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Show Bob Jackson: New Slants on Track Occupy Space Of Feature Editor "There are three qualities that a good track man must possess in order to win. He must have good coordination, the will to win, and guts ! "You all know what you're capable of doing. All you need to do is go out and give it all you got. You distance runners divide your races evenly, and don't save too much. All you guys who are going to run the relays better practice prac-tice passing the baton. The rest of you had better take a lap, and then go in before the sun saps your strength." Nate Long had said something like this before the triangle meet. We were all pretty excited that day, with a strange feeling inside. Riding up to the stadium in an orange bus, we were as quiet as a funeral procession. Doug Heiner had a bad cold in his head and throat; Bud Palmer had shin splits; everyone had cold feet. "No one ever warms up too much before a race," Nate said. "It won't hurt a bit if you even work up a little sweat." We ran around the track a little, noting that the wind was against us. First, they called the field events, and after af-ter they had been completed, the races started. start-ed. "Last call for the mile," someone shouted. shout-ed. A funny feeling crept down our throats, and into our stomachs. That's you, Van Cott, Wharton. Good-luck. "Last call for the high hurdles . . . last call for the 440 .. . last call for the half mile . . . last call for the low hurdles . . . last call for the 100-yard-dash . . . etc." South went out there and won. Some boys couldn't even stand up after they ran. Their lungs were burning; heavy breaths of air stuck in their throats. Oh, that last lap was tiring! How had you ever made it in? How come you hadn't dropped dead at the end? Voices rang in the air: "Nice going, Hart-man Hart-man . . . nice going, Child . . . nice going, Kilbourne . . . nice going, Jackson." Yet for every winner, there were losers Many of the boys in blue and white felt the heaviness of defeat. Their noses were white as a candle, and they couldn't keep their eyes off the ground. This was the last time they could run for South. On the way past the "Block of Cement," South rang out her Victory Song . . and then "On South high ... we stand behind you forever for-ever . . ." A cold shower felt good to sweaty bodies. After all was said and done, the general attitude at-titude of the boys was this: "If we didn't win, we won't give up. After all, there'll be college days ahead after the war. The champions cham-pions cheered Nate . . . without him they would have suffered defeat. Oh, South, if you could have seen the boys as I saw them . . . Flanagan, Roller, Ralph Jackson, Van Cott, Kilbourne, Child, Palmer, Parker, Adams, Carabine, Eves, Stevenson, Woolf, Patterson, Neeley, Brimley, Hartman, Gilbert, Jones, Heiner . . . tomorrow there'll be a new bunch almost as good as the last year's. Some have ran their last race. The Army and Navy have given them a call, and the training they received has bettered them for the struggle they are about to go into. They will still fight with the same spirit, so that the future generation to come will go on singing, sing-ing, "On South high ... we stand behind you forever." |
