Coach Groves Improving

I had Greg Fredericks pass along my best wishes to Coach Groves in the hospital.  Which he did.  AND sent along this pic of Coach and Gunny.  He relates that Coach salutes all of us alums.

My personal joke to Coach was letting him know how lucky he is that Mrs. Black is here in York with me, rather than his nurse there again!

Cross Country and Track Have Outlasted Saturday Morning Cartoons!

The reports of the demise of Cross Country and Track and Field in the US are premature!

Both Cross Country and Track have outlasted Saturday Morning Cartoons, at least.  The kids today don't even know what they are missing.  A morning in PJs eating chocolate-frosted sugar bombs and watching super-heroes defeat foes only slightly less ridiculous than today's terrorists was a staple of the American Dream.

But no more. 

Saturday Morning Broadcast TV Cartoons RIP September 27, 2014

And our political betters are gunning for the cereal next.  It will be gluten-free kale flakes with almond milk for the future generations while watching State-run propaganda films in the work camps while the village elders break rocks.  Or something.

Cross Country Is a Great Sport

Actually, as pure a sport as there is.  A lone, individual effort, transformed into a very nice team sport with a scoring system easy enough to understand and yet complicated enough to be interesting.

I have been to many levels of the sport so far this year:

• Junior High/Middle School practice
• High School Junior Varsity races
• High School Dual Meets
• High School Invitationals
• Division III Invitationals
• Division II Invitationals
• University Club Meets and Invitationals
• Open Invitationals

And I'll soon be visiting Happy Valley for a Division I Invitational the same day as the Penn State University Athletic Conference Championships.

Yesterday I saw several races at the Carlisle High School Invitational in Carlisle, PA.  There were more than 100 teams there from Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, New Jersey and  New York.  And that's the States I'm sure about.  There may be more!  All of them converged on a high school in the middle of Carlisle, PA!  There were 7 separate races run, one of which had more than 500 runners. (217, 356, 189, 527, 157, 397, 435 for a total of 2,278 runners!)  Go ahead, I know someone will check my math...  My daughter's team placed 2nd 4th in the whole meet! (The Boys team did get 2nd overall!)

1/4 of the start of the Girls JV race. Freshman Daughter the Younger somewhere to the left... the same slot that the PSU Alumni team will have at the Penn State National!

Just the first of 7 races.

 Penn State Track and Field Alumni Golfers were there in force, but I only had the opportunity to see a few because there were so many people.  (Yogi Berra would say "You can't see anyone, there are too many people!")  But I did run into Artie Gilkes and Rebecca Donaghue, coaching the State College High School Little Lions.  Artie has been hired as my personal security force for the next golf outing also.  He's bringing the foil.

Artie "Knuckles" Gilke

Rebecca Donaghue

Literally, a 1/10th of the buses involved.

Artie had come from spending time with Coach Groves at his hospital room on Friday.  He assures me Coach is feisty and they won't be able to keep him long.  All of us at the blog with it all are wishing him a speedy recovery.

Vote For Penn State Track's Mount Rushmore! And Stop Sniffing Glue!

The poll is up on the left sidebar.  Vote for 4 from all the nominations, which are listed in the order in which they came.

And in the olden days, because money was tight, I used Shoe Goo to get a few more miles out of all my running shoes.  Anyone else?

Well, it's still around, but only those over 18 years-old are allowed to purchase it.  With one kid in college, I'm going back to using it again!

A Long Needed Update on the Blog

I'm not talking about the look or content.  Growing up in German-influenced Central Pennsylvania, I hate change for change's sake.  (I'm heading from this post to the New Eastern Market, a Farmer's Market which was built in 1956!)  The very same look, cramped style and hopefully mirthful content will continue as is. 

But there are plenty of things on the horizon for us.  I thank my muses, both named and unnamed, for steering me in a direction I might not otherwise take. Even my critics have helped immensely with this.  This started as my personal blog, and to an exten, it still is.  But newcomers and "old-comers" alike have transformed it into something on the brink of something better. Thanks to all of you!  I hope more of you will help.  Simple stories, photos, videos, quotes, and just thoughts are appreciated.  I can't believe all the stuff people send me.  Send more!

Hopeful enhancements in the future:

• Original reporting, with real stories and real input into the workings of Penn State Track and Field/XC.  Every one of us has the potential to help the present and future. We'll have representation at future media days for the team and multiple events.
• A re-entry into the Podcast Field.  I have several ideas and guests already lined up.  The pressures of a professional occupation, new college offspring, and high school offspring have made it difficult to pull the trigger on these.  Those will high pressure jobs, kids, or both, will know what I'm talking about. But I'm getting closer.  Fair warning to those I've contacted.  I hope to interview a wide range of people on their track careers, their present lives and their hopes for the future.  I'm pretty sure all of you will find them as fascinating as I do.
• I hope to enhance our revenue somewhat.  Costs of some of the services we depend on have risen to several hundred dollars a year.  I hope to encourage some to click on the ads on our web site and possibly even become a consumer of some goods and services.  We have made about $50 a year without ever really pushing it, so we could probably up that to $150 to $200 a year with little effort. (All monies raised go directly to upkeep on those blog expenses. I have never used the funds for anything personal after the $4 donation I was instructed to get a Wendy's chicken sandwich with!) I strictly adhere to the terms of the ad service and don't click myself to artificially raise some revenue.  I'm an idiot that way.  But the rest of you can click away.  It is secure and if your personal security settings are even at the Normal level, there is no risk of nefarious things happening. Some of the advertisers are entities you already have used in the real world.  Of course, you can always donate to the group at any time on the right sidebar.
• Our Group Store will be enhanced some time soon.  A new logo without the word golf will be commissioned soon.   That should help entice a wider range of clientele. This can help the revenue a bit too.
• Continue to support our USATF/Mid-Atlantic team Penn State Track and Field Alumni.
• I'm also up for any suggestions and recommendations from anyone.

Who Belongs on the Mount Rushmore of Penn State Track?

Via comments, make your nominations for inclusion on the mountain monument of the 4 greatest Penn State Track greats.  Make as many nominations as you wish and we will vote later.  We'll worry about commissioning a sculptor later.

Call To The Hall

In his first year of eligibility Vince McNally as been inducted into the Conestoga Valley High School Athletic Hall of Fame. Of course that comes as a surprise to no one.

From the schools press release.

"McNally graduated from CV in 2008 after earning eight varsity letters in cross-country and track. While running for the Bucks, he was a bronze medalist in the 1600m at the PIAA State Meet his sophomore year, a silver medalist his junior year and a gold medalist his senior year. He was also a member of the State Championship 3200m relay team in 2005. McNally received All-State Honors four times.
After high school, he competed in cross-country races for Penn State University. In 2009, he was voted MVP of his Nittany Lions Squad. He was selected to three All Big Ten Teams and was named to the NCAA All-Regional Team four times. Throughout his collegiate career, his race times qualified him for the National NCAA Cross Country Meet."

Vince's arrival at Penn State, in my opinion, helped revive the cross country program and put the school back on the radar for many of PA's top high school runners. He was a key cog in two national championship qualifying teams and he competed at the NCAA Cross Country Championships all four years of his career.

Vince and his high school coach.

P.S. I would like to hear his acceptance speech. I'm sure it was a doozy.
 

 

UPDATE (7:19 PM) - The acceptance speech has been found

 

The Biggest and Most Stupendous Alumni Singlet and T-Shirt Sale Yet*

*With Your Help!  Please forward this post to your friends who don't know about it!   Order Here!

Now that about 120 members have one, we need to turn things up a notch.  Not only should you have one, you should also have a workout shirt (or 2!).  So fill out the form and get started.

Remember, this isn't a store and all of us have real jobs, more or less.  So this is how the whole procedure goes down:

This workout tee-shirt comes with the same lettering as the singlet above.

1. You order a shirt on the on-line form I have so conveniently placed on this post and at the top of the whole web site.  Fill out all the fields, your info is secure.  I actually pay to have an up-to-date form site that fills our needs and provides good security.  None of your info is used except for fulfillment of your order!
2. There are 3 styles of shirts available:  Mens (white shirt/blue lettering)  Womens (blue shirt/white lettering.  This shirt is more complicated with built in bra, etc.) T-Shirt (white dry fit fabric with blue lettering, like the Mens Singlet.)  Each shirt has a PSU "S" on the back collar, reflective trim and dri-fit fabric. It has been pointed out how great the t-shirt is even if you don't work out.  Like I always say, "The golf is optional..." Maybe I should add, "The workout is always optional..."
3. No monies are required when ordering.  We will consolidate the orders over several weeks and then order the shirts to save money by buying in bulk.  We will get monies prior to disbursement and you will be contacted. costs are around $45 dollars as of the last order.
4. The shirts will then be taken to the State College shirt maker and finished.
5. Remember to include your last year or graduation year with your order!
6. There is a new block to fill with questions, general queries, scorn or adulation.  If you have questions about sizing etc. ask them here.
7. Patience is a virtue, just like mom said. We'll get back to you. Orders will be taken for several weeks.

The Pattee Library Murder: 45-Year Mystery

The Pattee stacks as I remember them.

As Halloween approaches we will be inundated by many "ghost stories" and murder mysteries in the effort to sell cheesy lawn decorations and costumes.  But in reality, Penn State has had its own real murder mystery which has remained unsolved for 45 years.

I was once taken to the site of the murder in the stacks of Pattee Library.  I have no way of knowing if it was really the place where Betsy Aardsma was murdered, but it was still creepy enough.  The youngsters today have the benefit of hours-on-end of CSI programs to refer to when analyzing such events.  But the cops of the day were unprepared for the whole thing and thoroughly bungled the entire investigation. A murderer escaped justice entirely.

There have been several books on the subject and a new one purports to reveal the killer once and for all. And here's a trailer for the full-length feature film that debuted in State College this past Winter.





And another Penn State Murder from 1996 on the HUB Lawn...

Another Vintage Pic From 1972

Following yesterday's vintage Women's team picture, i thought I'd post a Men's team photo to kind of balance things out.  Our Left Coast and Oregon Duck friend Dan Martinez came through in the nick of time with this beauty.  I've seen the pic before, but not on the cover!

And the internettie thingie again led me back to this one, which was reposted from our very own blog some time ago!

1975 AAU Champs. in Annapolis MD, 4 PSU alums in top 17.

50 Years of Women's Sports at PSU

The celebration is on in Happy Valley this weekend.  It's been 50 years since Women's Sports blossomed at Penn State.  Congrats to everyone.  Send some pics our way if you are there!

To highlight the festivities, here's a pic from the intertubes I came across yesterday.*  I think I know 4 of the PSU runners, but I'm not going to risk the embarrassment of failure and the scorn of my detractor(s) by posting them.  Let's all chime in and fill in the names via the comments!

*These youngsters were not around at the beginning of PSU Women's sports. This is approximately 1979-80??? 1982 (Missed it by thaaaat much.)

Off-Season Enjoyment

Interview from SPIKES with new outdoor 1000 meter alumni record holder (he also has the indoor and outdoor 800 records) Casimir Loxsom. Fellow Brooks Beast training partner Garett Heath also answer questions about some behind the scenes events and what they have planned for the off-season break.

Via SPIKES

Doh!