Joe Falcon

I remember reading that before the olympic trials, Joe went to the track the night before and ran 8X400 in 55 to work out the nerves. He was definitely put on the earth to run. Look at where he ran 3:49 and who against. IT's like Tom Beyers, who rabbitted and finished to win in 3:53 against seb and the lads. Good tales o' great runners....

I get the gist of what you are saying, but if you're thinking of that wild Byers rabbitting upset win, it was a 3:39 1500 over Ovett, Walker and Scott (I think, but definitely not Coe). Still, good point... :)

I once sat next to Joe at a drug test. He said you should of seen Carl Lewis's sample it was bright Orange. Carl gave some story about just buying a juicer and drinking carrot juice all day. I thought that was a bit funny.

Falcon was a class guy and an amazing talent. If I recall, when he ran 3:49 in Oslo, he was in about 5th or 6th on the backstretch and just mowed down a great field in the last 200.

It's unfortunate that, for whatever reason, he's in the "what might have been" category. I don't doubt for a second that he a 13:00 5,000 in him and another second or two to give in the mile.

I never heard anyone say a bad word about the guy.

What exactly happened to the guy?

Why didn't he run all the great times he was capable of?

Two words-achilles tendon. A tear or rupture.

After the heartbreak of falling in the 92 trials he must of found it to tough to try to rehab and make the long recovery back.

He was a god for sure. If anyone was lucky to see him run they would agree that he was probably the most talented American-born distance runner ever.

I talked to him at the 91 nationals right after he ran that 13:20 at Prefontaine and asked him why he wasn't running the 5000 and he just said that running 65 second place felt too slow and awkward. But the whole pont was the guy could outkick any American in the 5000 and 10,000. He would have mixed it up well with the world-class distance men of his era.

I've heard the workout, I'm sure he was capable of 13:05 to 13:10 in 1991.

His kick was explosive. Like Yifter or Geb he got those wheels spinning quick. His stride was not very long though but he was very economical.

I was sitting in a pack of about 7 guys at the 5 mile mark at the 87 NCAA cross meet and when he decided to finalize matters he looked to have put a 60 meter gap in about 4 seconds. I was right behind him and then he was gone.

My favorite Falcon race was the 89 Penn Relays DMR showdown on the anchor leg between him and Cherouiyot.

Another great finish was the 87 NCAA 10k. I think Kempainen was leading late in the race and Falcon and Chris Brewster, the two best kickers, were sitting on him. Brewster was another short-fast stride kicker and took off around 400 or 500 to go. Falcon moved right with him and they were flying. With 200 to go Falcon puts in his big move and Brewster stayed witn him for the curve then realized it was over and started jogging. Falcon was 54.0 at least for that last lap.

Does anyone know what was Falcon's last official race?

I was thinking he ran some indoor miles and 3000's in 93 or 94 but was off.

Yeah, he was on that day in Eugene- blew by Plasencia like a whirlwind. Actually didn't even go until about 300m out. Should have tried to run repeats with the guy. It sucked. He never really needed all that much recovery. Remember a workout we did while he was living in Bentonville where I ran 1200's with his repeat miles on a measured dirt trail. He started at 4.20 and worked his way down to 4.15 on the 5th one. Forgot to mention the last 100m was STRAIGHT uphill! Amazing athlete.

Incidentally, don't know where the rumor came about with the quarters the night before the Oly Trials. We actually fished for catfish late the night before- the race wasn't until that next evening. Last race was a 3 or 5k in Eugene I think. Actally made the 3k team for indoor Worlds in '94 (? it's been awhile) but ran like poop. Had some good indoor miles that year as well. '95 was fraught with injuries. Always had trouble with his achilles and his plantar fascia. Loved to wear spikes all the time- maybe that was part of it...

Zat0pek wrote:

I never heard anyone say a bad word about the guy.

Except his "buddies" at Arkansas who trashed him every chance they got on the old TNFieldmedia web page. With friends like that, who needs enemies.

Awesome thread guys.Thanks for the stories.

a guest wrote: Except his "buddies" at Arkansas who trashed him every chance they got on the old TNFieldmedia web page. With friends like that, who needs enemies.

I was ignoring those guys, including Consiglio. Joe's reputation as a head case notwithstanding, he is/was one of most decent people to ever run at that level.

Joe was amazing - that short compact frame of his could kick real hard - I agree...watch the 1987 NCAA Indoor Championships 3000 and you'll see Joe almost put a lap on everyone in a minute or so - similar to what Tim Hacker did at the outdoor NCAA nationals in the 1500m in the early to mid 80s - has anybody seen that race?! Hacker was - as I remember it - a good 100m back with 300m to go and he toasted the guy with a 51 sec. last Q. On another note: has anyone seen that 17 year old kid from South Africa who ran a 13:08 5K on the European T&F circuit last year? Ritz ran 13:44 last year - this kid would've been a 1/2 lap ahead!

I think he would have been number one in the world in 1990 had been able to finish the second half of the European season. Instead, Morceli started his straek of 7 straight years with Falcon third in the rankings behind Simon Doyle of Australia.

Now this why I read this f***ing message boards. Thankfully, instead of bunch of lame putdowns, we get some positive, in-depth experiences from people who really knew and were around the guy.

Thanks.