Well,
yea. For those of you who had no idea, I did at one time participate in
college and high school athletics. So, I thought it would be appropriate
to include a page dedicated to what were some of the most enjoyable times
in my life.
In
high school I played basketball at Brethren High School in Paramount, CA
(currently Cypress, CA) from 10th grade to my senior year. I've included
a couple of action shots from those days, toward the bottom of this page
During
my time in college (undergraduate), I started off as a student-athlete
at Cerritos Community College, and finished at Morehouse College. I ran,
primarily, the 800 meter run and the 4X400 meter relay, at both institutions.
During my time at both schools (but especially Morehouse), I was fortunate
to foster friendships with people that I am proud to say continue to this
day. I think a lot can be said about friends who've gone through certain
experiences together. Just as being hazed while pledging a fraternity,
brings line brothers (and sisters) closer together, so does being out there
on that track, with the same group of guys every day, bring those individuals
together. It creates a bond, if you will, through struggle. And believe
me, anyone who's been through coach Willie Hill's workouts, knows that
it was INDEED A STRUGGLE.
Well, this was my
very first team picture in college. The is the Cerritos College (Norwalk,
CA) men's
and women's track
and field teams in spring of 1988. I'd redshirted my freshman year and,
ended up
finishing in second
place at the South Coast Conference (SCC) championships in the 800 meter
run,
that season.
Me, with my medal
after my 800 meter race at the 1989 California
Community College
State Championships in Fresno, CA.
I'd won the SCC 800
meter championship that season, as well as
placed in the top
three in the Southern California Comm. College
Championships. It
was after this that I was able to earn a scholarship
to run for Morehouse
College.
This is one of my
favorite pics. In the spring of 1990 I transferred to Morehouse and became
a part
of the Maroon Tiger
track and field team under the direction of first year head coach Willie
Hill (not pictured). This was the first time since I was probably 9 years
old, that I'd been part of a TEAM championship in any of the sports I played
(basketball, track, cross country, etc.). It was a very talented
team, and in my opinion,
still the best ever at the school (although others would argue!). The team
ended up finishing 5th at the NCAA championships that season. Since then,
coach Hill has guided the program to 7 more conference titles, a fourth
place finish at the NCAA Indoor championships, and produced numerous individual
conference champs, and NCAA All Americans.
In the fall of 1991,
I was also a member of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic
Conference (SIAC)
champion cross country team. The team was mostly freshman and sophomores
but we still pulled
it out. I finished in fourth place at the conference meet (and second on
our team) in what
was the fastest cross country meet I'd ever run in my life. I still remember
what my splits were
for the first three miles: mile one - 4:50; mile two - 9:45;
mile three - 15:45.
It was a 5.2 mile race in all, and I think my final time was around 28:10.
The 1990 4X400 meter
relay team. This was the first time all four of us had
run on the relay
together. It was a the Paine College Relays (Augusta, GA), and
we had just won the
final event.........the 4X4 relay. Holding the baton with me is
Joe Hibbitt, and
below us from left to right is Andre Young and Jayson Curry. We
finished in second
place at the SIAC championships later that season.
Well, although it
isn't a track picture it's track related! :-)
This is me and my
roommate Carl Mack (NCAA All American in the Triple Jump)
during this crazy
trip to NYC. A friend of ours asked us to go on this trip the day before
to help them drive.
I think I took THIRTY DOLLARS WITH ME FOR THE WHOLE
TRIP! We left Atlanta
at 10 pm on a Friday night, got to South Orange, NJ
at around 11 am Saturday
morning, jumped on a train to NYC in Newark, spent about
4 or 5 hours in NYC,
went back to South Orange, slept about 7 hours, and then
drove back to Atlanta
(13 hours) Sunday morning!!!! See, ya do that kinda stuff when you're 23!
:-)
First of all to set
this up.....................we used to travel in the big, Dodge 15
passenger vans, and
the coaches (and sometimes athletes) would drive. We didn't
get to fly or take
a luxury bus to any meets. We were indeed on .......the chittlin'
circuit. But, I digress....................This
picture was taken outside a Mr Gatti's
Pizza restaurant
in Frankfort, KY. We had just finished competing at the Kentucky
State University
Relays. The ladies are from Spelman College's track team. They
used to travel with
us many times to cut costs for both squads.
This is me and Andre
coming around the final turn of the 800 meters, at the
Atlanta University
Center (AUC) track championships in 1992. Needless to say,
no one from the other
schools were close to us in the race. Andre was given the win
but we were given
identical times (I think it was 1:51.8 or 1:51.9?). We were
attempting to run
the qualifying time for the NCAA championships that day. Un-
fortunately, the
time we ran was not an automatic qualifier, but a provisional one.
We ended up finishing
about two places short of qualifying for the meet. ;-(
I did end up winning
the SIAC championship in the 800 meters later that season
for the second time
(I'd won it in 1990 as well), though.
These pictures were taken during one of
my best games in 12th grade. I scored 16 points, if
I remember correctly. The ironic thing
about it is, in the first picture, the guy attempting to block my shot
is my boy Ken Brown.We didn't know each
other during high school. At the time, he played for our arch rivals,
Valley Christian High School in Cerritos, CA. He was the league leader
in blocks that season (although he obviously missed my shot in that pic!),
and after graduation attended Morehouse College. At Morehouse he participated
in basketball and track. After I transferred to Morehouse from Cerritos
College, we were "reunited" in a way while on the track team, 2500 miles
away from home. Funny how some things work out, huh?
:-)