Thursday, May 14, 2015

The Greatest Track Coach In The World

Back at his retirement dinner in 2006, Coach Groves gave his typical short speech ("If it takes longer than a paragraph, you don't have anything to say anyway.") in which he declared that he was...
 
"... for a brief time, I'm the greatest Track Coach in the world."

This was actually a  paraphrase of Jesse Owens in a speech that Coach attended.  In it, Jesse alluded to the fact that "ACCORDING to all the nice things said about him that day,he was the world's best track athlete".  


And here's the interview of The Coach at a previous Alumni Reunion's Alumni "Run"


2 comments:

  1. Watched both interviews, but by far, the most entertaining one and the one that shows the true Harry Groves as the second one on the track. Clearly, you can see his love of the sport and more importantly, his love of those who he has had the privilege to be their coach.

    They say that one coaches like they were coached. My high school track coach in Richmond, VA was Jim Holdren, who is still coaching at age 72 and is one of the most successful HS coaches in the country. Jim was coached by Harry at W&M. They say that one coaches like they were coached. Since I coach like Jim Holdren does and Jim Holdren was coached by Harry and coaches like him (without the colorful language! LOL), I am basically a coach who has been coached by Harry Groves. That's a privilege that not many can claim but is something that I'm proud to be able to claim.

    On a side note, one year, right after I had lost a coaching position at a university, I had run into Harry at the PIAA meet. He asked about me and I briefly told him what happened. He listened and took interest. I excused myself so he could go back to recruiting. He told me before I left that we should get together and drink a beer and talk track some time. I said that would be great. That next Tuesday, my phone rang. It was Harry calling me on his nickel. He talked to me for over an hour and reassured me that I was a damn good coach and that I would get my chance again. He said that whenever the chance came up, he would consider me to be a part of his staff at Penn State. Needless to say, I was floored. Several years before he retired, he told me that he had seriously considered me for a position at Penn State that I wasn't aware was open and that he had glowing references from other. I'm damn proud to have been considered. And if offered, I would have jumped on that boat, knowing that it might have ended when eve Harry would retire, which no one knew when.

    So, I am thankful for Harry and the impact he has had on the sport and more importantly, on the many young men who have worn the uniform for the schools were he coached.

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  2. Thanks for the comment! You have touched on several of the reasons I both admire and respect Coach Groves for what he did for me. I only occasionally allude to these, and mostly just obliquely at that. Maybe I will become more opaque over the next seven years of the blog!

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