Allen1959 wrote:
Ghost of Igloi wrote:
There is a good chance I know him. I was in SMTC from 1972-1974, but knew a lot of the club members later on.
Igy, small world. You're a few years older than my friend; here is Jeff's recollection:
"I went to Palisades High School with (Igy). Great guy! He was one of the first of our runners to latch onto coach Igloi. (Igy) and a hardy group would rendezvous in the morning before school at Santa Monica College for killer workouts, then he'd work with us and the Pali team at the end of the day. (Igy) was a senior when I first entered HS and was our 2-Miler. He went on, I believe, to break the American record for 25K."
Allen1959,
Now it is all falling into place. Ole Olson was the first Pali High guy to run with Igloi. Ole won the NCAA indoor 2 mile and outdoor 3 mile in 1969 finishing ahead of Dick Buerkle and Frank Shorter. Another teammate in my class John Mollring ran close to 4:00 at the end of his career; a real talent, since passed away. As for myself I was a 4:56 miler my junior year and after a year with coach Igloi ran 4:23 and 9:26 2 mile; while 19 lowered my 2 mile to 9:08 and 3 mile to 14:04. The 30 kilometer record was run under Igloi’s protégée Joe Douglas. That was 1974 and for a looped non-point-to-point course which was standard for road best times. I ran 1:35:30 or 31:50 for each 10k loop; second in that race was Mark Covert famous for his continuous running streak and the highest finisher in Nike shoes (Moon Shoe) at the 1972 Olympic Trials Marathon with a 5th place finished. I believe this was one of the few times I finished ahead of Mark. The next month I was 13th at Boston Marathon in 2:19:15, one place ahead of Bill Rodgers (he was grabbing his hamstring—clearly cramping). Next year he ran almost 10 minutes faster in winning his first Boston Marathon.
Please pass on my comments, I believe Jeff will recall Ole’s name since he was graduated by the time Jeff started high school. Jeff is more inclined to recall John Mollring. Oh, and David Griefinger was in Jeff’s class. David did the early legal work that allowed amateurs to bank appearance fees in trust form.
Sorry rambling on here. You’ll understand when you get closer to 70.
Igy