A Little History

By Jim Ferstle

At the Jack Johnson Classic on Satruday I had a chance to visit with a lot of old friends, people I hadn't seen for awhile. One of them was Rick Recker. If you've been at many running or track events in Minnesota, you either know or have seen Rick. He's been a jack of all trades--a runner, race official, course measurer, officer for MDRA, USATF. Rick knows everybody and/or they know him.

During our brief conversation he asked: Did you know that four Stillwater High School guys had run sub-four minute miles? I didn't. Which, among other things, indicates that I don't know everything, and I don't read high school news releases or I would have dicovered this long ago. Just look HERE.

And, as Rick probably knew, this is one of those factoids that inspire articles from guys like me. So I began educating myself. I talked to Stillwater's coach, Scott Christensen, an anatomy and biology teacher at the school for "32 years," he says with a bit of pride and wonderment. He has been a coach at the school since 1981. Scott said that when now Gopher runner Ben Blankenship became the fourth Stillwater grad to run sub-four, the kids were curious where this accomplishment ranked among the other US high schools. Doing a little research, Christensen discovered that Stillwater was number one, ahead of another high school with a storied tradition in distance running, Eugene(OR) South that has three sub-four alumni.

I got in touch with the first Stillwater grad to break four in the mile, Luke Watson, who is now in the fourth of a five year PhD program in accounting at Penn State University. It was a conversation that stretched probably around an hour and at the end I noted that the telling of this Stillwater story was not going to fit in a short item. It's a lot like another story I did last year on a trio of guys from Hammond High School in Indiana who are still the only trio of high school runners to have run under 9 minutes for two miles in the same year in high school. Every time I talked to one of these guys there was another great piece of information, a rich history that accompanied the accomplishment that attracted attention.

During my conversation with Luke I recounted my own experience arriving in Minnesota in the summer of 1972 and being impressed by the Minnesota running community. The fact that it stretched from high school programs that taught the young to a Masters running community that not only gave back by work at races, but allowed older athletes to continue to enjoy the old ABC Wide World of Sports tag line: "Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sport. The thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat. The human drama of athletic competition." My first journalism job out of college was at the White Bear Press where I was the sports editor and darkroom technician.

There, among others, I met the track and cross country coaches at White Bear and Mariner High Schools--Ron Sass, Don Glover, Lyle Helke. Got to know that part of the Minnesota running community. Watched the Mariner girls win the State High School XC championship, but perhaps more memorably observed them singing and dancing, the radio blaring the music at full blast, in between events at track meets. I remember and still have photos of a young Mark Nenow, who ran for Anoka, winning the state cross country individual race. Mark went on to become the American recordholder for 10,000 meters on the track and now is a VP at the Columbia sportswear company in Oregon.

My first Minnesota track meet at the Macalester Track I met a seemingly crusty old guy named Pat Lanin and discovered over time how much the then high school coach at Hopkins contributed to the running community in his various volunteer jobs with the MDRA, USATF, and beyond. Became friends with Jeff Winter who directed most of the major road races in the area. Followed the example of the Masters guys, such as Paul Noreen, Bill Andberg, Alex Ratelle, Rick Kleyman, who demonstrated that running is a lifetime sport.

But what impressed me most was the generosity of the other runners in the area from Ron Daws, Steve Hoag, Garry Bjorklund, John Naslund, Chuck Burrows, Garret Tomczak, Don Timm, Bruce Mortenson, Doug Suker, Steve Benson, Dennis Barker, and others whose names I apologize for missing. They accepted a total stranger from Ohio with open arms and encouragement. All we had in common was running, but that was enough. And it wasn't just the men. There was Alex Boies, Pat Weisner, Judy Lutter, Jan Arenz, Emily Lanin, Mae Horns, Gloria Jansen, and, more recently, Pat Goodwin and Virginia Brophy Achman, who played huge roles in the development and advancement of the sport.

But those are other stories, and for the next few days, probably, I'll be telling the tale of the Ponies. It's a story of more than four guys, who happened to run fast, and their coach. I hope you enjoy it.