WASTED TALENT?

I always thought Obea Moore wasted his talent. Like franklin Sanchez he was very hard to coach and fell through the college system because he wasn't really "school smart". Everyone forgets that he was supposed to be the next Micheal Johnson (and was running very close to MJ when he was a soph in HS).

http://www.mensracing.com/athletes/interviews/obeamoore.html

yes, but wrote:

Lewis Francis has an Olympic Gold Medal. That was the best run of his life, he wouldn't swap that for the World.

Also, I think it's a safe bet that he isn't on steroids, unlike many of his rivals, because if he is, they sure as hell aint working.

I tend to think that he would swap it for an individual gold. Relay golds are a poor 2nd best.

i know of a guy who ran 10.9 100m, 22 flat 200m, 49.xx 400m, 1:53 800m, and placed in the top 4 of OFSAA cross country which stated before is one the the most competitive high school cross country races in north america. he quit runing at the age of 17..i have no idea what hes up to now

Rosie Ruiz -- she won the Boston Marathon and then just quit running.

Liz Mueller, from CT. she was a Kinney Champ as a Frosh or Soph. She also was a 2:06 800m at the same period. amazing range and talent...... but she hated the mile. After school she switched to running the 200???????????

Chris Siemers.

Red Sox Hot Dog wrote:

There was talent then. He beat Riley, Jennings, Slattery among others. What was trully remarkable about Mohamed was that he barely trained and that is straight from his coach.Ritz and co trained well in HS. Who knows how good he might have been,but what he did achieve on so little training was remarkable.

Wasted talent, yes.

Better than Ritz, no chance. Ritz would have beaten him by 30 or 40 seconds at 5k XC. People forget how good Webb and Hall, who Ritz destroyed -- destroyed! -- were at the longer distances even in high school. That's why today Webb has a PR of 27:34 at 10,000m and Hall is under an hour for the half-marathon. Riley, Jennings, and Slattery never did anything close to as good as that.

I'm going to nominate Scott Fuqua. Now, let me say he didn't waste his talent - injuries simply destroyed his body's ability to run.

The guy ran 9:03 and 4:14 in sweltering heat as a junior, and I'm telling you, this guy would glide around the track like an angel. It was like he was participating in a completely different activity than the other runners in the race. He looked like he was jogging when he ran at 60 second pace. Senior year the injuries started piling up, but he still qualified for Foorlocker, won the NSIC 5000m over Nurani Sheik (who went on to dominate the two mile in 9:00 the next day), and broke 9:00 outdoors. I have no doubt that if he had lived in California in HS instead of Alabama and stayed injury free, he would've run 8:45 in HS and would probably be running sub 4 and well under 14:00 by now.

He is now in law school. Good for him, but injuries suck ass.

Easy wrote:

I always thought Obea Moore wasted his talent. Like franklin Sanchez he was very hard to coach and fell through the college system because he wasn't really "school smart". Everyone forgets that he was supposed to be the next Micheal Johnson (and was running very close to MJ when he was a soph in HS).

http://www.mensracing.com/athletes/interviews/obeamoore.html

School smart? He just isn't smart, period. 17 on the ACT? C'mon, a score that low indicates low intelligence. And he's had numerous chances to get back on the track and do something but never does. Eventually in life, you need to take personal responsibility for what is happening to you. At the age of 28, Obea has no one to blame but himself.

I know this all sounds critical, but it pisses me off to see people make excuses for him (both on here and in the article you posted).

Come on man. It's so easy for outsiders to look at someone lik him and just criticize. First of all, 17 really isn't that bad for someone who probably didn't crack a book in four years of high school. The average score is 21. I know someone who made a 12. Could've been a lot worse. As for the rest, sure, maybe he is a head case... but do you think he wants to be one? Fear got the best of him. It sucks, but it happens to a lot of people. By wussing out, the person he hurt the most, BY FAR, was himself. Why kick a man when he's down? I feel sorry for the guy, and judging from that article, if just a few things had gone differently for him, I think we'd be talking about him in a far different light.

Amy Skierez

Philly,PA wrote:

Gary Kelly won PA states in 1992 XC and 3200 meters I think at a national HS meet he ran 9:05. Went to Hagertown JC ran ok, Not even close to what he could do. Gary was also named to PA's 3rd team in Basketball only played half the season due to problems at home.

Another kid from NY that ran for Hagerstown JC won nationals in xc back in the 80's his first name was Ottis I think but he also just stop running.

I lived with Gary when he was at Hagertown, guy was a mess he ran well for the year that he was there. One time he went home for winter break and didn't run a step for 5 weeks. We got back school and went to W.V.U for the hardees indoor meet, coach Shank put him in the 3k fast heat to make Gary feel like an ass for not running over break. He finish second only to be out kicked in the last lap to Bob Donker(8:03 is what Bob ran Gary was close behind). Saw Gary do a work out in Frostburg with Chris Fox and Bob Donker 4X 1 mile repeats between 4:13 and 4:18 Gary ran it with easy. Chris Fox said if Gary could fully committ to running he would be the next great American runner. Gary ran for a few schools another Jr College down south i think robert morris jc. or something then ran for West Chester for a year never running even close to what he could do. last I heard he was back in the Hagerstown area working at a kisok. Ottis was also a great runner he was kicked of Hagerstown for getting caught jacking off in the library(Thats what we were told not sure if its true) heard his name pop up once for running a pretty good marthon in cali. but as far as anyone knows he stop running after left Hagerstown I think he won NJCAA in XC as a freshman. Old School guys from Hagerstown say he was the most talented runner they have ever seen.

If anyone knows where Gary Kelly is plaese post it would like get in contact with him.

Thanks

Butler twins from RI in late 80's/early 90's. Sub 4:10 milers, went to Auburn and never heard from again.

Jaycee Are wrote:

David Mack is a great example of someone who made some bad decisions. Another name that comes to my mind is Houston McTear.

No. I think David Mack is a great example of someone who is a bad person. There is such a thing you know.

I'm going to go with Robby Barrios, who routinely beat his older and much more disciplined teammate, Greg Whiteley, in 1983. Early that year (his sophomore year), he ran sub 15 for three miles in cross country on very sporadic training. He already had a child at that point, and soon lost interest in running. Whiteley went on to relative greatness. Barrios was never heard from again.

I'm fairly certain Brian Grosso ran for a couple years at the Univ of Arizona. Care to elaborate on your post?

What about Darrell Robinson who ran a 44.69 400m in HS? I think it's still the US HS record (too lazy to look it up right now). He also had the world junior 400m record.

Despite his raw talent he never even made the olympic teams.

In the late 80's he became notorious for alleging steroid use among US sprinters....

Here's a sad story that sort of sums his life up...I mean his own mom beat one of his kids to death....wow!! Wonder what he is up to now...

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19980927/ai_n14182803

Ok. Do you guys no of anyone that did no long runs, no sensible mileage(plus or minus 20 per week), played basketball an hour before running 15 and change at Franklin Park, 49/50 for 400, 1:21 for 600, 1:50 for 800, low 4's for mile, and WON BACK TO BACK FOOTLOCKER XC CHAMPS? No? Only one: Abdirizak Mohammed. This guy was would have American records in 3k, 5k, 10k, half mara, and mara if he had the drive of his cousin--Said Ahmed (who is much less talented than Abdi Mo.)

He also went through a pack of Newports every week.