Mike Fanelli added a new photo.
FIRST FRIDAY IN FEBRUARY...if it were 1974, tonight we'd be down on Geneva Street just outside of San Francisco proper to experience the Examiner Games in the murky, smoky cavern called the Cow Palace. There, the wayback machine would have allowed us to witness a relatively obscure South African Springbok take some serious scalps. Arguably the greatest SA middle distance runner in history (although one might make a case for Johan Fourie or a man called Maree), Fanie van Zijl,... would remain undefeated in this, his 8th performance on US soil over a period of four and a half years.
Shown here, his 4:01.3 narrowly defeated Essex Catholic alum Martin Liquori (4:01.7), Houstonian Leonard Hilton (whom I liked to call 'Hilt the Stilt' for obvious reasons) who was just an eyelash back in 4:01.8 along with that running "rube" of a Duck, Pre, who posted a 4:02.8.
As South Africa was barred from the Olympic Games during this period due to their nation's apartheid regime, the philosophical van Zijl responded like this when asked by a Sports Illustrated reporter how disappointed he was about being disallowed to compete in Munich a few month down the road: "No, not really," van Zilj said. "I see athletics as just a part of life. Life is not a part of athletics. I think the Olympics or a world record would be an ideal goal, but if you cannot have either it is not the end of the world. Sure, it's disappointing. I qualified for the Olympic Games when I was 18 and I couldn't go. This time I can't go. I've decided it's like races. I've won some and I've lost some. And take a world record. My wife is pregnant and for me, to have a child is better than any record. A world record can be broken. A child, that's forever."
Speaking of forever, the legend of Fanie will live on into perpetuity. His 1:45.6 at 800 meters, 3:37.2 at 1500 and 3:56.0 mile remain quite high on South Africa's all time top performance lists...in spite of the fact that they are all in excess of FOUR decades old...solid!
See MoreAs South Africa was barred from the Olympic Games during this period due to their nation's apartheid regime, the philosophical van Zijl responded like this when asked by a Sports Illustrated reporter how disappointed he was about being disallowed to compete in Munich a few month down the road: "No, not really," van Zilj said. "I see athletics as just a part of life. Life is not a part of athletics. I think the Olympics or a world record would be an ideal goal, but if you cannot have either it is not the end of the world. Sure, it's disappointing. I qualified for the Olympic Games when I was 18 and I couldn't go. This time I can't go. I've decided it's like races. I've won some and I've lost some. And take a world record. My wife is pregnant and for me, to have a child is better than any record. A world record can be broken. A child, that's forever."
Speaking of forever, the legend of Fanie will live on into perpetuity. His 1:45.6 at 800 meters, 3:37.2 at 1500 and 3:56.0 mile remain quite high on South Africa's all time top performance lists...in spite of the fact that they are all in excess of FOUR decades old...solid!
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