Legenday CT HS Coach Irv Black Passes Away

i heard he was loud & gruff at times but still a great guy

ok ok

he was a loud and grumpy arsehole. a unique announcer.

GGGGRRRRRR dont come near my tent!

He has done more to improve CT high school track than almost any other single person. Yes, he was loud and gruff, but he was respected. When you got past that tough exterior, he was a intelligent, well spoken man who had a great deal of passion for track. He will be missed.

I remember running the 800m at the Irv Black meet as a senior in HS. Best race of my life.

Irv was awesome and he had an astounding amount of knowledge about track.

Even though I would at times shake my head at some of his antics, anyone connected with track at any level in this state can't help but notice all he did to advance the sport. RIP big guy.

"Running isn't a sport. It's a way of life."

We received a great email from his nephew. Clearly he was a little rough but the roughness produced greatness.I provide the highlights below.

Irv's nephew wrote:

He truly was dedicated to his athletes and everyone in the sport. My father will be speaking at his funeral this weekend and summed up Sam (as he was known in the family) best. "He would push you until you reached your potential. And would care as long as you cared as much as he did. If you didn't he didn't have much use for you." He did what he loved and did it well. And he truly gave everything he had to his sport and his athletes. Rest in peace.

Yup this is the dude. He was abusive to me with his yelling at me at a high school track meet at Coxe Cage

Did you go crying to mommy afterwards?

He was a prominent part of the highlight of my high school career, long ago. In a dual meet, running a two-mile, I realized I would lose to his runners (one was #2 in the state) if I didn't do something usual, so I basically took off in close to a full sprint with 1100 yards remaining. None of his guys responded until it was too late. Black could tell right away what was happening. "He's not coming back," he yelled at them, very loudly, each time we went by.

I managed to pull off a major upset, but no such luck the second time I raced against that #2 guy. Or the third, or the fourth. Black helped make sure of that.