Link above for SI is broken so
http://www.si.com/vault/1975/05/05/606615/tearing-his-way-up-from-nowhere
Link above for SI is broken so
http://www.si.com/vault/1975/05/05/606615/tearing-his-way-up-from-nowhere
About how McTear trained at his trackless high school.
"Baker High does not have a track, although it should have one soon if the rains that deluged the panhandle this spring don't cause too many construction delays. The track will be of bas.tard size, a 340-yard oval, but nonetheless a decided improvement over the school's football field, where workouts were previously held.
"Baker is the smallest Class 2A school in Florida, with approximately 800 students from kindergarten through 12th grade. Owing to the paucity of its athletic facilities, McTear probably holds a world record already—for the 180-degree-turn 220. Starting from one goal line, he races to the other, grabs a goalpost, spins around it to change direction and sprints back to where he started. It is not a style recommended for learning to run the curve."
The article on McTear on the front page today (http://www.si.com/olympics/houston-mctear-sprinter-records-olympics-nine-seconds) is fantastic and really fills in the gaps in his early story that wasn't included in the original sivault article. Kudos to the writer, Michael McKnight.
It's sad to think that his 60m WR probably would've been annulled due to his taking of a "banned" substance (or substances, actually) literally right before the race:
"NBC’s telecast of the event featured a 10-second self-introduction by each sprinter, who gave his name, his lane number, and his goal for the race. McTear, never one to break a sweat before running, was bleeding clear beads. His bloodshot eyes half-shut, he gave viewers the wrong lane assignment then stated his goal as: “I hope to do good.â€
“We had been in my house in Long Beach shortly before that drinking beer and smoking weed,†his best friend from Florida, Alfarri (Bill) Jones, recalled recently. And yet the race was over after 20 meters. "
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Still can't find a darn video (but haven't looked that hard since 5 years ago).
LaNorris "Cricket" Marshall ran for Washington for a few years in the very early '80's, might have been a JC transfer. His son Travis runs there now.
My competed in the Bay county area during the same time as this guy and remembers vividly Houston smoking before many of his heats.
McTear passed away on Nov 1, 2015 in Stockholm. His savior, spouse, Linda Haglund**, passed away three weeks later on Nov 21. Both died from cancer.
http://www.nwfdailynews.com/article/20151102/NEWS/151109914
** She is considered Swenden's best female sprinter of all-time.
McTear was a pure talent. But he came from an extremely impoverished home in Florida. It is a complete joke to say he was juiced simply because he barely had money to eat.
Mohammed Ali took a liking to him and later created a track club so that he could eat/train in the pre-professional era.
I liked these lines from the article:
"[This is supposedly well after his comeback career probably in the mid to late 90s:] Houston worked at a gym in nearby Fort Walton Beach, until his boss got busted for selling steroids, which, irony of ironies, might have been the only kind of drug McTear never took."
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“After two months training,†Linda reported via email, “he ran 10.52 [100 m] in his first meet in Swedenâ€â€”a borderline national-class time. This from a 32-year-old who had been sleeping wherever he fell for months. For years.
Back then, at his lowest point, “Houston said that the only way he’d ever run again was if somebody was trying to hurt him,†Arlene Francis told the Los Angeles Times in ’88. Now McTear was running 6.68 over 60 meters to become Sweden’s national indoor champion at that distance.
Crazy talent.
TerrapinsRon wrote:
https://youtu.be/cDFKJLXNrw4
Thanks for the link!
Trackbot! PRs Houston McTear
PRs for Houston McTear:
50 y (Indoor): 5.25 on 10 Feb 1978
50 m (Indoor): 5.76 on 26 Jan 1979
55 m (Indoor): 6.06 on 24 Feb 1978
60 m (Indoor): 6.54 on 7 Jan 1978
100 m (Outdoor): 10.13 on 22 Jun 1977
I am a bot. Info:
You ROCK!! Thanks so much!
TerrapinsRon wrote:
https://youtu.be/cDFKJLXNrw4
kanny wrote:
I liked these lines from the article:
"[This is supposedly well after his comeback career probably in the mid to late 90s:] Houston worked at a gym in nearby Fort Walton Beach, until his boss got busted for selling steroids, which, irony of ironies, might have been the only kind of drug McTear never took."
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“After two months training,†Linda reported via email, “he ran 10.52 [100 m] in his first meet in Swedenâ€â€”a borderline national-class time. This from a 32-year-old who had been sleeping wherever he fell for months. For years.
Back then, at his lowest point, “Houston said that the only way he’d ever run again was if somebody was trying to hurt him,†Arlene Francis told the Los Angeles Times in ’88. Now McTear was running 6.68 over 60 meters to become Sweden’s national indoor champion at that distance.
Crazy talent.
Read the article last night. Sad story. So sad. I had to take a break and read it in two sessions.
I remember as a kid when he ran that WR time in HS, the news spread like wildfire across the nation... Word of mouth. Then made the news.
Hopefully, there is an afterlife and he and his Swede-heart are reunited.
What are the odds?
Mactear was blazed!
Lol at Ali w/Rudolph
Enyeart and Belger were real pretty boys!
Linda Haglund has a blazing 100m start. She and Houston were sprinting kindred spirits.
Here is the 1980 100m Olympic final. Linda is in lane 1. Watch the gap she builds on the field. She ended up fourth.
I have an undergrad Organic Chemistry book by Morrison & Boyd from a class I had in 1976 which indicates steroids existed long before then.
kanny wrote:
You ROCK!! Thanks so much!
TerrapinsRon wrote:https://youtu.be/cDFKJLXNrw4
They all would have lost badly to a presently 40-year-old man this year (Kim Collins--6.49 18 days shy of his 40th birthday).
That video is from 1979. How well would Collins --3-years old that year-- have done against that field?