"Cuttin' A Mug" Reminds Me Of My First PSU Run

My first Term at PSU was arguably my best one.  At least for running.  (Academics was a different story!)  I was reminded of this because of a photo submission from Tim Backenstose by way of Campbell Lovett.  He titled the pic "Cuttin' a mug", a reference to Robert Snyder's unique ability to make a face everyone would remember forever.

Campbell kindly sent Tim this photo as a way of motivating him for further excellence in the coming years.  He probably had no idea it would motivate me as well.  Both Campbell and Tim were upper-classmen I both admired and marvelled at. (sic)  Maybe, I will some day expound on more of their exploits (like the "Mud Men") which made me both fear and delight in them. I will probably need their help in accurately conveying these stories.

But first, the pic...

Robert "Snid" Snyder taking first in the 800M on the State College Junior High track.

A hideously inferior version of this pic has been featured on this blog before.  This improved version allows the visualization of some additional features.

• Mike Wyatt in second place, wearing Nike spikes he later gave to me for my Junior and Senior seasons.
• Bill Sheskey taking 5th.
• Paul Stemmer lurking in bland grey sweats just off the left shoulder of Mike Wyatt.
• Possibly, Larry Mangan, who ran the pitless steeplechase earlier, cheering on the glory of the 1-2 finish in the actual scored dual meet.

With the mention of Tim and Campbell, my thoughts drifted to my first ever run at PSU.  I went to campus a day earlier than almost everyone else and drifted over to Rec Hall to see Coach Groves and make sure that I wasn't imagining that he had said I could join the team.

I was in the best shape of my life, following my June 1977 talk with Coach and his admonition that 80 miles/week just wasn't enough to cut it.  I ran nearly 100 miles a week leading up to matriculation and prayed for the ability to keep up with the team.

When I arrived at Rec Hall and met with Coach that day, I was dressed to run, just as I almost always was anyway.  It turned out that it wasn't a dream, as Coach welcomed me and told me to go take a run with "those guys".

Everyone who knows me, knows I am prone to some exaggeration or embellishment  (or even "misremembering" facts).  But this is exactly how I remmber that run.  I'm hoping Tim has at least a snippet of confirmation of this! 

"Those guys" happened to include three giants, or at least giants compared to the 5' 10" (now 5' 9") 117 pound (now not quite twice that number...) runner I was in those days.  Each of them were at least 6 inches taller than I, and at least 50 pounds heavier than I.  I remember them as Tim Backenstose, Campbell Lovett and Mark Parker, the current President of Nike, who had just graduated and was heading off to Exeter NH to work for the fledgling Nike brand.  The only one I am 100% sure about is Mark, as Coach addressed him to say that I was joining the group for a "10-Miler".  I never said a word to any of them, and they barely acknowledged me at all.  The only hazing I ever remember occuring as part of the team.

We took off for a run that eventually led to the Pine Barrens west of State College.  In those days, none of us had a running watch, let alone a GPS one.  But the run seemed to be getting longer and longer.  Although it was faster than my usual entirely solo runs, I was delighted to be running well with no difficulty at all keeping up with the "real" Penn State runners.  My fears of fitting in were relieved on that first run and I actually did go on to be our 7th man in three of the season's early XC races. Enough to even earn a letter!  (Robert Snyder was injured that first season until the very end, when I was no longer in the top 7.)

It turned out that the "10-Miler" I was on went nearly 2 hours at 6:00/mile pace.  A foreshadowing of the 18 mile "15-Mile" Mountain runs early in the season.  Forty-one years later, I swear I remmber that run like it was last week.

And if you want to "misremember" some past exploits like me, there is nowhere better than at our Reunion and Coach Groves Golf Tourney on May 18/19th!

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

Another Great Blast From The Past ("Before They Invented Color" As Daughter The Elder Always Put It!)

The World's Best Track and Field Museum (aka Mike Fanelli's Garage in Northern California) has released another oldie but goodie related to our Group.

This black and white pic from the Olympic year 1976 shows Dick Buerkle and Bill Rodgers duking it out in the lead of the Penn Relays 10K.  That Thursday night must have been a doozy!

Lurking back in fourth place in the pic is the eventual winner of the race, our very own Greg Fredericks.  It is unfortunate that he suffered an injury leading up to the Trials that year, as he seemed to be on track for an Olympic berth.  (Fredericks 28:24.6, Buerkle 28:26.4, Rodgers 28:33.6)

Also in the mix that night are some notable names mentioned frequently on the blog, including Bill Donakowski (29:13 10K) from Michigan (RIP), group friend Pat Davey (28:29.2 10K) from Tennessee and our very own Charlie Maguire (29:22 10K) and Paul Stemmer (13:55.6 5K).

An Administrator here at the blog with it all points out that the Interns missed another PSU Alum!  And it was a big error this time!  The 45.0 split of Mike Sands to anchor the 4 x 400M for the New York Pioneers.

Our Official Physicist* Moved 7,000 Miles Away, But He Still Can't Shake Us!

Brian Boyer moved to Vienna, Austria to join the IAEA team several years ago. Yet he gets constant reminders of his Happy Valley roots by hiking the streets of his adopted town. And a hearty hello to Brian from me!

Yet another former Penn State XC teammate has his own street.   Tom Rapp 1981. Ironically O'Briengasse (Kevin Kelly O'Brien 1980) is a block away. Both in 21st District Vienna.  Zieglergasse (John Ziegler 1980) and Stemmerallee (Paul Stemmer 1977)  I knew of years ago.  Could be more.

 * Actually a nuclear engineer, but still smarter than us.

Reconfigured Top PSU Mens Cross Country Runners Of All-Time

It took the Mathematics Intern much more time to perform the meticulous calculations to arrive at the final results of our exercise in divining the best of the best among all Penn State Cross Country runners of all-time than anyone had postulated.  In his defense, the intern is unpaid and subject to a world which is way more complicated than it should be. Anyone wishing to contribute to the coffers of the poor intern can contact me...

In review, here are the original criteria for the list:

The (Original) Criteria:

1. All PSU runners finishing in the top 20 of an NCAA Championship Meet are included.  This, of course skews the results toward the old-timers.  Back before 1973, any team could enter the race, and there were far fewer teams and runners overall. And it ignores someone who placed 21st in 4 straight Championships! Now that would be one Heck of a runner.
2. Points are awarded in a reverse order of their finish.  A 20th place finish is worth 1 point and a first place finish is worth 20 points.  This skews the results toward those that run in multiple NCAA Championships. But placing high still means the most.
3. Tiebreakers: a) # of appearances in NCAAs top 20 and  b) most recent to oldest.

Our New Criteria are then superimposed upon this original list.  The new criteria involves a weighting in an effort to incorporate the competitive strength of each year's race.  Of course any criteria such as this is somewhat subjective and can cause arguments and discussions on its suitability. This is welcome! It is difficult to precisely measure whether a race in 1952 was as difficult to finish in the top 20 as compared to a race in 2006.  But a reasonable estimate can be made simply by noting the number of finishers in the race and compensating for it as compared to a standard number.  In this case the standard is the number of finishers in 1970, the year with the greatest number of runners.

New superimposed Criteria:

• Each year's finishing point total from earlier is multiplied by a factor defined as:

# of Finishers in Race Year (x)

# of Finishers in 1970 (305) 

Here's the Original Top Ten Runners of All-Time:

1. Robert Hollen - 17th 1951, 7th 1952, 6th 1953 for 33 points.
2. Curtis Stone -  7th 1942, 2nd 1946 for 33 points.
3. Alan Scharsu - 19th 1979, 7th 1980, 6th 1981 for 31 points.
4. William Ashenfelter - 8th 1950, 4th 1951 for 30 points.
5. Eric Carter - 9th 1985, 4th 1987 for 29 points.
6. Gerald Karver - 9th 1942, 6th 1947 for 27 points,
7. Norman Gordon - 11th 1941, 5th 1942 for 26 points.
8. Horace Ashenfelter - 19th 1946, 2nd 1947 for 21 points.
9. Greg Fredericks - 4th 1970, 20th 1971 for 18 points.
10. Paul Stemmer - 5th 1975 for 16 points.
11. William Smith - 5th 1938 for 16 points.

And the New Top Ten Penn State Mens Cross Country Runners of All-Time:

1. Alan Scharsu - 19th 1979, 7th 1980, 6th 1981 for 22.2 points.
2. Greg Fredericks - 4th 1970, 20th 1971 for 17.9 points.
3. Eric Carter - 9th 1985, 4th 1987 for 17.1 points.
4. Paul Stemmer - 5th 1975 for 14.1 points.
5. Curtis Stone - 7th 1942, 2nd 1946 for 12.1 points.
6. Robert Hollen - 17th 1951, 7th 1952, 6th 1953 for 11.0 points.
7. Horace Ashenfelter - 19th 1946, 2nd 1947 for 10.5 points. 
8. Gerald Karver - 9th 1942, 6th 1947 for 10.0 points.
9. William Ashenfelter - 8th 1950, 4th 1951 for 9.6 points.
10. Robert Snyder - 9th in 1978 for 9.5 points.

Robert Snyder 1978.

Paul Stemmer 1975.

Alan Scharsu 1978.

Greg Fredericks 1970.

This Isn't The Right Way To Determine The Top Ten PSU Mens Cross Country Runners Of All-Time

In the spirit of the ole bar room arguments like "Who is the greatest baseball player of all-time?" (It's Pete Rose BTW!), I have concocted a ridiculous look back at the history of PSU Cross Country to try to determine the top echelon of runners.  These sorts of things are always subject to the vagaries and whims of whomever is defining the criteria.  Others can vehemently disagree.  Which is usually the whole point of the exercise.

The Criteria:

1. All PSU runners finishing in the top 20 of an NCAA Championship Meet are included.  This, of course skews the results toward the old-timers.  Back before 1973, any team could enter the race, and there were far fewer teams and runners overall. And it ignores someone who placed 21st in 4 straight Championships! Now that would be one Heck of a runner.
2. Points are awarded in a reverse order of their finish.  A 20th place finish is worth 1 point and a first place finish is worth 20 points.  This skews the results toward those that run in multiple NCAA Championships. But placing high still means the most.
3. Tiebreakers: a) # of appearances in NCAAs top 20 and  b) most recent to oldest.

The Results:

1. Robert Hollen* - 17th 1951, 7th 1952, 6th 1953 for 33 points.
2. Curtis Stone -  7th 1942, 2nd 1946 for 33 points.
3. Alan Scharsu - 19th 1979, 7th 1980, 6th 1981 for 31 points.
4. William Ashenfelter - 8th 1950, 4th 1951 for 30 points.
5. Eric Carter - 9th 1985, 4th 1987 for 29 points.
6. Gerald Karver - 9th 1942, 6th 1947 for 27 points,
7. Norman Gordon - 11th 1941, 5th 1942 for 26 points.
8. Horace Ashenfelter - 19th 1946, 2nd 1947 for 21 points.
9. Greg Fredericks - 4th 1970, 20th 1971 for 18 points.
10. Paul Stemmer - 5th 1975 for 16 points.
11. William Smith - 5th 1938 for 16 points. 

* Variously spelled Hellen, Holen and Hollen in each of the years results pages.  More information wanted!!

Alan Scharsu

Bill and HoraceAshenfelter, and Curt Stone

Curt Stone

An Oldie And A Goodie At A Different Belmont

This is brought to us from the garage museum of our great friend Mike Fanelli.  One of these days Mike will come golf with us and bring his Nittany Lion wife with him!  If the Olympic History was preserved by Coach Lucas, Mike has pretty much taken up everything else.  There seems to be no end to his vast archives!

As Larry Mangan points out, there are 3 Nittany Lions in the top 27 here:

•  Greg Fredericks, 4th
• Charles Maguire, 17th
• Paul Stemmer, 27th 

The rest of the names are a Who's Who listing of the golden era of Cross Country.  Be sure to peruse the listing for a few smiles.

Another Blast From The Past From Our Oregon Duck Friend On Boxing Day

Dan Martinez, our great Oregon Duck friend,  came across this pic in his perusal of track related stuff from yesteryear.  It's from the 1976 Olympic Trials. That's our PSU great Paul Stemmer and Gary Tuttle in the 10000M trials. Gary Tuttle finished 7th in the 10000M, the same as Greg Fredericks placed in the 5000M that year.

Paul Stemmer, 1976 10000M Olympic Trials.

Craig "Surgin" Virgin Has a Soft Spot In His Heart For Coach Groves

Steve Bratt sent along his saved listing of the finish of the 1975 NCAA Cross Country Championships.  That's the one hosted by PSU on the Blue Course.  Sort of a big day for Coach Groves, highlighting Penn State's resurgence as a running powerhouse.

This was the same event which featured a great duel between Craig Virgin and Nick Rose, with Craig taking the title with a big finish.

You'll notice that there was a top 5 finish for PSU with a great run by Paul Stemmer in 28:58!  In fact, Penn State finished 4th overall in the team standings.  Glancing through the results reveals some great names from the past littered throughout:

• Paul Cummings of Brigham Young in 7th  29:02
• David Merrick of Penn in 9th  29:05
• Herb Lindsay of Michigan State, 12th  29:10
• Tony Staynings of Western Kentucky, 13th  29:12
• John Treacy of Providence, 21st  29:19
• Bill Donakowski of Michigan, 23rd, 29:19
• Greg Meyer of Michigan, 29th  29:30
• Niall O'Shaughnessy of Arkansas, 38th  29:39
• Henry Marsh, Brigham Young, 77th  30:05
• Kenneth Wilson, Penn State, 80th  30:08
• George Christopher, Penn State, 125th 30:30 (PSU Marathon Record Holder)
• Craig Masback, Princeton,  143rd  30:40
• Walt Majak, Penn State, 144th  30:41 (fellow podiatrist and PCPM grad.)
• Ronald Secord, Penn State, 222nd, 31:28

Craig Virgin, Illinois and Nick Rose, Western Kentucky.

 I had the pleasure of speaking at length with Craig several years ago and he could not have been any nicer.  He was in the midst of his extensive rehab following his devastating head-on collision that ended his competitive running career.  He took to the rehab as hard as any workout he ever did.

When I related my PSU (shallow!) roots, he became quite animated and related that the 1975 NCAA XC race was one of his fondest running memories.  He really enjoyed his stay at the Nittany Lion Inn and marveled that he was able to wake up early for a shake out run after just crossing Atherton Street to the golf course.  Thank goodness he didn't sprain his ankle on the exposed roots!

But what he was most happy about was the reception that Coach Groves gave him during and after the race.  Craig related that in all the races he ran all over the world, the only one where he received a gift and hand-written letter afterward was from Coach Groves.  Craig framed the letter and has kept the Lion statuette that Coach sent him all these years. (I have lost mine BTW)  I'll keep trying to get Craig to attend a Coach Groves Golf Tourney as a surprise for Coach.

Director of Fun Still Bringing It

As we last brought you stuff from NYC's very own Teddy Quinn, he alerted us to some great photos of Bill Cox, a PSU runner in the 20's.  Bill was an Olympian even before traveling to the "middle of nowhere" in Central PA.  He was a member of the XC team in the 1924 Paris Games.

He also seems to have had a Sophomore Slump* (like me! Except mine lasted far, far longer...)

Bill Cox's Sophomore Slump

Teddy also has some great stuff from the "recent" 70's!

The 1973 Dream Mile was supposed to bring the first ever sub-4 mile to Rochester NY.  It pitted the follicle-challenged Dick Buerkle and the Olympic Gold Medalist Dave Wottle.  It also included Allegheny Community College star and future Nittany Lion, Paul Stemmer.

The result was a 4:00.6 mile with Buerkle edging out Wottle and a bicep-enhanced future Nittany Lion in 4th.

* I am betting that Bill met the future Mrs. Bill Cox just prior to this "slump".

Best Finish At The NCAA Championships Since 1976!

The PSU Men's team finished in 14th place at the NCAA Championships on the backs of Middle Distance stars Casimir Loxsom (2nd 800 M), Brannon Kidder (3rd 800 M) and Robby Creese (6th 1500 M).  That's the best finish since before my days at PSU in 1976.  That takes us back to the era of Mike Sands, Mike Shine, Paul Stemmer, and Knut Hjeltnes. Not a bad era at all!

Knut Hjeltnes, 4-time Olympian.

Mike Sands, 2-Time Olympian

Paul Stemmer, PSU Legend.

Mike Shine, Olympic Silver Medalist.

Coach Groves Going Strong

In a wide-ranging conversation on Sunday, it became obvious to me that Coach Groves is still going strong. In an effort to have Coach invite more attendees to our Golf Outing, I asked him to write a brief note that I can disseminate to all via electronic means. At first, he was on a walk, and he had to call me back later. He is in good form, and is looking forward to our tournament "as long as nothing else better comes up".

Our conversation drifted onto many topics, including bathrooms around the word (ask me about China sometime!), football, other alums, knee problems and hundreds more. He even divulged that he tried to recruit Al Cantello out of Norristown High, in the 1950's, despite his terrible form (and world record!)! Al has been Coach at Navy since time began, so that's saying something. He told me how he got Frank Zarnowski into Track announcing which led to his second career as the world's decathlon expert. (Frank is actually an economy professor at Mount St. Mary's in Maryland.) He also related that Paul Stemmer has been an assistant Coach at South Alabama the past several years.

Coach has his short irons and putter (or he'll use Clark Haley's second set again) ready for the tourney. He also has the updated Queensbury Rules book available for that tricky par 5 hole with the bird house. Bribes and under-the-table payments are being accepted to be included in Coach's foursome this year. I have taken myself out of the running since I shared a cart with him last year. So I might as well make money off it, right?

I'll email a copy of Coach's screed soon, and I'll encourage everyone to spread it around like the viruses we got in college after leaving the window open.

An Apparent Skwilli Fantasy: Jumbo Elliott Thwarted on a Junior High Track??

The year was 1978 and the schedule said PSU was to have a dual meet against the mighty Villanova Wildcats, coached by the legendary Jumbo Elliott. The only problem was, PSU no longer had a track due to the renovations on Beaver Stadium. Sprinters and field event athletes had to get a ride to practice that year, and the distance runners had a longer warm-up and warm-down for workouts. It didn't stop PSU from excelling, however.

Westerly Parkway Junior High School became the scene for the "Battle of the Titans", pitting Elliott against Coach Groves in a winner take all, steel-cage grudge match (a grudge match anyway!) Seemingly outmanned, PSU had lost distance star Paul Stemmer the previous year (I hope to graduation!*) The remaining stars were mostly young scholarship athletes or up-and-coming walk-ons. With perennial Penn Relays distance medley and 4x800 stars Don Paige and Mark Belger, as well as nationally known newcomer Anthony Tufariello, Villanova had a seeming edge in the middle-distance races. They also had an edge in the shorter races and in the field events, especially the pole vault. Two 17-foot vaulters towered over the 15-foot vaulters of PSU.

When the sprinters, hurdlers (Paul Lankford) and field men outperformed their Villanova rivals and the middle-distance and distance runners held their own, it all came down to the final event, the pole vault. When the rain started in the middle of the meet, many payed it no mind. The Villanova vaulters, however, found the slippery conditions too much to handle and no-heighted. The PSU vaulters, in turn, vaulted their usual 15 foot heights, winning the meet and sending the wildcats back to the Main Line with their tails between their legs.**


**Details may be out of order, or hopelessly confused by a college freshman's poor recollection. Actually, everything is in dispute. I may not even have the year or the opponent correct. Numerous inquiries with teammates have led me nowhere. Can anyone help us out? Reliable sources say Maryland with Nehemiah came to town, but probably in 1977 when I was still in high school. I distinctly remember Anthony T. and I wouldn't know him otherwise.