Cruising through one of my Tuesday must stops, the Value Village, where Tuesdays are 30% off for seniors I saw a book that conjured a few memories.  Co-Authored by Wilt Chamberlain about his basketball and post NBA life in many lanes.   I grabbed it to see if there were any track and field photos and there were.   And being the cheapskate that my wife and children know me to be I got out my phone and purloined a few photos from the book.                   My money is not on the Brussels World's Fair as claim in the caption.    Any suggestions?  I also don't believe he is 54 inches off the ground.   One was the familiar picture of Wilt in a standing up jump in front of a high jump bar.  Not sure where it was taken.  He claims Brussels  (That's in Belgium).   Stands are almost empty, so it perhaps wasn't Franklin Field ,and the stadium looks a bit big to be the ol...

 This morning our colleague Walt Murphy mentioned a piece we did over five years ago about a U. of Oregon Duck who stood out in the Olympics and then faded into near obscurity shortly afterward to retire to his family's potato farm.  John Cobley, recently deceased, did the research and wrote this incredibly interesting piece about Ralph Hill.  He placed it on his blog Racing Past.   The link below will take you to our entry and from there you can connect to John's blog.   We even have a brief mention of Fidel Castro and his running days before the Cuban Revolution.   Hope you had a great Christmas and continue on well into the New Year George Brose Rallph Hill Article from Once Upon a Time in the Vest    clik here

      In these times when hate is spewed more than kindness and good will, I tend to get rather depressed when I open my computer.  I lost one of my best friends this year when Bill Schnier the former coach at the U. of Cincinnati passed away.  Then two months ago I received an email from the wife of one of my other all time best friends Walter Mizell, that Walt had had a serious stroke. Walt and I were teammates at the U. of Oklahoma from 1961-64 when he graduated and then went to Viet Nam as a second lieutenant.    Walt lives in Austin, Texas and is a former lawyer now retired.  In track he was a half miler, running about 1:51 for the 880, and he was a regular placer in the Big 8 meets in those days.   He had been on a trip near Farmington, New Mexico when the stroke occurred.  The doctors in Farmington were unable to locate where the clot in his brain was located, because he had had a stent in his brain or neck prior to the st...

 Don't Organize A Marathon In Iran If You Are Going To Allow Women To Run Bare-Headed Two Marathon Organizers Arrested for Not Enforcing Hijab to Be Worn by Women Runners  :link This story appeared in today's The Guardian about a low key marathon event run on the island of Kish off the south coast of Iran.  Some photos of women running and not wearing a hijab led to the arrest of two of the race organizers.   Before I get going on this I want to say that I think that the name of the country 'Iran" is the absolutely coolest name for a nation participating in our sport.  When you finish a long run, a race, or a time trial  what might be the most common thing that comes into your brain but the words.  "I ran.  I ran"   In the US we often even pronounce the name 'Iran' as if it were spelled as two words,  "I ran".   Okay I know that's not the acceptable way in the King's English, that's sort of the Appalachian or West Te...

  In my previous post about the old photo in New York City,  my long time correspondent John Perry sent a photo in from the 1968 Olympic trials in which he names one of the runners, Ray Arrington.  That name rang a bell in the dust covered cells of my cerebral cortex.  Ray Arrington,  Ray Arrington,  where did I hear that name?  Didn't I do an article about Ray Arrrington?   I looked through the archives of Once Upon a Time in the Vest and there was no mention of Ray Arrington.  Then another cell vibrated and the name Vanderbilt came up.  Not Vanderbilt the wealthy American family but Vanderbilt the university.  So I put Vanderbilt in the search engine and up came the article and the name Fred Abington.  There was the connection.  Abington was the runner from Vanderbilt, and he has an incredibly interesting life story.  I'm not sure if he is still alive, but those cortexian cells say he is not.  But his stor...