Thursday, September 25, 2014
Who Belongs on the Mount Rushmore of Penn State Track?
Via comments, make your nominations for inclusion on the mountain monument of the 4 greatest Penn State Track greats. Make as many nominations as you wish and we will vote later. We'll worry about commissioning a sculptor later.
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Coach Groves
ReplyDeleteGreg Fredericks, Mike Sands, Mike Shine, Barney Ewell.
ReplyDeleteGreg Fredericks, Mike Shine, Barney Ewell, Horace Ashenfelter
ReplyDeleteFor a distance focused monument:
ReplyDeleteCoach Harry R. Groves
Greg Fredericks
Horace Ashenfelter
Doc John Lucas
And an Atlas-esque statue of the '85 Penn Relays 4x800; holding Franklin Field on their backs.
Kathy (Mills)Parker
ReplyDeleteGreat question! Let's see - Harry for sure; Barney Ewell was perhaps our greatest Olympian (with all due respect to Horace Ashenfelter), and I would give him a slight nod over Horace, but it would be very close; Charles "Chick" Werner would have to be up there - he established the essence of what the program became, and was a legend both in track and field, and at Penn State; the 4th spot is tricky - if you are thinking pre-1980 (meaning all from the general era) it's a pick'em between Mike Shine and Greg Fredericks to me. Shiner has the silver medal, but Greg has the AR to his name, and a boycotted Moscow Olympics that may have yielded his own medal. If you go way back, there's Lee Talbot (hammer), Knut Yeltnes (discus) and of course Horace. If you're looking at people who built the citadel of Penn State track and field, I would have to give the nod to Horace.
ReplyDeleteMy four: Groves, Werner, Ewell and Ashenfelter.
Barney, Horace, Greg seem to me to be three solid picks. If I know Greg he would suggest several others ahead of him but that's more reason for Greg's inclusion. Incredible PSU track pride, humility, and knowledge. Where do Larry Shields and John Romig come into this? One if not both would need to be included. Do we have anyone worthy to be included as psu track version of Crazy Horse Monument? Perhaps that is the place for a revered coach...
ReplyDeleteOften overlooked CURT STONE:
ReplyDeletePan American Champions in Men's 10000 m
Pan American Champions in Men's 3000 metre Steeplechase
US National Championship winner in Men's 5000m, 2 miles and 3 miles
US National Championship winner in Men's 10000m
I believe he has 14 National tiles. Hard to match that stat.
To the known anonymous commenter at 74:101:50:???(also known): Greg Fredericks has been called "the finest man I ever met" by Coach Groves himself. THE FINEST MAN HE EVER MET. You are wrong with your interpretation of Greg's character. I don't think you know anything about humanity at all if you don't recognize that. A comment denigrating another PSU alum on a post about the 4 men (or women) who belong on our "Rushmore" is waaaay over the line and shows your true colors. And they are not blue and white, that's for sure. I'll make Greg's bust 50% larger on the monument than the other 3 on Coach's recommendation alone.
ReplyDeleteAnd your nominations don't count either. Not that there is anything wrong with them.
ReplyDeleteMy 2 cents. Inflation adjusted to 1 cent:
ReplyDeleteGreg Fredericks, Coach Groves, Horace Ashenfelter, Curt Stone. With honorable mentions to Barney Ewell, Mike Sands and Mike Shine.
There has to be some kind of criteria for ranking.
ReplyDeleteMy bids: 1)Olympic medal (G/S/B), 2) World Record, 3) National Championships, 4)American Record. Also, Mt. Rushmore has 4 Presidents, so the PSU Mt. Rushmore should either be all athletes or coaches, not a mix.
On that basis:
1) Barney Ewell - Oly Gold relay, 5 WRs
2) Horace Ashenfelter - Oly Gold, WR, OR
3) Mike Shine - Oly Silver
4) Curt Stone - 13 National Championships, 3 ARs
Honorable mention: Kathy Mills - WR(?), 2 National Championships
Coaches - Groves, Lucas (Olympic historian), Alford-Sullivan and Werner
LTM
I was thinking of adding physics scores and golf handicap to the mix. It would put Horace at the top of the heap!
ReplyDeleteLarry Shields has two Olympic medals and John Romig was Penn State's first ever NCAA champ along with being a two time Olympian. This is a difficult question. Easier to come up with the actual mt. Rushmore than the psu track mt.Rushmore...
ReplyDeleteShields; Ewell; Horace; Shine all have Olympic medals...
http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ca/nate-cartmell-1.html
ReplyDeleteGet out the chisels. We have 6 Olympic medalists.
ReplyDeleteNate Cartmell - 2 silvers (sprints), one bronze individually. Gold for a medley relay that is no longer run
Harold Barron - 1 silver (110HH)
Larry Shields - 1 bronze (1500), Gold for a team relay that is no longer run.
So if Stone drops off the list, we need to have a 6 person Mt. Rushmore. Unless someone wants to split hairs about medal colors? Not me.
LTM
Can't forget Bridget Franek, Shana Cox, Deshaya (spelling) Williams. National Champs in the steeple, 400/4x4, and discus.
ReplyDeleteThis is tough enough -- I agree with the Anonymous who opined the nominees should be either all athletes or all coaches. And maybe assess their Rushmoreness based solely on what they did while attending PSU, not for their post-collegiate careers. Heck, how about a mountain range of three: student-athletes, post-collegiates, and coaches/other?
ReplyDeleteThere will be more on the criteria etc. when I do a post introducing the Penn State Track Mt. Rushmore. Suffice to say, I'll make a few friends and a few enemies with it. As it always is...
ReplyDeleteTo the anonymous author of the comment found in the spam binnacle: I agree. One of those votes for Curt was from me!
ReplyDelete