Rich Kimball, Eric Hulst, Ralph Serna, Thom Hunt

California definitely running prep distance running in the mid 70's. The running boom had taken off and with the number of kids in running programs, the competition was amazing. Back in the pre-internet days, you'd wait for next month's Track & Field News to see what the top times were across the US.

I remember when I started running in HS in Louisiana in '76, where we had one sub 9:30 guy in the entire state. I thought the fastest time in the US would be around 9:15. I then see T&FN for the first time and I simply couldn't believe my eyes (Hulst 8:44, Hunt 8:45, McChesney 8:50, Chapa 8:51,...) It didn't seem possible. Another amazing tidbit was at the CA state meet in 77, where a 4:11 in the heats didn't qualify for the mile final the next day. Pretty insane.

I went to HS with Mitch. I used to ride my 10-speed when he did his long runs. On steep hills he would push me while he ran because I couldn't keep up (kind of embarrasing and I was a 2:00 half-miler). He was disciplined about weight training too. Him and another friend of mine got a speeding tickit in a 35mph zone (flat surface) riding bikes once.

It wasn't me, it was the one-armed man!

Mitch Kingery is who I was talking about.

I was in high school in the 70's during a period when Calfornia was producing a huge number of sub-9 two milers. Many of them ran these times as sophomores and juniors. Remember Gordon Innes? He ran 8:55 as a junior and apparently didn't do as well as a senior. And then there was Curtis Beck. Didn't he run 4:04 and 8:46 as a sophomore? I recall he had to quit running for awhile because of a bad back. Didn't both of these guys go to UCLA? They didn't have the success that one would have expected. Who was the UCLA coach at that time?

UCLA track coach from mid-60's to mid-80's was Jim Bush. Won multiple NCAA titles during that time, but more of a sprint coach.

The guys I knew at UCLA weren't esp. keen on him, but then I knew OR guys who soured on Dellinger too. The only coaches from that era I know of who seemed to never have a dissatisfied athlete were McClimon and Peter Tegen at Wisco. Not sure if this was a result of lots of incompetent coaching then or rampant independence among distance runners of that era. Probably both.

Jim Bush was the head track coach and Hal Harkness was the distance coach.

Squid wrote:

UCLA track coach from mid-60's to mid-80's was Jim Bush. Won multiple NCAA titles during that time, but more of a sprint coach.

The guys I knew at UCLA weren't esp. keen on him, but then I knew OR guys who soured on Dellinger too. The only coaches from that era I know of who seemed to never have a dissatisfied athlete were McClimon and Peter Tegen at Wisco. Not sure if this was a result of lots of incompetent coaching then or rampant independence among distance runners of that era. Probably both.

Well, the important point is that it's hard to improve when you are already running 120-150 miles a week in high school, which is what two-mile record holder Jeff Nelson claimed these guys were doing.

Many of these guys did improve. Hunt, Chapa, Salazar, ect. all did the high milage in H.S. and went on and did great in collage.

Uh, I thought that Jay Marden had run 14:28 at CS around 1980 and was credited with the course record. Still a long time ago, though.

Serna went to work for Vans shoe company and helped revive them in the youth fashion and skate industry. He made big $$ from what I heard. Doesnt work for them anymore.

Hulst died a yung man from a brain tumor I believe.

Anyone else know what some of these other guys are now doing?

Went to high school with Kimball for a year. I was a frosh when he was a soph, then he changed schools. He piled on the mileage, and was phenomenal. Anybody know what happened to him?

Remember the three guys from Fullerton who did marathons while in college and tons of miles? Mark Covert was one, Doug Schmenk was another, but can anyone remember the third?

Time Warp wrote:

Jim Bush was the head track coach and Hal Harkness was the distance coach.

Bob Larsen arrived in the fall of 1979 and brought with him his top runners from Grossmont (Steve Ortiz and others) as well as most of the UCI team (Daniel, moses, webb) as well as recruiting some of the top local HS talent. (Parkinson, Ernst, Whitcom, and Butler the following yr.)

Dave White?

yep, dave white. tim tubb was there too i believe.

Golden Buffalo wrote:

Well, the important point is that it's hard to improve when you are already running 120-150 miles a week in high school, which is what two-mile record holder Jeff Nelson claimed these guys were doing.

Nelson may have run one week of 140 but other than that he was averaging around 100.

Californian wrote:

Its amazing too that there were 4 guys in the same state all running 8:46 or faster within a 3 year period. The only state I can think of that comes close to that type of record is Illinois, which had 4 guys at 8:51 or faster within 7 years (Merrick ran 8:43 in '71, Virgin 8:40 in '73, Cracker 8:51 in '75 and Graves 8:51 in '77) And Indiana had the three guys on the same team all breaking 9:00 in '75 or '76.

In 1979 Jeff Nelson ( 8:36 ) and Lin Whatcott ( 9:00 ) were on the same team. Pretty good 1-2 punch !

scotth wrote:

Dave White?

Bingo! Danke sehr.

bootsy wrote:

yep, dave white. tim tubb was there too i believe.

TTubb was there but didn't run marathons...altho he did some long, hard ones w/his buds. TT was part of a very strong cross team in '71 that won the college divison nationals easily along w/others named.