RIP: Penn State's legendary coach Harry Groves

RIP Coach. I was nowhere close to good enough to run on the team when I was at PSU, but Coach Groves made a point of asking me about my training and chatting me up about running every time I ran into him. On more than one occasion after Coach had retired I swung by Panera to grab a quick to go order only to end up sitting and BSing with him for an hour or two. He's the type who would talk to you the same way whether you were an Olympian or a 2 flat 800m guy. He'd share his passion for the sport with anyone who would have it.

On a positive note, he did live long enough by far to piss on Joe's grave - one of his often and emphatically stated life goals.

RIP to a legend. He was one of the last (and best) Cold War Coaches, and pulled no punches. Ever.

This thread is a classic....

Bump. Surprised this isn't getting more attention.

When I was in college PSU was the best American team for cross country in the country. A bunch of runners within driving distance of State College taking on the foreigners and then dominating Penn Relays in the 4x800. A great program when the Coach was there.

Harry was a pisser.

I got to know him a bit in my early coaching days and always found him to be a decent human being TBH.

But he did seem to have a rawther limited crap tolerance.

I was really sad to hear od his passing. Suprised as well that his passing has gone unnoticed. Who knows, perhaps that is what he would prefer. RIP Coach.

Had to happen sometime but sad that sometime couldn't have waited a while. I only met him once and briefly but knew several who knew him well and he seemed a real one of a kind. RIP.

So sad to hear this. Legend. Raconteur. Completely unique. RIP Harry.

Sad to hear about Coach. He was one of a kind in so many ways. He let a lot of walk-ons participate as long as they put in the training. It was so much fun having so many teammates. I also think he was one of the best cross country coaches of all time. PSU didn't have the talent of some schools however, his training got the program to the national level for many years.

RIP

I didn't want to let this pass without my small contribution to a man, who I thought the world of. I first met Harry when he came to Ed Mather's XC Camp back in the late 60's, early 70's, when there were only a few of these late summer XC training camps in existence. I shared a cabin with Harry, Bill Dellinger and Al Cantello. I was among royalty, as far as I was concerned, as I was quite young, naive, and unschooled in distance running. I learned a lot from this group that helped formulate my own training philosophy over the years.

In 1976, Harry and I met up down in Denton, TX where the NCAA Championships were being held. He and I decided to go out for a run, I was 31 at the time, he already 46. We headed out on this stretch of road where you could see maybe 25 miles down the road, started to catch up on things, talked track, etc. Before we knew it, we were out about 45 minutes and figured we should turn around and head back. The pace out was easy, sub 7 pace, but very comfortable.

The minute we turned back, we knew why. The Texas wind was blowing and we never noticed it on the way out. So, we put our heads down and headed back to the hotel. Harry was not one to mess with when it came to running, I found out quickly . He had to have one step on you and no matter how much I wanted to slow down due to the wind (and feeling Harry might be struggling), that crusty old b**** just kept on pushing and pushing.

There was no talking on the run back, as both of us were focused on surviving. Man, that wind was something else. By the time we finally got back to the hotel, we had tears running down our cheeks (from the wind) and both of us were on the ground trying to recovery. Harry never gave an inch, never asked to stop and walk, always kept that one step in front of me.

We both agreed, we would never go out on a run together ever again, as we would probably end up killing each other off, as I also wouldn't quit for anything.

As many have said, Harry was one of a kind. It was a real shock to hear of his passing, as I was certain he would be the one human that would never die. May God bless you Harry. I will miss you.

Pete Schuder wrote:

As many have said, Harry was one of a kind. It was a real shock to hear of his passing, as I was certain he would be the one human that would never die. May God bless you Harry. I will miss you.

Wonderful anecdote, Pete!

The Penn State track alumni is a pretty active and connected bunch. This is a video from 2011 put together by Dave Baskwill where Coach shares a lot of his life experience with track and cross country:

He was a hell of a guy who, as Scharsu shared, accomplished some amazing things in the late 70s and early 80s with a bunch of mid-Atlantic kids.

Thank you so much for posting the video. It was terrific. Made me smile and remember many of the stories he loved to share.

Thank you for your post-Pete.

Great stuff Pete,

Reminds me of when you were my counselor at Bison Cross Country Camp, always a shoulder in front.

Harry Groves, met him at the NJ Meet of Champs at Highland Park in 1971 as a freshman in High School. He was with Eddie Mather, who my buddy knew. Eddie introduced us to Harry, who had just really gotten it going at Penn State, after coming from William and Mary. Harry spent 30 minutes talking to us young punks, gave me mimeographed stats from the Penn State team which included all his early greats. Kept them for years. As I got into College Coaching I got closer and closer to Harry. Was his Admin for the Junior Elite Olympic Development Camp at Lake Placid in 1985 as I was getting to UCONN. Harry and I didn't have alot to do as he was Director and I had the Camp up and running so we ran together every day. Told me during one run that "the good big athlete beats the good little athlete every time". He saw our team at Tennessee for NC2A Cross 5 years later and commented"Nice sized team team Greg". I laughed and asked him where do you think I got that from. Later we had the 10 year run of the Penn St-Princeton-UConn tri meet, men only. The meet died when he retired, but whenever we went to PSU for another meet, he'd be there and first thing he would say was "that was the greatest meet outside the Big 10 I ever was in". Being able to say I spent alot of time with both him and Moon is one of the highlights of my career. Love you and Miss you Harry.