Netters:
NJ , of course, has no trouble identifying its fastest miler---who
is already on the list---but the various posts raised a couple of questions:
1) Is a runner to be assigned to the state of residence or the
state where he went to HS---Adam Dixon, for example, went out-of-state to a
prep school. Numerous NJ runners in the past have done the same thing and,
conversely, our residential prep schools have had top athletes from all
parts of the country.
2) is some sexism veing employed here. Why not a women''s list as
well--a slot easier to compile, I would think, with a much shorter stretch
of years to research.
I attended a great track affair over the weekend--the farewell
dinner to Frank Gagliano at Georgetown University. There were large
contingents there from the four sites where he has coached over the last 40
years--Roselle Catholic HS, Manhattan, Rutgers and, of course, Georgetown.
The speakers were listed as "roasters," but there was very little of
that going on. What did impress was the articulate speeches given by
national--and international--class athletes,, as well as the statement by
former Hoya AD Frank Rienzo that "Gag's: graduation rate was 100 percent.
(It is really even more than that sinmce a number of his former athletes
have gone on to earn professional or graduatue degrees, (The system he
developed at Georgetown was to offer half scholarships for a five-year
period, the fifth year almost always being in graduate work of some kind.
Abd he would accpt runners to the Reebok Enclave only if they were pursuing
further studies or had a "real job,"
Typical of the strories told was one by two-time Wrld bronze
medalist Rich Kenah of his first meeting with Gags. Rich, who was not being
actively pursued by Georgetown despite his sub-1:50 win at the Golden
West--came in on a 7:30 a.m. flight. He walked down the long corridor at the
airport, noticing the rather large gentleman in a Georgetown jacket reading
a newspaper. When he got there and introduced himself, Gags reply was "You
know what a pain in the ass you are coming in on a 7:30 flight."
Then there was Christi (Constantin) Ireland, one of Georgetown's top
distance runners in the early 90s (who quit far too soon after graduation)
who told of going into Gags office to get her first workout schedule,. (He
said to me: on Monday run 10 miles; on Tuesday run 10 miles; on Wednesday
run 10 miles and so on for the rest of the week, then added: do you want me
to write that down."
The fact that the affair was held on the day of the IC4A meet at Van
Cortlandt and two days before the NCAAs at Furman naturally cut down the
number of college coaches attending, but there was a fair enough sprinkling,
including Gags' onetime HS rival and college colleague, Fred Dwyer. In his
response, Gags nopted that he and Fred had once had a fight at a meet during
their HS coaching days---they had a couple of feudning half milers--but
added that when Fred got the Manhattan job in 1969, he immediately asked
Gags to join him, (I happened to do up the resumes for both of them).
Also overheard a conversation in which Steve Holman was bing
encoraged by former teammate to come out of retirement. His reply was that
he would like to but his legs couldn't stand the training regime any more.
(On the other hand, Bryan Woodward will be joining the Nike farm team
training group under Gags after his year's sabbatical.)
Ed Grant
