What if?????

[Brutal]

Howard Drew hadn't have been injured in the heats of the 1912 Olympic 100 meters? The fact that he was the roots to the tree as far as the great black sprinter goes is sorta lost since Drew was not an Olympic champion. Hard to ignore an Olympic Gold medal. Then again Eddie Tolan is never talked about in the same vein as Jesse Owens. Tolan being the first black Olympic 100 meter champ.

I hope nobody out there is looking at this as being "racist" that's not my intentions at all. Just a history fan talking well...history!

What if Eulace Peacock had been in Berlin in 36 standing side by side with Jesse Owens? Peacock like Drew had an injury stand in the way of his Olympic dream.

Like Drew and Peacock Northwesterns Jim Golliday was also felled by injuries in both 52 and 56. He was a WR holder in 9.3 and the top ranked sprinter in world in the early 50's.

Hal Davis,Mozelle Ellerbe and Payton Jordan all starred in the early-mid 40's when due to the wat there were no Olympics.....bummer! They never got a shot!

What if Eddie Hart runs in 72? What if Bob Hayes had hung around until 68? What if Tommie Smith had hung around until 72?

Mmmmm??

[Guest]

Re: What if?????

Is there actually a question in here somewhere, or are these all just rhetorical musings?

[tafnut]

Re: What if?????

As soon as you bring race into it, you've got a problem waiting to erupt.

[Guest]

Re: What if?????

Hey, we all love watching races!

[Guest]

Re: What if?????

you were straight..

[Guest]

Re: What if?????

what if lasse viren wasnt so good, then pre would be a champ. p.s, gummudi is awesome. golden brown, no need to frown.

[BillCarr]

Re: What if?????

What if Brundage hadn't been such a schmuck and let Stoller and Glickman run the 4x100 - and then Jesse would have never received his last gold medal ?

What if Rudolf Harbig didn't die fighting in WWII ?

What if John Baxter Taylor didn't boycott the re-run of the 400 in 1908 ?

What if Valeri Brumel decided not to showboat to his girlfriend on his new motorcycle ?

What if Skeets Nehemiah had stayed with the hurdles instead of playing for the 49ers ?

I will answer one though. If Bob Hayes ran full-tilt into 1968, he very well could have run a mind-boggling time in Mexico City (< 9.9). Blasted amateur rules . . .

[dj]

Re: What if?????

If Harbig doesn't die during WWII his career certainly does while he waits for 1948 to come around.

If J.B. Taylor contests the re-run in 1908 it doesn't matter. Wyndham Halswelle still wins. In the first running, Taylor - ill and off form at the time - wasn't close enough to Halswelle and Carpenter to make a difference. Nothing except Irish-American jingoism suggests things would have been different in the re-run.

[gh]

Re: What if?????

>If Harbig doesn't die during WWII his career
>certainly does while he waits for 1948 to come
>around.>>

Actually, he has to wait until 1952, because Germany was barred from the '48 Games.

No, hold on that--he actually has to wait until 1956, because he was from Dresden and the whole '52 team was from the Westbloc!

[dj]

Re: What if?????

So he finally gets to compete in the Olympcis in the Masters division!

[gh]

Re: What if?????

ps--Harbig did get an Olympic medal, by the way. As a callow 23-year-old he anchored Germany to 4x4 bronze in '36 (and was a feeble 6th in his heat in the 800)

[Guest]

Re: What if?????

What if.....

The USA had not Boycotted in 1980 and the USSR in 1984.

If Thorpe stayed in track and field.

If Coe and Ovett raced each other more than once every year or two.

Jim Ryun hadn't tripped in 1972.

If Dan O'Brian had not no heighted in the PV at the Oly Trials.

If the Sports Festival judge in the LJ in (82 or 83) in Indianapolis hadn't been blind and allowed Carl Lewis's 30' Long Jump.


hmmmm. Makes you wonder.

[dj]

Re: What if?????

We would have seen the finals in lots of 1980 and '84 events instead of watching one of the semis or qualifying rounds.

Neither Coe nor Ovett would have run faster, and each would have piled up more losses in his career.

Ryun would have earned two Olympic silver medals in his career.
Thorpe would have stayed poor even longer, and with nothing to show for it since the 1916 Olympics were cancelled.

O'Brien might just have delayed his NH until he was on the bigger stage.

Lewis would have been seen in the general publics' eyes as a failure for having never again set the LJ WR despite 15 years of trying.

[richardh]

Re: What if?????

Harbig was 22 (not 23) at the time of the Berlin OG (born November 1913)

[Per Andersen]

Re: What if?????

What if Dick Fosbury had mastered the straddle in H.S and had gone on to O.S.U and straddled 6'8"?
and in Canada Debbie Brill could have straddled 5'7" in H.S.? Would we have known about the Flop to-day? What would the W-Rec be? Could Stones have straddled 7'3"?
Personally I think the flop would have evolved anyway but the W-rec probably would have been at 7'8" or thereabouts.