Ed, Gag's was and is a great coach having produced many outstanding "student-athletes." His 100% graduation rate is something that "all" coaches should attempt to emulate. I know he will do a great job with the Nike Farm Club up in Palo Alto.
You mentioned that Bryan Woodward was joining Gag's at the Nike Farm Club after his "year sabbatical." His year sabbatical was caused by his attempting to run in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney with a "hernia!" He had major surgery this past February to repair the tear. the surgeons had to install a metallic screen to help mend the large tear. Bryan had been in light workouts until this past September when he relocated from Virginia to the Palo Alto, California area to train under Gag's again. Gag's promised Bryan and my brother Michael, Bryan's dad, that he would ensure that Bryan got an excellent education and that he would excel in the 800 under his tutelage. Bryan graduated from Georgetown in 1997, with degrees in Psychology and Japanese, was the 1997 NCAA Div I 800 Meter Outdoor Champion to go along with other IC4A League championships. I think Gag's kept his promises very well. As much as I would have liked to have seen Bryan attend UCLA and run close to home, I know his choice of Georgetown and coach Gagliano was the best choice. We are glad to have Bryan back in good health, close to home, and working with Coach Gag's once again. Gerald Woodward -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Ed Grant Sent: Monday, November 19, 2001 11:06 AM To: track net Subject: t-and-f: Of several things 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
