"Moldy" Monday

Here's a pic I came across on the world-wide computer-thingie.  With the chic and already overused "Throwback Thursday" meme on Facebook and Twitter, I figured I would do a "Moldy Monday". Can you name all of the Nittany Lions and their home states on this pic? And where was the meet? (Hint: I heard Coach Groves got a speeding ticket coming home from this meet in the van just as they were arriving home.)

Addendum:  It is pointed out that that is Ted Lyon himself behind Dwight Stephens in the pic.  Three TC Williams runners in a row for the Nittany Lions. A Platinum Membership is awarded to Ted for the slight!  We await his future post.

AddendumII: Upon further review, Ted relates it might not be him.  But his Platinum membership and all its options will remain, by the unanimous consent of the Idiot Officers.  Congratulation Ted! 

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.)

The Duel

It has been nearly 33 years since The Duel, but I remember it as if it was yesterday.  One of the participants has since almost died twice (that we know of) while the other has battled back from alcoholism and severe weight gain.  But neither a heart attack nor hyperthermia could kill the one, and alcoholism the other, and both are still running today.

The 1979 NCAA XC Championships were in Saucon Valley, just south of Bethlehem PA.  Alberto Salazar and Henry Rono were among the stars, and they did not fail to disappoint.  I was lucky enough to see the race with Rob, Mark, Barb, Gary and others who had spent the night with me at my grandfather's house.  It really was a unique opportunity.

Right from the start, it was a duel between Rono and Salazar, which continued for the entire 10K. Alberto, probably outmatched in talent, never had any quit in him, which explains his later brushes with death quite easily.  Rono eventually pulled away, but no one would have said it was easy.

More interesting to our cadre of spectators was seeing a tight bunch of PSU singlets near the front of the pack.  Alan Scharsu, John Zeigler, Bob Snyder (I was wrong here.), Larry Mangan and Tom Rapp were there (who else? Help me here! Dwight Stephens? Jeff Adkins? actually Jeff Adkins, Jim Clelland and Rick Garcia.).  The Nittany Lions became the top team with all Americans to finish.    It seems like yesterday...

Complete Race Results Here

And since I don't have video of it, here's the trailer for the movie High Noon.

Blog Fact-Checkers Sacked! Openings for Interviews?

In my haste to get the post up yesterday I failed to get the facts straight (once again!).  Those responsible for checking and double-checking the facts, pictured above,  have been sacked in response to the error.  It's tough finding good help nowadays! I tried to find something meaningful about every single person on the photo and only missed by 2 or 3; Not bad for a one-time hermit!

I'll let our Chief Laundry and Morale Officer set things straight once again:

 Dave – the ‘80 team scored lower than the ’79 team which scored lower than the ’78 team (which placed 4^th in the NC2A meet – as Harry always referred to it).  The ’79 and ’80 teams both finished 3^rd.  I think that ’80 team was the best (out of PSU teams that didn’t finish first – Horace Ashenfelter and crew didn’t have to run against Rono and Nyambui) because we had such depth – in the ’80 District II meet, we had three guys under 30:00 for 10K (repeated that at the NC2A meet a week later) and Dwight Stephens ran 30:01.  The ’79 squad was good, but not as good as the group that came a year later (in my opinion).