The year was 1978 and the schedule said PSU was to have a dual meet against the mighty Villanova Wildcats, coached by the legendary Jumbo Elliott. The only problem was, PSU no longer had a track due to the renovations on Beaver Stadium. Sprinters and field event athletes had to get a ride to practice that year, and the distance runners had a longer warm-up and warm-down for workouts. It didn't stop PSU from excelling, however.
Westerly Parkway Junior High School became the scene for the "Battle of the Titans", pitting Elliott against Coach Groves in a winner take all, steel-cage grudge match (a grudge match anyway!) Seemingly outmanned, PSU had lost distance star Paul Stemmer the previous year (I hope to graduation!*) The remaining stars were mostly young scholarship athletes or up-and-coming walk-ons. With perennial Penn Relays distance medley and 4x800 stars Don Paige and Mark Belger, as well as nationally known newcomer Anthony Tufariello, Villanova had a seeming edge in the middle-distance races. They also had an edge in the shorter races and in the field events, especially the pole vault. Two 17-foot vaulters towered over the 15-foot vaulters of PSU.
When the sprinters, hurdlers (Paul Lankford) and field men outperformed their Villanova rivals and the middle-distance and distance runners held their own, it all came down to the final event, the pole vault. When the rain started in the middle of the meet, many payed it no mind. The Villanova vaulters, however, found the slippery conditions too much to handle and no-heighted. The PSU vaulters, in turn, vaulted their usual 15 foot heights, winning the meet and sending the wildcats back to the Main Line with their tails between their legs.**
**Details may be out of order, or hopelessly confused by a college freshman's poor recollection. Actually, everything is in dispute. I may not even have the year or the opponent correct. Numerous inquiries with teammates have led me nowhere. Can anyone help us out? Reliable sources say Maryland with Nehemiah came to town, but probably in 1977 when I was still in high school. I distinctly remember Anthony T. and I wouldn't know him otherwise.
Dave - are you sure it was Villanova? Pitt and Maryland came to town in early May of 1978 with Renaldo Nehemiah in tow! He wasn't too happy with the track, if I recall correctly. Maybe Villanova came to the Nittany Lion Relays which was a month earlier. At least there was no water pit to freeze over at the Jr High.
ReplyDeleteLike I said, I may be mistaken, but I'm reasonably certain Villanova came at some point. I remember Anthony T., and there is no way I would know him otherwise. I haven't been able to confirm this with anyone else, so I put it out hoping for definitive news. Tim B. says Maryland came in 1977?? My God, are we senile!
ReplyDeleteDave, Haywood here.... I'm with Mr. Mangan. I vividly recall Pitt and Maryland and found that meet in my old logs. That meet was held at Westerly Parkway. I don't recall Villanova meeting us there and couldn't find it in my archives, although that doesn't necessarily mean it didn't happen. I drank a lot in those days (didn't we all????)
ReplyDeleteI dug out the old log books and confirmed that Villanova wasn't on the docket in the spring of '78 unless they were at the Nittany Lion relays. Maybe Dave recalls seeing Tony Tuff at Penn Relays.
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