damn this brings back some great memories. If there are any threads that should be pinned to the top of the board, this is certainly one of them. Thanks Doug and Thanks drunken hyena, very kind of you to transcribe and repost. Consig, with all this FB posting you do about beer, I think you have time to rekindle this one and add a few posts on here. If you don't, i'm gonna text you incessantly about the virtues of Moulton Ice every day until you do.
Doug, if you ever have a chance, it'd be great to see you finish up the Smokin' Joe tales. I enjoyed them. Joe Falcon was really the great American hope back in the early 1990s. I still remember that 3:49. He was our only guy with the ability to run both fast and with a hard kick, even in the same race, and had the speed and the endurance. From Steve Scott and Jim Spivey to Alan Webb, there was just one American runner, setting aside Lagat for the moment, with the ability to win a world class 1500m or mile, and it seemed like there would be a string of medals and records to come.
Doug, if you ever have a chance, it'd be great to see you finish up the Smokin' Joe tales. I enjoyed them. Joe Falcon was really the great American hope back in the early 1990s. I still remember that 3:49. He was our only guy with the ability to run both fast and with a hard kick, even in the same race, and had the speed and the endurance. From Steve Scott and Jim Spivey to Alan Webb, there was just one American runner, setting aside Lagat for the moment, with the ability to win a world class 1500m or mile, and it seemed like there would be a string of medals and records to come.
You’ll enjoy this YouTube vid then. This was on the old 10 laps/mile board track at the Myriad. Liquori’s reaction is classic. *I will note that I heard it from John’s own mouth that he thought Joe would be the first man ever under 27:00. I think he was right. Anyone who was ever around him knew how deep his talent went. He made hard workouts look like nothing. Imagine if we had the indoor track that’s there now instead of that flat 200 around the tennis courts…
'Don't do that Joe, don't do THAT.' At the 7:40 mark, watch as Arkansas legend Joe Falcon -- to the disappointment of announcers -- tries to pump up the crow...
Doug, if you ever have a chance, it'd be great to see you finish up the Smokin' Joe tales. I enjoyed them. Joe Falcon was really the great American hope back in the early 1990s. I still remember that 3:49. He was our only guy with the ability to run both fast and with a hard kick, even in the same race, and had the speed and the endurance. From Steve Scott and Jim Spivey to Alan Webb, there was just one American runner, setting aside Lagat for the moment, with the ability to win a world class 1500m or mile, and it seemed like there would be a string of medals and records to come.
You’ll enjoy this YouTube vid then. This was on the old 10 laps/mile board track at the Myriad. Liquori’s reaction is classic. *I will note that I heard it from John’s own mouth that he thought Joe would be the first man ever under 27:00. I think he was right. Anyone who was ever around him knew how deep his talent went. He made hard workouts look like nothing. Imagine if we had the indoor track that’s there now instead of that flat 200 around the tennis courts…
So anyway, when we left our hero he was showing up for his third fall season in cross country. Smokin' Joe, after a year of living with me, moved back into the dorms...I think he roomed with Ruben Reina. He had been cut by Nike, so he had to wear whatever Mack (John McDonnell) gave him.
So, anyway, the first meet of the season and Rueben the true freshman runs Joe pretty much to the wire. The season progresses and Joe gets stronger and stronger. He wins the SEC meet and does not run districts in order to rest for NCAA's.
The NCAA meet is in Tucson, Arizona. Some of the individual favorites are Marc Oleson from Stanford (4th the previous year, broken ribs this year,) Aaron Ramirez and Matt Giusto from Arizona, Harry Green of Texas, Severson (pulled calf) and Smoking Joe himself. The race goes out over the tough course and 3 guys break away from the pack. Giusto, Ramirez and Joe. Well...at the finish line it is Ramirez for the victory, Joe second and Matt third. There is a good distance between the three.
Here is where the controversy starts. It seems in the press conference, Joe said he was leading near the end, after they had pulled away from Matt, and he tripped on a sprinkler head. He got up after Ramizrez passed him and got second. The only thing is, neither Matt nor Aaron saw Joe fall. Aaron, in later conversations said Joe was never ahead of him. Not only that, but Matt says there are no sprinkler heads on that part of the course.
So, once again we are forced to wonder, why after a great second place performance, Joe would seem to fabricated such a story. Perhaps somebody reading this was there and saw him fall? Nobody I have talked to has.
As a side, the team battle was between Arizona, Arkansas and a Vinny Lanana-led team from Dartmouth. Arizona, after great races by Matt and Aaron, was plagued by dropouts and fared poorly. This opened the door for Dartmouth to get second, a fairly distant second, as Arkansas could have scored its first 6 against Dartmouth's top five and still would have won by over 50 points.
So, Joe takes a week easy in the early winter of 1986 and then starts to train for indoors...
consiglio
He definitely fell. I was right near the finish, and he had Ramirez relegated to second, easily. I think he fell while looking back. Giusto was way back, but still finished third. Looked like a ridiculously hilly course. I think Kempainen and Green weren’t too far behind. I was younger than all these guys and totally star struck with how easy Falcon made that win look, until he fell of course. No tall tale. Falcon had more talent than any of them.
So anyway, when we left our hero he was showing up for his third fall season in cross country. Smokin' Joe, after a year of living with me, moved back into the dorms...I think he roomed with Ruben Reina. He had been cut by Nike, so he had to wear whatever Mack (John McDonnell) gave him.
So, anyway, the first meet of the season and Rueben the true freshman runs Joe pretty much to the wire. The season progresses and Joe gets stronger and stronger. He wins the SEC meet and does not run districts in order to rest for NCAA's.
The NCAA meet is in Tucson, Arizona. Some of the individual favorites are Marc Oleson from Stanford (4th the previous year, broken ribs this year,) Aaron Ramirez and Matt Giusto from Arizona, Harry Green of Texas, Severson (pulled calf) and Smoking Joe himself. The race goes out over the tough course and 3 guys break away from the pack. Giusto, Ramirez and Joe. Well...at the finish line it is Ramirez for the victory, Joe second and Matt third. There is a good distance between the three.
Here is where the controversy starts. It seems in the press conference, Joe said he was leading near the end, after they had pulled away from Matt, and he tripped on a sprinkler head. He got up after Ramizrez passed him and got second. The only thing is, neither Matt nor Aaron saw Joe fall. Aaron, in later conversations said Joe was never ahead of him. Not only that, but Matt says there are no sprinkler heads on that part of the course.
So, once again we are forced to wonder, why after a great second place performance, Joe would seem to fabricated such a story. Perhaps somebody reading this was there and saw him fall? Nobody I have talked to has.
As a side, the team battle was between Arizona, Arkansas and a Vinny Lanana-led team from Dartmouth. Arizona, after great races by Matt and Aaron, was plagued by dropouts and fared poorly. This opened the door for Dartmouth to get second, a fairly distant second, as Arkansas could have scored its first 6 against Dartmouth's top five and still would have won by over 50 points.
So, Joe takes a week easy in the early winter of 1986 and then starts to train for indoors...
consiglio
He definitely fell. I was right near the finish, and he had Ramirez relegated to second, easily. I think he fell while looking back. Giusto was way back, but still finished third. Looked like a ridiculously hilly course. I think Kempainen and Green weren’t too far behind. I was younger than all these guys and totally star struck with how easy Falcon made that win look, until he fell of course. No tall tale. Falcon had more talent than any of them.
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