1 year ago
06/03/2018 10:33pm CDT
John was one of the greatest out of NY. I competed against him a few times in high school and was only able to beat him at States, but I learned later that he had mono. A year later he crushed everyone in the cold up in Lake Placid...
He ended up at NC State somewhere around my senior year there, looking for a training group to get his running career back on track after a bunch of injuries. I don't think he was successful and doing that, though, and I don't think he was ever a runner after that.
My dad / my high school cross-country coach ran into him at the McQuaid meet in Rochester a few years later. He generously spoke to the HS team admonishing them not to put all their 'eggs in one basket' as it can all be taken away as he experienced. I never heard a word about him until now. He was truly one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet.
Farewell, John. See you down the road.
