Jamul Toads 1976

Hunt finished in the top ten at NCAA thar year. He's allowed to finish 77th after four days rest.

malmo wrote:

Hunt finished in the top ten at NCAA thar year. He's allowed to finish 77th after four days rest.

Forgot to mention that Hunt competed for the Jamul Toads in the '76 meet.

And Kirk Pfeffer, 4th in Philly(#2 scorer for JT, finished 47th for Colorado at the NCAA meet. The Colorado T.C., looking for its 3rd straight title, was upset he didn't run for them.

31. Kevin Foley Summit AC. I was a HS freshman in 1976 and recall road races in NE Ohio, wondering how the hell he ran that fast. Wally Rodriguez, Ted Rupe, Ric Sayre ... there was a solid road scene there (and everywhere!) back then.

19 year old. Forgive my ignorance, but I recognize one name here, and that's Centro the Elder. Could anyone enlighten me as to who these people are? Thanks, and forgive my ignorance, once again.

Play the name game with that '76 team

Article about the race.

Good one Hodgie-we had the NCAA D2-Northeast XC Regional there in the Fall of 1979-your Lowell Boy's finished fourth and earned a trip out to UC Riverside for D2 Nationals. It was 10/21/79 hot and sunny,80 degrees the same day as the NYC marathon that BR won when Bjourklnad wilted in the heat. Some guy from Springfield College won it wire to wire despite taking a wrong turn that was quickly corrected, I think he ran 32:08 on the 10K course you guys ran. Parachute Hill, Surekill Hill, good times right up there with VanCourtland Park and Franklin Park. Best to all!

Walt Murphy wrote:

Just saw the Bob Larsen movie today--includes a great section on the Jamul Toads' 1976 win(Including interviews with each team member). While searching for some information on the club, I came across this very old thread.

Thom Hunt, a freshman at Arizona at the time, actually finished 77th in the race after leading early on.

CHGRAY--if you're still on this board, I have results down to 100th place.

Wow this is an old chestnut. Kudos to Coach Larsen. I hope to see the film sometime soon.

Nice to see this "toads" story bubble up to the top again.

"It was the result the methodical and steady guidance of one incrediable man - Coach Larsen."

I'm not discounting Larsen. He was and is a legend in San Diego distance running. However, his influence on this group, while significant, was not the whole story.

It all starts, IMO, with Tim Danielson. Much like Webb and Ritz rebooting HS running in the US. Danielson did in SD. Competition and idols drives young runners to strive for more. Danielson drove other runners in SD to achieve more.

Runners like Armando Valencia and Thorn Bigley came after Danielson. Bigley went to Clairemont. Dave Harper ran for Clairemont right after Bigley and won CIF (the San Diego sectional race) mile in 69, 70, and 71 (4:16, 4:12, 4:12), and CIF XC on 69 and 70. He was the stud that Cotton, Mendoza looked up to. Dale Fleet was also on Clairemont. He was not anywhere in Harpers league until senior year track and he still could not touch him in the mile, but he peaked at the right time to win the state 2-mile and a record time.

At the time that torch was passing from Danielson to Bigley to Harper, Larsen was as HS coach. He moved to Grossmont right before Cotton, Mendoza, and Lux went there. He created powerhouses at Grossmont and '76 was right in the middle of this, but all those runners were something special before they came to Grossmont because they pushed hard to HS to live up to the idols before them and trying to keep up the the runners on other teams (or in the case of Fleet on the same team).

Now I don't know for sure, but I don't even think Larsen started the Toads. I think Harper and Fleet did because they needed a team to run on after finished college. Then they recruited and lot of their hold SD HS rivals to join them. It was probably those guys who got Larsen to "coach" them. The Toads were just a lose collection of SD runners running as a "team" at local SD road races. Most of the team were former or current Grossmont runners or past Clairemont runners, or guys who knew those guys and were worthy of a jersey.

Larsen, no doubt, had a huge influence on everyone he's every coached, but the Toads winning the 76 AAU was a case of right place, right time, and right circumstances.

Clairemonter,

Respectfully, I think some of your history is correct but not all of it is entirely accurate. Since (seemingly) you are a Clairemont grad you might want to discuss directly with Dave, Dale, and even Rick Lord, Fletcher Thornton and on down the line of Clairemont guys if Larsen's influence with the 76' team was simply "right time, right place, and right circumstances".

Coach Larsen had a huge influence on all of those guys who ran that day and all of the other Grossmont and Toad athletes. I might suggest you see the film... there is much in it from Dave, Dale, Tom, Ed, Kirk, and even Thom Hunt and Glenn Best. Hopefully you and others get to see this film... lots of history as well as much current stuff on Meb. (I saw it in Boston in April.)

quick reply wrote:

Clairemonter,

Respectfully, I think some of your history is correct but not all of it is entirely accurate. Since (seemingly) you are a Clairemont grad you might want to discuss directly with Dave, Dale, and even Rick Lord, Fletcher Thornton and on down the line of Clairemont guys if Larsen's influence with the 76' team was simply "right time, right place, and right circumstances".

Coach Larsen had a huge influence on all of those guys who ran that day and all of the other Grossmont and Toad athletes. I might suggest you see the film... there is much in it from Dave, Dale, Tom, Ed, Kirk, and even Thom Hunt and Glenn Best. Hopefully you and others get to see this film... lots of history as well as much current stuff on Meb. (I saw it in Boston in April.)

Did Larsen mention in his film Joe Vigils influence on him on the altitude training camps at Mammoth? Anybody who was there saw clearly the leadership and direction from Vigil.

I know it sounded like I was downplaying Larson. I really did not mean to. Larson is clearly is one of the best coaches ever. He made Grossmont a powerhouse, and anyone who ever had any contact with him has great respect for him, if not flat out love for him.

All I'm saying is that San Diego was becoming a bit of a hot spot for great runners before Larson became a local legend. All those guys were great HS runners and all within 4-5 years of each other. Larson directly helped them all, but the fact they were there to begin with is a different story. The one I tried to tell.

Lets say that Bob had moved to Phoenix in '69 instead of going to Grossmont. He'd still have had a great program, but doubtful he could have throw together a team to win AAU with only Phoenix runners.

If not for that lineage of great runners, San Diego would not have had 5-7 guys all at the same time capable of finishing in the top 30-40 in that AAU race. You throw Larson on top, a little luck, and the Toads are now living legends with threads about them 40 years after the fact!!

King Burnout wrote:

19 year old. Forgive my ignorance, but I recognize one name here, and that's Centro the Elder. Could anyone enlighten me as to who these people are? Thanks, and forgive my ignorance, once again.

Hey 19, do some web searches and you will find bios on most every one.

Here I will get you started with Rick Rojas:

King Burnout wrote:

19 year old. Forgive my ignorance, but I recognize one name here, and that's Centro the Elder. Could anyone enlighten me as to who these people are? Thanks, and forgive my ignorance, once again.

Well if you're really 19, you probably recognize the name Mac Fleet yeah? 2 time NCAA 1500 Champ. Mac is a toad by birth.

His Dad is Dale Fleet, 1971 Cal 2 mile state champ - 8:53; 8:38 steepler @ WSU. Dale is 2nd from right in back row here (winturtle's earlier link)

I could go on and on with times and #s that individually are very impressive. But collectively, as an informal CC team, are outright astounding. Those who ran in that era know how bada$$ they were and have nothing but respect for the toad singlet. Beyond that era is a group of guys that still love to run, whether it be fast, slow or somewhere in between and take great pride being a Toad. Example - 2014 Carlsbad 5000 Masters' Top 5 Toads:

1. Tim Gore - 15:19

3. Nazario Romero - 15:25

6. Todd Horton - 16:09

22.Clay Biddle - 16:40

28.Juan Naranjo - 16:58

The Toad tradition continues, young and old, in just about every local San Diego club level CC race.

It all started with the 70s group featured in this post, to which every Toad owes a huge thank you . . . and a cold beer. Cheers.

I think that "collaboration" is a much better description than "leadership and direction." I spent some time in Mammoth when Coach Larsen and Coach Vigil were there. Larsen was coaching Meb and Vigil was coaching Deena. I spoke at length with Coach Larsen and Coach Vigil. They both had evolved to very similar coaching philosophies. Coach Larsen and Coach Vigil talk about this in the film. I suggest you might try to see it if you have the opportunity.

That's really cool. I really can't think of a group like it today. The running club I was in during high school (Dallas Metroplex Striders, coached by former 4:06 miler Terry Jessup) had a few adult "age group elites," and they were all so great to be around, from running and training advice to homework help. We were all really glad to be able to train alongside them.

Great post and great thread. The Toads are indeed alive and strong in large part to this core group of 70's studs. It is an honor and a privilege to wear Toad green.

Bringing this thread back up to the top after film just being shown twice during the Trials. Superbly done documentary - 'City Slickers' A few Toadies showed up (more than a few actually) along with Larsen & Meb for good measure....

a lot can happen in 9 months