What town are you from? High school and college attended? Major in college? Did you run or play any other sports in college and growing up?Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I attended Wilkinsburg High School, in Wilkinsburg, PA. I earned my bachelor’s degree in Health and Physical Education at Slippery Rock State College (now University), and my master’s degree in Physical Education at Springfield College, in Springfield, Massachusetts. I ran cross country at Slippery Rock, but my major sport there was swimming. Freestyle was my event Where do you reside now? What do/did you do for work before/after coaching the TSC team?Yardley, PA. I spent summers as a life guard before and during college, and I coached Springfield College’s cross country team while working on my master’s degree. We took 2nd place in the New England cross country championships. I spent nine summers at Clearpool Camp in Carmel, NY, where I served as the Senior Program Director, and I was the Aquatic Director and life guard for one year. I also served as the Director at the nearby Heinz Camp for underprivileged teenage boys from the city (Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, Newark, Jersey City). The camp gave them an opportunity to get out of a bad environment and kept them out of trouble. I also taught summer school for quite a few years, and I ran the pool at the Old York Country Club for two years. I was a member of the faculty in TSC’s Physical Education Department for 36 years, where I taught Anatomy and Physiology, Kinesiology, Physiology of Exercise, Swimming, Introduction to Health, Track and Field, and Statistics. While teaching, I was in charge of intramural swimming and all other intramural sports (soccer, flag football, basketball, softball). Intramural swimming transitioned into the men’s swim team in 1967, which I coached until 1970 when I took over the track team. I also coached the women’s swim team for three years, and I was the track and field coach for 25 years (1970 through 1994). In my retirement, I still putter around the yard and exercise my green thumb, and I have continued my love of record collecting - primarily 78 rpm records. What’s your favorite memory from TSC and the team?Making it to the NAIA Nationals in 1967 (Omaha, Nebraska). That was the only time to date that a full men’s cross country team made it to the Nationals. Prior to the 1967 season, starting in 1965, I recruited many freshmen, which involved sending out a lot of letters, and it paid off in ‘67. Do you still follow the team? What are some moments that interest you or get you excited?Not recently because the Trenton Times does not cover the team. I haven’t followed the team since Steve Dolan left for Princeton. Steve used to keep in touch, but since he left, I’ve lost track. I always watch the running events when the Olympics come around. Can you tell us what it was like to start the program? How did the setup of TSC affect training and the team aspects? When did facilities get better and how did that change and enhance training?I started the cross country team at TSC in the fall of 1963, and coached the team for 31 years. Starting the program involved sending out a couple hundred letters to high school coaches in New Jersey in order to recruit runners. Many who received scholarships went elsewhere, but I managed to recruit a pretty good group. High school coaches were interested in the TSC training program. For years I kept up a newsletter for my runners (“The Lion’s Mouth”) to keep runners interested in training through the summer. In the early days we used Cadwallader Park in West Trenton, and trained on the roads around the college. In those days you didn’t have the traffic you have now. Eventually we moved to Washington Crossing State Park (NJ side), and along the Raritan Canal, in Hopewell Township. By using these different venues, there was a change of scene from day to day, which kept the training interesting. I didn’t want the training to get boring. We also did about one day per week on the old cinder track (middle distance workouts), and we did hill workouts at Bell Mountain. We started with two small Chevy vans (about 8-10 runners per van) to get to these venues. When I first started, we had a course on the college campus, and for one or two seasons we had home meets that finished at the 50-yard line on the old track. We frequently trained on campus at that time, but once we had the vans, we were able to travel to off-campus training locations. For about the first four or five years of the varsity program, the team traveled with the soccer team to away meets – the athletic director arranged for meets to be held at the same schools where the soccer team had their matches, so we could get to those meets. In those early years, the training was a bit boring (on campus), until I became a full-time van driver - for the last 22 years of my 31 years as the cross country coach. What are some of the most interesting and exciting changes you’ve seen in the sport in your time around it?From 1963 until 1994, the changes in footwear had a profound effect on the sport. We wore $7 Patrick (French) running shoes which were very lightweight and thin, paper thin compared to today’s shoes. The Patrick shoes were all purpose – you could screw spikes into the soles. Advancements in running shoes revolutionized the sport. Injuries were reduced and runners were capable of running more comfortably over the distances they practiced and competed at. Once shoes changed, runners had both training shoes and racing flats. Nike was one of the first. Before that there was Adidas and Puma, but those were mostly for track. Do you have any additional interesting stories about either your time at TSC, your time as a coach, or the sport in general that you’d like to share?We ran a Friday meet In New London, CT, against the Coast Guard Academy and Central CT State. We drove out there in a van, and lost to both teams, and then after the long van trip home, we had the conference championship meet the next day at Washington Crossing. Some of the names have changed, but the competition included Glassboro, Paterson, Montclair, and Jersey City. The Paterson coach was always focused on trying to beat TSC. In those days everybody had to dress in the same locker room on campus, and one of the runners who’d had a bad race that day before overheard runners from Paterson talking about his poor showing. That day in the meet, he passed about eight runners in the last mile, and TSC won the meet – by one or two points, to win the conference championship. He went on to earn a medical degree, and is now teaching.
Another great memory was when I took Tim Gallagher to the Nationals at Hope College, in Michigan, and they had to plow the entire course after about a foot-and-a-half of snow. His dad was there, too, and he ran well. I passed along all the records I kept to my successor, and don’t know what ever happened to them. I wish I had kept them.
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How did you first get into running?
What are your goals for this upcoming final year (both team and individual)?
What are your post-undergrad plans?
What’s your favorite memory of TCNJ XC/TF?
Anything else you want to add for the Lions, past or present, that are reading this?
How did you first get into track?
What are your goals for this upcoming final year (both team and individual, winter and spring track)?
What are your post-undergrad plans?
What’s your favorite memory of TCNJ T&F?
Anything else you want to add for the Lions, past or present, that are reading this?
What year did you graduate from TCNJ and what did you study while you were there?
I graduated in 2009 and got my degree in Communication Studies. How did you become interested in running in the first place? Freshman year of high school I needed something to do in the spring and it was either softball or track and I decided to join track on the first day of spring practices. I mainly just wanted to stay in shape for soccer. I played club soccer in the winter and spring in addition to playing for my high school in the fall. After 2 years my track coach told me I could run in college if I dedicated myself to it, so I quit my other sports my junior year and focused on running. I felt like I became really invested in running towards the end of high school and in college. What is your favorite memory from your time at TCNJ? I can't think of a specific memory, but all the times spent traveling to the meets with the team are great memories. Is there a specific race that sticks out to you from your time at TCNJ? Yes, but there is a little back story that sets it up for being special, so apologies for the long answer. My freshman year cross country was a learning experience. I wasn't very good, I felt like I was getting dropped on regular runs, it was the first time I even had a watch or paid attention to what I was doing each day, learned to tempo, etc. In December I raced the mile at an early season meet and was excited cause I felt like, yess back on the track, this is what I know, this is going to be great, I am going to run a huge mile PR after all this work I did in the summer and fall, and it was the exact opposite. I ran awful, I got lapped, and it was humbling to say the least. A teammate at the time, Jeff Zodda, said to me after the race, that was the worst blow up in track and field I have ever seen. (this sounds mean, but Zodda was invaluable role model and resource during my time at TCNJ) I went home over winter break and just did everything on the training schedule, and came back to school with a fire lit under me. I ended up qualifying for the final and getting All-American in the 800m that spring, and that race always stands out to me. I kept the photo of me getting my All-American award on the inside cover of my running log. It set me up for a great career at TCNJ, and showed that hard work does pay off, and you can exceed expectations. What inspired you to continue your running career after college? After getting 2nd place by a foot step in the 800m my junior year, I wanted to win my senior year. I ended up getting 5th, and was just really pissed off. I didn't want to end my running career like that, so I flew out to Indiana after that race to try to run a PR and maybe qualify for the USATF Outdoor Champs. I met with a coach at that meet and saw that running after college was something people did, so I joined a club in NYC the winter after graduating because I felt like there was more left and I didn't want to stop before seeing how fast I could run. From there I continued to improve a lot from college and qualified for the USATF Championships. I found I was able to manage working full-time and training at a high level. I keep doing it because I love working out, and I'll keep doing it until it isn't fun anymore, or I don't have the desire to train at a high level anymore. Do you have any pre-race or race day routines/superstitions? I change up my day before routine all the time based on how I am feeling or what training has looked like over the past few weeks. One thing I found is that giving myself extra time to warm-up on race day helps me feel calm for races. So I warm up 70 minutes before a race instead of the usual 45-60 minutes others do. Do you have any advice for current XC/track & field athletes at TCNJ? Having friends to train with everyday and travel to meets with is a pretty awesome, and just enjoy having that opportunity. As far as training- work well with your teammates, as they are your biggest asset and together you will all get far better working together, and don't place limits on what you think you can do/achieve. |