Saw him run his 43.9 anchor at Penn Relays, first ever to split under 44, running down Rice. Beautiful stride. Olympic silver to Lee Evans in Mexico, gold on the 4x4. RIP.
One of the all-time 400 greats. Read about him and his '68 Olympics teammates while in HS in one of the best T & F books ever written: teammate Vince Matthews's "My Race Be Won". A shame that book is out of print.
Rest in peace Larry
trackNut wrote:
One of the all-time 400 greats. Read about him and his '68 Olympics teammates while in HS in one of the best T & F books ever written: teammate Vince Matthews's "My Race Be Won". A shame that book is out of print.
Rest in peace Larry
that was THEE first book i ever read cover to cover and i read it several times i agree great book, i am sure the library of congress has it.
sad to hear about larry james.
sad to hear he has left us.
Comments about race relations in that era seem especially pertinent this week.
Probably the most beautiful stride I have ever seen. Rest in peace.
hi john, things are great back here. larry was a dream in motion.
Thanks for posting the story.
My greatest memories of Larry James are from his high school days. The battles between White Plains HS with Otis Hill and Larry James and Andrew Jackson HS with Julio Meade and Vince Matthews were epic. These teams were loaded with other exceptional runners. The Andrew Jackson team set the famous 2 Mile Relay Record during this era that lasted I belive nearly 30 years. It interesting how Otis Hill and Julio Meade were the top runners for their respective teams while Larry James and Vince went onto Olympic fame.
What a smooth stride Larry James had.
RIP
GaryC
Here's another great story giving tribute to Mr. James:
http://ramscrosscountry.blogspot.com/2008/05/larry-james-mighty-burner-still-burns.html
Consecutive weekends at St Johns in 1966 we see WPHS(Dave Jackson>Larry James>Carl Reed>Otis Hill) go NHSR 1:25.4 yds,both Jackson and Boys run NHSR 7:35.6yds and the next week as Carl>Dave>Larry>Otis return to go 3:12.7yds.I also have a memory of a fast Sprint Medley Relay(3:24/3:25?) one of those days but DK/NS who. Back in the cinder days I believe we ran it both ways440-220-220-880*1turn stagger or 220-220-440-880 (*3turns?)GaryC,I agree I always thought Otis was going to be the OG Gold guy.Aside--Are you Teds son?
GaryC wrote:
My greatest memories of Larry James are from his high school days. The battles between White Plains HS with Otis Hill and Larry James and Andrew Jackson HS with Julio Meade and Vince Matthews were epic. These teams were loaded with other exceptional runners. The Andrew Jackson team set the famous 2 Mile Relay Record during this era that lasted I belive nearly 30 years. It interesting how Otis Hill and Julio Meade were the top runners for their respective teams while Larry James and Vince went onto Olympic fame.
What a smooth stride Larry James had.
RIP
GaryC
NY Times obit: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/08/sports/othersports/08james.html?scp=1&sq=james&st=cseLike a lot of us, I guess:
“I started track in seventh grade because I couldn’t do anything else very well,” he told Track and Field News in 1968.
His was the only Olympic gold medal I've ever seen. And I read Vince Matthews's book long ago.
He was so smooth your first thought was that he wasn't human, and then you'd think, no, that's what a perfect human stride must be like.
Oletimer wrote:
Probably the most beautiful stride I have ever seen. Rest in peace.
Now I lay me down my blocks
I pray the Lord for socks and jocks
If I should die before I'm done
I pray the Lord my race be won
I don't recall ever seeing James other than in a televised meet. What a quartet in '68. I did see Evans run at Mt. Sac in the 70's. I have that image of Lee dashing with a tilted head wearing green and black. He was powerful and smooth.
Hi Wineturtle,