Who was Sydney Maree?

What a shame! Aragon was one of the nicest, most unassuming people I have ever met. He missed the third and final olympic spot by a matter of a centimeter or two, apparently leaning at the wrong line. Malmo, How many quarters does it take to score 1,000,000 in Pac Man? Did you have a pizzaria sponsorship instead of a contract with a show company?

Quarters? I came up with one. What did you get?

American wins race to video-game 'Holy Grail' '80s classic Pac-Man yields a perfect score

Associated Press

423 words

19 July 1999

The Globe and Mail

Metro

A14

English

"All material copyright Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. "

Cooper City, Fla. -- Baseball has produced 14 perfect games this century in the major leagues, with David Cone's gem in New York yesterday. Now, after 19 years, Pac-Man has its first.

Florida resident Billy Mitchell, 34, become the first recorded master of the video-arcade classic when he posted a score of 3,333,360 during the July 4 holiday weekend at a New Hampshire arcade.

"This was the race to the Holy Grail," said Mr. Mitchell, who runs two restaurants in southern Florida and markets a brand of hot sauce.

Mr. Mitchell fulfilled his quest to beat several rivals to the perfect game, including two Canadians, according to a press release issued by Walter Day, chief scorekeeper for the Twin Galaxies Intergalactic Score Board, based in Fairfield, Iowa. In May, Rick Fothergill of Hamilton, Ont., fell just 90 points short of the perfect game.

No one ever had played a perfect Pac-Man game before, said Mr. Day, editor of Twin Galaxies' Official Video Game & Pinball Book of World Records. Ten billion Pac-Man games have been played worldwide, game experts estimated.

To attain Pac-Man perfection, one must navigate the yellow pie-shaped title character so it gobbles each and every dot, enemy blue ghost, energizer and fruit on the game's 256 levels.

Mr. Mitchell accomplished the feat during a two-day quest at Funspot Family Entertainment Center in Weirs Beach, N.H. That's the site of the Twin Galaxies International Classic Video Game and Pinball Tournament each May, where Mr. Fothergill set his record in May.

Starting anew each time he made a mistake, Mr. Mitchell finally found his groove in a game that lasted almost six hours.

"At about 1.9 million [points], I went off pattern," he said. "I said to myself, 'I'm losing it here. I didn't come this far to lose.' I started talking out loud to myself, talking my way through it. I was able to cheat death, so to speak. It was flawless the rest of the way."

Though hardly a household name, Mr. Mitchell is a high-roller among video-game and pinball players, whose numbers worldwide are estimated at 500 million.

At age 17, Mr. Mitchell set the world record in another video game, Donkey Kong, a title he still holds. Today, he holds the records for Pac-Man, Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr.

Maree actually ran his ar of 3:29.77 in the summer of 85 in cologne. also in the summer of 85 he ran 13:01.15 at the Bislett games to take 2nd to Aouita who set the wr in the race, running 13:00.45. I think he may also have set the ar in the 2000 that summer.

nyvang wrote:Aragon got screwed because Maree's coach (I believe the guy's name was Warhurst) told him that it was Syd's choice whether to run or not and that he should wait until race day to make it.

Seems to me that Sydney got a lot of crap for that decision. KCTrack, back me up on this, but didn't Aragon go the press conference after Sydney flamed out in LA, raised his hand, and said, "Hey Sydney...how's your leg?" Aragon was PISSED and it was a major faux pas for Sydney, who was clearly injured, keeping someone else from running.

Malmo, Great comeback! However, I should get paid for being your straight-man in that exchange.

Just picked these up from STATS R US

World leading times 1982: 1500m (some are splits from the Mile race at Oslo)

Sydney Maree USA 3:32.12

Steve Scott USA 3:32.3

Steve Scott USA 3:32.6

Sydney Maree USA 3:32.76

Thomas Wessinghage GER 3:32.85

Sydney Maree USA 3:32.892

José Manuel Abascal ESP 3:33.12

Ray Flynn IRL 3:33.5

Steve Cram GBR 3:33.66

Sydney Maree USA 3:33.7

John Walker NZL 3:33.7

David Moorcroft GBR 3:33.79

Steve Scott USA 3:33.9

Todd Harbour USA 3:33.99

John Walker NZL 3:34.0

Steve Scott USA 3:34.18

David Moorcroft GBR 3:34.3

John Walker NZL 3:34.30

Pierre Deleze SUI 3:34.40

Ray Flynn IRL 3:34.7

Mike Boit KEN 3:34.83

Uwe Becker GER 3:34.87

Steve Scott USA 3:34.92

Pierre Deleze SUI 3:35.10

Sydney Maree USA 3:35.24

Thomas Wessinghage GER 3:35.25

Craig Masback USA 3:35.28

John Gregorek USA 3:35.3

Steve Scott USA 3:35.30

Sydney Maree USA 3:35.35

Chuck Aragon USA 3:35.35

Ray Flynn IRL 3:35.40

Tom Byers USA 3:35.75

Steve Scott USA 3:35.75

Mike Boit KEN 3:35.77

Thomas Wessinghage GER 3:35.91

Uwe Becker GER 3:35.95

Steve Cram GBR 3:36.14

Sydney Maree USA 3:36.15

Sydney Maree USA 3:36.29

Mike Boit KEN 3:36.47

Ray Flynn IRL 3:36.47

Steve Cram GBR 3:36.49

Mike Boit KEN 3:36.64

Chuck Aragon USA 3:36.71

Brian Theriot USA 3:36.74

John Walker NZL 3:36.75

Todd Harbour USA 3:36.76

Dragan Zdravkovich YUG 3:36.93

Nikolay Kirov URS 3:36.99

José Manuel Abascal ESP 3:37.04

Jim Spivey USA 3:37.34

Saïd Aouita MAR 3:37.37

Jose Marajo FRA 3:37.46

John Robson GBR 3:37.72

A.Gonzalez ESP 3:37.87

José Manuel Abascal ESP 3:37.97

Antonio Leitao POR 3:38.2

Claudio Patrignani ITA 3:38.37

Dietmar Millonig AUT 3:38.38

Jerzy Mydlarz POL 3:38.5

Richie Harris USA 3:38.52

Werner Schildhauer GER 3:38.57

If I remember right...what Chuck was so upset about was that Maree said he would not be going to the Olympics the day after final declarations...Chuck's thought was that if he knew the day after he probably knew the day of the final declarations and would then give up his place...

I think it was at the 5th Avenue mile press conference when Chuck asked him that question...

While I can understand the frustration from Aragon, I also understand how badly Maree wanted to compete at the Olympic's. Maree got his US citizenship right before the 1984 OT..in fact, some people were not sure if Maree would gain his citizenship in time to compete at the LA trials.

Maree was not at 100% health during the trials, and was perhaps fortunate to get 3rd in the final. Spivey shot around Scott in the final 120m, and both were in solid 1-2 positions.

The race ended up being for the 3rd spot, and it looked as though Aragon leaned a bit too soon, and gave a few steps to Maree.

As I recall Aragon went on to run really well (PB?) that summer at the Bislet Dream mile in Oslo....No question Aragin was very fit the summer of the LA Olympics...

Still, Maree wanted so badly to make a team, and compete in the Olympics...it was not going to happen for South Africa at the time, so the US became the option. Maree should have stepped aside for Aragon, but I believe he was caught up in the opportuntity of competing in the Olympics...

listen it does suck that aragon didn't get to run, but you never know with an injury how long it will take to heal and how you will feel raceday. with something as serious as the olympics you have to see both sides of the story.

i have had the pleasure of meeting sydney, and he's a great man who has done amazing things in track and field and continues to do great things in his home country. as a villanovan i am enamoured by the stories we hear from Donnelly not to mention the school records that sydney still holds.

1500m 332.30

mile 347.5

3000m 743.0

3mile 1304.6

5000m 13:20.7

10000m2821.5

not bad for a college kid.

Great post Martin! It would be interesting to see some of the patterns Mitchell developed after 13 keys (the point where your PacMAn slow down and cannot eat the ghosts anymore).

Just the facts, your quarter is in the mail!

KCTrack wrote:If I remember right...what Chuck was so upset about was that Maree said he would not be going to the Olympics the day after final declarations...Chuck's thought was that if he knew the day after he probably knew the day of the final declarations and would then give up his place...

I think it was at the 5th Avenue mile press conference when Chuck asked him that question...

That sounds right. Sydney never even ran a heat in LA.

his coach (donnelly) told me that he ran 6x600 indoors on haverford's track in 1:23 alone, with a 200 jog.

What were Syd's American record times for the 1500/Mile/1000/2 Mile?

Maree only had AR's in the 1500, 3000 and 5000. Of course, one should place no emphasis on the word "only".

1500 3:29

5000 13:01

not sure about the 3000, but he ran 743 in college (outdoors)

Maree's wife (ex FSU 800m runner) and children (boy named Pele) live in Gainesville, and ran at GHS for coach Byron Dyce. Belive Sydnee spits time between there and South Africa, for business.

Sydney Maree (b. 1956) is a former middle distance runner who competed at the international level in the 1980s. He was born in South Africa, in the dusty mining town of Cullinan, east of Pretoria, but later became a U.S. citizen, running for the United States in the 5000 meters at the 1987 IAAF World Championships in Athletics (11th place) and 1988 Olympic Games (where he finished in fifth place in the final). He attended Villanova University where he was NCAA All American in cross country, two time NCAA champion in the 1500 meters (1980 & 1981) and once in the 5000 meters (1979).

Maree's greatest success came in August 1983 when he broke Steve Ovett's world record over 1500 m at a meeting in Cologne. Maree clocked 3:31.24 min. Two years later, Maree broke the 3:30 min-barrier when he set a new US record of 3:29.77 min. However, this was not a world record as a few weeks before Steve Cram and Said Aouita had already run 3:29.67 and 3:29.71 min respectively. Maree was an excellent 5000 m runner, too. In Oslo in 1985 he set a new US record at 13:01.15 min. finishing just behind Aouita who set a world record.

Maree's personal bests include the aforementioned 3:29.77 for the 1500 meters (1985, the American Record for 21 years until 2006), 3:48.83 for the mile (1981), 4:54.20 in the 2000 meters (1985, an American Record at the time), 7:33.37 for 3000 meters (1984, also an AR at the time), and the previously mentioned AR of 13:01.15 in the 5000 meters.

Maree is married with five children. In 1995 he moved back to South Africa, later forming the asset management group Franklin Zamani, in Johannesburg, of which he became the CEO.