Murder At The Penn State Track! And More Roommate Pictures

A suspect is still at large in the Tuesday murder of the large tree at the entrance to the PSU Outdoor Track Facility.  An All Points Bulletin has been issued and the suspect is thought to be in hiding in either Greece or Italy.  Zeus (aka Jupiter) struck the tree with a lightning bolt under the cover of darkness during a storm.  Penn State authorities had to put  the tree down the following day.  A replacement will not be available for approximately 60 years.

Photo by Course Marshall Greg Fredericks.

Photo by Golden Putter Attendant Greg Fredericks.

 And our Oregon Duck connection Dan Martinez sent me some additional photos of Alan Scharsu from Walt Chadwick's wonderful vintage track photo site.  Bon Appetit.

Indoor Season Beckons

I've had a little meme going for a while now.  I preview the next season with some vintage photos of yesteryear.  But I may be running out of vintage photos!  I need new submissions or I'll have to start recycling more than my empty Mountain Dew containers.

Anyway, here's some photos from some indoor races from the 70's.  As always, wonderful prizes will be won by those naming the participants.  Extra credit for the name of the facilities and the exact year.

I'm hoping to entice a large contingent of PSU Track Alumni Golfers to the Penn State National Indoor Meet on January 31/February 1.  Maybe a special edition Wrist Band will be available!

All photos from Group Friend Walt Chadwick.

Cross Country Season Is Here!

Some splendid archive black and white beauties from the vault of Group Friend Walt Chadwick:

Greg Fredericks in the lead.

Charlie Maguire close behind.

I have numerous minions out trying to identify Alums on several other photos that have come my way.  Hope to bring them soon. Anyone with info on the location of this meet can chime in!

Blog minions.

It's Penn Relays Week! Coach Groves' Birthday Too!

Chris Mills to Randy Moore, 1985.

Randy Moore at 400 M with Miles Irish trailing.

Funny how a 1:45.5 leg reduced Miles Irish to a distant shadow!

Greg Fredericks, circa 1972.

Greg Fredericks, circa 1972.

All photos are courtesy of Walt Chadwick, our great friend and historian.  Visit his web site for more vintage photos.  There are more coming from our incredible sources!

Let's Call Him Employee 1A

There is an article in the Running Times about Nike's (Blue Ribbon Sports, actually) very first employee.  Jeff Johnson became a very rich man and retired at 41, but you wouldn't know that if you met him.  In fact, you might think he was on the other end of the economic spectrum.

Quoted extensively in the article is Honorary Penn State Track and Field Alumni Golfer Walt Chadwick, another early Nike employee at their east coast Exeter NH facility. His connections with Penn State are quite extensive, from Kathy Mills and Mark Parker to Coach John Lucas.  You've heard from him many times on this blog and his photos (taken by Jeff himself) are available throughout the pages of our humble site.  You can see more all the time at his web site. It's the place to go for Pre photos! And I'm pretty sure he'll also golf with us someday!

Alumni Are Active All Around

1.  Tyler McCandless won the Iwaki Sunshine Marathon in Japan over the weekend.  Tough conditions and a challenging course, just like the Japanese like them. Get a glimpse of his finish in this video.

2.  Fawn Dorr placed third in the Millrose Games 400 M with a season best.

Watch more videos on Flotrack

3. Ryan Whiting won the Shot Put at the USATF Meet at Arkansas to take the lead in the overall Championship Point Race.

4. Group Friend Walt Chadwick supplied a great photo (by Jeff Johnson) for a LetsRun Memorial of Nike's third-ever employee Geoff Hollister. I bought many pairs of running shoes out of the trunk of a car, just as Geoff originally marketed the original Nike's from Blue Ribbon Sports. RIP

5. Ryan Foster will lace up the spikes representing Tasmania (and PSU Alumni!) against Craig Mottram in the 1500 M at the Sydney Classic

"Last Chance" and the Holy Grail!

There were several great performances this weekend at the "Last Chance" meet in Notre Dame.  PSU Men's 4 x 400 Relay squad won the race with a splendid 3:07.27.  Aaron Nodolsky, Lionel Williams, Brady Gehret and Casimir Loxsom set the PSU School Record with the effort.  Both Gehret and Loxsom had sub-46 second splits!  (Casimir also had a sub-1:46 effort in the 800 M the night before in the Distance Medley Relay.)

Caitlin Lane also lit the track on fire on Friday night with her come-from-behind victory in the mile with a 4:38.47 time over the distance.  This places her second all-time at PSU, behind only Bridget Franek, now running for Nike.

But the Big News is I have finally found my Holy Grail!  This is all thanks to our Official Photograph Supplier and Friend of the Group Walt Chadwick.  For two years we have scoured the digital and film archives all over the world.  (Actually I just kept pestering everyone I knew to find them.)  But we have finally come up with museum-quality prints of the 1985 4 X 800  PSU victory at Penn Relays (7:11.17!).  These will be unveiled at the next Harry Groves Golf Outing and Reunion Friday Night Reception.  We will also have an extensive catalog of vintage PSU prints to peruse of both Men and Women PSU Tracksters. This is just a hint of the black and white goodness that was that epic run...

Recruiting is an Inexact Science!

 

The day John Lucas finished 11th in the 1952 Olympic Trials in the 10,000 M was a momentous occasion.  Not making the team,  (with Group idol Horace Ashenfelter III !), made him devote his life to researching and documenting the Modern Olympic Games.  The love affair has continued ever since, leading to his attaining the highest honor given by the IOC, the Olympic Order Gold Medal.

Dr. Lucas has been a honored professor of Kinesiology, winning many Teacher of the Year Awards, as well as the Cross-Country and Track Coach from 1962-1968.  He was replaced by Coach Harry Groves after he decided to pursue his Olympics documentation more completely.  That year, a certain Freshman began his tenure at PSU, recruited by Dr. Lucas.  Coach Groves admits he wouldn't have bothered with the skinny kid from near Reading, with him being "way too slow". He was stuck with him anyway, and the rest is Olympic History....

Dr. Lucas is shown above showing Walt Chadwick, another Historian,  his extensive Olympic Chronicles, the largest in the world outside the Official IOC Archives.

Old School Nike Goodness and Keeper of the Golden Putter at Hayward Field?

Our Official Photo Supplier and Track Historian, Walt Chadwick, has sent me these two old Nike Prototype photos from the days of yore.  First up is their initial Astroturf Shoe.  Second is the prototype for the LDV, discussed previously, taking width to gargantuan proportions.  Walt relates that he ran in a lot of prototypes, but not these.  I'll bet his lower extremities are grateful for that!



And he also sent me this old-school photo of Keeper of the Golden Putter, Greg Fredericks at Hayward Field, I believe (?).  Great form as always.

 

Stop by Walt's website for some good vintage (and other) Track/XC photos.  A great gift idea this time of year.  He will have some early 80's PSU/Penn Relays beauties for this year's Reunion if the stars align properly!  Can't wait. 

And here's another shot of Hayward Field we all know and love.  That's it in the background as Otter tees off and beans Niedermeyer (Dead Man) on the helmet.  Look fast or you'll miss it!

Greg Fredericks 11" X 17" Photos

At the Friday Night Reunion prior to the Harry Groves Golf Tourney, Greg Fredericks was honored for his contributions to PSU Track (and his tireless efforts for our group!).  Those contributing $20 to our web site and future activities received a signed photo from Greg of either his 1968 IC4A XC victory as a FRESHMEN or at the start of the 1980 Olympic Trials 10000 M race in which he was second to Craig Virgin.  These are just low resolution portions of both photos (which are trademarked by Walt Chadwick at runmoremiles.com).

We hope to obtain more great vintage photos for next year, with mid-1980's Penn Relays as a possibility, as Walt extends his digitized world.  Anyone wishing a copy of the great 11" X 17" photos (which Greg may even sign for you when you come to our Reunion next year!) can obtain one from Walt's website for $12.95 with $3 for shipping.  There are many additional great photos of yesteryear's stars, like John Walker, Bill Rodgers, Joan Benoit and Steve Prefontaine.  Cards, notepads etc. are also available for you obsessed running buffs out there!

"Morale is High"

-Coach Harry Groves, commenting on his day spent on the drink cart on the Elks Club Course with Amber.

Saturday night was the night to celebrate Coach Groves' 80th birthday at the Awards dinner.  The great cake was arranged by Nick K. The one-armed hockey player, Steve Balkey arranged for the drink cart escort for Coach.  Turn out was excellent for the ribs and chicken dinner.  Next year, the idiot officers will be organized and make sure to have even more grub available.  We can return to Damon's if they fix their air-conditioning unit!  I'll be reviewing the award winners at some point this week, but now I'm just trying to recover from the whirlwind of activity.

Friday night was a night to honor PSU great Greg Fredericks.  I didn't let that out on the blog like I did for coach, as I realized Greg, unlike Coach, actually knows how to use the "intertubes". I didn't want to spoil the surprise of the great photo supplied from Terry Losch at Rapid Transit.

The photo is from a great collection of running photos at runmoremiles.com, run by a great friend of the group, Walt Chadwick.  Copies of the 11 X 17" posters are available for just $12.95 and $3.00 shipping.  I have a signed copy of each on the wall in my new treadmill room.  There are many vintage pics from the "olden days" available (maybe I should say "golden days"?).  I hope to try for some mid-eighties versions next year (hint, hint,  PSU is 800 U).