<![CDATA[Shore Athletic Club - News/Blog]]>Fri, 17 Apr 2026 20:25:43 -0400Weebly<![CDATA[TRACK AND FIELD WORLD,IRISHMEN, VILLANOVANS, SAY FAREWELLSTO THE IMMORTAL RON DELANY]]>Mon, 16 Mar 2026 16:29:10 GMThttps://www.shoreac.org/shore-ac-news/track-and-field-worldirishmen-villanovans-say-farewellsto-the-immortal-ron-delanyBy ELLIOTT DENMAN
  It was Saturday, the first day of December, 1956.
  But it still seems like yesterday.
  That epic afternoon, from an athlete’s section perch in the Melbourne Cricket Grounds Stadium stands, I knew I’d witnessed a great chapter in our sport’s history.  A reported 103,000 others were with me seeing it all evolve. 
 The track and field phase of the Games of the XVI Olympiad was roaring down the homestretch in the facility installed at the famed cricket/Aussie football venue for this most memorable of occasions. 
 Only the men’s 1,500-meter final ; the three relays, men’s and women’s 4x100, and men’s 4x400, and the men’s marathon, remained to close out the track sector of these first Olympics to be staged in the Southern Hemisphere, and the latest ever held in a calendar year.
  Team USA’s 1956 trackmen  would rise to record-breaking heights in Melbourne - 15 gold medals, 9 silvers, 4 bronzes,  four 1-2-3 sweeps, 1 World record, 9 Olympic records – thus leaving  just nine golds , by eight men, for all the rest of the universe.
  One of those most-memorable “others” was  5K/10K doubler Vladimir Kuts of Ukraine, then the Soviet Union,  Another was world javelin record-smasher  Egil Danielsen of Norway.  
  But – almost surely - highest of all memory charts was the triumphal 1500-meter run of Ron Delany, a  man who’d go on to make an incredible mark on the track and field scene in both his native land of Ireland, and the U.S. of A.
   Inevitably, irreversibly, the years would fly after December 1, 1956.  Of the eight “others,” just one man would be left walking this earth in 70-plus years, by early March, 2026.
   And now he’s gone, too.
   Tears flowed and hearts strirred when the sad news came across from Ireland on March 11.
    The great Ron Delany – some called him Ronnie, others kidded him as “Runny” – had said his farewell five days past his 91st birthday.
     He’d won the Olympic 1,500-meter gold medal in totally dramatic fashion Dec. 1, 1956.  Many thought that title was “rightfully”  deserved by  Australia’s John Landy.   After all, it was Landy who’d already bested Dr. Roger Bannister’s historic 1954 “first sub four” of  3:59.4 with a 3:58.0 mile of his own.  He had all of Australia – oh-so-proudly hosting its first Olympic Games – cheering its lungs out for him.
   And if Landy couldn’t win it, Merv Lincoln, the formidable Aussie Number Two, who’d been fastest qualifier out of the semifnals, in 3:45.4, surely would  rise to this occasion of all occasions.
  But history was unkind to both Landy and Lincoln, and their home fans.  Landy struggled through the stretch, winding up in third place.   The silver went to East Germany’s Klaus Richtzenhain.  Lincoln ran 12th  of 12, fading badly. 
    And so the gold went to the Villanova sophomore by way of  Arklow, Ireland. His name was Ron Delany.
    At 21, Delany had already made his mark as an American collegian.   Coached by the famed James “Jumbo” Elliott, he’d already begun bringing glory after glory to the Wildcats’ campus on the Philadelphia suburban Main Line.
   He’d been talked into accepting a Villanova scholarship by a famed Wildcat predecessor, Fred Dwyer.   He’d been reminded of his early Villanova/Ireland predecessors, Jim Reardon, John Joe Barry and Cummin Clancy.  He knew this would be the opportunity of his young lifetime.
   He snatched it.  And so it would be.
   Amid all his magnificent career wins, that first of December 1956 performance by far outranked them all.
   He was back in 10th place, as the field rounded the final turn.  Aussie fans screamed their lungs out for Landy and Lincoln.   With a bunch of others in the mix, too.
   But far-far back. the choppy-striding Delany began his historic closing sprint.  He passed rival after rival after rival and grabbed the lead just a few strides before the finish line.
   And when he knew he’d won it, he looked skyward, crossed himself in gratitude to His Maker for this immense moment of  good fortune, fell to his knees, and crossed himself once more.
  He’d done it with a sense of destiny shared with few others. “There was no moment in Melbourne when I didn’t believe I was going to win,” he once told an interviewer.
  “I think at that stage I did feel an element of fate. Once I struck and flew by everyone, I was not going to lose. I don’t do maybes.”
   It had been 24 years – with the Second World War in between – since an Irish runner had won an Olympic gold.   This was 400-meter hurdler Robert Tisdall at the 1932 Los Angeles Games.
   And as the world approaches the 70th anniversary of those Melbourne Games -  Ireland, home of so many illustrious footracers – has yet to win another,
   The athletics and USA collegiate worlds have blessed with such Irish men’s distance greats as Eamonn Coghlan. Marcus O’Sullivan, John Treacy, Ray Flynn, Frank O’Mara. Noel Carroll, John Hartnett, Mike Keogh, Donal Walsh – and an array of more – since Delany’s days at Villanova.  Magnifcent as they’ve all been, only Treacy – silver medalist in the 1984  LA marathon – has been  invited onto an Olympic podium.
   The very first Villanova Olympic gold medalist – barely - was Charley Jenkins, the 400-meter champion and 4x400 relayman of 1956.   He’d won the Melbourne 400 just two days before Delany won his 1500.
   They’d go onto further greatness in their next two years at Villanova, and ran on many a winning relay foursome for Coach Elliott.
   “Great, great guy, and a wonderful teammate,” said Jenkins, now a Sykesville, Maryland resident , of Delany.   “We’d go for long walks and discuss everything going on in the world.  Ronnie was always so grateful  to, and very proud of,  being a Villanova man.”
  Villanova, of course, would continue climbing the heights for years to come.  The 1957-58 Wildcats – featuring three Olympic gold medalists – Delany, Jenkins and pole vaulter Don Bragg – continue to rank as one of the greatest of all collegiate squads.
  Right up there, of course, in the Villanova Hall of Fame, are such additional names as Frank Budd, Paul Drayton, Larry James, Erv Hall. Alex Breckenridge, Dave Patrick, Sydney Maree,  Dick Buerkle, John Marshall, Chip Jenkins – and, of course, Marty Liquori.
   The Villanova glory days run on and on. Tiernan took the NCAA cross country crown.  A year ago, Liam Murphy lowered the Wildcats’ indoor mile record to 3:53.85.  And just three days afer Delany’s passing, Marco Lango poured his heart out, running to a 13: 5,000-meter silver medal in the Indoor NCAAs.
   On hearing the news of Delany ‘s passing, New Jersey’s/now Florida’s Liquori  posted, “I owe him a big debt.”
   Said Tony Sellitto, another noted  Villanova grad, “He led the way for so many of us.  He was so proud of Villanova, so proud of his nation.  In his 91 years, he achieved so much.”
  Wrote World Athletics president Seb Coe:  “It is incredibly sad to learn of the passing of Ron Delany, whose Olympic 1500m victory in Melbourne – remaining Ireland’s last Olympic gold in athletics – made him a colossus of Irish athletics.
 “Ron inspired generations of Irish athletes through his successes in US collegiate track and field. His athletics career burned incredibly brightly but relatively briefly before he transplanted his uncompromising drive and will on the track to a successful career in business and as an inspiring leader in Irish sport over several decades. I cherished his support, friendship, and the moments we shared together.”
  An official Villanova statement said “Ron Delany was a legend in his home country and an inaugural member of numerous Halls of Fame for his career accolades, Delany had just turned 91 last week. It is with heavy hearts that Villanova mourns the passing of one of its most recognizable and accomplished athletes whose wit and wisdom will be always missed and never forgotten.”

  Delany was the seventh athlete in world history to break four minutes in the mile when he crossed the line in 3:59.0 on June 1, 1956, in California. Six months later to the day, he ran a lifetime best of 3:41.2 in the 1500 meters in making himself the Olympic champion.
  In 2016, Ireland’s Wicklow County Council honored him with a civic reception. In 2019, an Arklow, Ireland,  housing estate was named in his honor, and a statue in his memory erected there, too.  

  Said Peter Sherrard, chief executive of the Olympic Federation of Ireland, “Ronnie made an immense contribution to Irish sport and the Olympic movement over many decades. Through his leadership of the Irish Olympians Association and his ongoing advocacy for athletes, he inspired generations and remained a proud ambassador for Team Ireland throughout his life."

  Sheaths of remembrances flew across the Atlantic:
  “We used to have a funny phrase in Ireland,” said one post.  “When told to hurry up.  the person would say ‘who do think I am, Ronnie Delany ?”
·           “Rest in peace Ronnie, you’re one of Ireland's longest enduring Olympics champions.,” posted Tony Kenny.    
·            “He lifted Ireland out of the dumps and set the standard for us all to follow,” said Joe Moore. “R.I.P., Sir."   
   “A true Irish hero; I remember the day,,” wrote Joe Porter.
  Wrote Patrick O’Donovan, ireland’s Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport:  "Throughout his athletic career, Ronnie inspired young Irish runners to follow their dreams.”
 “The best of Irish, a model to all,” wrote Gerard McBride.  “ RIP Ronnie.”

   Posted Caroline McCann: “One of life's gentlemen; a pleasure to have known him."

·         From Peter Laverty:  “A hero to many , a legend to all."
    “Rest now Ronnie.,” said Paula Shannon. “ You have done yourself. your family and your country very proud.’’
   And Villanovans continue doing big things to this moment. Patrick Tiernan won the 2016 NCAA cross country crown. Marco Langon poured his heart out, running to a 13:36.98 silver in the NCAA 5000 meters Friday night. One season ago, Liam Murphy lowered the Villanova mile record to 3:53.85.
Drama had already been served for a week in Melbourne as November 1956 became December.
     And I had played a bit role in the proceedings, one of the three Americans chasing down – vainly - New Zealand’s Norman Read in the 50-kilometer racewalk on the preceding Saturday, Nov. 24.  We – Adolph Weinacker, myself and Leo Sjogren – chased “Stormin Norman” from a distance.  It would be 16 years before an American, Larry Young, would be invited to the Olympic podium for this longest, toughest and least appreciated event on the Games program.
   But that November 24th scheduling would be one of the many fortuitous blessings bestowed on me in this grand adventure of my young lifetime.  It freed me to revel in the immense drama soon to unfold in the balance of the Olympic slate of action.
   Before this awestruck young fella’s own eyes to see, were such daunting deeds as Bobby Morrow’s dazzling dashes to the 100-200 double;  Jenkins’ stunning 400 win; Tom Courtney’s epic 800 win;  Lee Calhoun’s and Glenn Davis’s breakthrough wins in the two hurdles races;  7-foot barrier-breaker Charley Dumas’s high jump win; Rev. Bob Richards’ repeat pole vault gold;  Parry O‘Brien’s ’ revolutionary spin to the shot put crown,;  barely-20-year-old Al Oerter’s first of four golden discus whirls; Milt Campbell’s record-margin triumph in the decathlon.  And a two-for-two in the men’s relays
  And much more.
  I was a 22-year-old recent NYU graduate awestruck to be in this regal company.
  The flight from New York to LA for team processing had been my first time in an airplane.  The subsequent journey  to Melbourne – by way of Honolulu, Canton Island and Fiji – was an adventure in itself.
  And the Games would deliver memories to last this guy’s lifetime,
  The great Jesse Owens had accompanied Team USA on this journey – the quadruply golden emissary of American goodwill at a difficult time in world affairs.  The Suez Crisis was raging. The Hungarian  Uprising  - against its Iron Curtain occupiers – still simmered.
  But when Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh,  told the over 3,200 athletes / representing 72 nations in 151 events /  it’s time to “Let The Games” begin – the big show was underway.
  The Games immediately put its best foot forward.   Track and field/athletics was first on the slate, right off the bat. Swimming was not to the second week.   This was the Olympic scheduling format not to be repeated until LA 2028.
   And the men of  Team USA did their nation incredibly proud.   Astoundingly proud.   Record-breakingly proud.  Monopolizingly proud.
   Just to recount:  of the 24 men’s events on the card, Team USA won 15 of them, leaving just nine for all the rest of the universe.   Is this a performance almost sure to endure forever?  Almost surely, yes.
   There were heroic performers draped in those traditional red-white-blue-striped singlets – oh, how I wish they’d not change team attire every four years – on display again and again and again.
    But there was Ronnie Delany of Villanova and Ireland, too.
   And now he’s gone, as well.
   Charley Jenkins remains the lone still living/breathing individual-event champion of 1956 to remind us of those Melbourne events.  (Along with golden relay runners Thane Baker and Jesse Mashburn.)
  Let me again attest that those were very special days.
]]><![CDATA[KINGSWAY GRADS AND ALLEN FAMILYSTAR FOR SHORE A.C. AT TCS NYC MARATHON; MRS. CONNIE BROWN MAKES IT NUMBER 45 !!!]]>Wed, 19 Nov 2025 16:32:28 GMThttps://www.shoreac.org/shore-ac-news/kingsway-grads-and-allen-familystar-for-shore-ac-at-tcs-nyc-marathon-mrs-connie-brown-makes-it-number-45​By ELLIOTT DENMAN
Has there ever been a full family team completing the same TCS NYC Marathon? 
Just don't  know about it happening in the 53 previous years of the classic event, but certainly know so now !!! 
Very/very/very well done, sons Ryan and Sam Allen, and parents Reid and Tammie Allen,
Who comprised The Truly Terrific Family Quartet of Woolwich Township, NJ and Shore Athletic Club  !!...

The 1-2-3 Shore AC finishers over the line at Tavern On The Green were proud graduates of Kingsway High School and it was Tom Cooke, who also ran for Felician University, first of them at 2:32:14.

And the Allen brothers, Kingsway grads, too,  were close behind ;teammate Tom.  Ryan clocked in at 2:33:41 and Sam at 2:38:37.

They then had  a brief respite before the arrival of their parents.

Dad Reid Allen and Mom Tammie Allen  came through quite excellenty, too, in the 26-mile 385-yrd journey from Staten Island to Central Park on November 2, 2025.

In a world-record-size marathon field of ,59,115 finishers  (WABC=TV told us that over 55,000 were running) but the array of participants continued to soar and went nearly 3,000 over the 2024 field.

Ryan Allen, 21, a senior at Villanova University, led his family (and so many more) over the line as one of the top finishers (and most promising) runners that young in the field.His career goal:  Veterinary science,

Sam Allen, 23, is a graduate of Cornell University now busily engaged in graduate studies.His concentration:   Mechanical engineering.  : 

Great as these marathon running performances surely were by Ryan and Sam Allen, the brothers  are still best known as star young members of the USA National Racewalking Team, with a flock of international credits and numerous National USATF medals already in their portfolios.  

(Of course, we’ve seen them star in the one-mile racewalk at the Elliott Denman/NJ International Track and Field Meet at The Joe Compagni Track, Monmouth University, too.)

The Tom Cooke-Ryan Allen-Sam Allen threesome also gave Shore AC a solid seventh place in the vast field of club teams, and a huge international entry.

Marc Blanco of West Long Branch was the fourth Shore AC runner over the ine in 2:42:27. .

Another West Long Brancher, Farnese DaSilva, punched in at 2:45.33,  good for seventh place among all 55-59 division runners.  How did Farnese warm up for the Big Apple?   By winning the Deal Trick or Trot four-miler on October 27. 
]]><![CDATA[THE 15TH OF NOVEMBER 2025,A GREAT SATURDAY AT HOLMDEL PARK]]>Mon, 17 Nov 2025 21:06:37 GMThttps://www.shoreac.org/shore-ac-news/the-15th-of-november-2025a-great-saturday-at-holmdel-parkBy ELLIOTT DENMAN

What a great Saturday at Holmdel Park !!!

Getting it going (at 8.30 am) was the 8th annual Bill Bruno Alumni XC Race - proudly hosted by Shore AC and open to all - which attracted its largest ever field (nearly 200) and was won by host club's men's champion Brian Hill in 15,43 over Julian Bonk 16.40/
Third was  SAC;s Kyle Spector 16.46 and fourth Mike Margeliane 16.53.
Women's champion was  Easton,Pa's Adelyn Davis 18.27, with the Shore AC duo Kerry Dyke 18.42.02 and Amanda Huneke 18.42.60 terrific in 2-3, and Gypsy Cooper next, 19.13 .
Truly great event  !!

Then, of course, came the classic 53rd NJSIAA Meet of Champions twinbill, girls at 11 am, boys at noon.

For only the fourth time in MofC history, the Shore Conference provided both individual champions (according to my calculations).

After Ocean Township sensational sophomore Leah Starkey edged Union Catholic sensational junior and defending champion Paige 
Sheppard  17.15 to 17,17 in the girls race with UC's Caylee Kaiser 17.45 third ahead of another brilliant sophomore, Middletown South's Amelia Patwell of the famed Patwell family, 17.52.

Then the boys:  CBA teammates Luke Hnatt 15,23 and Gavin Schmitt 15.26 ran 1-2 in the boys race, just ahead of Manalapan's Clay
Stevens.15.35, and Chatham's Marcus  Valenzuela.
    All these times - individual and team totals - rank right up there with the very/very best in Holmdel history.   After its debut at Ocean County Park in 1972. the Mof C has been staged at Holmdel ever since 1973 (excepting Covid year 2021/).   

Top four boys teams: CBA,Haddonfield, Union Catholic,  Manalpan;   Top four girls teams Union Catholic,Ridgewood, Paul VI, Cherokee.  
     It was CBA's superb 28th title and fourth straight. !!!    
(Only previous Shore Conference individual sweeps I denote:  Craig Forys (Colts Neck) and Danielle Tauro (Southern Regional) both 2005 and 2006; both going on to stardom at Univ of Michigan, then   CBA's Joe Barrett (now of Univ North Carolina) and Freehold Township's Emma Zawatski 2023.)
]]><![CDATA[FRONT-RUNNING JOSETTE ANDREWSTHRILLS FANS FROM TOKYO TO NEW YORK/NEW JERSEY,AND LOCATIONS FAR BEYOND.]]>Tue, 07 Oct 2025 15:00:57 GMThttps://www.shoreac.org/shore-ac-news/front-running-josette-andrewsthrills-fans-from-tokyo-to-new-yorknew-jerseyand-locations-far-beyondBy ELLIOTT DENMAN
  As over 58,000 jammed Tokyo’s National Stadium, ready to applaud the
fittest, finest and fleetest  of humanity on this penultimate day (September 20th) of the 20th World Athletics Championships, a much-much-much smaller group gathered, 13 time zones to the East,  in Saratoga Springs, New York, ready to scream their lungs out far-far-far louder (per capita, of course)  than those in the Japanese capital, the world’s largest city.
   Gathered in Tokyo were track and field royalty, from World Athletics chief/World record-breaker/Olympic double champion Sebastian Coe,  to leaders and members of 198 competing national delegations;  to a large array of visitors; to a host-nation fan base just loving this sport, even as their own beloved Team Japan members were being limited to two (bronze medal) invitations to that gloried stadium podium…to Mr. and Mrs. Robby and Josette Andrews.
   Gathered, meanwhile, in that Saratoga Springs holiday site were members of Team Andrews, a subset of Team USA, a subset of Team New Jersey.  Robby Andrews had risen to brilliance at Monmouth County’s Manalapan High School; then University of Virginia; wife Josette (nee Norris) Andrews at Bergen County’s Tenafly High School, then  the U. of North Carolina and Georgetown University.
   They’d  already seen Josette’s USA teammates run up a stream of triumphs, medal-winning performances, and brilliant deeds earlier days at  this biennial celebration of ancient Greek  confidence in  mankind’s ability to register Citius-Altius-Fortius (faster-higher-stronger) achievements  on a regular basis.
  While Josette’s hubby, Robby Andrews (himself track and field royalty as a USA Olympian, USA national champion, national collegiate champion and national scholastic record-breaker) was in Tokyo, his dad and Josette dad-in-law Bob Sr. (himself a star middle-distancer at Penn, now coaching heaps of youngsters, “the next generation of Olympians,”  with golden aspirations of their own);  his sister (and doctor) Kristin Andrews Fitzgerald (who’d had a superb track career at St.Joseph’s University) , and several of their nearest and dearest, gathered before a TV screen in Saratoga Springs.
   Lining up for that women’s 5,000-meter final that moment in Tokyo were 16 brilliant racers, a stellar group topped by greatest-of-all-timers Beatrice Chebet  and Faith Kipyegon of Kenya.  Each had already proven golden in Tokyo, Chebet in the 10,000 (Sept. 13) and Kipyegon in the 1,500 (Sept. 17.)  With them were two Americans,  Shelby Houiihan and Josette Andrews, and a dozen more.
  The two qualifying heats two days earlier had been fast; the final would be slower and entrancingly strategic.
    The global pundits guaranteed us Chebet and Kipyegon would run 1-2. Or 2-1.
   And they were right….but, oh, the drama along the way.
  Let me now pass the baton to Mr. Bob Andrews.
  Take it away, Bob:
   “We saw an Incredible, incredible performance by both Americans.”
    “ Josette (who was in the front pack along with Houlihan for over 10 laps) showed so much poise and courage to lead the race and knowing the world  record -holder was in the field. 
   “As the race progressed ,JJ (Josette) used tremendous self-talk to continuously re-set her effort and stick with her commitment to remain in the front of (or right up with) the pack, to stay in contention to  achieve her dream.  She knew that she finally had full health and a solid training regimen to compete at this level.
  “The race was a progression, with each 1000 meters faster than the previous.  
   “Josette showed savvy competitiveness , protecting her spot in (first or) second place, on the inside lane,  many times, from other runners trying to cut in on her. This paid off as she boldly took the lead (again) with 800 meters to go, as all of New  Jersey (most loudly, most excitedy so. those Garden Staters on holiday  in the Saratoga Springs enclave)  rose to their feet cheering, as she summoned her flight to the finish line.
“My hairs stood on their ends as we excitedly watched, jumping up and down, cheering on from Saratoga Springs, Kristin, grandson Reece (2 years  old, in his high chair) and granddaughter Frankie (4 months old ) being held by her grandma.  Lolli (Bob's wife Mary Fregosi).
  “As I reflect on the courage and grit of my talented daughter-in-law I am so grateful that God has blessed me with two global caliber athletes to cheer for, long after my own career in the sport has ended. (But not really, folks, since Bob has been a top-notcher in the Masters ranks.)
  “They (Robby and Kristin)  have been frequent visitors to the Gone Running/Shore AC youth running program taking place in Central NJ that has been that starting point for so many of NJ's talented young runners.
    “Kristin screamed, ‘Go Aunt Josie’ leading her young family of supporters and (hopefully) preparing the next generation of  Team USA members.”
  Said Kristin: “ Watching Josette stand on that starting line is emotional for me. I know what it takes to get to this moment: a world championship finalist, hours and hours of sacrifice, time, mental, and physical preparation; sacrifices that hundreds make and yet only the rare few make it here (to  the Worlds level.).
  “Before she even makes one more step, she is victorious in my eyes.
  “It was the same feeling I felt for my brother (Robby), with whom I got to experience the highest of highs (all those wins, all those records) and the lowest of lows in his career  (most notaby a still-controversial DQ call in the 2016 Rio Olympic 1500 semifinal, just as he seemed poised to run the final, likely as a strong gold medal challenger.)
  “More than me, as he stood in the (Tokyo) crowds, he (Robby) knew exactly what Josette is feeling. “
   Back to Bob: “ With all of that in mind, and even  though I am forever biased in favor of her, Josette  ran the best race of her life in the biggest race of her life. She showed grit, guts, talent and desire.  Aunt Jojo (Josette) is the real deal and it was an honor to watch her with my babies today!”
   For the record:  Chebet (who’d run 14: 45:59 in her heat), outkicked Kipyegon (14:56.71 in her heat) to take the gold in 14:54:36  over Kipysegon’s 14:55.07, as Nadia Battocletti of Italy surged late to snare the  bronze in 14:55.42.
   Houlihan, running sizzlingly after a gut-wrenching, still-controversial four-year suspension, was a sterling fourth (14:57.42), fighting off Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay (14:57.82.)
   And, in this race of her life, in sixth place, Josette Andrews clocked in at 15:00:25, ten more of the world’s finest trooping in behind her.
   This Worlds final wasn’the swiftest 12 and a half laps, not even close,  any of them had ever run.  But it sure was enthralling.
   Chebet (13:58:06) owns the world record with Tsegay (14:00:21) second and Kenya’s Agnes Ngetich (14:01:29) third on the all-time list.
  The American record has been in the books since Alicia Monson’s 14:19:45 in 2023. it’s trailed by Houlihan’s 14:23.92 in 2020,  with Andrews’s brilliant 14:25:37 in Rome this June third on the list.   All-time world-wise,  Monson ranks 17th, Houlihan 26th and Andrews 29th.
    So this immediate conclusion:  Houlihan and Andrews surely punched far-far-far  over their weight in Tokyo.  
  •    Back in 1951, Staten Islander Bobby Thomson of the New York Giants slugged the oft-called “shot heard round the world” with his pennant-clinching home run blast off the Brooklyn  Dodgers’ Ralph Branca in an epic clash at New York’s Polo Grounds.   And Bobby Thomson was Bob Andrews' uncle, whose sister, Marion Thomson Andrews, had competed in  in the National AAU Track and Field Championships several times in the mid-1930s.
The immortal Thomson passed away in 2010, but  friends of this extended family  surely knew that the  Giant giant, “up there,” was cheering his lungs out for Josette Andrews, too.  
              They’ll guarantee that, if you listened quite carefully. that  Bobby Thomson  could still be heard in Tokyo, Japan;  in Saratoga Springs and Staten Island, New York;  in Manalapan and Tenafly, New Jersey, and perhaps-perhaps-perhaps,  in the old Walter Winchell-ism, “all ships at sea.”
]]><![CDATA[FRANK HARRISON’S ANALYSIS:THE GREATEST TEST OF MANKIND’SABILITY TO DETERMINETHE FINEST  ATHLETE ON EARTH]]>Mon, 06 Oct 2025 17:44:46 GMThttps://www.shoreac.org/shore-ac-news/frank-harrisons-analysisthe-greatest-test-of-mankindsability-to-determinethe-finest-athlete-on-earth
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BY ELLIOTT DENMAN
Ten very differing challenges. Twenty-four multi-talented challengers. Representing  15  different nations.  Big, strong  guys  Tall, tough guys. Performing over two straght days.  Before a packed stadium.
All competing in the greatest test of mankind’s ability to determine the finest athlete on earth.   Plenty of mathematics.  Numbers into the multi-thousands.  Additions every minute.  A few unfortunate subtractions,  Guts and glory on non-stop display.
That’s the World Championships decathlon.  And my good friend and teammate Mr. Frank Harrison knows the event’s intricacies as well as any of us.
  He’d been a brilliant athlete at New Jersey’s Madison Central High School, then at the Universty of Pennsylvania, then for Shore Athletic Club.  He’d competed in two Olympic Deca-Trials.  He’d won three IC4A silver medals.  He’d won the USA-Canada-Japan tri-meet.
  He’s a major New York corporate executive these days,  But like so many of our sport’s most dedicated  souls, he was glued to the TV last week,  specially so the final two days of the 20th Worlds at Tokyo’s National Stadium, most certainly on the decathlon.
    World-class coaches had guided his way.  Roland (Rollie) Kok at Madison Central, Irv “Moon” Mondschein  and  Fred Samara – each a USA Coaching Hall of Famer, USA Olympian  and National Champion - at Penn.  They were his "incredible pedigree."
    Just getting to a deca-starting line is a major achievement.
"When I woke up on the day the competition was to begin, I already had massive adrenaline flowing, “ Harrison knew. “ I felt extremely nervous and anxious. So much so, that eating breakfast was a massive challenge.
   "The more that I could eat at breakfast produced my best performances. You need the energy over a long physically, mentally draining day to come. I ingested  as much as I could:  pancakes or waffles, scrambled eggs, toast and orange juice.
  "The amount of training that goes into a decathlon is astounding. It is quite common for top athletes to train between 6-8 hours per day, always working on the events, drills, drills and more drills, running, lifting, film review, flexibility work and on and on the list goes. The point being that . when a competition came along, massive preparation has already been put in. It is quite natural for these athletes to be highly wound up and ready to explode!”
  That said,  on to Day One  at the Worlds:  "The meet was largely holding to the Form Chart," he saw. " It looked like Kyle Garland (USA), Sander Skotheim (Norway)  and Leo Neugebauer (Germany) would separate themselves from the field with Niklas Kaul (Germany) as a dark horse for a medal. 
  “To me, Kyle Garland looks to be a reincarnation of the late, great  Milt Campbell “ (The Plainfield, New Jerseyan who'd won the 1952 Helsinki Olympic deca-silver medal as a high schooler, then the 1956 Melbourne Olympic gold, by a record margin.)
  The ailing Damian Warner of Canada withdrew before it even started,
and it was on with the show – 100,  long jump, shot put, high jump.. 400.
  Garland was off to the races:  a solid total of  4707 first-day points, good leads over Skotheim (4543), Puerto Rico’s Ayden Owens-Delerme/AOD  (4487) and Neugebauer (4455.)
  With four 900-plus event scores, “Garland was simply amazing,” said Harrison.
 “Day One is a highly, highly physical day. There is a lot of pounding and all- out sprinting. Each of the those five events involves being explosive. And it’s almost a cruel joke to have the day end with a 400.  It’s a war against  the build up of lactic acid , knowing that you  still have five more events to go the next day. It’s, well, flat out cruel! But that’s the deal. 
  “You cannot totally relax - you must rest, yet you must simultaneously maintain your edge, your focus. It’s a mental  thing.  And it is not easy.”
  But Day Two?  “It’s a whole new ballgame; no wonder  there is always carnage in major decathlons. “  Disaster  loomed early on Day Two.  Paris Olympic champion Skotheim crashed a hurdle and was out.
]]><![CDATA[AJEE WILSON'S 1:58.76 800   STEALS THE SHOW  AT DENMAN/NJ INTERNATIONAL MEET  AT MONMOUTH UNIVERSITY]]>Fri, 27 Jun 2025 18:46:11 GMThttps://www.shoreac.org/shore-ac-news/ajee-wilsons-15876-800-steals-the-show-at-denmannj-international-meet-at-monmouth-university WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. - None of the 700-plus competitors at Monmouth University last Sunday (June 22.2025) went home happier than Ajee Wilson. The two-time USA Olympian, 12-time USATF National champion, World Indoor champion and Diamond League champion, a graduate of nearby Neptune High School, and Philadelphia's Temple University,who continues to live and train in Philadelphia, ran her fastest 800 meters in over three years and was totally delighted. Her 1:58.76 triumph. in the Joetta Clark Diggs women's 800-meter run at the Elliott Denman/New Jersey International Meet at Monmouth's Joe Compagni Track at Kessler Stadium, sent a clear signal that she was again ready to run with the national and global elite.
    "It's been three long years, my body was just not responding (to workouts and racing)," she said.a few minutes after the confidence-building triumph.
   "But everything went great today.  And, best  of all, it was back home (in Monmouth County)."/
    McKenna Keegan (1:59.73) and Kassidy Johnson (2;00.78) ran 2-3 in a race that,  on a
sun-splashed, steamy late afternoon, saw all of them better the meet record that had been in the books for 35 years. Joetta Clark (now Joetta Clark Diggs) had run 2:01.50 in 1990.
    NJ International events are named for prior greats of the sport - almost all of them New Jersey
products - And this two-lapper was titled the Joetta Clark Diggs women's 800.
  And, in an interesting happenstance, Clark Diggs (the four-time Olympian and National Track and Field Hall of Famer) was not only on the premises - and competing in the women's Masters 100-meter sprint - but was  there to cheer on Ajee Wilson and  all those in "her event," too.
  Another Olympic 800-meter runner cheering from the sidelines - but not competing -
was Monmouth University alumna Allie Wilson (no relation to Ajee), who ran the two-lapper at the 2024 Paris Games.
   It was thus a five-ringed gathering. All told, the three Olympians at the meet ran for this nation at seven Games from Seoul1988 to Barcelona 1992 to Atlanta 1996 to Sydney 2000 to London 2012 to Rio de Janeiro 2016 to Paris 2024.
   With the 1:58.76, Ajee Wilson climbs to fourth on the USA list for this 2025 season which will be capped by the USA Nationals in Oregon in August and World Championships in Tokyo in September.
  There's still a long road to travel but the 1:58.76 gives Wilson, who continues to live and train in Philadelphia, her home (following her Neptune High School stardom) for the past dozen years, the confidence she has the ability to
make that journey as a member of Team USA.
   For the third consecutive year, the meet was named for Elliott Denman, the West Long Branch resident who'd been a 1956 Olympian in the 50-kilometer race walk and twice a National champion, before moving from New York to New Jersey and starting a 35-year run as Olympic and all-sports writer and columnist for the 
Asbury Park Press, then continuing to write for an array of other newspapers, magazines and websites.
  Along the way, he found time to be a founding father of the "new" Shore Athletic Club in 1964, and saw the club gain major state, national and international prominence in the years since.
   The New Jersey International Meet was staged by Shore AC in cooperation with Monmouth University, and directed by Shore AC officers Joe Compagni, Dave Friedman and Erin O'Neill and a team of volunteers  Its history began as the Bob Roggy Memorial Meet at Holmdel in 1987,following the tragic death, in an accident following the 1986 Olympic Sports Festival in Houston, of the brilliant Holmdel athlete who'd risen to World Number One in the javelin throw.
   Back on the track, fans were treated to a sizzling Dr. John Connors men's 1500-meter race

won by Ben Allen of the Westchester County-based Empire Elite Club in 3:37.80 over Camden Gilmore (3:38.92) ,with four others under 3:44, representing sub-four minute mile pace.
   "Great meet,"  said Allen, a former Minnesota collegiate star at Concoridia-St. Paul.   "Thanks to everybody here  for putting it on.  We need more meets like this.".
   Other top men's track performers were Jonathan Farinha (10.47) in the Frank Budd Memorial 100, Jeff Chen (21,41) in the Andy Stanfield Memorial 200, Alex Amanywah (46.97) in the Larry James Memorial 400, and Will Culbertson (1:48.03) in the Rich Kenah 800, which saw eight more sub-1:50.
   Other leading women's racers were Rachel Taylor (12.01) in the Fred Thompson 100, Zoe Goldstein (23.79) in the Stanfield 200, Jane Underwood (53.79) in the Aliann Pompey 400, and Abbe Goldstein (4:13.69) in the in the Chrissy D'Alessandro Shaheen Memorial 1500.
   Edward Williams sped the men's Renaldo Nehemiah men's 110 hurdle in 13.86; Sophia Myers claimed the Dawn Bowles women's 100 hurdles in 14.03.
    The Bob Roggy Memorial men's javelin throw continues as a feature event in the meet and was
won this time by Chris Fredericks with a toss of 231-10...
    Claiming the Barbara Friedrich Parcinski women's javelin title was Julia Campezato with a 146-3 throw,
with Parcinski, the famed Manasquan High School and Newark State (now Kean University) graduate and 1968 Olympian. on hand to cheer her on.
   Numerous brilliant peformances were recorded in the other throws. 
  Going 1-2 in the Ira Wolfe  men's hammer were the nationally ranked  Tyler Williams (239-0), Jordan Crayon (233-11.) 
   Jordan West muscled out a 64-11 1/4 win over Chris Van Niekirk (64-5)t  in the Al Blozis Memorial men's shot put.
   Paris 2024 Olympian and Princeton graduate Obi Amaechi took the Art Swarts women's discus throw with a near meet record toss of 189-9; Noah Kennedy-White led the Swarts men's discus at 170-11.
    Princeton senior star Greg Foster Jr. extended the Herb Douglas Memorial long jump record to 26-0 1/4 in a duel with ex-Rutgers  star A'Nan Bridgett (24-11 1/4.)
  Mike Pascuzzo Memorial high jump ttitlists were Isaiah Harris (6-8) in the men's event and Grace Campbell (5-10) in the women's competition.  Paul Richard Memorial men's and women's pole vault champions were Dalton Yeust (15-3) and Sydney Horn (13-11 1/4.)  Tops in the Norman Tate  triple jump were Matayo McGraw (49-0 1/4), men and Kayla  Woods  (43-2 1/4), women.
   Leading rthe way in the Elliott Denman one-mile racewalk were Shore AC's Ryan Allen, a Villanova senior, in 6:43.57, over Canada's Dmitry Babenko. Dorit Attias of Lakewood led the women's racewalk.
.. Numerous other men's and women's events were staged in the Open, Masters and Youth categories, , providing action on all levels.   Perhaps the busiest athlete all day was Shore AC's tireless. Masters Division international star Rick Lee, 64, of Bayville, Ocean County.   He won the meet's first event, the Horace Ashenfelter 2,000-meter steeplechase in 7:31.36, took his division of the Dr, Harry Nolan/Dr, George Sheehan Masters Mile in 5:34.73,, and was still running as the meet reached twilight, winning his Masters 5000-meter division in 19:00.12.   Oh, and he added a little earlier speedwork with a 1:06.03 400.
   "Not bad for the day," said the stamina-laden Lee.
    It's just  another chapter in his amazing career.
   He's just back from a 60-64 divisional win in the famed and ultra-grueling Comrades Double Marathon in South Africa.
  The Mary Conry Memorial women's masters mile went to Josiah Tanner (6;04.55.)
   A special feature once again was the Community Mile, in which over 30 took part, running, jogging, walking or strolling, in a benefit event for  the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, and Shore AC Development Fund.
  In mid-meet ceremonies, scholarship awards were presented to scholastic senior stars May Hanlon of Toms River North (the Dick and Pat Hill Memorial Award) and Cleatus Oakes of Point Pleasant Boro and Liliah Gordon of Northern Burlington Regional (Shore AC Development Fund Awards.)  Hanlon, just back from raising her personal high jump record to 5-7 1/4 placing sixth in the New Balance Nationls in Philadelphia, then took second in the Mike Pascuzzo HJ in this one.
    Inducted into the Shore AC Hall of Fame were noted coaches Aliann Pompey (St. John's
 University), Leroy Hayes (Asbury Park High School) and Caleb Morris (Neptune
High School), and 400-meter standout Maurelhena Walles, now excelling in the 
Masters ranks.
   Earning the Chester Bowman Memorial "Chariots of Fire" award was
Shore AC charter member and former Monmouth (then-College) coach John Kuhi.
  Full results at Vipertiming.com.]]><![CDATA[GOOD ON GRANDSLAM TRACKBUT LET’S LOOK BACK BACKON TRACK’S BAD OLD DAYS]]>Wed, 21 May 2025 15:28:09 GMThttps://www.shoreac.org/shore-ac-news/good-on-grandslam-trackbut-lets-look-back-backon-tracks-bad-old-daysBy ELLIOTT DENMAN
GOOD ON Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone.   Good on Kenny Bednarek. Good on Grant Fisher. Good on Gabby Thomas. Good on Alison Dos Santos.
 Good on all of them for earning a pair of one-hundred-thousand-buck paychecks over the first two three-day weekends of Grand Slam Track.  They deserve it.  They earned it. They’ll (hopefully) put it so such good purposes as mortgage payments, grocery bills and building real lives.
Especially good on Michael Johnson for translating this Grand Slam vision into reality, for snagging the sponsors, for building a three million–plus dollar budget, for snaring the TV deals and the venues and everything else involved into putting the whole show onto the track and into the consciousness of track fans around the planet.
 From one man’s TV room (mine), at the Jersey Shore, Grand Slam Track’s kicking-it-all-off Kingston visit  looked OK and the second stop Miami a whole lot better.
And now it’s on to Philadelphia and what better site can there be but storied Franklin Field  ?       We all know it’s the nation’s most continually-running collegiate venue and home of the classic Penn Relays and an array of other events – National AAUs. Dream Miles, IC4A, Heps, etc etc etc.
Obviously, it will be a collision of track and field’s past and future, and let’s just see if it really gets there.  Michael Johnson & Team are already telling us the answer will be “yes.”  Others say “maybe.”
Chopping the slate from three days to two is a good move.  Even the most intense fans must have felt three days was a stretch.  Two days of action will surely deliver more bang for Philly fans’ bucks.
So let’s just wait and see where all this leads.
BUT AT THIS SAME MOMENT in track and field time, let’s also take a look back at the long list of occasions where dollar bills  
represented not reality, progress and enlightenment, but the exact opposite.
There were long and  dark years in the sport’s amateurism-clinging history when an array of track’s all-time greats (and lots other not-really greats) saw their careers called to the finish line long-long before they coulda-woulda-shoulda delivered a heap of hugely remarkable deeds.  Money meant the end, not the beginning.
SO THE FOLLOWING is aimed at all you later-comers out there.
(And as a nonagenarian, almost everybody I see these days is a later-comer.)  Today’s Grand Slammers may have trouble grasping all these happenings of antiquity. But good on them if they even try.  At the top of my head, here’s my list:
          BOSTON UNIVERSITY’S Thomas Burke won both the 100 and 400 (a still unmatched feat) at the historic Athens Olympic Games of 1896, but “voluntarily” – a point many still doubt – gave up his amateur athlete’s status. Burke went on to a career in law and military heroism as a World War One aviator. The 1900/1904 Games? Definite possibilities for him – but just weren’t.
  STATEN ISLAND’S Abel Kiviat was the world one-mile record-setter, the first man to beat four minutes for 1500 meters, and 1912 Stockholm silver medalist.  But he was tossed from the sport “for life” by the AAU at age 24 – his alleged crime: accepting “a moderate amount of money” and never to   reach his amazing potential, He did gain reinstatement at age 32 – but his best years were gone.
 THE IMMORTAL JIM THORPE was Abel Kiviat’s roommate in Stockholm.  After he won both the 1912 decathlon and pentathlon, he was called (by King Gustav V) “The World’s Greatest Athlete.”  But that world collapsed after they discovered he’d played minor league baseball for a minuscule sum under an assumed name.  He never lived to see the day those medals were eventually rescinded.
   FINLAND’S PAAVO NURMI was the absolute king of the distances, with 22 world records, nine Olympic gold medals and three silvers to his credit, before his planned finale on the Olympic stage as a marathoner at the 1932 LA Games. But it never happened – he was tossed a week before the Games for taking “excessive expenses.”
MILDRED (BABE) DIDRIKSON was the great home heroine of the 1932 LA Cames, taking golds in the 80 hurdles and javelin, and  a silver in the high jump - but soon made the mistake of getting her photo into an automobile ad and her Olympic days were done.  Instead, her future turned to golf, where – as Babe Didrikson Zaharias - she carved out a career as a queen of the LPGA tour, at one point winning a record 14 straight tournaments.
JESSE OWENS’ four Olympic gold-medal spree at the 1936 Olympic Games was a well-deserved spit in the face of Adolf Hitler and his crackpot Aryan supremacy visions.  But Owens never ran another real race after those Games – tossed by his federation (the stodgies of the  AAU) after nixing a potentially lucrative (to the AAU) European tour.
THE USA (AND CANADIAN) indoor track circuit was big business all the way until the mid-1990s, filling major arenas with big meets, big stars and large headlines.  Many of the greats excelled in both the indoor and outdoor versions of the sport.   But a few – such as Martin McGrady, John Borican and Jimmy Herbert, had their best days on the undercover circuit. Legendary is this era of under-the-table payments is the story of Jimmy Herbert,  the multi-time National 600-yard champion from NYU and the Grand Street Boys Club.  “My price is a dollar a yard,” Herbert is said to have told a promoter on the eve of a big 600- yard race.  “I can only pay $500,” he was told.   Herbert reluctantly agreed, then “pulled up” after the 500-yard mark.
HIS UCLA EXPLOITS – as brilliant performer in track, football, basketball and baseball – never got Jackie Robinson the national attention they deserved. After winning the 1939 NCAA long (then broad) jump tItle, he’d have been considered a top candidate to succeed Owens in the LJ at the 1940 Games.  But WWII cancelled them and Robinson waited until 1946 to make his biggest off all  marks, signing the Brooklyn Dodgers contract that changed the face of major league baseball – as well as every other pro sport – forever.
WITH WORLD WAR TWO and its horrors raging in Europe, Gunder Hagg and Arne Andersson took turns lowering records in neutral Sweden.  Andersson got the world mile record down to 4:01.6 in 1944, then Hagg ran 4.01.4 in 1945. Would either one or the other have been the first to break four minutes?  Almost surely. But both were tossed by the Swedish federation and it was nine more years before Dr Roger Bannister finally ran his epic 3:59.4, May 6, 1954.
 ELMORE HARRIS of Morgan State and Shore AC was a premier great of the mid-1940s who was picked by many to win the 400 (or even the 400  hurdles) at the first post-WWII Olympics, at London 1948.  But the impoverished Harris never got there; his track career ended with a very brief, unsuccessful fling at pro football with the new All-American Conference’s Buffalo Bills.
SAN FRANCISCO’S Ollie Matson ran off with the silver medal in the 400 (plus a relay silver) at the 1952 Helsinki Games, but his track career ended the day he signed with the NFL Cardinals (then  finishing a Pro Football Hall of Fame career with the Rams.) 
  TULARE, CALIFORNIA’S Bob Mathias was the boy wonder of the decathlon, taking gold medals at 17 at London 1948 and 21 at Helsinki 1952. He surely had the prowess to go on and on and on, and as a US Marine officer was breaking inter-service meet records, only to be AAU-bounced for accepting an endorsement contract.
WITH Andersson and Hagg out of the picture, the assault on a four-minute mile took a respite for eight or nine years.   By the spring of 1954, three men from three nations oceans apart – England’s Bannister, Australia’s John Landy and Kansan Wes Santee – seemed to have it within range.   But Marine officer Santee’s bid was abruptly halted when he was tossed by AAU officials for accepting extra travel money – which had been dealt out by AAU officials themselves.  Santee did set a world 1500-meter record before his dreams were extinguished.
  PLAINFIELD, New Jersey’s Milton Campbell took the deca-silver back of Mathias as a high schooler in 1952 and then the gold as a US Navy man by a record victory margin  at Melbourne in 1956. He’d easily have added to all those scores in the years ahead – until signing the Cleveland Browns contract that ended his track career.
 TEXAS A&M’s Walter (Buddy) Davis was the first man to high jump seven feet – but it came in an unofficial exhibition.  He did win the gold at Helsinki 1952, but never got that official seven-footer, instead going on to a productive NBA basketball career. USC’s Charley Dumas finally got that first 7-plus at the USA Trials and then Melbourne 1956 gold.
 WODBURY, NEW JERSEY’S and Villanova’s Brownng Ross had been a 1948 and  ’52 Olympc steeplechaser, and 1951 Pan Am champion, and beginning to make his mark as a marathoner. But he made the mistake of trying to to sell track shoes from the back of his van, as a way to solvency, a  “crime” that got him burned by th AAU.  But “Brownie” still had the spot’s best interests at heart, launching the Road Runners Club of America and “Long Distance Log,” America’s first running publication, and bringing all of LDR into its modern age.
OHIO STATE’S GLENN DAVIS was the first 400-meter hurdler to break 50 seconds and won Oly golds at Melbourne 1956 and Rome 1960.  But his signature on a Detroit Lions contract prematurely ended his track days.
ASBURY PARK, New Jersey’s and Villanova’s Frank Budd, after running at the Rome Games, reached amazing world-record 100 and 200 heights in a sizzling spree – topped by history’s first 9.2  100-yard dash at Randall’s Island in 1961. But the moment he signed wth the Philadelphia Eagles (and then the Redskins and then in the CFL) meant his track days were over.
  NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL’S Lee Calhoun was one of the lucky ones.  After winning the 110  hurdles at Melbourne 1956, he commtted the crime – as the AAU viewed it – of collecting a few wedding gifts on the “Bride and Groom” TV show.  But somehow he regained his AAU status, and thus took another 110HH gold at Rome 1960.
 FRUSTRATED AT JUST missing Olympic teams in 1948 and 1952, Detroit racewalker William Mihalo launched his own “Professional Walking League” in the late 1950s. And soon proceeded to set a long list of “pro walking records” – and hit the  Associated Press wires weekly -  at a dizzing array of distances.  But Mihalo was to fade from his uphill chore as popularizing racewalking itself became an uphill chore, too.
  FOREVER remembered – and now revered – for his podium stance at the 1968 Mexico City Games was San Joe State’s Tommie Smith. But he’d never run another race – instead, like so many others – taking a brief fling at pro football, as a Cincinnati Bengal.
BY LATE 1972,  PRO BASKETBALL/HOCKEY promoter Mike O’Hara was ready to launch his International Track Association circuit – complete with pacing lights and other bells and whistles. And he lured such greats as Jim Ryun, Kip Keino, Bob Seagren, Brian Oldfield, Larry James. Lee Evans, and a lot more to his brave new world of play-for-pay track and field.  It was to last until 1976,  gone after a few highlights (such as Oldfield’s WR shot put) and a heap of unpaid bills.   Years later, Larry James would tell you, “Mike O’Hara still owes me some money.”
THE STAWELL GIFT has been raging as a big-time professional happening in Australia since 1878.  Its distances have ranged from 70 to 3000 meters and have attracted some of the speediest-ever Aussies, along with such late-in-their-career Olympians as Mel Patton, Barney Ewell and Herb McKenley. But just think of the great things some of those early Gift-winners might have achieved in the Games,if they'd stayed "amateur."  Australia’s Olympic record is superb. It could have been superb-er.
  (And similar pro events have long been held in Scotland snd England.)
 THE AUTHOR OF THIS PIECE HAS HAD a few run-ins with the system himself.
WITH ITS PICTURE-PERFECT campus at the Jersey Shore, Monmouh College (now University) began to be a presence in the sports world in the 1960s and athletic director Bill Boylan offered the  first track head coaching job to yours truly. It was happily accepted – with a reservation.  Still competing as a national-level racewalker, 1956 Olympian Denman couldn’t accept the $1000 annual salary, which would have been a big help to the family budget.  But he took the job anyway and got Monmouth started in track – it would later produce national stars and Olympians. His total “salary” for those two years amounted to one stopwatch but lots of kind memories.
  GUIDING A SHORE AC TOUR though Scandinavia in 1971, Denman’s lads got to the famed Bislett Games in Oslo.   Scotch Plains-Fanwood’s Vince Cartier had set the national indoor mile record that winter and his reputation had reached Norway.  But when Bislett promoters offered him a few bucks for his running services, Denman in clearest possible words insisted Cartier tell them “no.”  “I could have used a few extra dollars way back then; no one would have known,” Cartier still tells you.  But I still tell Cartier “I saved your amateur status and your four-year free scholarship to the University of Florida. You should thank me.”   The friendly debate rages on to this day.
 BOTTOM LINES: 
 (1) Good on those who fought these early battles,  almost always with unfortunate results.  They coulda-would-shoulda in track and field. And then it was  taken away.(2) Finally, a suggestion: Between events at Grand Slam Three at Franklin Field (and all those to follow), take a moment out to honor the struggles of these noble predecessors.  They got you where you are today.
]]><![CDATA[LANCASTER, SHEA STARAT PRINCETON, WIDENER MEETS]]>Tue, 20 May 2025 16:53:10 GMThttps://www.shoreac.org/shore-ac-news/lancaster-shea-starat-princeton-widener-meets  Our Shore AC teammates are rounding into top form.

  Elisia Lancaster won the women's hammer throw at the Princeton Elite Meet May 17 with a brilliant toss of 67.85 meters (222 feet, 7 inches.)

  Jack Shea ran eighth in the Princeton men's 5000 meters at 14:20.38..

 Jean Udo took fourth in the women's triple jump at 11.27 meters/38 feet. 6 3/4 inches.
  
 Kelly Fisher placed 24th in the men's 100.   Kelly had run a powerful 10.65 placing third - against top college competition - at the Rutgers Relays.

The Widener College Last Chance Meet on May 12  saw Shea run one of the quickest 1500-meter races in club history, placing third in 3:47.79, just back of Haverford's Reza Eshghi (3:44.37) and NYU senior Ryan Tobin of Toms River (3:46.38).   Back of Shea, SAC teammate Kyle Spector ran a 3:56.51.

Past Penn Relays shuttle hurdles gold medalist Calvon Bowden made his Shore AC season 110HH debut at Widener in 15.46../

-----  ELLIOTT DENMAN

]]><![CDATA[CAPTAIN ZINN MEMORIAL RACES AGAIN HONOR OLYMPIC GREAT AND ALL VIETNAM VETERANS]]>Wed, 14 May 2025 12:57:11 GMThttps://www.shoreac.org/shore-ac-news/captain-zinn-memorial-races-again-honor-olympic-great-and-all-vietnam-veterans
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   By ELLIOTT DENMAN
    COLTS NECK – The Captain Ronald Zinn Memorial Races have been staged by the Shore Athletic Club since 1966.  They honor the memory of  an illustrious USA Olympic athlete, a gallant West Point graduate who gave his life for his nation in Vietnam combat on July 7, 1965, as well as all Vietnam veterans.
    Zinn himself had been a frequent winner of Shore AC racewalk events in
Long Branch, Asbury Park and Seaside Heights.  He’d made his Olympic debut in the 20-kilometer racewalk at the Rome Games of 1960, placing 19th as a young cadet, and improved to sixth place in the 20K – best-ever finish by an
American to that point in Olympic history – at Tokyo in 1964.
   Interred at West Point – along with numerous other American military heroes – Captain Zinn’s name  has served as an inspiration to latter-day athletes ever since.  The names of Kyle Spector and Katie Desiere, Bruce Logan and Dorit Attias, have now been added to the long rollcall of Capt. Zinn Memorial 5K     champions after their wins at Dorbrook Park on April 13, 2025.
   Manalapan resident Spector, a multi-time Central Atlantic Athletic Conference champion in his his days at Georgian Court University (15:48), and Desiere, an Ocean Township resident (18:44), took top honors in the 5K run.  New Yorker Logan and Lakewood resident Attias led the way in the concurrent 5K racewalk.
    Top Masters racer was Nora Cary of Moorestown, newly crowned National and World women’s 70 division bracket record-setter,  with her 23:53 finish.
  Once a racewalk-only event and staged on the Asbury Park Boardwalk – where Zinn had been a winner –the event program added the run I967.   Zinn had been an outstanding runner – and NCAA and IC4A cross-country championships competitors, too, at West Point.
   Following Zinn tradition, the races – sponsored by New Jersey Natural Gas Co, for over a half-century, along with other community supporters, also honored all Vietnam veterans.  And leading them again was former Army staff sergeant Joe Renzella of Neptune City, twice a Purple Heart winner in Vietnman, proudly carrying the American flag to a 39:48 performance in the 5K run.
  The next edition of the Captain Zinn Memorial Races is again slated for Dorbrook Park, in April 2026.  Stay tuned for details.
]]><![CDATA[SHORE A.C. THROWERS AND FREINDS AT NJ-NY-CT USATF CHAMPIONSHIP MEET AT OCEAN BREEZE]]>Mon, 03 Mar 2025 16:13:19 GMThttps://www.shoreac.org/shore-ac-news/shore-ac-throwers-and-freinds-at-nj-ny-ct-usatf-championship-meet-at-ocean-breeze
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Shore AC throwers and friends gather before shot put event at NJ-NY-Ct USATF Championship Meet at Ocean Breeze, Staten Island.
This was first section....Many teammates competed in other sections of SP, as well as weight and super weight events.
​
Photo courtesy of Ralph Bischof
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