Athletics West

Veteran Runner wrote:

Fun thread. Two names never mentioned:

Dave Gordon (also famous for getting beaten up by a homeowner who caught him taking a leak in his yard during a run pit-stop), and

Herb Lindsey, a fierce front runner.

+1

Recognized a lot of faces, but in the AW photo vid, who's the guy most frequently seen in there, with red hair, big fumanchu stache, receding hairline?

Jim Crawford.

Thank you for this Malmo. I know it wouldn't be a money-maker, but I wish someone would write a book about AW. What an interesting and formative time in US athletics.

Barabbas wrote:

Jim Crawford.

Thank you for this Malmo. I know it wouldn't be a money-maker, but I wish someone would write a book about AW. What an interesting and formative time in US athletics.

Thnx.

Joanie B. And Bob Sevene will be my first interviews. Going way back, I think the Pacific Coast Club, out of Long Beach, was the precursor to AW. That got help from an exec. with an LA insurance company.

Heck, I will add my name (Marc Hunter, father of a more famous son :-) to the list. I joined AW in, I believe, the fall of 1980...maybe '81. I drove Northwest from Boulder, CO with Steve Placensia, who became my roommate in Eugene. We lived in an apartment complex with Tom Byers and his wife, Guy & Lee Arbogast, Dick Quax (our coach) and probably a few others. That winter we were wisked off to New Zealand and Australia for a fun training and racing trip. The AW athletes who went on this trip were Hunter, Byers, Stan Mavis, Richie Harris and Tom Smith. We ran 4 or 5 races to include the Pan Pacific Games. The highlight was running a 4 x mile against the New Zealand team of Quax, Dixon, Walker and some other guy who ran something like a 4:15. I believe the race was on the Wanganui track which was somewhere on the order of 380 meters for one oval...and grass. Quax and I led off our respective teams. Before the race, Dick said, "Marco, I believe you are ready to break 4:00 and today will be the day. Just follow me through a 2:00 first 800 and then you can take it from there." Well, I trusted Dick...he had given me no reason not to trust him. The race started and I tucked in behind Dick. The pace felt extremely slow and easy. Because I had been training well and had prepped for a sub-4 in my training I remember thinking that this was what being fit and running 60

's should feel like. Combine that with an undersized track, the yelling from the fans and the 'Zealand twang from the guys calling out the splits, I had no idea how fast I was running. I felt so good as we passed the 800 that I took off just as Dick had suggested. I finished my leg handing off to, I believe, Stan Mavis. I felt excited, fresh and just knew I must have broken 4:00. Tom Byers, who had a tender hamstring and did not run on the relay, came up to congratulate me and said I had run a huge negative split which excited me. I thought, "If we went through in 2:00...and I ran a huge negative split...WOW!" Then he gave me the bad news. "Your first 800 was 2:06...you came home in 1:56". I immediately made a beeline for Quax and confronted him about why he went so slow. He commented that he knew he was nowhere near 4:00 shape and wanted to keep the race close so his team would not be too far behind...and admitted he lied about the pace of the first 800 to do just that. "But Dick, I am your athlete how could you do this?" He wryly smiled and simply said, "Country before athlete, Marco...Country before athlete...". We (Hunter, Mavis, Smith, Harris) ended up beating New Zealand by running 16:16. I ended up with some nasty intestinal bacteria or virus for the rest of the trip, and had the first of my 6 surgeries that following spring so I never did break 4:00. Would love to hear from my other three relay buds if they are on Lets Run!!!

That's gold right here on letsrun. Thank you Mr. Hunter, and all the best to you and your family.

What a fun and enjoyable read. Thanks.

I recall meeting Byers at the Univ of Illinois where he and some others (Masback, Scott...) were brought in to do some testing in a lab. Great guy he was and made a positive impact on me and my high school teammates.

+1. Thanks, Marc. Great to see folks like you on the boards.

letsrun - still amazing wrote:

That's gold right here on letsrun. Thank you Mr. Hunter, and all the best to you and your family.

I may have been at that camp too...at least I went to some camp in Champaign. That is where the scientists gave me the bad news that I would have a short career because of my biomechanics...ha, ha, unfortunately they nailed this prediction!

Tom Byers was a very innocent, kind person and probably didn't realize the raw talent that he had. He battled injury and maybe a little self doubt but boy, I ran a few workouts with him and he was on a different physiological planet! And if you went out on the town with Tom, and there were single females, you didn't stand a chance!

I email Richie Harris a link to this thread. Hopefully he responds.

That conniving Kiwi. Hopefully, he made up for it in bottles of Speight's, post meet.

I read a story about Patti Catalano never washing her AW singlet so I guess her name should be on this list.

Gold Mr. Hunter, pure gold. Thanks for sharing, it's threads like this that keep me dropping by LR every so often. Also thanks George for all your contributions and, Lynn, very nice of you to write on here (even if it was 8 yrs ago).

M. Hunter wrote:

...if you went out on the town with Tom, and there were single females, you didn't stand a chance!

also, perhaps not helpful to the guy compiling RI runners but I helped organize the only sub 4 race outdoors in RI, and we learned prior that Ruben Reina (sp?) had actually broken 4 indoors, way back when- 3:55 maybe?

Corey Leslie just nipped it in our outdoor race, with a 3:58.98. Interestingly enough, an *almost* AW connection, a notable competitor in that race was a young local runner who was invited to get drug along with the fast guys...he now runs for alberto salazar and won an ncaa title at Oregon, IIRC (Eric Jenkins).

not my real name wrote:

also, perhaps not helpful to the guy compiling RI runners but I helped organize the only sub 4 race outdoors in RI, and we learned prior that Ruben Reina (sp?) had actually broken 4 indoors, way back when- 3:55 maybe?

Corey Leslie just nipped it in our outdoor race, with a 3:58.98. Interestingly enough, an *almost* AW connection, a notable competitor in that race was a young local runner who was invited to get drug along with the fast guys...he now runs for alberto salazar and won an ncaa title at Oregon, IIRC (Eric Jenkins).

...invited to get drug along with the fast guys...he now runs for alberto salazar and won an ncaa title at Oregon, IIRC (Eric Jenkins).

Well done.

agapius mackwamba wrote:

Old AW kit? I'd pay $100 for singlet & shorts, $200 for warmups. Large preferred, medium I will squeeze into. Crazy? Of course! But I ran with 2 of the last AW folks, and to show up at a reunion wearing the kit would be amusing for all concerned.

Come on now. These items would probably go for at least 10x that on eBay.

I understood it was Nike's first attempt at a club where their elite post-collegiate athletes could continue to train and have access to coaching. I've seen a photo of mac Wilkins wearing an Athletics West singlet. It eventually became the Oregon Track Club.

tobyhj wrote:

I understood it was Nike's first attempt at a club where their elite post-collegiate athletes could continue to train and have access to coaching. I've seen a photo of mac Wilkins wearing an Athletics West singlet. It eventually became the Oregon Track Club.

It did not. OTC was around a long time before Nike even.

Athletics West was Nike and America's answer to Eastern European track & field dominance in 1977. I was a staff member at Athletics West from 1980 thru 1982 and was on staff for Geoff Hollister at Nike Track and Field Promo prior to that.

I agree with Malmo that AW was a boondoggle from the beginning. Hollister, Bowerman and their chosen coach, Harry Johnson, initiated AW with too little thought. Johnson was an exquisite high school track coach. Was he qualified to test his experience with the most supported track club in the world.? I admit, that is a matter of debate. I believe Harry would have been a great college and post college coach in the long run. The jump from High School to post college was too quick and too soon.

For those of you that don't know, Craig Virgin was a member of AW in 1977-78. As was George Malley. Both left the club in 1978.

Harry Johnson was also relieved of his duties as Coach of AW in Early 1979. Harry went on to have a very successful career with Nike in other capacities. I do know Harry well enough to know that his AW experience does not set well with him and that he knows his track & Field coaching accomplishments could have been much greater!

AW was an experiment that ultimately failed. There were times of great reward...Mary Slaney as a double winner at the 1983 world Championships, Alberto Salazar winning 2 New York Marathons. Mac Wilkins was yes, Mac Wilkins. Doug Brown making Steeplechase Olympic teams.

Then there are the forgotten... Richie Harris, at the time, the 7th fastest American miler ever, Olympian Cathie Twomey. Pat Porter was Americas best Cross Country runner, Olympian Al Feuerbach. Too many to name! Dozens of up and coming American athletes that Nike gave the ultimate opportunity to be a part of Americas premier track club. Many succeeded, some did not. Jeff Drenth, an AW athlete and up and coming American distance runner, prematurely passed away in the AW locker room due to a heart attack after a training run. That was so sad!

AW did well with coaching accomplishments post Harry Johnson. Dick Brown coached Mary Slaney among others. Bob Sevene moved to Eugene from the East Coast to coach a myriad of athletes. Doug Brown became Administrator and also coached.

In the long term, Athletics West was an experiment that was at times, very successful. It certainly played a role in the promotion of a sport shoe company which it was intended to do. Support of the sport was always secondary.

In the long run, Athletics West failed because it had quotas to fill, it had American and World Records to break. AW was no longer on the cover of Sports Illustrated. The club was no longer useful to the mega corporation that Nike had become. Nike no longer cared about supporting the sport that gave the company it's start. AW was not considered grassroots, but it was considered unworthy.

Athletics West was a great brainchild of Bowerman and Hollister. It's too bad the powers to be be did not recognize that fact. It's too bad that Nike disassociated itself with its's roots. Bowerman and Hollister would be embarrassed. How do you think Harry Johnson feels today?

So sad!

Great post Marc! This is Tom Smith, you bring back a lot of great smiles and memories. 1st. of all it was where you coined my forever nick name of "Slatts" while making fun when we where crossing a slatted sewer grate. This was my first international trip and hanging with you, Stan, Richie and Tommy (until the great escape) took my running career to the next level. I'd say the same for all of us on the trip. Plus it was an extraordinary experience being with Dick in his own country so close to his great NZ career.

I do recall asking John Walker permission to cut in on him in the Pan Pacific 800m and flying abbout 2 lanes in the other direction. In the warm down he explained to me that one shouldn't ask permission for such things :). Be well and happy my brother.