Something Old(er), Something New(er), Both Are Borrowed, Both Wear Blue

I really appreciate submissions from my HUNDREDS of readers!  And I just got 2 that seem to mesh together in a good way.  Thanks to our good friends Coach Bill Preston and Bob Hudson.

First up is an article promoting the upcoming Reunion of Track and Field greats from the New York metro area in the 60s, 70s and 80s.

Glory Days

Fred Singleton handing off to Mike Sands at the 1974 Penn Relays.

Before college, Sands was a sprinting ace for Brooklyn’s Sheepshead Bay High School. He ran for the Bahamas in the 1972 and 1976 Olympics. Today, he runs the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations.

 And a brand new article in the Penn Stater highlights Megan McCloskey!

Leaping Lion

And don't forget to sign up for the Reunion and Golf Tourney!  Either with PayPal/credit card or via snail mail to Harry Smith.

One Person options:

Entire Package $205.00 USD    Friday and Saturday $135.00 USD    Friday Reception $45.00 USD    Saturday Reception $105.00 USD    Golf and Saturday Reception Dinner $155.00 USD

For additional family members, add up permutations in post and use snail mail to:
 Harry Smith
            508 Washington Avenue
            Elyria, OH  44035

He Learned From 2 Of The Best

Bob Hamer has been recognized as Indoor Track Coach of the Year by the MAAC.  It isn't really a surprise when you know he was coached in his athletic life by two of the best in the business, Coach Bill Preston and Coach Harry Groves.

Coach Bill Preston was coach of the perennial powerhouse of Council Rock back in the heyday of the PIAA times.  He coached several Penn State Track Alumni (Golfers) including Bob Hamer, Matt Hutzelmann and Mark Haegele. He is currently the coach of the PSUAC XC champion Mont Alto team.

Back In Black!

'Cause I'm back
Yes, I'm back
Well, I'm back
Yes, I'm back
Well, I'm back, back
Well, I'm back in black
Yes, I'm back in black

I have finally made it in front of a computer for a real post!  It was either the Zithromax or the Kung Pao combination of shrimp and chicken that has brought me back from the dead.  My money is on the Kung Pao, as you all know.

Many things have piled up in the meantime, and I'm still procrastinating on the 800M thing and the interview with Olympian Darrell Hill.  There's no end to the stuff piling up around me.

Some items of interest:

• Coach Bill Preston's PSU Mont Alto Women won the PSUAC conference championships. And both of his Men were first team All-Conference.  All of his runners will be headed to the USCAA Nationals in Virginia Beach.  Congrats from his biggest fan.
• I missed the meet because I was in bed, so didn't get to fly Airship 800U to bring aerial views of the whole thing.  Pretty disappointed, but didn't really have a chance.
• The PSU squads are warming up for the Big Ten Championships right now!  Good luck.
• Our Laundry Officer has reminded me to put the Fit For Fritz event on the blog!

Coach Fritz Spence, center, is a better golfer than I.

Congrats To Coach Preston and PSU-Mont Alto For First Team Victory

Coach Bill Preston, former coach of PA high school powerhouse Council Rock and numerous future Nittany Lions, won his first meet with Penn State's Mont Alto branch campus over the weekend.  It isn't easy to field a team at a small branch campus, but his hard work and genuine awesomeness got it done!

The Norlo Park course near Mont Alto was the site of the Mont Alto Invitational.  The Mens race was 8K and the Womens race was 6K.  The Women won their first ever team competition! I wish Daughter the Elder could have been part of it.

 Accolades from the other coaches and spectators were numerous for the layout of the course as everyone can see almost the entire race from one vantage point and close-up views at the 2K, 4K, 6K during the race, which is a short walk from the start finish line.

I helped lay out the course earlier this year, but Coach Preston really did all the work.  Congrats Coach!

Submissions From Fans Of The Blog!

I love receiving just about anything from my 100's of fans!  Yes, I did say hundreds.  Things are really starting to pick up steam here at Blog Central.  And just about anything YOU submit will be included too.

• Coach Bill Preston generously submitted a more complete map of the PSUAC Mont Alto XC Course I helped to map out last week. Thanks Coach!  I will certainly be there for the races.
  
  
• KKOB sent me an article reminding us that PSU was there at the very beginning of the Nike Oregon Project.  Friend Tom Clarke, PSU Biomechanics PhD, started it all and recruited Alberto Salazar as the coach.  Previous post on this HERE.
• Rob Whiteside and his daughter Phoebe (Large and White Rabbit) have had a terrible time of it once they entered the New England area.  They are currently in New Hampshire headed toward Maine on the Appalachian Trail, where the hiking is at some of the most difficult of the whole trail.  Weather has not been their friend at all, and Rob took a tumble with a few lingering side effects.  I hope all of you say a prayer for them as I do daily.

The PSU/Mont Alto Cross Country Course Turned Out Well

I helped Coach Bill Preston (ex-HS coach of Bob Hamer and Matt Hutzelmann) with the layout of the new Mont Alto XC Course on Friday.  This will serve as the Championship Course for the PSUAC (Branch campuses conference) in October.  I'm sure anyone in the area who wishes to volunteer to help would be appreciated.

Two 2K loops were created which will be used for the 6K Womens Race and the 8K Mens Race.

• 6K  -  Loop 1, Loop2 and a reverse repeat of Loop 1
• 8K  -  Loop 1, Loop2, repeat Loop 2 and reverse repeat of Loop 1 

and depending on the amount of rain, there is a small possibility of a creek to cross!
 

Norlo Park, Fayetteville PA.

No One Should Let Me Design A XC Course

But I will only be helping, so all is good.

Later today I will be helping Coach Bill Preston (HS Coach of and Matt Hutzelmann, Bob Hamer and others) of PSU Mont Alto lay out his new XC course at Norlo Park, halfway between Mont Alto and Chambersburg, PA.

And he has already been warned about my course tendencies, so he wouldn't dare take much of my advice!  I personally set up the course at my high school, which happened to dive into thick woods, crossing a creek and jumping a large fallen tree while ducking other large limbs.  Of course, this was done twice.  Many people didn't like any of it, but I relished it.  Cross country should always be like that!

I think I will take Airship 800U along for some aerial pics and video of the course.

More Classic XC Course Goodness: This Time From 1927!

Coach Bill Preston sent this along from the Facebook Group of XC Coaches.  I apparently qualify due to my "Coach" status on our USATF Mid-Atlantic Group even though no one has ever taken any advice I give! And it's Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx.  "The Vanny" may be America's most classic course.



And here's a 2-part video of a tour of Van Cortlandt Park's XC course.





And here's some highlights from National Championships held there:

Naked And Hunted By Authorities

Well, I don't think they even got the chance to be naked!  But the plans were leaked, and the authorities thwarted the efforts and convicted the entire team for Hazing.  This world is out of control, and this may be the best example yet.

Artist's Conception.

Noted naked runner himself, KKOB, brought me this news even before it hit the national news.  There must be some kind of message board for clothes-optional runners, or something!

The story is extra-important to our group as the head coach at Rider is our very own PSU Track Alumni (Golfer) Bob Hamer.  Bob was coached in high school at Council Rock by my daughter's current coach, Bill Preston at Penn State Mont Alto.

I don't know how I feel about all of this.  On the one hand, I find it innocent fun (sans illegal alcohol) and the first chance in life at seeing naked girls for geeks like me.  On the other hand, I am a big opponent of hazing in any form.  But was this hazing when no one was coerced into participating?  And, again as always, I don't have all of the facts.

Next time guys and girls, wear a g-string and pasties and I think you'll be fine?  What do you think Kelly?

For Once, We Can All Be United

Coach Bill Preston, newly minted Nittany Lion Coach of my daughter (the elder) and  PSU Mont Alto (and former Council Rock High School coach with plenty of Nittany Lions to his credit!) alerted me to an article in the blog http://www.runblogrun.com about our most distinguished Alumnus.

The Annual Ashenfelter 8K Classic went off without a hitch this year on Thanksgiving morning as one of thousands of "turkey trots" across the nation.  Except the 2,400 in Glen Ridge, NJ got a special treat the other races didn't have.  They got to finish in front of a true American hero.  Our very own Horace Ashenfelter III was there, as he is every year.

Read the full blog post at RunBlogRun.

Here's some points I wish to emphasize about Mr. Ashenfelter:

• He is happily married now for 69 years.
• He will soon turn 91 years old.
• He still runs several miles every other day.
• He is a far better golfer than almost all of us.
• He loves his family.  (14 of which ran the race!)
• He loves his Country.

Read the rest for the other facts you already know and forgot!

I Did Not Cry and Other Notes

Yesterday was a very busy day for many Penn State Track Alumni Golfers.  It was the biggest day of College drop offs in the nation.  There were many at PSU Main Campus and still more at PSU branch campuses across the state. Still more I have become aware of across the fruited plain.  I joined in for the very first time, and I must say it was a very difficult thing to do.  I didn't cry, but whatever the state of emotion is just before crying, I was certainly there.  This was a very first time for such an emotion since Daughter the Elder's premature birth and the potential loss of my entire family that it entailed.  I'm happy to say that both pulled through with resounding success and I can't beat either of them on a running course today.

Nittany Lion with Daughters Younger and Elder.

The hardest part was the last moments when she said "goodbye" to her dog, who we took along for the trip.  Pooky actually took it harder than any of us.   I've never seen her as despondent as I did on the way home.  She spent the night with Daughter the Younger, and I don't know yet how that turned out, although Pooky seems better this AM.

The dorm room was bigger than any I had and her roommate played basketball for the same high school I did.  Her parents live right near where I had my first job as a gopher for a solar-powered condominium complex.  And he works with a patient of mine who helped take my school record in the 4 x 880Y (4 x 800M by then) and a childhood friend that lived 3 houses away from me.  Which means my daughter lucked into a very fine roommate indeed.  (I was never so lucky as a Freshman in McKean Hall in 1977.)  Thank goodness Doug Kent took me in as a Sophomore (translated as wise fool, indeed).

The deja vu continued when Cross Country Coach Bill Preston showed up and we had discussions about all the people our lives have in common.  Coach Preston didn't know I've known Paul Souza since 1978 and told a great story about Paul singing the national anthem spontaneously at the NCAA Division III Track Championships one year when the tape player (or record player!) broke.  Coach Preston said Paul has a good voice, with which I concurred!  Maybe that makes us both Groupies for the Velveteen Playboys.  We also both concurred that Paul has a lot of difficulty staying still.  Kinetics play a major role in his life.

Even better, Coach Preston presented me with a gift.  It turns out that his wife and Jim Ryun's wife are friends, and speak frequently.  He presented me with a signed copy of his book "The Courage to Run".  I told Coach that I was the very first person to ask him about his Congressional Career at the Walt Disney World Marathon following his election victory but before his taking office.  All the other questions were the very same ones he has been asked 1,000s of times before about his running career.  He told me he appreciated my question about his Committee Assignments (which had just been announced the day before) and what he hoped to accomplish as a Congress member.  He delighted in answering the question and centered on his commitment to small business, something he did keep his campaign promises on.  I never got his autograph at the time, but I have it now.  Thanks Coach.

Back To School!

Youngsters across the nation are heading back to school in droves.  And that means college too.  Three different Group Idiots, me among them, are carting their kids to PSU and branch campuses this Friday.  Good luck to Founder Clark Haley and Grand Exalted IT Czar Jeff Sanden as they haul their eldest to Freshman Move-In Day.  (Don't forget your fans for the hot dorm rooms!)  Former pole vaulter Don Skerpon also will be hauling his youngest to State College to join the Track and Field Team as a hurdler.  Best of luck to all!

I have not been fazed by any of Daughter the Elder's life transitions up until now, but I'll admit this one is going to get to me. I'm happy she will be running cross-country at the Mont Alto branch campus for an excellent coach and mentor, Bill Preston.  I have told her often that the friends you make on a team in college will be the best friends you will ever make.  She has seen first hand that PSU Track Alumni Golfers are the most intelligent, most interesting and most accomplished group of people anyone can come across.  And it is what keeps me going in trying to motivate as many of you as possible to become involved.  Our record here at the blog has been quite good, and we will even get better.

Does anyone remember if we ever had an actual team meeting for Cross Country.  I certainly don't remember any.  Unless the Mountain Runs counted as one...

2014 XC Team Meeting.

And here's a little first day history lesson for Freshman Rodney Dangerfield by Professor Sam Kinison which has quite a bit of relevance for us today. Content warning for swear words!

A Saturday Throwback Thursday Stolen From the Intertubes: With the Circle of Life Thrown In

As my daughters said when they were younger, "This was before they invented color..."  And the second one is from when "Color was experimental..."

An early 60's Gary Schwartz.

Matt Hutzelmann (second from left), Bob Hamer (second from right) and Leif Steiner (right) at the 1990 PIAA "Mile"

And my Daughter the Elder just received her summer schedule for her upcoming Freshman XC season at Penn State Mont Alto from Matt and Bob's former high school coach Bill Preston.

Many PSU and Coach Groves Connections At PSU Mont Alto

Daughter the Younger and Daughter the Elder with The Lion

I had the pleasure of spending today at Penn State Mont Alto for an information session for my Daughter the Elder's upcoming Freshman campaign.  The lunch provided brought me back to those glory years in the dorms.  The chicken sandwich wasn't quite a  a Chicken Cosmo (Here and Here), but it was delicious, as was the mac and cheese and even the salad. I didn't get a good picture of the Death by Chocolate ice cream for Bob Radzwich because I started to eat it before sitting down,  He would have been happy with me.

Grilled chicken sandwich, tossed salad (yes I sometimes eat salad!), mac and cheese and Death by Chocolate sundae. Kinda sorta makes up for the tuition and room and board costs 30X higher than I remember.

I also had the pleasure to meet PSU Mont Alto's new Mens and Womens Cross Country Coach, Bill Preston.  We were able to have a long conversation and seem to know quite a few mutual friends from all over.  He even has a few good Coach Groves stories, but then again don't we all?  Coach Preston was the coach of PA HS powerhouse Council Rock and numerous PSU athletes were incubated in his program.  Bob Hamer and Mark Haegele are among his PSU distance and middle distance recruits to PSU.  Coach Preston describes Penn State as "Council Rock West"!

Coach Preston with Daughter the Elder.

For those coaches anywhere near Central Pennsylvania, Coach Preston is sponsoring a free coaches clinic on Saturday June 14th at Penn State Mont Alto.  He has things to motivate and enlighten even the most veteran of coaches out there.  I am wonderfully impressed with him. And you will be too.

High School Mania!

I came across a nice pic on the inter-tubes yesterday from fellow teammate Ricky Garcia.  His TC Williams (of Remember the Titans fame!) distance medley relay team was the holder of the national record for more than 25 years.  On that team was fellow Nittany Lion Dwight Stephens.  Ted Lyon was also from that powerhouse program.  That's three teammates of mine from just one high school.

Ricky Garcia, second from left, and Dwight Stephens, right.

There are other schools with similar Penn State credentials.

• Lancaster, Ohio's Brannon Kidder, John Zishka and Keeper of the Beer Clark Haley.
• Council Rock's Bob Hamer, among others... coached by my daughter's future coach at PSU Mont Alto Bill Preston.
• And last but certainly not least, State College High with literally dozens of Nittany Lions springing from its halls. 

Are there any other High Schools with similar PSU credentials?  (I know there are.)

Pride is a Deadly Sin, But What the Heck

 

My daughter's Senior Year XC season ended yesterday with the awards banquet.  Her team ended 5th at the PIAA meet, the same as last year.  Martha again earned The Most Improved Award for her progress during the seaon. I couldn't be more proud...

Actually, I could!

Martha accepted her first choice in colleges last week and will be matriculating at Penn State/Mont Alto next Fall.  This will allow her to be close (very close!) to her beloved Appalachian Trail.  It also allows her to become a member of their brand new XC team, which will be coached by a Pennsylvania Legend quite familiar to many of us PSU Track/XC Alums.  Eight-time PIAA Champion Coach Bill Preston of Council Rock HS and Richard Stockton College will be ushering in a new program with his patented high-mileage format.  Council Rock produced Bob Hamer and a few other Nittany Lions.  And anyone who is friends with Coach Groves is already a friend of mine.  Can't wait to see the progress she can make under Coach Preston. It was only yesterday that I held the 2 lb. newborn in the palm of my rather small hand...

I hope to hear from Bob and a few others about running for Coach Preston, and maybe even Coach Preston himself.  I'm not going to interfere with the Coach/Athlete relationship at all, but I'll do everything I can to make it successful. We have celebrated the PSU Club team several times, and now I'll learn about the PSU Branch Campus XC/Track scene.  Remember, everyone can be a member of our Group. Coach Preston will soon have a golden ticket to the next Coach Harry Groves Golf Tournament.