The only thing worse than track is field.
A folksy and venerable Texas football publicity man – Jones Ramsey (don’t you love the name?) – uttered that line many decades ago. Jones (or Mr. Ramsey, if you prefer) was Darrell Royal’s PR man back when the Longhorns were really hookin’ ‘em in the 1960s, and hung in there until 1982.
He had made the unthinkable move 105 miles west from College Station to Austin. Before UT, he was Bear Bryant’s guy at Texas A&M. Think Jones didn’t have stories piled up like post oak outside the best Texas barbeque joints?
Ole Jones was a bit of a one-channel mind when it came to sports, mostly because back in the day, so were Texans. Aggies, Longhorns, Frogs, Mustangs, Bears, Red Raiders – the Southwest Conference existed for one reason and one reason only.
Said Jones: “The only sports in Texas are football, and spring football.”
Here we are a lifetime later, and football still is king, not only in the Lone Star State, but in most of the U-S-and-A. It certainly is when the college sports leaders bat around the present and future. As lucrative as March Madness is, it’s football that will be the deal maker when the inevitable Great Divide unfolds and the Haves split away from the Wannabees and the Have Nots in the next few years.
Let me offer a quick solution – the NIL Division and the College Division. The first is for college franchises that truly can afford to pay their student-athletes (believe it or not, they all do take classes and maintain decent GPAs), can pay them handsomely and not consider the twisted rationale that students are making more than faculty and staff, and nearly all of their coaches, for spending time on campus. The majority of the colleges, who truly cannot sustain paying their competitors tens of thousands, if not six figures (and that’s standard for some in every Division I conference in the country), don’t. No more.
Either a player is good enough to fit into the Bankroll Division or not. If not, in the College Division they get free or discounted education and still a lot of perks and great experiences as college athletes. And the budgets of the Wannabees and Have Nots are a lot more appropriate, while alumni and supporters don’t have to pony up to rent a player for a year before the player gets a better deal and departs.
Solved. Now, to the intended point of today’s effort.
Track and field is cool. Sorry Mr. Ramsey. Irony of ironies, one of college track’s greatest competitions every spring is the Texas Relays, named for the Horns’ legendary coach, Clyde Littlefield. I suspect Clyde and Jones did not have coffee together.
Aside from the Olympic Trials and the NCAA Championships, there’s not a meet involving college athletes and blending in some elite competitors that can outshine the Texas Relays year after year.
You may never make it to that meet. You probably haven’t made it to any track meet. Too bad.
We have a bunch every spring in the high school ranks around here. The just-completed LHSAA championships once again were a showcase for some of the superior talent in Shreveport-Bossier: local competitors claimed a dozen state event titles.
But it’s not just the champs. It’s not even just the top-notch athletes who finished in the top three at their regional meets and qualified to travel to Baton Rouge for last weekend’s festivities.
Track is cool.
What other sport can give you the other athletes in a given event clapping and cheering for their competition?
It happens on the reg in track. Especially in the field events – throwing, jumping, vaulting.
Because those athletes are not competing against each other as much as they are competing against themselves, and the clock or tape measure. It’s pure sport. It’s trying to be better than before – and there’s absolutely a quantitative measure for evaluation.
There were lots of great marks recorded, despite heavy rains, Friday and Saturday at the LHSAA meet.
Parkway junior Brennan Robin running faster than a 44-year-old all classes record in the 1600 meters – by over six seconds – was near the top. But he was runner-up to Jesuit’s Connor Fanburg, who rallied past Robin on the final lap and won by a second – a fantastic race with perhaps the two best distance runners this state has seen in many years.
Robin wasn’t bummed. He was proud – of his race and of Fanburg’s too. How did he deal? He tossed his cookies, took a swig of Gatorade, and won the 3200 meters later that night.
A shining moment in local sports history was eclipsed this weekend. In 1980, “Rocket” Rod Richardson of Fair Park won the 100 dash in 10.20. Nobody had done it faster until Brother Martin junior Easton Royal blazed across in 10.17 Saturday night.
One last dose of irony, and this would make Jones Ramsey smile. Easton Royal is committed to the Texas Longhorns.
For football.
But track is still cool.
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com