Top 5 all time waste of talents in T&F?

George Malley

alan sharsu

tom byers

rudy chapa

joe falcon

clancey edwards

Dan Macmanamon. 4:14 1600, 2:59 1200 (DMR split) as a HS soph. Ended up going 1:49 outdoor 4x8 split and 4:10 full mile indoors as a senior. frosh year of college started blowing yayo and smoking more blunts per week than miles ran and still went 9:14 for 3200 in a practice time trial off 20 miles a week while pledging a frat (aka blowing yae and drinking till you pass out 4 nights a week and averaging 3 hours of sleep a night), and still managed to drop a 1:50 split indoors, flat track.

i kid you not, that 1:50 split meet the kid brought, his singlet and racing shorts, and a pair of white vents and nothing else besides the sweatshirt and sweatpants he was wearing and the flip flops on his feet, not even a damn toothbrush, not even a spare pair of drawers! warmed up on the infield of the clemson track (in the same clothes he wore all weekend for meet travel, a 3 day trip mind you) and dropped the fastest DMR 800 split in the whole race at the 2007 Indoor ACC champs.

During outdoor he got the boot for failing a drug test and offered the chance to return he declined and departed only to fade into anonymity. the kid was God given straight raw talent personified. an ounce of dedication, work ethic, or discipline... and i put the bank on it that he would've made Wheating, Andrews, and anyone else who came calling look plain silly.

Surprised no one has mentioned Matt Davis (or Micah even, for that matter).

I also remember Rhy Reynolds and Issac Hawkins being huge studs, and not ever panning out to much of anything.

As far as British athletes go.... i'd have to say Chris Mulvaney takes the cake.

This is a typical negative LRC thread.

Everyone always talking about the COULDA WOULDA SHOULDA but ignoring what actually WAS and IS.

Seriously guys, nobody has the right to call anyone a waste.

And nobody has the right to judge someone's potential.

Every man (and woman) makes their own choices and lives their own life, whether we approve of it or not.

We all might be better served spending a minute not thinking about how OTHERS COULD HAVE been better, but rather how WE STILL CAN be better.

Jon Stevens' 1:48 in HS and nothing much at Stanford.

Does anybody besides me remember Runners World doing this article on this whole family, I think from California around 1985 or 1986 and this 12 year old ran like 33:00 for 10k and his 8 year old brother tan like 35:00 and even better yet his 5 year old sister ran like 38:00. It was crazy and not making this up. Does anybody remember that article and who that was?

What about the Mastaliar brothers?

Why are so many getting agitated about a thread OBVIOUSLY created to create agitation? Anytime we see an obscure reference to people Clancey Edwards on some short list like this, you can only laugh.

Here's one- how about Skeets Nehemiah, probably the greatest raw hurdling talent in US history, retiring at the peak of his career, without any major international gold, to pursue a career as an NFL third string wide receiver?

trainfast wrote:

Spoke with John Mcdonnell a few years ago and I bet he hasn't changed his mind on this one-John Holmes, Pasedena Dobie H.S. I think he led the nation in the 1600m in 1986-4:03. Also ran 1:50 in the 800m. Went to Arkansas and left after a month and never heard of again. I was in a race with him(x-cross) on a hilly 2 mile course when he went with us through the mile at 5:00m and ran solo away from everybody the last mile in 4:36 on a very hilly/banked cross country course. Just toying with us.

And no, no the actor either.

Others I would say: Roy Martin, Darrell Robinson, William Reed, Obea Moore and I like the Suzy Tuffey reference as well. David Halle comes to mind as well.

John Holmes competed for Arkansas the spring of his freshman year. He was right behind me in the 1500 in the Hot Springs Invitational and ran 3:45 (basically his high school pr). He must have left after that semester.

Henry Thomas - HS sprinter from California. Ran a relay leg in 43.7 at Mt SAC one year. Apparently he went to jail and that was that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwueSzBEx2g

What a shame. I heard his parents were getting divorced and he took it hard. Figured maybe an 18 year old or 19 year old with that much raw talent would show up again, and he just never did. Talented!

so I'm real late on this thread.. Just glad to see that someone wrote Steve Magness on the first page. 4:00 mile in high school and hasn't done anything since

magness will make a better coach instead

PT in Eugene wrote:

5th category: those that make it to the top, then suddenly retire--Tony Waldrop, M.D.

Can you clarify what was wasted?

By you own post, he succeeded at making it to the top of an AMATEUR sport and then retired to become a doctor. In my opinion, he is the poster boy of how you should MAXIMIZE your talents, he is hardly a waste.

im tired of people bashing ryun. yes he overtrained, but you know what i want to see you guys run a 3:51 mile and get a olympic silver. he may not have done well on other programs. maybe this brought out the best of his potential. doinganything else may not have worked

Almost everyone on LR message boards. Here's why. EVERYONE is running 90+ miles per week. EVERYONE is running sub 14min 5Ks. Yet almost no one will admit to their own name. Sounds like lies to me. Oh, wait. Maybe they are just No Talent liars complaining about others.

When you mentioned unbelievable potential to top milers and experts during the late 80's and early 90's, they all pointed to Charles Marsala..also, maybe Mike Stahr too?

sam borchers