Section II Alumni: Where Are They Now? Part VI

By Richard Clark, Colonie HS, '72

Wow, where have the past thirty-plus years gone? It seems like it was just yesterday when I showed up on a warm September morning in 1968 for my first high school cross-country work out at Colonie HS. The workouts for freshman that fall were tough, but it taught us respect for the ability to push ourselves to the next level. I was fortunate to have run junior high cross-country and track, but that first fall was a major step into the “real world” of running. The sport gives you the chance to control your destiny, simply put; the fastest runners raced varsity and it was not like other sports where good players sat the bench due to politics. It was also shown that fall that no one got “cut” and everyone got a chance.

The high school experience of running helped teach me the highs and lows in life. We had the three running seasons at Colonie with cross country, indoor and outdoor track. Some of us competed in twelve seasons and saw the development of a classic program at Colonie. The highs included winning Section II Championships and breaking school records and the lows were getting passed at the finish to lose a relay berth into the State meet at the Sectional qualifier meet. These experiences taught me that life is not perfect and you have to roll with the punches.

The strength in the team members and friendships I made have lasted a lifetime. My coaches while at high school; Paul Gansle, Frank Myers and Harry Koch, taught us that hard work never hurt anyone. I was on the first Paul Gansle-coached team from 7th grade through senior year; he had just replaced the legendary Ed Springstead who left us for the “rich” kids at Shaker HS. Paul had one saying that I will forever remember; “ enjoy the high school sports while you have the time, because as adults you will not have the time”. How true!

The workouts that Frank Myers conducted were fun and it helped keep kids on the team. Traveling to meets with Frank always made for a great trip. Frank came to our team as an Assistant Coach my sophomore year after beating Barry Brown at a quarter mile race at the Colonie track. Somewhere there is a movie that Myers family has of the race. Too bad for Barry, but Barry had only run 20 miles before the race.

Harry Koch was the outdoor coach that taught us real life lessons. His track workouts still give me nightmares. The hardest one being 25 quarters the day he was being interviewed by Gene Levy of the Times Union. He wanted us to show off (or kill us) while he told Gene how great our team was. The real fact was that when I tell people of our teams times now, most people do not believe me, but we had three runners under 50 in the quarter, six runners under 2:00 half and four runners under 4:30 mile! It was hard just to make the varsity team. The other lessons taught were having fun in life. Our teams were good, but believing winning was not everything. I was a co-captain and we had fun and enjoyed ourselves during practice and meets. However, the beating of certain competitors was always a main focus. I remember an indoor meet that my main mission from the coaches was to beat a certain miler from CBA at all costs. I also got to run against him in college. The life lesson we learned about death came with the loss of Harry Koch’s wife and my college coach, Bill Neede’s wife. Both loses came during mid-season and made you think about how precious life is.

I was lucky to run for ten years from 7th grade through college at the University of Vermont. Of those years, my Section II high school running years were the most fun. I got back into running after a fifteen-year absence in 1990 and it is like being born again. There have been many races that I attend now and see old high school and college runners. It is great to run against them and “their kids” now. My most recent cherished running memory was at the Dartmouth Relays master track meet in January 2003. I got to run against Paul Gansle in the 55m and Frank Myers in the 1500m with my two college coaches, Bill Neede and Ed Kusiak there. Bill is retired now, coaching fast Masters women and Ed was in his last year of coaching at Vermont. I have lived in many parts of the country and currently live in the Springfield, MA area and run many races a year, from 55m to the marathon. My current running goal is simple; to enjoy and have fun running. I do cross over the mountains and make some of the HMRRC races and enjoy them. The Section II running community should be proud of the level it has risen to and the people who make it a special experience.

This article will be published in the October issue of the "Pace Setter" magazine.