Any Dave Merrick Stories?

That's about right ~6-3/4 laps to the mile. The extra distance had more effect than you might imagine because of the effect on the turns. It was replaced years ago with a standard length track when the Armory was renovated. Evening workouts during the winter were crazy. There were tennis courts in the infield, which was screened off by mesh curtains that came right to the edge of the track. You'd also find baseball players playing catch and members of the Society for Creative Anachronism having sword fights there on a typical evening. Life got interesting if you were running hard on an inside lane and a stray tennis ball pulled the curtain into your path... Never a dull moment.

I don't think so. I knew him (he was married to a coworker of mine) in the mid-80's and he was fund-raising for Penn, then St. Joe's, both in Philly. He was there through at least early 90's.

He lives in the Philly area again after moving around a bit. His two older kids are out of college and his youngest is rowing at villanova, me.

He doesn't go near running much anymore due to his foot and watching me go through the same sequence of injuries that ended his career. He still keeps in touch with some of his old running friends, like Dave Walters and Craig Virgin, along with some of the local runners his age but he doesn't follow the sport anymore. When he does run, its just for fun ( no watch, no expectation, no actual set distance, etc.). If you guys have any questions about him just ask.

I feel bad leaving without saying a story or something about him so here it goes. The last time he raced, it was at my middle school fun run on thanksgiving. He hadn't raced for over 20 years and just watching him made my day. To start off, he woke up at 4:15 A.M. for a race at 1 PM. He couldn't stomach any food or sit still all morning. When we got to the race course he took about thirty striders in before the race and wouldn't stop complaining about his muscles being too tight or being too old for the race. At the start he almost false started due to excitement but after the start of the race I didn't really see him because I was in my own zone. As I approached the half mile marker, I remember hearing the crowd being a little louder than normal so I took a glance behind me and there was my dad. There he was, 53 years old, crossing the first half mile mark in 2:24 in 2nd place. I wanted to slow down and run with him for a while but when I looked back into his eyes, I saw his eyes go from a look of determination to a look of o crud I screwed up bad. I turned around and went back into my own race. The next time I saw him was at the 2 and half mile marker cheering me on with ice packs on his knees. I know this isn't a very impressive story but I always loved it because as a son, you rarely get to see your dad with that athletic fire in his eyes.

I believe I went to college with one of his sons. He had knee problems and couldn't run on our team. The name sounds quite familiar and our coach was a good runner for UPenn around the same time so it seems plausible.

The name rings a bell to me.

Your dad was (is) a great guy and as a high schooler was certainly an inspiration to an impressionable bunch of local kids following him. Which is how it goes: an inspirational coach, a transcendent talent and lots of hard work to raise the bar. (I did the limbo.)

Hey there, My Dave Merrick story is that he was my next door neighbor growing up in Mokena Illinois. He was about 3 years older than me but being neighbors we still hung out together. His achievements and success in H.S. (Lincoln Way) got me interested in running too. As a freshman at L-W I ran the quarter-Mile, Dave was a Senior then and we sometimes ran on the relays together. The race I remember the most was a medley relay., 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 and mile. I ran the 1/4 and Dave the mile. This was an invitational meet in Lebanon Ill. and yes we finished ahead of Craig Virgins team. GO Knights!

Actually the U of I track, at the time Merrick ran 8:43, was a dirt track. That's the same meet that Merrick also ran under 4;10 in the mile. At one time, that was the fastest double ever run by a high school athlete indoors or out.

Not sure if that is still true.

The oval at Illinois is presently a 200 meter track and is tartan.

I was a freshman and we had a senior qualify for the state two mile. There was a God of distance running there, a fellow named Dave Merrick. We had a local, only 30 miles distant, named Craig Virgin who threw down a pretty good pace himself by going under 9 in the 2-mile but the event belonged to Dave who early on and for thereafter ran out front and all alone. Taking the tape in 8:48.

Dave finished the year undefeated and was touted in one magazine as the most sought after athlete in the US in ANY sport, I doubt we'll ever see that hold so many decades past the running boon. I do apologize for memory loss here but as I recall, he has the #2 best performance ever in HS competition in the 1 (4:07 behind Jim Ryan), 2 (8:43 behind Steve Prefontaine) and 3 (13:32 by Jerry Lindgren) mile events.

The story I'd like to relate though was the one about the mile. A fuzzy haired kid from Holy Cross committed blasphemy by actually pulling up beside Merrick on the back stretch of the final lap in the mile. Merrick, perhaps startled, actually looked like he leaped far too vertical for a typical "next stride". From there it was like punching the hyperspace button on the Millennium Falcon. Merrick sprinted away. Didn't mean anything to me then as such was "expected until years later when the animal that was behind him.

While in college, I watched Mike Durkin bury athlete after athlete with his devastating kick in the IL collegiate track championships and pull a 1:58 last half in the collegiate cross country race to pass our own Rick Livesey to haul in second (Rick was 10 seconds ahead with a half to go). Craig Virgin won that one btw.

When I look back at that mile with the clarity of hindsight. All I can say is .... wow!

As a kid I memorized an article written by Dave's coach (had it bad back then lol) Joe Rodriguez(sp?), I believe the article appeared in Scholastic Coach maybe? something like that... it's been so long since I even thought about it I may be paraphrasing a bit but here goes. BTW another HS runner and I used to recite this to each other for inspiration while snow accumulated on our cotton sweats during Winter 10 milers.

A cold grey wind blew across the cross country course at Lincoln Way HS in New Lennox IL. For the blue clad runners from Bloom HS it was another of what seemed like an endless chain of cross country races. It was that for the orange shirted runners from Lincoln Way and for Dave Merrick. But for Merrick, it was different. He knew he was going to win, but by how much? --Joe Rodriguez

correction to *has the best* I meant *had the best*

I was in this race and very lucky not to have been lapped.The race was not on a board track but the oversized University of Illinois indoor track,which was composite material

I was in that race when David won state with a 8:48,so I had a pretty good seat to watch.He and Virgin were shoulder to shoulder the whole race and the chase pack that I was in was 100 yards back. David pulled away over the last two laps with Craig running 8:56 for second a sophomore record. I faded to ninth but was able to see the finish by looking across the infield while David finished almost 30 seconds ahead of me.

wrong,I was in this race and it was not a dirt track.Both the University of Illinos outdoor and indoor tracks were tartan at the time and the indoor track was in the Armory and oversized and is still is.

I was in that race when David ran 8:43. University of Illinois indoor track was flat and tartan and oversized.I ran 9:14 not bad for a high schooler but the last few laps the only thing I could think of was not to get lapped,the I was constantly looking over my shoulder and calculating if I could get to the tape before David passed me.