Every week I'll take a light-hearted look at something unrelated from elite/college track and field to give a break from my usual posts, which I'm sure are often heavy reading. This Week: Boston pro athletes in track,
Next Week: Huck Seed, Poker champion, and 4:40 mile prop bet + my nominee for the Most Interesting Man in the World, Doyle Brunson
Earlier this week, I was reading the Boston Globe when I stumbled upon this in the football notes section:
"There’s no denying that Vince Wilfork is a tremendous athlete for a man his size (listed as 6 feet 2 inches, 325 pounds). The Patriots nose tackle played a number of positions for his high school team (including punter) and was among Florida’s top performers in shot put and discus, which require finesse and speed as well as strength"
Of course, my first reaction was that of curiosity. My second, which quickly followed the first, was immediate distrust of a non-track writer's somewhat vague statement. After all "among top performers" could qualify as a bunch of things. I decided to dig deeper and am happy to report that Wilfork was, in fact, a great shot-putter. He won both the shot put and discus at the Florida 4A Track & Field Championships and heaved the shot 62'8'' for the still-standing state series record there. He even continued his throwing at The University of Miami, and was runner-up at the indoor Big East Championships with a throw of 55' using the college implements. Not too shabby for the big man. Potentially apocryphal, however, is a result mentioned in his Patriots.com profile that I couldn't find in any of my searches, which said that Wilfork is the Florida State record holder with a 68' throw. Either way, the rotund guy is more than just a massive space-eater crucial to the Patriots' 3-4 Defense. The next time he looks like he's solely doing his best imitation as Jobba the Hutt, remind yourselves of this.
Inspired by my findings, I began looking at a host of potential track standouts on the Boston sports teams. Who better to start with than otherworldly athlete Randy Moss. Since his heyday in track was well before the age of the internet, the stuff I stumbled on can not be confirmed. I kept seeing the tidbit that he only ran track once in high school as a Sophomore, and in that year he was West Virginia state champion in the 100 and 200 meters. Impressive for a sophomore, even though, West Virginia is not exactly Texas in the high school track world. Well, it turns out Moss, and this is confirmed, did the exact same thing as a Sophomore at Marshall University. Moss, practiced with the team for all of 3 days, and then competed in the Southern Conference championships. He won the 55 meter dash in a school record of 6.32, and then won the 200 in 21.15, qualifying for NCAA's (evidently, he DNS'ed). Yes, 21.15 indoors. Even more amazing is that that was probably on a flat track. The Marshall University coach predictably raved: ""Randy could be a world-class sprinter," notes Coach Jeff Small. "He's by far the best runner I've ever seen. That includes Michael Johnson and Carl Lewis." Whoa there, I think that might be a tad of hyperbole I'm smelling, but it's obvious Moss has world-class speed...and yet, Tom Brady overthrew him a dozen times last year.
Next, I looked for speedster Jacoby Ellsbury. Sadly, the search was fruitless. Likely, baseball season conflicted with track, and the indoor season is not prominent in Oregon.
Next, I checked out running back Laurence Maroney. This one yielded some great results. Turns out Maroney was truly an all-around track and field guy. This is his series of competitions at the 2003 Missouri State Meet:
Friday May 30, 2003
100m: 10.82 NWI for 5'th in qualifying rounds
200m: 22.17 for 6'th in qualifying rounds
Triple Jump: 46' 3.5'' for 2'nd place in Finals
Saturday May 31, 2003
100m: 11.10 -1.5 for 3'rd in Finals
200m: 22.33 -0.7 for 5'th in Finals
Long Jump: 22' 6.25'' for 5'th in Finals
- Maroney scored 22 points on his own, and according to the report from dyestat, the weather was in the 60's and overcast on Saturday slowing the sprints and the home straight. Seems like some Spring Massachusetts weather.
A few more guys I looked at include Rajon Rondo, who boasts that he is as fast as Usain Bolt in a sprint. Ok, Rajon. I'll believe that when you shoot a better % than me in free throws. Rondo unfortunately has never competed in track and field. I can't really see other Celtics being any good at track besides maybe Paul Pierce in the high jump....because we know he can flop (I kid, I kid).
Patriots running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis ingeniously nicknamed "The Law Firm" by his teammates was a track athlete back in the day, but never was more than a regional performer in a state weak in track, Louisiana. He has always struck me as more of a grinder than a burner and this confirms that. The same seems to be the case for Brandon Meriweather, who lettered but had no results I could find.
That's all for today, I hope I didn't overlook anybody glaring in the Hub pro sports universe
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