These Guys Were Coach Groves' First Athletes

Phil Peterson sent me this pic of the 1968XC season.

• #1: Al Sheaffer
• #7: Phil Peterson
• between #1 and #7: Jeff Deardorff
• Glasses: Ray Smith
• far left: Steve Gentry
• Others in back: Art Knapp and Joe Witkowski

We need stories from this year from any of them.  The personality change in coaches from John Lucas to Harry Groves must have been something like a 7.0 Earthquake.  With Coach Groves' Army background, the turbulent late 60's with protests and anti-war sentiment must have been a volatile mix.

And don't forget to order your "Official" Alumni singlet or T-shirt

Memory Lane: Part 1

Thanks to our Course Marshall, we have pics of every Coach Groves' Cross Country team through the ages.  And since I have been posting sparsely this year, it seems that they would make an easy post that everyone will enjoy.

So here's Coach Groves' very first Cross Country team in 1968!

My notes: (please add your own!)

• Great benefactor and York County native Dick Geiger looking good!
• Coach Groves looking youthful, but serious.
• Steve Gentry with a mischevious grin!
• Long-time Lock Haven Coach Jim Dolan as Assistant Coach (Freshman Coach)
• Assistant Coach Warren Coleman (PSU's first ever African American Coach!) 
• I didn't see group member Phil Peterson at first!!  Sorry about that.

A Centre County Legend

Steve Gentry

Steve Gentry was recently inducted into the Centre County Sports Hall of Fame. Gentry won two PIAA cross country championships and in track he was a champion and a runner-up in the mile, was second in the half-mile and anchored the winning 4x800 relay team for State College. He was second at the National Indoor Championship mile.

At Penn State he earned three letters in cross country and three in track.

Let's All Finish Coach Groves' Scholarship

We are close enough to get it finished before Coach Groves' next birthday in April and certainly before the next Track Alumni Reunion and Coach Groves Golf Tournament!

Co-Administrator Larry Mangan has spearheaded the effort to find donors willing to match every donation made by the rest of us and complete the funding of a full tuition scholarship for an athlete in the Program.

So that means each of us must step up to make it happen.  Every single donation you make will be matched by 13 special members of our group up to a level of $2500.  We must not let this opportunity slip by.  Please consider adding to the effort, share this post and spread the word to everyone you know in our Universe.  It will make our next get-together a real hootenanny and bring a smile to Coach Groves' face!

Our Premier Benefactors: 

• Joe DeStefano  (1971)
• Carol and Steve Gentry  (1969)
• Hugh and Yunhee Hamill  (1976)
• Chris Herr  (1985)
• Doug Kent  (1980)
• Todd Leggett  (1984)
• Larry Mangan  (1981)
• Todd Shenk  (1984)
• Rod Stahl  (1991)
• Bob Radzwich  (1992)
• Tom Shiffer  (1987) 
• Doug Walter  (1990)
• Don and Lynn Ziter  (1981)

September 5, 2017

Dear Fellow Track & Field/Cross Country Alumni:

We hope you had an enjoyable summer and are getting ready for the upcoming 2017-2018 Penn State Cross Country and Track & Field seasons. The women’s and men’s programs are perennial B1G favorites, fueled by spectacular individual accomplishments and a great coaching staff. Based on the turn out for the 2017 Big Ten Championships in May, the alumni are really energized and engaged.

The alumni listed below, from a variety of decades in Penn State history and a mix of walk-ons and scholarship athletes, are hoping to capture that energy by taking the lead and asking you to join them to meet a challenge! Coach Harry Groves’ scholarship fund needs approximately $55,000 in donations to exceed the $300,000 necessary to partially endow the position scholarship, which would provide $15,000 in annual tuition support to a student athlete.

The challenge is this – we have pledged to support Coach Groves’ scholarship in the amount of $30,500 to match alumni contributions of that amount (hopefully more)! We ask you to donate what you can in support of our goal to get Coach’s scholarship over the $300,000 hurdle! We are in the homestretch, can you help to get us over the finish line?

Coach will turn 88 in April 2018 and we would love to present him with an early birthday present, and add to his great legacy, before the end of this year. We know from Greg Fredericks that Coach is excited about this effort. Please join us in meeting this very important goal. Thank you and We are…..Penn State!

Please send donations made payable to: Penn State University, noting the Harry Groves Track/XC Scholarship (GIXGH) in the memo portion of your check, at 147 Bryce Jordan Center, University Park, PA 16802. If you have any questions, please call Kirk Diehl of the Varsity S Club at 814-867-2202.

If you would like to give online, you may do so at: https://secure.ddar.psu.edu/s/1218/nlclub/nlclub.aspx?sid=1218&gid=1&pgid=826&cid=3234&dids=633&bledit=1 and then type in GIXGH in the fund area below the amount you select.
Thank you.

Joe DeStefano (’71) Carol & Steve Gentry (’69) Hugh & Yunhee Hamill (‘76) Chris Herr (’85)
Doug Kent (’80) Todd Leggett (’84) Larry Mangan (’81) Todd Shenk (’84)
Rod Stahl (’91) Bob Radzwich (’92) Tom Shiffer (’87) Doug Walter (’90)
Don & Lynn Ziter (’81)

A Follow-Up On Penn State's Highest Honor, With a Tuxedo!

So far, a photo of Greg Fredericks in a tuxedo has eluded me, but I did receive at least one pic with a tuxedo in it, and another couple with a bunch of Penn State Greats NOT wearing tuxedos.

Bob Hillman receives his Distinguished Alumnus Award, in a tuxedo.

Bob and Greg visit Coach Groves.

Penn State Greats, Gary Gittings, Bob Hillman, Steve Gentry and Greg Fredericks, not in a tuxedo.

The Coach/Athlete Relationship Is Complex

 It's a small world.  And one with way more than just 50 shades of gray.

Turns out Tim Johnson's dad  Jim Johnson ran for coach Jackson Horner and Assistant Coach Steve Gentry with a PSU teammate of mine, Bill Kvashay.  And he kept a detailed journal of his thoughts at the time. Tim shared some of them with me, pointing out the complexities of the coach/athlete dynamic.  Old-school philosophies may be few and far between nowadays, but I'm not sure that's a good thing...

"This journal obviously was written by an eleventh-grader, notably expressing the self-absorption of any teenager then or now. But it definitely expresses the emotions, both good and bad, of a teenager striving for personal and team success."   -Jim Johnson.

Anyone who takes half an hour to state who will go to the following day’s meet should not be heralded as a speaker, but there we all were, huddled around him, even those who knew they had no chance of making the meet. Jackson Horner is a good coach, an extremely good coach, as his record at State College High will attest. The whole track team can respect him as a coach. Why is it then that everybody fears him? During the season he probably affects our lives more than our family. We even feel nervous eating a doughnut if there is a chance he is around, even though there are no rules about eating on our team. Many conversations between teammates are about his bad points, but constant glances over the shoulder show that he is not forgotten. One thing every team member tries to avoid is getting into a talking match with him. As far as we know, the record is held by Jon Forster, with a discussion concerning student activities besides track; the talk lasted about forty-five minutes while the rest of us were jogging around an ice-covered track. Acting as a kind of buffer between the team and Horner is [assistant coach] Steve Gentry. He will joke with us about Horner when he is not there. However, when Bill Halpenny, a slightly built but good runner wanted to quit and told Mr. Gentry to tell Horner, Gentry wouldn’t do it. (After trying to get other team members tell Horner, Halpenny called Horner about a week later. Horner gave him a half-hour lecture and hung up.) Thus one can get a glimpse of the terror Horner installs in his runners and even his sub-coaches. 

Horner once was a state champion in the mile and a Golden Gloves boxing champ, but has since deteriorated physically. He still is pretty loose and spry, but has gained a large number of inches on his waistline, which Gentry refers to as the “Horner pot.” Horner still has enough left in him to chase his runners around the track a short distance, hitting or pushing them if they are not running to his liking. When Horner is mad, everyone watches out. On one indoor track day my sophomore year, as he came walking up to the track, the whole track team was kicking around a soccer ball. (The addition of Tom Szlega and other members of the “half track” men made things a little looser.) Horner ran up to the soccer ball and grabbed it. At first we though he was kidding, but all of us caught the evil glint in his eye. He got ready to kick the a thousand miles away, gave a mighty swish of his foot, missed the ball, and and landed flat on his back in the snow. All at once, each member of the team turned away and laughed, some out loud. Horner turned on Bill Dixon, a devoted runner who gave everything he had every race. It was the only time I ever saw Horner yell at Bill Dixon. Very luckily the track was snow covered and the only words Horner said to us after that were “Get jogging” and “Go on down.”

 Today was Altoona. Altoona didn’t have enough guys to run two races, so everyone ran in the varsity race. During the race, two guys stole some of our warmup fleece. While the team went to the school to get dressed, Horner was following a chain of witnesses beginning with a little boy on a bicycle. When we again met up with Horner and asked about the boys that took the fleece, Horner replied, “I scared the sh*t out of them.” With the aid of the Altoona coach, he got our fleece back. (Yea, Horner.)

"The stories about horner that my dad shared with me are what framed my own understanding of my own high school coach, and then Coach Groves." - Tim Johnson. 

Nittany Lions From the PIAA List of Past Cross Country Champions

I have tried to put together a list of current and former Nittany Lions who have joined the Cross Country team after winning a PIAA State Championship.  I probably don't have a complete list.  If anyone knows of those I missed, please chime in! (The list has been amended to include those I missed and submitted via the comments. Thanks to the anonymous supporter and RMH!)

1963 Boys’ AAA  Steve Gentry 11  State College. 10:36  (Pennsylvania State University)

1964 Boys’ AAA Steve Gentry  12 State College 10:25.2 (Pennsylvania State University)

1968 Boys’ AAA Jim Allahand 12 Bensalem  12:40 (Pennsylvania State University)

1975 Girls’ AA Mary Rawe  11 Camp Hill    12:28 (Pennsylvania State University)

            1976 Girls’ AAA Kathy Byrnes 12 North Allegheny 13:06.6.(Pennsylvania State University)

1977 Boys’ AAA  Gary Black  12  State College 15:09.4 (Pennsylvania State University)

1978  Boys’ AA  Mike Cook  12 Troy  15:26.8 (Pennsylvania State University)

1980  Boys’ AA Mark Overheim 12  General McLane 10  15:50.7 (Lehigh University)

1982 Boys’ AAA  Eric Carter 11 Penn Hills   15:38.2  (Lehigh University)

1984 Boys’ AAA Steve Brown 12  North Hills   15:44.9 (Lehigh University)

1985 Boys’ AAA  Doug Walter  12  Chambersburg   15:38.14 (Lehigh University)

1986 Boys’ AAA Ron Moore 12 Hempfield Area  15:33.2 (Pennsylvania State University)

1989 Boys’ AAA  Bob Hamer  12  Council Rock 15:37.98 (Lehigh University)

1995 Boys’ AAA  Chris McGinness 12  Abington 15:48.15 (Pennsylvania State University)

2001 Boys’ AAA Daniel Mazzocco 12 Baldwin 16:03.0 (Hersheypark Stadium White Field)

2011 Boys’ AAA Conner Quinn 11  Hatboro-Horsham 16:03 (Parkview XC Course, Hershey)

            2012 Boys’ AAA Tony Russell 11  W. C. Henderson  15:45 (Parkview XC Course, Hershey)

2013 .Girls’ AAA Tessa Barrett 12  Abington Heights 17:30 (Parkview XC Course, Hershey)

2013 Girls’ AA Elizabeth Chikotas 12 Saucon Valley  18:43 (Parkview XC Course, Hershey)

            2013  Boys’ AAA  Tony Russell 12  W. C. Henderson 15:49 (Parkview XC Course, Hershey)

Another Gem From the Past

Our William and Mary (and State College High!) connection Brian Mount sends us this great photo from the 1967 PSU Cross country Team just prior to the IC4A Meet.

Coach Lucas and the 1967 Squad.

Included in the photo is Jim Dixon (kneeling on the left) and Steve Gentry (kneeling on the right).  I especially like the Coach Lucas' Spy vs. Spy look!