So I will attempt to do that in the angel Gabriel's absence.

Roy got this blog started a little over a year ago by writing a review of a 1954 Track and Field News.  He is an astute observer of the sport, a worthy critic, and an incredibly knowledgeable devotee when it comes to track and field and baseball and a good writer  on top of all that.  What you may not know is that Roy also was a track coach of some repute in the 1960's and 70's, his team The L.A. Meteors.  His most famous athlete, Debbie Heald still holds the high school indoor mile record of 4:38.5 set in a dual meet with the Soviet Union in Richmond Virginia on St. Patrick's Day 1972.  This is the oldest high school girls' record in the books.

The December issue of Runner's World , now on the stands, has published a lengthy article by Steve Friedman about Debbie's life and her relationship with her coach  Roy Mason.  Debbie has struggled with injury and illness for many years, but the relationship has endured for all this time.  I am proud to be sharing writing of this blog with Roy, and I think you will understand why after reading the article.

For those of you not wishing to buy the issue,  you will probably be able to see the  online at Runner's World  in about a month.

http://www.runnersworld.com/runners-stories/debbie-heald-set-important-record

 However I recommend you  buy it at the newstand now.

George Brose

Vol. 1 No. 19 Some clarifications

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From: dennisthek@comcast.net
To: ernie_cunliffe@hotmail.com
Subject: RE: Back issue report
Date: Wed, 4 May 2011 10:01:50 -0600

I remember Debbie Heald, but not Bob O’Brien. Here is a comment in the LA Times in 2002 about her and Roy Mason: http://articles.latimes.com/2002/jan/14/sports/sp-pucin14



It appears she ran 4:38.5 in HS in the indoor USA-USSR meet in 1972 in Richmond. Didn’t even remember they had indoor meets. Debbie did not make the Olympic team that year. She apparently went to a high school in La Mirada. But, maybe not, since Roy Mason apparently coached her.



*editor's note

*Debbie still holds the high school indoor mile record. Oldest girls hs record. 39 years and counting. Only Gerry Lindgren's 8:40 2 mile is older among the boys.



I see where Bob ran 4:11.9, and went to Bellflower HS. He was third in the state in the mile in 1973. He was the same time as 2d place—Steve Crowley. That name sounds familiar, but can’t place it.



Dennis



From: ernie cunliffe [mailto:ernie_cunliffe@hotmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, May 04, 2011 6:54 AM
To: Dennis Kavenough; Pete Brown
Subject: FW: Back issue report



Big insult to George as I had him at Okla St which was wrong as he was OU.



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Date: Wed, 4 May 2011 03:19:03 -0700
From: georgebrose@yahoo.com
Subject: Re: Back issue report
To: ernie_cunliffe@hotmail.com

Hi Ernie,

I'll send you those articles, but they come in separate emails so you'll get about 7 or 8 for now all with a date on the title. The guy, Roy Mason, who writes them is a retired school teacher/coach living now in Northern California, Ukiah. When he coached in the L.A. area he had a school girl Debbie Heald in 1972 who beat the 1500 meter WR holder, Russian, in the US-USSR dual meet. Her name was Debbie Heald. I think she ran about4:35 for the mile which was the national High school record for many years. He also had a 4:08 HS boy, Bob O'Brien went to UCLA and only scored one point in his three years of eligibility. But the two combined times of Debbie and Bob are probably still the best ever to come from one high school or one hs coach. Just for the record, I went to Oklahoma U. and ran for Bill Carroll. Bill died last year. My best times were 1:51.7 and 4:09.7. Lacked the turnover speed to do much better. About 15 years after college I had a 2hr. 35 min marathon. I coached overseas a bit in Tanzania and Zimbabwe, and Canada, and also at Wittenberg University and U. of Dayton. I'll be back in Africa this summer with my daughter and granddaughter training mediators in the Congo, Rwanda and Burundi. Hope you and your buddies enjoy the articles. Roy has a great sense of humor and is a very good writer. Your recognition of his efforts will be a big thrill to him. I'll forward the email from you to him so he will know. George