Hello Keith;
Thanks for your web page listing San Francisco high school and college track and field competitors, especially for your detailed coverage of distance runners.
Here are some tidbits you might find interesting.
I competed in cross country and track and field at Balboa High, beginning in the Fall of 1952. I was not invited to the All City X-Country meet at the end of that season. Not good enough.
However, next year, in 1953, as a junior, I finished 11th in the All City meet. Our top runner was Henry Strougther who finished 3rd. The winner, Mel Dowdell of Poly, was a junior just as I was. The following Spring Dowdell won the All City Mile in 4:37. He may have been one of the finest natural runners I ever ran against.
Next year, we naturally assumed Dowdell would be the odds-on favorite to win the 1954 All City X-Country meet once again, but as the season went on, he never showed up at any races, though we heard a rumor he'd show for the Championship race. Meanwhile, Lloyd Costello, also of Poly, won every race that season against all of the other City high school teams.
At the start of the 1954 X-country season, Don Travers, one of the finest San Francisco track coaches in The City, transferred to Balboa from Lowell, and although only 3 of us on the team had ever run cross country before, Coach Travers forged a fine team by digging potential distance runners from his P. E. classes along with the three of us with prior experience. Our top five or six runners were so close in ability, that there was no clear favorite to take top honors at the All City meet, and Balboa went undefeated for the season.
However, first place finishes in our meets went to Costello of Poly, James Thomas of Washington and Lloyd of Lincoln. (James Thomas later ran in the 1960 Olympic Trials 400 M hurdles, but did not make the US Olympic Team. He later coached and became Vice Principal at Lowell High. Mike Lewis and Ed Costa also competed in those trials held at Stanford stadium, and neither of them made the team as well. In 1966 I joined the San Francisco Fire Department and sometimes worked alongside Mike Lewis.)
The 1954 Championship X-Country race was almost called off. It had rained for nearly 24 hours the day before the race up to about 2 hours before race time. The Golden Gate Park course was flooded in places and some coaches suggested cancelling the race. Coach Travers reminded them that X-country was begun in England to be run during the Winter months over fields, streams and downed logs. They reluctantly agreed to go ahead with the race. Mel Dowdell did not show up, but most of us assumed Costello would take first place but that Balboa would win.
About half-way into the race, I unexpectedly found myself in the lead. After the short, steep hill leading from the longish sand path to the horse track, it was apparent that the rain had pounded the track smooth and firm for the first time in the 3 years I'd run that course. Great. Solid footing. At that point Costello slowly passed me just as we came into the track.
Coach Travers had often reminded us that if a runner were to pass us, we were to immediately accelerate, breathing as easily as possible, pass him right back, and not slow down, but to open as large a gap as possible, never looking back. His lesson stuck with me. I was able to open a 7 second gap on Costello winning in 9:32, compared to Dowdell's winning 1953 time of 9:09, the best time ever on that course. The next four Bal runners took 3rd, 10th, 11th and 17th for Bal's first X-country championship.
The following Spring, 1955, Dowdell did not go out for track and the mile was won in 4:32 by Bob Hammond of Washington High, followed closely by Lynn Lloyd of Lincoln. I was a distant 3rd in 4:37.
I drifted in and out of college for the next couple of years, finally winding up on the SF State track and X-country teams in 1961 and 1962 where I was a team mate of Bill Morgan's. We both began to improve, but Bill made giant steps in his progress. We were both members of two championship SF State cross country teams.
In the Spring of 1963, we were both permitted to enter the 2 mile run during a non-league practice meet at SF State. Bill and I ran stride for stride for 5 laps, and then he edged away from me. He finished in 9:03, and I was 10 seconds behind.
Later that year, in December, an all-metric track meet was held at Burlingame High School. Morgan and I entered the 10K and were together at about the 4 mile mark when Bill slowly began to run away from me once again. He finished in one of the best times in the nation for the year, perhaps 4th or 5th in the country (I can't find the annual list) and I finished far back in 31:09 for the 10K, 13th best in the US that year. I never ran a 10K that fast again.
In early 1964, the trials for U.S. Olympic Marathon team were held near Los Angeles. Morgan had entered the marathon. He and I flew down from S. F., rented a car and found a motel. Next morning we drove to the start of the race held on a relatively un-traveled road inland from L.A. Friends and family of the runners were allowed to drive alongside the runners, cheering them on. It was an out-and-back course and at the turnaround, Morgan was with the leaders which included Irish-born Pete McArdle, who had become an American citizen, Billy Mills, and Wayne Van Dellen, a Southern Cal runner. It looked as if Morgan had a chance to make the Olympic Team, but around 17 or 18 miles, he simply stopped running and got into the car.
Bill now lives near Rio de Janiero and has written his biography.
All the best, and keep up the good work.
Ray Batz
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