1978 NCAA XC Championships

This is a repost of Larry Mangan's post to our Facebook page.  This way even the non-FB readers will get to enjoy the goodness!

On a cold (18 degrees), windy, day back in 1978, on the Yahara Hills Golf Course in Madison, Wisconsin, seven intrepid Penn State harriers jumped off the line to begin the start of a fine, three-year period in PSU cross country history. We finished 4th that day in Madison, and would take bronze in each of the next two years. Each Nittany Lion was of regular college age and from NY, PA and OH. Bordering our corral at the start were the very over-aged Cougars and Miners from Washington State and UTEP. Coach Groves was quite delighted when one of his charges, who will go unnamed, in a fit of anxiety and hypothermia, "politely" asked the folks on either side of us to "speak f***ing english". How did 40 years pass so quickly?

   9 Snyder, Robert 29:48
 54 Ziegler, John 30:36
 61 Mangan, Larry 30:41
 73 Baden, Bruce 30:50
113 Rapp, Thomas 31:11
120 Scharsu, Alan 31:19
129 Wyatt, Michael 31:27

Bob Snyder, running with the Big Dogs!

The Way, Way Back Machine Is Rusty

Sorry for the dearth of posting lately.  Work is a four-letter word that ends in K.

But it was 41 years ago that we first heard of the plane crash that decimated Lynyrd Skynyrd.  I remember exactly where I was when we got the word over the radio.  We were nearing the hotel in Williamsburg, VA on a Friday evening in the cross country van driven by Coach Groves.  I was seated in the next to last row between Ray Krombel and Kevin Kelly O'Brien.

Also in the van were Captain Bruce Baden (in the shotgun seat) and Captain John Ziegler.  Others included Jim Clelland, Frit Cooper, Mike Wyatt, Larry Mangan and his Freshman roommate Tom Rapp.  (Did I miss anyone?)  Of course I did!  Campbell Lovett, Dave Felice and Brian Boyer were there too!  Bob Snyder was injured.  (no wonder the van was uncomfortable. 14 of us was too many!)

We were on our way to a meet with Willam and Mary and Georgetown on the grounds of the insane asylum next to the campus.  Coach Groves told us a few stories of escapes from the place. Nice to know when you were alone in the woods during the race.

Our warm-up that day was to run the entire 10K course.  Then the race.  And then the warm-down turned out to be the entire 10K course!  I actually fainted during the warm-down and, as always, the only person who noticed was Mike Wyatt, my guardian angel those first 2 years. I think we won the meet, but I hope others chime in with more.

Incidentally, I became a fan of Lynyrd Skynyrd that day when I learned they named the group after their mean gym teacher, Leonard Skinner at Robert E. Lee High School.  hee hee hee

Possibly The Greatest Photo Ever On The Blog!

I am spending the weekend immersed in a Podiatric Conference in King of Prussia. While not the most enjoyable way to spend one's time, at least I get to reunite with fellow Penn State T&F Alumni Golfer, All-American (and walk-on!) John Ziegler. I was rewarded with possibly the greatest picture ever posted on the blog with it all, rivaling the selfie from the bonobo monkey featured before.

This pic was taken by Rochester native and All-American Bruce Baden. It features a youthful duo of John Ziegler and Coach Groves wearing matching 1977 or 1978 plaid "disco-era" pants!  They were boarding a plane near TMI soon after the near meltdown heading to the Dogwood Relays in Tennessee.




John tells me that coach is wearing the newest company New Balance shoes which were sized by supplying a tracing of your foot and sending them in!  Ziggy is wearing original Nike Waffles.

Also, a pic of last night's Kung Pao at the PF Changs in Plymouth Meeting, scene of a previous group Outreach. They have changed the recipe slightly in the past year, but it is still an excellent version of the world's finest dish.

Painful Memories!

Greg Fredericks sent me this listing from the days of yore.  I have talked about it several times before but didn't have the entire listing before.  Remember, this was an "extra" race/training run including many milers.  Nothing like this ever happens today. There are numerous things to note:

• I "coached" the 5th, 6th and 7th runners to their first ever run over 15 miles.  I coached them so well that they all beat me when I hit the wall at 20 miles. I made them start slowly and pick it up at each 5 mile mark.  We were in third place behind Alan Sharsu when I dropped like a rock.  Larry Mangan, Mike Wyatt and Tom Rapp all had incredible range from 800M to marathon.
• I managed to stagger home ahead of Liz Berry, hearing the cheers behind me as she set the team record.
• This is the only race where I ever defeated Gary Black.
• Seeing Marc Dunmire defeat Coach Groves with curses in the air was great! (RIP Marc.)
• Psychology Prof Hersh Leibowitz ran 3:25:01 at age 53! (RIP Hersh.)
• The weather is listed as 50 degrees with no wind.  That is a lie.  There was snow on the roads and we all had windburn!
• Greg Fredericks did not run! Just for the record...
• The high number of non-finishers may be due to the 800M guys running only 15 miles???
• The combo of Jim Clelland and Kelly O'Brien gave Alan Scharsu a run for his money!
• Bruce Baden was an animal!

Cross-Country Season Up Next (The Circle of Life)

Larry Mangan was sent these photos from the 1978 NCAA Regionals at Lehigh.  Penn State won the race  and was 3rd or 4th at the NCAA Championships  three straight years.  I can attest that it was difficult to break into the "starting 7" all 4 years with a cast that included Larry, Alan Scharsu, Bruce Baden, John Ziegler, Bob Snyder, Tom Rapp and Mike Wyatt.

What's really remarkable is that Larry, Tom and Mike were really milers mixing it up with George Buckheit of Bucknell, Sydney Maree and Amos Korir of Villanova.

Why?

Warning: I'm turning the mirth way back on this post, but it shall return shortly.

The question I'm most often asked is "Why?" in reference to this web site, blog or whatever it is or will become.

It started for me in the summer of 1975, when I got wind of the store Greg Fredericks owned in State College. Word of his exploits had even made it to Dover, PA despite the lack of TV coverage, internet existence, and precious little newspaper coverage. I traveled the 100 miles to purchase my first "real" pair of running shoes (Nike Waffles-Blue!) and got the autograph of the PSU and American Record Holder in the 10,000 M on the back page of my first running log. I began two daily runs the next day. My goal became to run for PSU in the future.

Coach Groves wasn't on my radar then. All I heard about him was from a local high school coach who described him in extremely unpleasant terms. That sealed it, of course. Now I really had to train harder to make it onto the team. I had no talent, very little speed, but I did have many more miles than anyone else I knew. I sometimes put in 100 mile weeks in high school when others were doing 20 weekly. I sometimes ran 20 miles on a Saturday or Sunday when I set out to do 8 or 10. It was easy then, and quite fun. Because of my mileage, I figured no one should beat me my senior year, and the only one that did was the friend I let beat me in my last 880 yd. race because he had never won one. I didn't know what was ahead of me at PSU, but I turned down entreaties from several Division II and many Division III schools. My first meeting with Coach Groves was when I walked into his office early in the summer and asked if I could walk on. Surprisingly, I was welcomed and given a training schedule that consisted of him telling me to run a lot. Soon I received ominous letters from crazy people named Bruce Baden and John Ziegler urging me to up my mileage! What had I gotten myself into?

I have started this blog in order to make sure there are future athletes who will enjoy exactly what I did. An opportunity to become a better person through a tradition of excellence and hard work. Almost nothing else I have done in my life means as much to me as my achievements as a PSU athlete. There are probably thousands of athletes who Coach Groves help mold, many with talent far exceeding mine, but some with even less. He coached us all. He kicked our a**es when we deserved it. He reluctantly (and rarely!) praised us when we really deserved it. But every one of us is better for what we did as part of the PSU Cross-Country and Track and Field Teams. The Golf Tourney and Reunion started by Clark Haley is a great opportunity to remember and celebrate that part of us that was made better at Dear Ole State.

The Bear Story: Requiem for an Ursidae (She didn't die, though!)

It was a dark and stormy night... (Snoopy began all of his novels this way.) Actually, it was a beautiful Sunday morning in early June, 1980. it was time for a 15 mile "easy" run, which meant 17 miles at a brisk pace through the woods, in the tradition of Bruce Baden and John Ziegler, my freshman mentors in 1977. Somehow every "15-miler" then was 2 hours at 6:00 pace, or so it seemed to a skinny, naive newby. (Yeah, I know, I'm still naive, but not skinny!)

I had elected to stay in State College to train "like an animal" over the summer before my senior year, hoping to make a breakthrough that even Coach Groves encouraged. I did set some PR's in the all-comers meets that summer in the mile, 2-mile, 1500 M and 3000 M, weaving in and out of the throngs that participated. I got to live with my brother who was auditing the books at PSU while in the MBA program, (headed by Charlie Maguire at the time!). I lived across the hall from Herb Menhardt who won the NC State game that year with a 56 yard field goal. I was in the best shape in my life and had just PR'ed in the 10 K (A race in which Greg Fredericks lapped me twice with his 28:08 pre-Olympic Trials effort!) I know, quite pitiful indeed, but it's all I have!

That Sunday run was a solitary one, the way I liked it it in those days. I selected the Pine Barrens Loop, always one of my favorites. (It got ruined right after this with the addition of homes at several key places, making a complete loop quite a challenge.) There was many ways to begin the loop, but I selected the path behind the Golf Course to reach Circleville Road. This was before there were even homes behind the golf courses, just fields and woods everywhere. Perfect habitat for deer, foxes and BLACK BEARS apparently. (Ursidae come in just two varieties in the Continental US, black or brown. The famed Grizzly bear is just a brown bear in a certain geographic region.)

As I entered the trail through the woods behind the golf course, I rounded a corner and... WHAM

(Those who read this blog know I am prone to hyperbole, but I'm not making any of this up, nor embellishing any of it!) I ran face first into a bear. Not just into, but INTO a bear. We were face to face, and I saw a red ring around its eyes. (Another person also descibed this red ring to me years later, but I cannot verify what it meant.) At that point I don't remember anything until I came to about 100 yards away, standing on Corl Street. Luckily, at that point Leonard Jansen, the racewalker came down Corl Street and found me there. (He verified every aspect of the story to my wife years later at a running clinic at which we both spoke, making me feel vindicated at last!) I was pale and babbling and he was somewhat amused. I managed to point out the bear to him and told him what happened. By then I was feeling somewhat better, but abandoned my quest for a 15-miler. The bear was last seen heading toward campus, none the worse for our encounter.

After ditching the idea of a run until my knees stopped shaking later in the day, I saw a police car on College Ave. and told him about the bear. He was relieved to find out that the bear was on the golf course, as "that isn't my jurisdiction." He sent me off to tell the campus police, (who also blew me off on similar jurisdictional criteria). (Apparently, murder is OK on the PSU Golf Courses, as police don't cover that part of the world!)

Absolutely no one but Leonard the racewalker believed my story that day (or many days since), but I got a smile on my face the next morning when I saw the Collegian front page. There was "my bear" getting darted out of a tree in front of Old Main, to be relocated to the Game Lands in the Pine Barrens! (I didn't run that route the rest of the summer!)