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About Coach Larry Knuth

Olympic Trials Updates
Magdalena Lewy Boulet (El Camino/ UC Berkeley) 10,000-6th
32:45.06
Boulet, the Long Beach City alum, already has earned a spot on the women's
Olympic Marathon Team
Chris Figures (Bakersfield/ CS Bakersfield) SP Prelims:
65-6 ¾; Finals-all fouls
Allmond, the
former Mt. SAC Mountie, placed in the top ten in the long jump.
Tony Allmond (Mt. SAC) LJ prelims-9th 24-9 ¼
Tai Battle (Moorpark/Arizona State) Discus Prelims-5th
184-10; Finals-8th 177-11
Carlos Moore (Mt. SAC) 100 Heat-8th 10.33
Lucais MacKay (Moorpark) Hammer prelims-5th
224-02; Finals-Thursday
Chris Richardson (Cerritos/CS Long Beach) Decathlon 16th
-7312
Arnold Cueto (Bakersfield/CS Bakersfield) Hammer
Prelims-11th 212-07
Tyree Washington (San Bernardino Valley) 400 Prelims-5th
46.56
Jeff Laynes (Merrit JC), who is now in his late 30's, is still holding his own
against the best.
Jeff Laynes (Merritt/USC) 100 Prelims-7th
10.37…Laynes won three state meet gold medals for Merritt in 1991…17-years later
he is still competing at the highest level. Extraordinary!
a
little history, a
little humor
Hayward Field’s
Namesake
Hayward Field’s
namesake was an ATHLETE … Oregon’s famous Hayward
Field, site of the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Trials, is named after Bill Hayward,
former Oregon coach who preceded legendary Bill Bowerman. In the early 1890s
Hayward succeeded as a professional sprinter. Traveling on a summer Caledonian
Sports Circuit that began in Rochester, New York and ended in Halifax, Nova
Scotia, he once won five races in one day, at 75, 135, 300, 400, and 600 yards.
His earnings topped $4,000 per meet-a considerable amount of money at the
time. Before 1896 there was no modern Olympics to ban professionals. An all
around athlete Hayward played lacrosse, rowed, boxed, wrestled, and played ice
hockey.
-Bowerman and the Men of Oregon by
Kenny Moore; Rodale, 2006
In the 1968 championships San Jose
State’s Kirk Clayton made it to the 100 -yard finals only to be disqualified for
running out of his lane-maybe a first in NCAA straightaway races. However, San
Jose went on to win its first NCAA team title with California community college
("JC" was the term then) products Lee Evans (San Jose CC), Sam Davis (Fresno
CC), Ronnie Ray Smith (LACC), and John Powell (American River) a vital part of
the Spartan scoring machine. *21
California CC alums competed in those NCAA Championships at U. Tennessee.

Four of our own whose Olympic
dreams were taken away by politics
There are nearly 60
California community college track and field Olympians.
Four of them were denied the opportunity to compete in Moscow in the ’80
Olympiad.President Jimmy Carter declined to send the 1980 USA Olympic team to
Russia because that country had invaded Afghanistan and the Olympics were part
of Carter’s boycott plan. At the ’80 USA Trials the following former California
community college athletes qualified for the 1980 team: Gwen Gardner (West LA),
John Powell (American River), Dan Ripley (Cypress), James Robinson (Laney).
The 1980 track and field Olympians
will be honored in a variety of ways in Eugene by Nike, the Oregon governor, and
the US Olympic Committee over two days. They will participate in opening
ceremonies of the Trials June27.
Following are career highlights of
our four CCC 1980 Olympians:
Gwen Gardner
LA
Crenshaw HS / LA Mercurettes / West LA / Hawaii
USA Champion, Olympic Trials
Runner-up
’82 SoCal, State 400-200
double wins; West LA takes SoCal
Gwen Gardner, who also ran for Crenshaw High
School, was a California Community College great before making the United States
Olympic team.
Crenshaw HS:
USA Jr. Championships-3rd 53.47; ran briefly on a
Summer European tour. 1979: Mt. SAC Relays 200-1st 23.03,
400-1st 52.22 (*beat 4 Olympians in the two wins-a breakthrough–still
in high school)
1980 Olympic Trials: 400-2nd
51.68 (semis-51.94, heat-52.28)
’80 Summer European Tour:
Stuttgart-2nd 51.99
West LA CC-1981:
State meet 400-2nd 54.35, *also breaking state
meet record of 54.89, 200-2nd 24.20, anchored 4x1 relay to 2nd
place
1982:
So Cal Finals 400-1st 53.14, 200-1st
23.78,* meet record, 100-2nd 12.07; West LA won the SoCal team title;
State meet 400-1st 52.69, 200-1st 23.69
1982 USA Nationals:
400-meter champion-52.68
John Powell
American River
CC / San Jose State
Four-time
Olympian, former world record-holder
From 6th in state to international
icon in the event
Powell is a throwing legend, he got his start
at the American River College.
John Powell
worked his way from sixth place in the ’67 state cc meet to making four Olympic
teams and setting world and American records in the event. Patience,
determination, belief, constant analysis of his event, and tenacity-that was
John Powell.
American River:
Powell threw 160-4 ½” for 6th in the ’67 state meet. He was 4th in the NorCal
Finals.Al Baeta was Powell’s coach at American River.
San Jose State-1968:
NCAA-11th168-8;
AAU Nationals-16th175-1;1969:
NCAA-4th 183-7; AAU Nationals-8th187-11.
’72 Munich Olympics:
4th
206-1(qualifying 194-6 ½)
1975:*World record 226-8; Pan Am Games
Champion
’76 Montreal Olympics:
3rd
215-6
’80 Olympic Trials:
2nd
223-1; ’80
Moscow Olympics:
USA did not send a team.
’83 USA/East Germany Dual:
1st 218-4
1984-Personal best:233-9
’84 Olympic Trials:1st
220-3;’84
Los Angeles Olympics:3rd214-9
’87 World Cup:
2nd 217-3(40-years old at the time)
USA
National Championships:
1974, 1975, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987
Honors:
Powell made
the front cover of Track & Field News in June 1975. He is a member of the
California Community College’s Track and Field Hall of Fame.
Dan Ripley
Cypress / San Jose State
From state champion to
indoor world records
Cypress-1973:
State Champion 16-0 (Cypress no longer has a t&f program-it is in
the same district as Fullerton College.)
San Jose State:
1975-Saskatchewan Indoor meet: Ripley had cleared 17-6 in practice before
traveling to Canada. Ripley ended up the surprise of the meet with a 17-9 ½
winning vault that set a Canadian indoor all-comers record. Weeks later at the
Los Angeles Indoor Games (Sports
Arena) Ripley set the world indoor record at 18-½.
1976-Indoors-New York
City: 18-3 ¼ new world indoor mark; 1976 USA
Olympic Trials: no height
1978 Outdoor Nationals-1st17-8
1980 Olympic Trials:
2nd tie 18-2½
1982 Outdoor Nationals-1st18-9½
*personal best
Indoor National
Championships: 1979, 1981
1986 USSR/ USA Indoor
Meet (7th in the series): 18-5½ world
indoor record
USA Rankings:
’75-2nd ;’76-3rd; ’77-3rd; ’78-2nd;
’79-2nd; ’80-4th; ’81-9th; ’82-3rd;
’83-5th; ’84-8th
Honors:
T&F News Cover-April 1979
Coaching career:
As a community college coach Ripley also left a legacy. At Mt. SAC his women’s
team won the 1986 state track and field team title, at Long Beach CC Ripley’s
women won three more state team titles in 1995-96, 1999
James Robinson
Laney CC / UC
Berkeley
Two state
titles, two *national records, seven USA titles
Two-time Olympian,
1:43.92 in ’84
Laney CC: 1973:
880-yard state champion at 1:48.0 *national record; Robinson lowered the state
meet record by 1.5 seconds-a mark that stood until four-time Olympian Johnny
Gray (Santa Monica CC) ran 1:47.44 in 1980. 1974: State champion-1:49.2.
After the JC season Robinson lowered the *national JC 800-meter record with a
1:45.7 on UCLA’s track (6/22/74); AAU Nationals-3rd 1:45.7.
UC Berkeley:
Robinson emerged into the national spotlight winning the 1976 USA
800-1:46.63. He also won
consecutive PAC-8 titles in ’75-76.
’76 Trials/ Olympics:
2nd-1:45.9 ’76 Olympics: 5th
non-qualifying semis-1:46.4
*Post collegiate:
Robinson never won an Olympic Trial race or a USA indoor title, but in the USA
national outdoors he shined-seven titles between1976-84.
’80 Olympic Trials:
2nd -1:45.58
’83 European Circuit:
France-2nd 1:44.47, Belgium-1st
1:44.32,
USA National Titles:
1977-82, 1984 (Three of the wins were under 1:46.0)
USA Rankings:
’75-2nd;’76-3rd; ’77-3rd;
’78-2nd; ’79-2nd; ’80-4th; ’81-9th;
’82-3rd; ’83-5th; ’84-8th
World rankings:
1978-4th; 1979-3rd; 1980-5th; 1981-2nd;
1982-3rd; 1983-6th; 1984-9th
She knows!
Carol Lewis, although not
as celebrated as her brother Carl, was an accomplished athlete.
She’s not just a talking head …
During the Olympic Trials / Olympic Games
television coverage (go to Eugene 08 website for details) Carol Lewis will be
doing commentary and interviews for NBC. She has some creditability. She won
four consecutive Mt. SAC Relays long jump titles in the mid-80s with a best of
22’10 ½.
Lewis’world rankings in the
long jump were 4th in ‘82; 3rd in ‘83; 7th in ‘85; 8th in’ 86.Yes, she is the sister
of Carl Lewis, the legendary sprinter-long jumper of world, Olympic records.
World records at the Trials
There
have been many world records equaled or set at the USA Olympic Trials. Our
California community college alumni left their mark on the world lists as
follows:
Eddie Hart ran a 9.9 100 meters at the
Olympic trials to set a world record.
1936
–HJ-Cornelius Johnson (Compton) 6-9 ¾” tie
1956
–HJ-Charles Dumas (Compton) 7-0 ½” (first 7-ft. jump)
1960-200-Ray Norton (Oakland) 20.5 equaled WR
1968-400-Lee Evans (San Jose) 44.0
1968-IH-Geoff Vanderstock (Mt. SAC) 48.8
1968-PV-Bob Seagren (Mt. SAC) 17-9
1972-100-Eddie Hart (Contra Costa) 9.9 equaled WR
1972-PV-Bob Seagren (Mt.SAC) 18-5 ¾”
A Sad Trials for Cali JC sprinter
Houston McTear
Baker HS, Fla. / Santa Monica CC /
Cerritos CC / Muhammed Ali TC
Florida prep sensation loses spot
due to injury
Houston McTear, is considered by many knowledgeable track coaches and fans as
one of the most talented sprinters the United States ever produced.
Baker HS:
1975: USA Jr. Championship: 10.2-1st place, 10.0 in a heatfor a
world, American, national high school record; 10.0-meters- Siena,Italy-(7/16/75)
1976 Indoors: High School national records: 5.1-50yards, 5.9 twice over 60yards
’76 Olympic Trials: McTear proved his
was real finishing second in 10.16m for a high school national record. He
suffered a hamstring injury in the race and was replaced on the team by Texas
high school sensation Johnny Jones.
1977-Santa Monica: 10:13-national JC
mark –Cologne, Germany (2nd
fastest in world at the time)
1978-Cerritos: South Coast Conference
title/*national record-10.0 at Santa Ana College;
*McTear appeared on the April 1978
T&F News front cover
False starts
Editor’s error:
The late Jim McKay did his first ABC-TV Wide World of Sports
program from the Penn Relays in Franklin Field, Philadelphia in 1961. The
USA/USSR dual meets began in 1958 and alternated annually between the countries.
If you have any questions,
comments, corrections, or contributions to Knuth's Corner, we encourage you to
email Coach Knuth at:
knuthfam@hotmail.com
ABOUT COACH LARRY KNUTH
Larry Knuth is one of the most respected coaches in
California and has been involved in track & field for over forty years with
extensive time spent at the California Community College level, serving as a
coach at Palomar, Pasadena, Glendale, Fullerton, Saddleback, Rio Hondo and
Orange Coast Community Colleges. This past spring, for his great contributions
to our sport, Coach Knuth was elected to the
the California Community College Track &
Cross Country Coaches Hall of Fame.
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