"There were 10 committed runners in town, but I was the only real athlete training."

[quote]The Rich Get Richer wrote:

Does Wittenberg truly believe that it's a lack of funding that's keeping people like Ritzenhein, the ones "coming out of college who have the best shot of winning gold medals", from contending for medals?

I hope not! We had better performances when it was illegal to get any money for running. Shorter, Pre,Bachelor,Ryun, Wottle,Lindgren ran for no money when they graduated from college.

I remember watching Fredericks win the '75 championship. Explosive isn't quite descriptive enough to describe Greg when he began his kick. He was in another dimension.

Someone will correct me, but I believe he ran about a 53 second last lap when he set the American 10K record.

Frank is THE man.

btw, he won his GOLD medal while training out of Gainesville, Fla. as a member of the FTC.[/quote]

I saw him running in Boulder in 1972, maybe altitude training.

oldandinjured wrote:

I remember watching Fredericks win the '75 championship. Explosive isn't quite descriptive enough to describe Greg when he began his kick. He was in another dimension.

Someone will correct me, but I believe he ran about a 53 second last lap when he set the American 10K record.

That was 1972. His last lap was 55.0, all of it in the last 300 meters.

thanks, for the clarification. Didn't he outkick Shorter in that race?

malmo wrote:

oldandinjured wrote:

I remember watching Fredericks win the '75 championship. Explosive isn't quite descriptive enough to describe Greg when he began his kick. He was in another dimension.

Someone will correct me, but I believe he ran about a 53 second last lap when he set the American 10K record.

That was 1972. His last lap was 55.0, all of it in the last 300 meters.

He should have been a shoe-in for the Olympic team that year. Only having to beat out Galloway and Jon Anderson. (conceding Shorter's spot).

[quote]Georgieboy wrote:

Forgot: One of Shorter's favorite runs to this day is what he calls "The John Lunn Loop".

Has Frank or any of those other old farts ever lifted a finger to assist Hudson or anyone else on the scene today in even the slightest way? Thanks to the aloof, entitled, kiss-my-white-ass attitudes of people like Shorter and other oletimers who won't come down from their ivory towers to be a part of the scene in any real, tangible way unless to pad their own egos, whatever legacy existed before Culpepper (certainly before Jones and Barrios) no longer has much impact on today's athletes and will soon be rightfully forgotten. Frank was great, and that won't ever be forgotten, but he does nothing for anyone (whether committed runner or real athlete) today and he and his resting-on-their-embellished-laurels pals from way back are all but obsolete now.

I agree with you in a way. I don't know how much of Shorter's life today reaps the benefit he earned as a runner. The man was going to be a success in what ever endeavor he focused on.

He does seem to have the typical "back in my day" attitude that all of us get after we hit 40..

I don't know what action he can do at this point however. He had his career and then he moved on. I remember watching the TAC 10k on ESPN when he was 35 or 36 giving it one last shot in the 10,000. It was an OLY trials year so no one was really there. Sinclair won and Shorter was around 30:30, but he was still the reason they showed that race.

What more does the guy need to do? Is he really obligated to be the number one supporter of every college star that gets a 100,000 dollar contract right out of college?

But all in all I would think he would enjoy and be inspired of being the god of American distance running and would enjoy playing more of a role but he's a busy man I guess.

1974, though he did stints starting in 1970 until he graduated from UF. The population was closer to 70K then, definitely not 25K.

Shorter was certainly the tip of the spear on the local scene at his arrival and for long after. How many other Boulder-based Olympians in the '70s and '80s and '90s, let alone medalists? Coogan? It has been a long digression since then, although Wetmore's crew rekindled that type of excellence for a while. Yet it makes perfect sense given the changes over the years.