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Personal Stories

 

Rodney Milburn: The Quiet Champion, Chapter Three (added 7/4/10)
In his first year at Southern University, Rodney became friends with the best high hurdler in the world. Willie Davenport, 1968 Olympic champion, had graduated from Southern shortly after his Olympic victory. When Rodney arrived, Willie still trained there and coached as a volunteer. From the beginning, Rodney and Willie developed a close relationship. The 26-year-old Willie mentored Rodney as the young freshman adapted to college life and the higher hurdles. . . . [more]

Rodney Milburn: The Quiet Champion, Chapter Two (added 5/20/10)
The hurdles were made of wood. They were built by kids in the industrial arts class. The track was a grass field. Coach Claude Paxton regularly mowed it and lined it himself. If you knew what was good for you, you had better not get caught walking on Coach Paxton’s field. . . . [more]

Rodney Milburn: The Quiet Champion, Introduction (added 5/20/10)
Back in 2004 I decided I wanted to write a book on Rodney Milburn, the 1972 Olympic champion in the 110 meter high hurdles. Milburn passed away at the age of 47, in 1997, in a tragic accident at his workplace. When I heard news of his death, I expected (naively, perhaps) to hear an outpouring of emotions, followed by a book and a movie, but the years kept passing by and I barely heard a whisper. That’s when the thought occurred to me, why don’t I write something. . . . [more]

The Meet that Changed Everything: Wayne Davis' Odyssey to a National Indoor Record (added 3/17/09)
On Sunday March 15, 2009 Wayne Davis II, a senior at Southeast Raleigh High School in Raleigh, NC, did something that no other high school hurdler has ever done. He ran the 60 meter hurdles in 7.60 seconds. This new national record that he set at the Nike Indoor Nationals at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston, MA almost didn’t happen. In fact, the miracle was not that Davis set the record, but that he was able to compete at all. . . . [more]

A Long Way Back (added 1/2/09)
The following story was written by Sarah Giles, who, as of January 2009, is a senior at Leesville Road High School in Raleigh, NC. I have coached Sarah in the hurdles since her sophomore year. In 2008, as a junior, Sarah, a former gymnast and tennis player, suffered major back and hip injuries that ruined her season and threatened her athletic career. Because I was not familiar with the depths of her struggle myself, I asked her to write about them. The following essay is her story. . . . [more]

A Time to Remember (added 9/20/08)
I never thought of myself as a distance runner. Not until the half-marathon I ran last December. Before then, running distance was just something I did because hurdling hurt too much, and I had to do something to stay in shape. . . . [more]

No Masters Meets for Me (added 8/13/07)
Since I tend to stay in shape by running as often as I can, some people who know me personally have asked me why I don’t enter myself in any masters meets. Or some of my athletes will try to convince me to run in one of those dreaded coaches’ relays. Naw, bruh. Hurdling hurts too much, and so does sprinting. . . . [more]

Jessie Buddha (added 5/31/07)
One thing never changes about coaching: the athletes who truly make the sacrifices worthwhile are those who maximize their potential, regardless of their talent level. Coaching elite athletes definitely massages the ego and validates your coaching methods, but the lasting rewards come with knowing you’ve made a difference in someone’s life, in knowing that an athlete has gotten the point of what all this training and competing is all about. When it happens with an elite athlete, it is very gratifying. When it happens with an “ordinary” athlete, it is equally gratifying. That’s what many people don’t understand about coaching. . . . [more]

Nike Indoors 2007: How Bizarre (added 3/15/07)
In the days leading up to the Nike Indoor National Championships last week, I kept a journal where I recorded my thoughts prior to the day of the hurdle rounds, all of which took place on Sunday, March 11th. The events that took place that day in the boys' hurdles races were among the most bizarre that I've ever witnessed or been a part of. Below is a transcription of my thoughts, including my post-meet reflections a few days after the meet. . . . [more]

Reflections on a National Record (added 1/27/07)
On 1/18/07, Johnny Dutch broke the twelve-year-old national high school record in the 55m hurdles when he ran a 7.07 in the finals of the Eastern High School Challenge at UNC-Chapel Hill. It was a very big deal, leading to many interviews, articles, accolades, and headlines. A week later I'm still trying to get a grasp on the scope of Dutch's accomplishment. When it happened, I was standing near the finish line, filming the race, praying no one would bump my elbow. When the official time flashed across the scoreboard, I yelled out a whoop just like everybody else. But oddly, I wasn't all that excited. . . . [more]

Breakdown of a Breakdown by Leon Bullard (added 9/1/06)
When I was age 14 my coach Ron Henderson, known as my favorite coach of all time, would tell me that I think too much; I ask too many questions; I just cannot follow orders without asking why. He never said it in an aggravated context; it was usually in an effort to get me to just do what he was asking. However, I believe at times he relished that side of me. He is the same coach that often started practices in a classroom on the chalkboard, teaching us how to break a long-distance race down into pieces so that we can put a good race together on our own. Those kind of days were amazing to me. I cherished them and applied the teachings faithfully. I learned from him that performance in track and field is 90% mental application and 10% physical application. Using the Chalkboard Approach is even a part of my coaching style today. So, it is no surprise that the very first thing I did after my crash in the 400 hurdles was study my downfall. . . . [more]

The Nike Meet: Johnny Dutch’s Redemption (added 8/25/06)
One of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had as a coach has been the opportunity to work with Johnny Dutch the past two years. Not only because he is one of the best high school hurdlers in the nation, but also because he’s one of the best people I’ve had the good fortune to know in my lifetime. In May of 2006, I designed a workout specifically for Johnny in preparation for the Nike Outdoor Championships that would be held at Irwin Belk Stadium on the campus of NC A&T University Greensboro, NC on the third weekend of June. The schedule was set so that the gun for the 110 final would go off 90 minutes after the 400 hurdles. . . . [more]

Soldiers Only (added 3/6/06)
“Soldiers only, McGill. No heroes.” The voice belonged to David Coe, a thirteen-year-old hurdler on my youth track team. Beginning his warm-up drills in preparation for another workout, he was repeating a phrase he had often heard me say. The phrase is one that speaks to my disdain for athletes who want to be heroes in practice by sprinting all-out on the last rep of a workout after having coasted and paced themselves on the majority of the previous reps. I have always preached that consistency of effort and consistency of performance is what athletes should strive for, as the stand-out races that occur at championship meets are usually the result of such consistency. David is one of the few athletes I’ve ever coached who truly understands that. Last summer, he sought to achieve the improbable accomplishment of qualifying for the national championships in the youth boys 100m hurdles in only his first year of running age-group track. . . . [more]

Takin' it Back to '72, Through the Eyes of Tom Hill (added 1/8/06)
The 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Germany were filled with riveting stories, the most prominent one being the tragic death of eleven Israeli athletes at the hands of Palestinian terrorists. In addition to that horrifying event, there was American Mark Spitz’ six gold medals in swimming, the Russians’ stealing of the Olympic gold medal from the Americans in men’s basketball, and the infamous nonchalant behavior of Vince Matthews and Wayne Collett on the medal stand during the playing of the National Anthem after their 1-2 finish in the men’s 400 meter dash. Somewhat lost amidst all of these and other gripping stories was the victory of American Rod Milburn in the men’s 110 meter high hurdles. Milburn set a new world record in that race, but because it took place on the same day as the 400 meter final, and only two days after the terrorist attack, Milburn’s outstanding performance went more or less unnoticed, and has never been acknowledged for the phenomenal achievement that it was. . . [more]

Ode to a Mentor (added 9/7/05)
In several articles on this website, I have discussed to one degree or another the importance of the coach/athlete relationship, and how a close relationship with a coach can enable an athlete to achieve things beyond what he or she ever thought him or herself capable. The relationship that Renaldo Nehemiah had with his high school coach Jean Poquette would be the most obvious example of such a bond. Also, in more than one interview that I’ve read, Allen Johnson gives Curtis Frye credit for convincing him he had the potential to be the best in the world when Johnson himself, while still a collegian, was just hoping to make some noise on the national scene. Such mentors not only help us to perform well, but they also provide us with numerous lessons that we can pass onto others as we mature. . . . [more]

Hurdling in Malaysia (added 6/27/05)
When most people think of the country of Malaysia, the hurdles are probably not the first thing to come to mind. As an American, when I’ve thought of Malaysia, I’ve envisioned thick, lush forests, wild animals, exotic birds, and the only other thing I’ve known about Malaysia is that it is one of the places where Nike makes its shoes. Athletically speaking, Malaysia is probably best known for its badminton players, who have had consistent success on the international level. However, for Jerry Lim, a youth track coach who resides in the capital city of Johor Bahru in the state of Johor, on the southernmost tip of Malaysia, life is all about the hurdles, and it has been for several years. . . . [more]

Visit with the Coach (added 6/11/05)
A couple months ago – April 23rd, 2005, to be exact – I traveled to the quiet town of Brevard in the mountains of Western North Carolina to meet with Jean Poquette, the high school coach of the legendary Renaldo Nehemiah. Myself, along with my coaching partners, Aaron McDougal and Troy Baker, made the four-hour drive together as Johnny Dutch – one of the best high school hurdlers in the United States – slept in the backseat. . . . [more]

The Not-Enough Disease (added 5/10/05) - Link to story I wrote several years ago about my battle with Aplastic Anemia -- a life-threatening blood disease that hospitalized me when I was a senior in high school. . . . [more]

Days of Summer (added 10/21/04)
Sometimes, the most important stories to tell are the hardest ones to tell. Such is the case for me when it comes to the best female hurdler I’ve ever coached. We had a lot of success together, but our relationship fell apart during her senior year, and we have only recently begun to piece it back together. There is no short way to tell this story, so let me go back to the beginning. . . . [more]

My Greatest Moment as a Coach (added 10/16/04)
I’ve only coached one hurdler who basically knew how to hurdle the instant he stepped on the track. Back in the spring of 2000, Cameron Akers, an eleventh grader who had never run track before, came out for the team. . . . [more]

The Things We Want the Most (added 10/11/04)
In my first year of coaching, back in the spring of 1995, a little auburn-haired 5’2” eighth-grader named Caroline Pyle came up to me in the second week of practice asking if I would teach her how to run the hurdles. I laughed at her. . . . [more]

My Hurdling Brother (added 10/5/04)
Two years ago, Joe Coe, who ran the hurdles for me for two years, graduated after winning a total of three individual Independent School state championships – two in the 300 hurdles and one in the 110s. As a junior, he won both hurdle events, and as a senior he won the 300s, losing by four hundredths of a second to his teammate, RaShawn King, in the shorter race. Joe and I grew to be very close in the two years that he attended Ravenscroft School; I would go so far as to say that I came to look upon him as a younger brother, and I still do. . . . [more]

I Wanted to Say More (added 10/1/04)
As a high school English teacher and track coach, I have had many opportunities for meaningful moments with students in the past ten years. One such moment occurred two years ago, at the end of the track season. . . .[more]

 

 

 

 
This page was last updated July 4, 2010