43 Years Ago This Week: Erv Hall and "The Mighty Burner"
- Thread starter TheFoyeEffect
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Foye, thanks for the videos. Great. Met both Hall and James. Nice people. Question: Where are the Halls and Jameses on VU track teams now?
I know the arguments. VU is a middle distance school. And all the good hurdlers and 400 men head south and west or just stay there. One upon a time, kids from the northeast who were fast and were quality students actually came to VU. Wasn’t there an outstanding 400 man from Philadelphia who is a doctor in Chicago now? Wasn’t there an outstanding 400 runner from South Africa? VU used to attract a Tufariello (NY). Kareem Archer was the last of note and he was before O’Sullivan. Elvis Lewis was the only one of note since Marcus. Folks correct me or add to the list.
Right now, the team is made-up of a lot of mediocre middle- distance runners and a 30 man deep XC squads. Gibney is gone. Fitzsimons hasn’t done anything yet. Denault will be a 5000m man. It is possible to add an outstanding 400m man as well as 400/800 man. Maybe Ellison is that man?
Look at Princeton’s 4x400. They were competitive, last year. Are the academics at VU that high that they too cannot attract outstanding 400 men who are also good students? One of the Princeton 400 men, Tom Hopkins, a soph, this year, went to school right in VU’s neighborhood. Did they try to recruit him?
Columbia gets Hurtault (NJ). Was VU interested?
One of the great runners of all time is Alberto Juantorena. He won at 400 and 800 at 1976 Olympics. US anchors of 4x400 in ’48, ’52 and ’56 were primarily 800 men - Mal Whitfield, Tom Courtney. My point: Get an outstanding 800 man who is also an outstanding 400 man. Delaney ran on 4x400. Coe was a 46.7 man. They are out there. Even sent Marcus the name of one with the following stats: 21.5/ 46.8/1:48.4 and he is recruitable - i.e., not from the south or west, or Jamaica. Is he on that one? What makes Mark English (IRL) so attractive is he has 48 flat speed
Nagee Glass (NJ), 46.43, is in VU recruiting territory and goes to a Catholic HS, St. Peter’s. Take a shot at Arman Hall (FL). That is reaching for the stars, but the kid attends a Catholic HS and there may be a chance.
Speed is a wonderful thing. That is why we remember the “Mighty Burner” …
This post was edited on 10/22 6:58 PM by sebastianc
I know the arguments. VU is a middle distance school. And all the good hurdlers and 400 men head south and west or just stay there. One upon a time, kids from the northeast who were fast and were quality students actually came to VU. Wasn’t there an outstanding 400 man from Philadelphia who is a doctor in Chicago now? Wasn’t there an outstanding 400 runner from South Africa? VU used to attract a Tufariello (NY). Kareem Archer was the last of note and he was before O’Sullivan. Elvis Lewis was the only one of note since Marcus. Folks correct me or add to the list.
Right now, the team is made-up of a lot of mediocre middle- distance runners and a 30 man deep XC squads. Gibney is gone. Fitzsimons hasn’t done anything yet. Denault will be a 5000m man. It is possible to add an outstanding 400m man as well as 400/800 man. Maybe Ellison is that man?
Look at Princeton’s 4x400. They were competitive, last year. Are the academics at VU that high that they too cannot attract outstanding 400 men who are also good students? One of the Princeton 400 men, Tom Hopkins, a soph, this year, went to school right in VU’s neighborhood. Did they try to recruit him?
Columbia gets Hurtault (NJ). Was VU interested?
One of the great runners of all time is Alberto Juantorena. He won at 400 and 800 at 1976 Olympics. US anchors of 4x400 in ’48, ’52 and ’56 were primarily 800 men - Mal Whitfield, Tom Courtney. My point: Get an outstanding 800 man who is also an outstanding 400 man. Delaney ran on 4x400. Coe was a 46.7 man. They are out there. Even sent Marcus the name of one with the following stats: 21.5/ 46.8/1:48.4 and he is recruitable - i.e., not from the south or west, or Jamaica. Is he on that one? What makes Mark English (IRL) so attractive is he has 48 flat speed
Nagee Glass (NJ), 46.43, is in VU recruiting territory and goes to a Catholic HS, St. Peter’s. Take a shot at Arman Hall (FL). That is reaching for the stars, but the kid attends a Catholic HS and there may be a chance.
Speed is a wonderful thing. That is why we remember the “Mighty Burner” …
This post was edited on 10/22 6:58 PM by sebastianc
Thanks for the film The Foye Effect and comments by sebastianic who poses great questions. The quarter miler/doctor I believe is Carlton Young, a Philly kid. I sat with him for a short time at Penn a few years ago. He was doing college lab work in biology when he was a student at Central High. I believe he is doing heart transplants at The university of Alabama.
The Mighty Burner thrilled the track world when he anchored our 4X400 at Penn in 43.9. The crowd went crazy; just imagine how crazy they would be today when a 43.9 would translate into 43.5. I saw Larry James at Cornell
when he was running for White Plains. White plain ran about 4:13 on cinders, and their anchor was Otis Hill.
The Mighty Burner thrilled the track world when he anchored our 4X400 at Penn in 43.9. The crowd went crazy; just imagine how crazy they would be today when a 43.9 would translate into 43.5. I saw Larry James at Cornell
when he was running for White Plains. White plain ran about 4:13 on cinders, and their anchor was Otis Hill.
In the mens events, Villanova's international legacy in sprinting is nearly as strong as it was in the distance events. Sam Ellison has a chance to be very good, but it's annoying that Villanova has such a great legacy in the quarter mile with two Olympic medalists in the individual event, but we can't put together a regionally competitive relay team.