Greatest "out of nowhere" trackster

I forgot about this race:

Delano Meriwether

vault.si.com

CHAMPION OF THE ARMCHAIR ATHLETES

Robert H. Boyle

Walter Mitty, alias Dr. Delano Meriwether (see cover), was still in the running last weekend, but he almost woke up from the dream. The Baltimore blood

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Greene came in 4th; 60m dash at the World Indoors that March and 2nd ( Tim Harden ) at the US Nationals before that.

Delano Meriwether is the correct answer.

Also, Bill Gaines > Sam Perry.

When it actually happened this was the story being told by everyone.

UNKNOWN BEATS CARL LEWIS TO HIGHLIGHT TEXAS RELAYS
By Associated Press
Apr 8, 1995, 11:00pm PDT

Until Tom Arnold beats Paul Newman out of an Oscar and Waylon Jennings sings at La Scala, no performance is likely to be a bigger upset than the one Maurice Greene pulled off Saturday at the 68th Texas Relays.

A 20-year-old sprinter who never competed in college, junior college or any other institute after leaving Schlagle High School in Kansas City, Kan., Greene is your basic unknown.But his status didn't stop Greene from beating Carl Lewis and every other better-known somebody in the men's invitational 100-meter showdown at Texas Stadium.
Before a shocked crowd of 31,800, Greene got an explosive start out of the blocks, blasted hard for 95 meters, and then hung on to finish just inches ahead of Raymond Stewart the Jamaican Olympian and at least a stride in front of Lewis, the eight-time Olympic gold medalist and the best-known sprinter in track and field history.
Heavily aided by a 12 mph wind, Greene was timed in 9.88 seconds - the 8th-fastest 100 mark of all-time disregarding such conditions as wind.
The timers caught Stewart in 9.89, while Lewis who complained of a cramped right calf muscle after anchoring his Santa Monica Track Club to victory in the 4x100-meter relay stopped the watches at 9.94.
The wind disallowed any record consideration, but the enormity of his victory was hardly lost on Greene, who was the Kansas 100- and 200-meter state high school champion for three years running, and now runs for Nike Central.
Lewis was shocked by Greene's performance.
"I felt we ran pretty well, but it was pretty windy," Lewis said. "Who is that guy?"

Nobody knew who the guy was.

Bill Gaines was never "out of nowhere" he was a huge HS star before heading out west to run for SCVYV "Speed City" in San Jose.

Before Meriweather ever won anything he was well known. His story was known before he won our Nationals 100 yards in 9.0w.

What about Carl Spackler?

As we Bob Hayes ruled the 100m from 62-64, then he heads off for the NFL and "out of nowhere" meaning he had never been ranked before or did anything actually.

But here he is....

1965 100m World Rankings
1..........................George Anderson (US)
2............................. Hideo Iijima (Japan)
3.............................. Darel Newman (US)
4..................... Marian Dudziak (Poland)
5..................... Chiachuan Chen (China)
6............................. Charlie Greene (US)
7........... Gaoussou Koné (Côte d’Ivoire)
8.................... Enrique Figuerola (Cuba)
9........................ Harry Jerome (Canada)
10.................. Wiesław Maniak (Poland)

He was a 9.3 cat out of Southern U who would win our USA Nationals.

Look at those rankings...

USA. Japan, Europe, China, Africa, Caribbean, Canada.

This was my first thought. No idea how well known he was leading up to the Games.

I can accept the argument that since he had made an Olympic team he cannot be considered "out of nowhere". Still was the first name that came to mind.

And it was a flippin' early April meet, CL and RS were chock full of rust. Lewis was all but finished in the sprints, as in he only qualified in the LJ for ATL OG the following year. Stewart was 30 at the time and didn't make it out of the semis in '96. AP reporters know names but not form. It wasn't the notice served that you're making it out to be.

Italy and Greece ARE EXACTLY NOWHERE when it comes to the sprints. So is making the US team at 10K in '64. Who made up the 10K team in '60 or '68? Some guys who stayed in nowhere.

There you sit in the stands out on the track is Carl Lewis also taking off his sweats Ray Stewart. I''d be excited and it is early April so we don;t know what to expect out of these guys. Trust me nobody was paying any attention to Greene.

It was a big deal when it happened a nobody beating Carl Lewis and Ray Stewart a big deal. Now later on and we started to see that both Lewis and Stewart weren't who they once were, hey......but back in April....

Ever hear of Olympic Champions Pietro Mennea, Livio Burruti, Kenteris?

I bet there are track fans in Greece and Italy.

How is it possible that no one had heard of a guy who had finished 4th in World Indoors?

Who took 4th in the last world indoors 60, well?

This is the only correct answer. Walked off the hoop court and a year later got a global gold medal. I’m headed to bed because you won’t have a better example of a nobody being a world champion in a 18 month period.

Missing the point, really not getting this.

Paul Ereng has to be up there.

Prior to Seoul, he had only broken 1:46 twice, and won the Olympic final in 1:43.45. Only hardcore track fans would have known who he was, and nobody would have put him down as a medal contender.

Can't ....come from nowhere.....and be an Olympian.