Look What Sports Did To This Little Kid!

(Note: This section details the adventures of two new cross- country coaches, Chuck and his good friend Al Siebert. Both coaches were young, enthusiastic teachers looking for ways to supplement their meager beginning teacher salaries. Neither first year coach had any prior cross country coaching experience. So, now the fun begins….) Very early in the summer we learned that former Olympian, Reverend Bob Richards, would be biking across the United States and would be stopping in various cities along the way. Approximately seven miles from the heart of each city’s downtown, Richards would get off his bike and would be joined by various area cross country runners to complete the final seven miles on foot. Now, for Al and I, Bob Richards’ coming to Cleveland was a big deal. Richards had made three Olympic teams (’48, ’52, ’56) in the pole vault and had won gold in ’52 and ’56. In 1956 he also made the Olympic team in the decathlon. In 1951 he won the prestigious Sullivan Award as the nation’s top amateur athlete. He was a charter member of the Olympic Hall of Fame. In 1984 he was even the Populist Party’s nominee for the presidency! And, if that wasn’t enough, Bob was the very first athlete to grace the front of a Wheaties box! In college he was ordained a minister and was known as “the Vaulting Vicar” and “the Pole-Vaulting Preacher”. Al and I decided that this run would be a great adventure for our runners. We had t-shirts silk screened for each runner with the name Parma Road Runners on the front. Several days before the race, Al asked me if I thought we both should run the seven miles with our boys. Although we never had run cross country before, we both had participated in various sports throughout high school and college, so we decided that we certainly should have no problem running seven miles! The day of the race came and several hundred runners had gathered to meet Richards. Reverend Bob rode to the staging area, stopped, and loaded his bike into the van that had accompanied him. Al and I went up to Richards and gave him a Road Runner shirt which he graciously immediately donned. As the run commenced, Al was on one side of Richards, I was on the other, with our boys gathered around us. It was a great sight and everyone was quite excited. And then the seven-mile run began. After about one city block Al and I decided to move back a bit and let our boys run immediately alongside Richards. After another city block, we thought it would be nice to let some other runners move up by the celebrity and our boys, so we dropped back some more. After a couple more blocks there was now actually a separation between Al and I and the rest of the participants in the race! And, soon, you could not tell that Al and I had any association whatsoever with any fun run! We had to concede that our idea to run with the boys was not a well thought out one. We had no idea how we were going to get to our destination – at least not in the immediate future! We had stopped and were breathing heavily…and then it finally hit me. I noticed a bus line running parallel to the path the runners had taken. Al quickly agreed to my suggestion of catching the bus and, at some point, rejoining the runners close to the end point of the run. And that’s exactly what we did! With about three quarters of a mile remaining, we left the bus, ran down an alley, and rejoined the group. As the boys started to notice us, we heard some arguing among the team members. Some were saying, “See, I told you the coaches didn’t quit! I can’t believe you thought they would quit!” And Al and I pretty much left it at that…until our boys gathered as a team before our first conference meet. I told Al that I had to go over and admit to the boys about what we had done. Then I’d tell them that they were now better trained and would have a great feeling of satisfaction if they didn’t quit and that they should give it their all. When I went up to the team huddle, the captain was giving his own pep talk. He was telling his fellow runners that, whenever they felt tired during the race, they should think of their coaches and how they never quit during our run with Reverend Richards! He ended his talk with “OK, now let’s put our hands in the middle and let’s win this one for our coaches!” The whole squad started shouting “Coaches! Coaches! Coaches!” The captain turned to me and asked if I wanted to add anything. I told him that I couldn’t top what he had just said. I ended up encouraging the boys to do their best. And we pretty much left it at that for the rest of the season. Our boys did a great job throughout the cross-country season. They won the prestigious Tiffin Meet and then ended up winning our Lake Erie League Conference Championship! At the state qualifying meet, only the fact that some of the boys were sick, and the course was a muddy mess, kept us from going to the state finals. Then, finally, it came time for the Fall Sports Banquet. In front of all those athletes, administrators, and parents Al and I decided to fess up. After I announced what we had done, there was a quick moment of silence and disbelief. Then the gathering erupted in laughter that filled the hall! It was a fun ending to an exciting season! Each of the boys on the squad had their own unique personality and really worked hard both to reach their full potential and to realize their importance to the team’s success. I only hope they look back as fondly on this experience as both Al and I do.