Incredibly, the PSU distance corps in the late 70s and early 80s had two Mr. Footballs on the same team. In addition to this post's subject, Ricky Garcia was the star quarterback at the same high school featured in the movie Remember The Titans!
Jeff Adkins is certainly an excellent choice among our Group to hold up as an ideal representative. Intelligent, hard-working, accomplished, friendly and talented are just some of the attributes I admired as his teammate for 2 years. And here's another post of praise for him from a former roommate.
Here's an interview with Jeff as forwarded by our Blog Laureate:
Jeff Adkins Interview – Woodrow Wilson HS Distance Standout
Jeff Adkins is one of the best distance runners ever in West Virginia. He currently holds the West Virginia High School 3200-meter state record with a time of 8:49.34. That record has stood for over 38 years. A very small number of West Virginia High School athletes have broken the 9:00 minute 2-mile barrier: Chris Fox of Martinsburg HS in 1977 (8:56.?), Jeff Adkins of Woodrow Wilson HS in 1979 (8:49.34), Steve Taylor of St. Marys HS in 1983 (8:58.17), and Jacob Burcham of Cabell Midland HS in 2012 (8:57.73).
Adkins will always be remembered for pulling off the tough double in football and cross country during his junior year.
Adkins graduated from class AAA Woodrow Wilson High School in Beckley, West Virginia back in 1979. After graduating high school, he earned a full scholarship to run and study engineering at Penn State University under the direction of Harry Groves.
I personally think that Jeff Adkins is one of the most underrated high school distance runners to ever come out of West Virginia. I am extremely pleased to have him for an interview.
Coach McMillion: What’s your full name?
Jeff Adkins: My full name is Jeffrey Donald Adkins.
CM: Where were you born?
JA: I was born in Fort Knox, Kentucky.
CM: Where were you raised?
JA: My Dad was in the military, so we moved all over. Junior High I was at West Point, NY. In 9th and 10th grade I was in Fayetteville, NC, and we moved to Beckley my junior year of high school.
CM: Who were your parents?
JA: The late Donald Adkins from Charleston, WV and the late Jane Rayburn from Huntington, WV.
[Jeff Adkins dad, Lieutenant Colonel Adkins was born July 16, 1935 in Charleston, WV to the late Lonnie Guy Adkins and Eva Givens Adkins. Upon graduation from high school in Charleston WV, Adkins enrolled at Marshall University on an athletic scholarship, participating in football, wrestling, and track. His father, who was a World War II veteran, encouraged the military life, so Adkins joined the Army ROTC. Shortly after graduation from Marshall in May 1958, he was commissioned a second lieutenant. Adkins retired in June 1979 and took a position with Morehead High School as JROTC Commander, and he later became Athletic Director. He retired a second time after serving as principal at Holmes Middle School. Lieutenant Colonel Adkins flew 750 combat missions in Vietnam, earned the Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, and 30 Air Medals, one for valor, among other medals.]
CM: Do you have any siblings?
JA: I have two brothers (Mark & Michael) and three sisters (Kimberly, Christina, & Monica).
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CM: What sports did you participate in as a youngster?
JA: I participated in Football, Swimming, Baseball, and Wrestling.
CM: Where did you attend junior high at? Did you participate in any sports?
JA: West Point, NY. There were no school teams, but we had intramural track, floor hockey, and speedball. We did have two somewhat informal track races against other schools. I remember running the 880-yard run under 2:11.1 to win a race in 8th grade. It was brutal. There were two other kids right there with me. I can’t believe there were three eighth graders running that fast. I also set the school record in the 600-yard run. Around 1:20 I think.
My Dad was a coach for the West Point Triathlon team, which was a club sport that included running, swimming and pistol shooting (it was a training team for the modern pentathlon). I was able to compete in that when I was in 8th grade. It included an 8K cross country run. That was fun. I could beat most of the cadets, because I was a competitive swimmer and a pretty good runner, and I learned to shoot well.
I participated in swimming, baseball, football, and wrestling outside of school.
CM: What years did you attend Woodrow Wilson High?
JA: I attended Woodrow Wilson my junior year (1977-78) and senior year (1978-1979).
CM: Who was your high school coaches (football, track, cross country)?
JA: Pete Culicerto was the head football and track coach, while Bob Moseley was the cross country and track distance coach.
CM: When did you first start running?
JA: We used to have to do the 600-yard run as part of the Presidential Physical Fitness test. I remember setting my elementary school record as a 5th grader (around 1:45).
CM: When did you first have success at running?
JA: I guess in Junior High; I was always the fastest distance runner in the school, then I won that local 880-yard track race.
CM: Which sport did you like most in high school? Why?
JA: I liked track & field the most. I was able to focus on one sport during winter and spring and really get ready to race. During cross country I was also playing football, so that was pretty hectic. I loved running cross country, but I was always worried that I was not in the best shape for distance running.
I liked football too. I knew that my best sport was track, so football was really for fun. I liked the football coaches and most of the guys on the team. I thought the coaches did a good job of preparing us for games without beating us up in practice. We were state champions my junior year (1977). If football wasn’t so much fun, I would have dropped it and focused on cross country.
CM: How many miles per a week did you run in high school?
JA: I’m guessing around 60 to 70 miles per week. I would run a few morning workouts in addition to afternoons. In retrospect, I was training myself way too hard; I tried to run hard every day because I didn’t know better. I believe the mileage was not real high because the summer after my senior year I got the training schedule from Penn State coach Harry Groves and he wanted me to work up to 100 miles per week during the summer, because he said that’s what I would be running when I got to college. I remember that was a big jump in mileage for me.
CM: What was your favorite track or cross-country workout?
JA: In college we would do “tee-to-green” workouts on the golf course, where there would be a sustained effort from tee-to-green, then a very short recovery as we jogged to the next tee. The effort was around 10K race pace, and the total distance was around five miles. I thought that was a good race prep workout. Early in the season we did “Julian Pike,” which was a 1.5-mile hill that we would do 3 or 4 times. That was brutal.
CM: What awards did you win in high school?
JA: I was an Adidas All-American in track based on the 8:48 for 3200m I ran at the Bellaire Relays in Mansfield, Ohio. I was the high-point winner at the State meet my senior year, winning the mile, 2-mile, and mile relay.
CM: Can you tell us about your 1977 & 1978 State Cross Country Championships?
JA: I remember 1977 was the year I outkicked John Case from Fairmont High. He went to Ohio State on scholarship.
1977 was interesting because I played a playoff football game the Friday night before the Saturday state meet. The football game was in Parkersburg and we won. I had to drive back to Beckley, then get up early and drive to the state cross country meet the next morning. My expectations were not very high, so when I moved into third place late in the race I thought that was a pretty good day. Then it seemed like the next two guys started coming back to me even though I wasn’t running any faster. I caught Case as we went over a creek with about 300 meters to go. I stayed on his shoulder until about 50 meters to go, then hammered it.
[Here's Jeff Adkins Friday/Saturday double from the fall of 1977: On Friday, November 4th, as a high school junior, he played defensive back on Woodrow Wilson's (Beckley, WV) football team that defeated Fairmont Senior 6-0 for the State Championship (all classes) title.
On Saturday November 5th, he came back to win the individual crown in XC.
Adkins left Beckley around 5:30 Saturday morning and was able to walk the cross-country course before his race.
According to coach Bob Mosley, for the first half mile Adkins was running in the fifth position behind West Fairmont’s John Case. At some point in the race Adkins had moved up to second and was running about 20-25 yards back with about a half-mile to go. He then closed less than five yards with 400 meters to go and within steps of Case with less than 100 yards to go.
Adkins outkicked Case by a few steps in the final stretch to take the individual title for all-classes. He covered the tough 3.1-mile Davis & Elkins course in 17 minutes and six seconds. John Case of West Fairmont was runner-up, followed by Neville Leonard of Martinsburg; Fred Riley of Keyser; Ed Fahrens of Elkins; Chuck Hess of Martinsburg; Jim Chivers of Brooke; Tom Austin of St. Albans; Harvey Goho of Princeton and Tom Oyurzah of Keyser.
In the team standings, West Fairmont defeated Martinsburg by the narrowest of margins, 100 to 101.]
JA: I don’t remember much about 1978, except that it was harder than I thought it was going to be. I had broken my wrist in a football game the week before, and ran the race in a cast. I played football at over 200 pounds, so I guess that was too much for cross country.
[Here's Jeff Adkins state meet recap from the fall of 1978: A broken wrist may have been a blessing in disguise for Beckley’s Jeff Adkins.
The Woodrow Wilson senior won his second consecutive state cross country title Saturday. He covered the three-and-a-half-mile course just outside of Wellsburg in 15:57 and less than a second ahead of Chis Keister of Huntington East. Adkins said the wrist didn’t hurt him at all in the race.
The golf course over which the race was run was classified as “one of the best courses I’ve run all year” said Adkins.
“It had rolling hills and it was long and grassy,” Adkins noted. “It had just a little mud around the lakes and it didn’t have any bare spots.”
Finishing behind Adkins and Keister in the race was Oak Glen’s Ed Burda. And it was from Burda that Adkins looked for stiff competition. But it never came.
Elkins took the team title with 97 points and was followed by Parkersburg (98), Keyser (113), Magnolia (127), St. Albans (137), Fairmont West (150), Beckley (168), Barboursville (197), Huntington East (201) and Greenbrier East.]
CM: Can you tell us about your junior track season?
JA: At the 1978 West Virginia High School State Track & Field Championship, West Fairmont’s John Case would break the record in the 1-Mile run with a time of 4:14.0, while I was runner-up in 4:25.8. I had a leg injury, but ran anyways. The meet was held at Marshall University’s track in Huntington.
CM: Can you tell us about your senior track season?
JA: At the 1979 West Virginia High School State Track & Field Championship, Beckley regained the AAA boys title, with six event victories accounting for 60 of their 71 points. Sprinter Randy Glenn won the 100 and 200 for the Flying Eagles, while I swept the mile and two-mile. My 9:11.3 in the two-mile established a new record. I won the mile over Oak Hill’s Mike Rominski, 4:20.47 to 4:22.30 respectively. Our team also won the Mile Relay in 3:24.67 over Wheeling Park. I tied my teammate Randy Glenn for high point honors with 21.5 points.
[Earlier in the spring, Adkins broke the 3200-meter state record with an 8:49.34 hand time clocking at the Bellaire (Ohio) Relays. He defeated junior John Zishka of Lancaster, Ohio. It was declared a dead heat, although Adkins was given the win.]
CM: On an Ohio running message board: Legend has it, that you didn’t care for John Zishka. That you almost fought after the 1979 USATF at Ohio State after the 1500-meter run. I heard Zishka elbowed you, while jockeying for position at the end of the race. Zishka won in 3:57, but was disqualified. You won in the same time, while Pittman was runner-up in 3:58. It was said, that the feud carried over to Bellaire in the 3200m.
I also heard after the 1600m at Bellaire, which Zishka placed 1st and you placed 2nd, that you shook the third-place finishers hand. John Zishka came towards you to shake your hand, but you supposedly snarled at John Zishka and walked away. Any truth to that story?
JA: That 1500m was indoors at the Knights of Columbus meet. I thought I won outright, but I could be wrong. I was boxed-in on the inside behind Zishka, then he started drifting out to Lane 2 because Pittman was going around him on the outside. I saw my opportunity and passed on the inside, and surprised Zishka. He threw his whole arm and fist into my chest as I’m passing him at the finish line. He ended up getting DQ’d. I looked at him after the race and said something like “What are you doing?” I don’t remember if he said anything because everyone started gathering around us. We did not shake hands.
I remember that meet because I doubled back in the 3000m and won, and broke Rudy Chapa’s meet record (8:20-something). I was awarded the most outstanding performer of the meet for winning the 1500 and 3000, and setting the record.
I don’t remember talking to Zishka at Bellaire, but I remember talking to Ricky Pitman in the stands. He was having Achilles problems and was not 100%. I outkicked Zishka in the 3200m coming from way back in the last 150m. Then Zishka came back and killed me in the 1600, running 4:09. I think I was 4:17. I was dead. I had a meet the night before in Charleston (I think it was the Gazette Relays) where I ran a 1600 and a 4x800 relay. I wanted to run easy in the 1600, but Mike Kominsky of Oak Hill was in the race and I had to blast the last 200 to get the win. I don’t remember the time.
I got along with Zishka after that – he came to Penn State on a recruiting trip and we laughed about the incident. He ended up coming to Penn State, but transferred to Oregon after his freshman year. I don’t believe he ever ran faster than he did as a freshman at Penn State.
CM: What was your high school PR’s?
JA: I ran 8:48 for 3200-meters, around 8:24 for 3000-meters, 4:15 for the mile, and 1:55 for 880 yds. I never ran a fresh mile or half mile in a big outdoor race.
CM: Did you participate in Kinney/Foot Locker or NXN cross country championships?
JA: There was no NXN then; I did run Foot Locker Regionals in Raleigh my senior year. I drove by myself from Beckley to Raleigh the day of the race, got my number an hour and a half before the race (they weren’t going to give it to me because they said I was late, but I convinced them to give it to me). I ran and was around 15th. I remember thinking 1) these guys are good, and 2) I’m not ready for this race.
CM: What year did you get inducted into Woodrow Wilson’s Track Hall of Fame?
JA: About four years ago.
CM: Where did you attend college? And why did you choose that college?
JA: I went to Penn State. They had the best combination of engineering and distance running, and they offered full scholarship. We were 3rd at NCAA XC Champs my freshman and sophomore years (behind Oregon and UTEP back when Alberto Salazar, Rudy Chapa, and Bill McChesney were at Oregon and UTEP had Sulieman Nyambui, Matuse Motswaratu, and others)
CM: What years did you attend college?
JA: I attended college at PSU from 1979 to 1983.
CM:Who was your college coach?
JA: Harry Groves - a real character and an icon of distance coaching.
CM: List of accomplishments while in college at Penn State University?
JA: Won Penn Relays 5000m in 1982 (13:55). Made 5000m finals at NCAA Champs in 1982 (at BYU, so times were slow due to altitude).
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[In June of 1982, named the captain of Penn State’s cross-country squad.
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Jeff Adkins while at PSU (XC):
• Freshman Year – 1979 NCAA Men’s Final on Monday, November 19th at Bethlehem, PA
The Nittany Lions finished 3rd as a team with 186 points, while Adkins finished 65th in the 10K with a time of 30:37.00.
• Sophomore Year – 1980 NCAA Men’s Final on Monday, November 24th at Wichita, Kansas
The Nittany Lions finished 3rd as a team with 153 points, while Adkins finished 144th in the 10K with a time of 31:25.50.
• Junior Year – 1981 NCAA Men’s Final on Monday, November 23rd at Wichita, Kansas
The Nittany Lions finished 14th as a team with 379 points, while Adkins finished 175th in the 10K with a time of 32:37.90.
• Senior Year – 1982 NCAA Men’s Final on Monday, November 22nd at Bloomington, Indiana
Adkins finished 134th in the 10K with a time of 32:42.70.]
CM: Tell me about some of your Master’s races.
JA: I started running Masters races in 2006. I won the 5K and 10K that year at the USATF Masters track nationals in Charlotte, NC.
There is a Northern California Pacific Association of USA Track and Field (PAUSATF) that puts on very competitive masters races, and I won the short road series (1 mile up to 10K) and the cross-country series a couple of times.
I’m doing more coaching than racing now; I’ve got a patella problem that acts-up when I run fast, so it is all easy running now.
[Adkins signed up to compete in the 2006 National Masters Track & Field Championships held, that year, in Charlotte, NC. Over four days he raced three times placing 1st in the 5K (16:26:32), 1st in the 10K (34:25:59) and 5th in the 1500M (4:27:58). The Charlotte Fire Department shut down the meet one day that weekend because temps reached nearly 100 degrees with 95% humidity.
Over the past couple of years, he's continued to compete, winning the Masters division of the Pacific Association of USA Track and Field Cross Country Series, placing 2nd in the 2008 National Masters Track & Field 10K held in Spokane, WA, and setting PR's (masters) in the mile (4:35), the 5K (15:54), and the 10K (33:01).]
CM: Who did you marry?
JA: I married Tracy Sullivan, who I first met in Fayetteville in 9th grade.
CM: Do you have any kids?
JA: Yes, I have two kids, Ryan and Shannon. Ryan was on the Triathlon Club team at UC Berkeley and Shannon went to Pepperdine on a swimming scholarship.
CM: Where do you currently live?
JA: I live in Granite Bay, California.
CM: What do you do now?
JA: I do legal and engineering consulting for a large environmental consulting firm.
CM: Who would you contribute your success to?
JA: I suppose it was mainly just being introduced to various athletic activities at a young age and making that a priority wherever we lived. My Dad was a football player, wrestler, and track sprinter in college (Marshall University), so he was always very interested in having us participate in sports. He never coached me, but he was always a positive influence and someone I wanted to emulate in terms of making exercise and sports a lifelong experience.
CM: Thank you for your time Jeff!
Interview by Coach Mike McMillion (mgmcmillion@aol.com)
