At 9:12 AM -0500 17.12.2001, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: >In a message dated 12/16/01 8:35:24 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > >>Bruce Dern went to college at Penn and may have competed on the track team >>but it was before my time. > >He did in fact compete and was a good half miler, but quit the team his jr. >year in a dispute w/ the coach (Ken Doherty? - I think the time frame is >pre-Tupp, but it's before my time as well) over having to trim his sideburns. > -------
The story is accurate. The coach was Ken Doherty, who had a fairly good string of middle distance runners at the time. But as is always the case with any coach having a relay team, Doherty needed one more guy for a shot at doing well in the 4-Mile relay at Penn. Dern was the most likely suspect, and Doherty had convinced him to go out at about 2:10-2:12 and come back with whatever was left, hoping for a 4:20-4:25. Dern, who was a 1:54-type half-miler then, went out in 2:00 and died big time, running mid-4:30s or so, and taking Penn out of the race. Doherty wasn't happy. Dave Johnson [EMAIL PROTECTED]
