Phil Luckey? I know him!
"I know what you're thinking. "Did he fire six shots or only five?" Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself a question: Do I Phil Luckey?....Well, do ya punk?"
No one by that name appears on the 50-deep US mile or 1500m lists in Track & Field News from '68 to '72.
rocko, I think Phil Luckey is pulling your leg. I never heard of him and am fairly sure he did not run in the 1968 Olympic Trials--against Jim Ryun or anyone else.
From this article:
http://www.journalnet.com/articles/2003/08/08/sports/sports03.txtThe
Luckey file
If he had run the trials, you would think it'd be mentioned.
PHIL LUCKEY
Idaho State graduate 1965
Age: 61
Claim to fame: Entering his 37th year as the head athletic trainer at Idaho State. Qualified for the 1964 NCAA Cross Country Championships and finished 30th out of 303 runners - narrowly missing out on All-American honors.
- Didn't originally attend Idaho State for athletics but turned out for cross country and helped the Bengals to two Big Sky Conference titles.
- Served as the trainer under eight athletics directors and with 11 football and 11 basketball coaches.
- Took over for an ejected Jim Killingsworth in basketball game in 1975 and coached the Bengals to a 83-67 win over the University of the Pacific.
- Has worked at 387 consecutive Idaho State football games.
- Inducted into the Idaho State University Sports Hall of Fame in 1987
JW
I heard Napolean Dynamite refer to this guy as well.
I bet he doesn't Phil Luckey now that he has been outed!
Have you confronted Phil about his lying? Please let us know!
Phil stands by his claim that he ran in the Trials.
Anybody?
So how did the Olympic selection process work back then? Were there always two distinct meets, the national championships and the Oly trials, or was this the only year where they ran a separate meet, presumably to select altitude-capable athletes? I see from the T&FN archives that the national championship meet has completely different names than those listed above by malmo.
1. John Mason 3:43.1
2. Roscoe Divine 3:43.4
3. Brian Kivlan 3:44.0
4. Tom Von Ruden 3:44.1
5. Jim Crawford 3:44.6
6. Dave Bailey (CAN) 3:44.8
So, if I'm reading malmo's list correctly, the national meet isn't even the same as the first oly trials. What was the point of the US champs in those olympic years if they did not serve to pick the team. It seems that those Olympic years they changed the distances from yards to metric (e.g. the 10000 instead of the normal 6 mile) suggesting that it was geared to the Olympics.
Also, did everyone know going into the first trials race that there would be a second? I see that local legend Bill Clark was second in the 1968 US Champs 10,000, but I know he didn't go to Mexico City. Who knows how the system worked back then?
'gag'
oh Puh-leeze malmo
T. Rex wrote:
So, if I'm reading malmo's list correctly, the national meet isn't even the same as the first oly trials. What was the point of the US champs in those olympic years if they did not serve to pick the team. It seems that those Olympic years they changed the distances from yards to metric (e.g. the 10000 instead of the normal 6 mile) suggesting that it was geared to the Olympics.
You are reading correctly. The nationals were run the third weekend in June of 1968, the first Olympic Trials were the next weekend. The first Oly Trials only served to eliminate a few athletes from contention. All the athletes knew that the final Olympic Trials in Tahoe in September would determine the team.
My recollection is as follows: Top six from NCAA and AAU, top one from NAIA, US Military Meet(yes they used to have a national championship) and one from NCAA College Division all qualified for USA Olympic Trials for a total of about 15 and then a few extras were invited so most events had about 16-18. The first trial meet was held down in LA Coliseum with hardly any crowd. Big thing in this meet was that Dave Patrick, I believe made top 3. Then pre-olympic training camp was held up at Lake Tahoe with the trees in the middle of the track. Final selection was made at the "second" Olympic Trials due to Olympics being held in Mexico City and Tahoe was at atitude. The second 1500 results had Liquori making it and Patrick out of the running. I seem to recall that everyone was aware that there would be two trials, since AAU officials wanted to make sure athletes stayed in shape for Olympics.
T. Rex wrote:
I see from the T&FN archives that the national championship meet has completely different names than those listed above by malmo.
1. John Mason 3:43.1
2. Roscoe Divine 3:43.4
3. Brian Kivlan 3:44.0
4. Tom Von Ruden 3:44.1
5. Jim Crawford 3:44.6
6. Dave Bailey (CAN) 3:44.8
Is John Mason from th Univ. of Kansas and a New Mexico HS?
In 1973, I was in South Lake Tahoe and saw the track which had been moved from Echo Summit (site of the trials) to the high school in town, which I believe was 1,500 feet or so lower.
I believe Kip Keino ran a race on it in the early 70s.
Last I heard, it had fallen into disrepair.
Malmo - I don't doubt you for a second, but Cliff West's 200 performance boggles my mind. Putting the query in inverse order, how many 20.53 200 guys can run a 4 minute mile? Amazing. Can't think of anyone that could do this today, notwithstanding the vast number of Wariner should run the 800 or longer posts.
The Trials track was moved? Do tell, how was this accomplished?
Y'know, I've always wondered about the Dave Patrick thing. I thought that the winner of the "first trials" was supposed to make the squad, provided he demonstrated fitness.
Well, Patrick finished fourth, I think. He obviously was in shape. Why didn't they go with him on the squad? In hindsight, he almost certainly would have done at least as well as Liquori (who broke a bone in his foot, IIRC, and was DFL in the OG final).
In "Bowerman and the Men of Oregon" p. 228, Dave Patrick himself made the statement in Tahoe, "If I can't make the top three here (in Tahoe), I don't deserve to go." And he finished fourth.
And here's a recent follow-up:
lets google wrote:
In "Bowerman and the Men of Oregon" p. 228, Dave Patrick himself made the statement in Tahoe, "If I can't make the top three here (in Tahoe), I don't deserve to go." And he finished fourth.
http://books.google.com/books?id=3qahiY_MpL0C&pg=PA228&dq=Bowerman+Oregon+Dave+Patrick&ei=GbqdSfWpOYH4lQSpj6mwDQAnd here's a recent follow-up:
http://wjz.com/seenon/dave.patrick.track.2.796622.html
Thanks!
I don't know exactly, I guess they just cut it up in pieces, loaded it up, moved it to So. Lake Tahoe, then relaid it.
I remember reading about it in an article about Keino running a race there, so when on a trip, I stopped in and took a look.
I believe he ran 3:36 for 1,500m.