1969 Georgetown University Track Team Incident

[Chicago]

This is 1968 NCAAs at Van Cortlandt...leading l-r Gerry Hinton, Shorter, Grant Colehour, 205?, Art Dulong...

Art Dulong, who placed third, learned at almost the last minute that he could participate in the race and did not have time to return home to retrieve his running gear. He is wearing a t-shirt with the name of his dormitory.

[NotDutra5]

The different photos are the rainy '68 IC4A (NYU's George Wisniewski is photo left in pack nearest Stageberg; Manhattan's Brian Kivlan is photo far right ; and the '68 NCAA (#205 is Charlie Shrader of Maryland).

Thanks. I was wondering to myself if that was Kivlan who I met when he was a bit older and less looking like he does in this photo.

[dj]

The different photos are the rainy '68 IC4A (NYU's George Wisniewski is photo left in pack nearest Stageberg; Manhattan's Brian Kivlan is photo far right ; and the '68 NCAA (#205 is Charlie Shrader of Maryland).

[Black September]

Like Igloi and Tabori, Benedek left Hungary in 1956 after the uprising. His approach was somewhat typical of the authoritarian model common in Eastern Europe at the time.

[DrJay]

That picture is also in that book I have.

[Conor Dary]

This is 1968 NCAAs at Van Cortlandt...leading l-r Gerry Hinton, Shorter, Grant Colehour, 205?, Art Dulong...

[Conor Dary]

Would this have been that IC4A or NCAA meet? From the Runner's World book "Guide to Distance Running), 1971. Caption reads "Art Dulong, Frank Shorter, and Steve Stageberg hang to the left of the group before splashing through an instant stream at Van Cortlandt Park in New York City".

I remember that picture...that is the IC4As from 1968.

[DrJay]

Searching online for more info on this incident, apparently Stageberg was not really a strike ringleader, but as the senior Team Captain was caught in the middle and he helped set up the alternate workouts for the strikers.

Having just finished a Cross Country season where he was IC4A Champ and NCAA Runner-up, he was doing just fine under Benedek. But the conflict took the fun out of it and he dropped the sport for a couple of years, before mounting a brief but successful comeback in 1971 (2nd in AAU Nationals 3-Mile).

Would this have been that IC4A or NCAA meet? From the Runner's World book "Guide to Distance Running), 1971. Caption reads "Art Dulong, Frank Shorter, and Steve Stageberg hang to the left of the group before splashing through an instant stream at Van Cortlandt Park in New York City".

[Conor Dary]

Why is that? Benedek was right.

Or are you a disciple of the Johnson and Nixon philosophies who kept the USA in Vietnam after the USA's illegal, immoral and unethical invasion of Vietnam?

Let's forget Vietnam....it was really dumb....

[Tuariki]

What a nutcase....


"It was an awful time then," says Benedek about the year he was fired. "It was Vietnam. There was no leadership in the country. We gave up our principles. I don't blame the youngsters."

Why is that? Benedek was right.

Or are you a disciple of the Johnson and Nixon philosophies who kept the USA in Vietnam after the USA's illegal, immoral and unethical invasion of Vietnam?

[Conor Dary]

1969 was when big mileage was the norm, even in high school....but this guy took it to the extreme....they were college students....

More on this wierd story....

https://idnc.library.illinois.edu/?a...-txIN---------

[Chicago]

Searching online for more info on this incident, apparently Stageberg was not really a strike ringleader, but as the senior Team Captain was caught in the middle and he helped set up the alternate workouts for the strikers.

Having just finished a Cross Country season where he was IC4A Champ and NCAA Runner-up, he was doing just fine under Benedek. But the conflict took the fun out of it and he dropped the sport for a couple of years, before mounting a brief but successful comeback in 1971 (2nd in AAU Nationals 3-Mile).

Stageberg also was second in the 1971 AAU Cross County Championships behind Frank Shorter.

[wamego relays champ]

Searching online for more info on this incident, apparently Stageberg was not really a strike ringleader, but as the senior Team Captain was caught in the middle and he helped set up the alternate workouts for the strikers.

Having just finished a Cross Country season where he was IC4A Champ and NCAA Runner-up, he was doing just fine under Benedek. But the conflict took the fun out of it and he dropped the sport for a couple of years, before mounting a brief but successful comeback in 1971 (2nd in AAU Nationals 3-Mile).

[Conor Dary]

What a nutcase....


"It was an awful time then," says Benedek about the year he was fired. "It was Vietnam. There was no leadership in the country. We gave up our principles. I don't blame the youngsters."

[Chicago]

Some more details from a 1984 Washington Post story:

His belief in rigorous training once made him a controversial figure. In 1969 Georgetown University fired him as track coach after the team revolted against his intense workouts, though he remains as a fencing coach.
"He believes in 'no pain, no gain' " says Ricardo Urbino, a three-time All-American middle-distance runner who trained under Benedek at Georgetown, graduating in 1967. "He made us run 130-mile weeks, even the short-distance runners, and he was one of the first coaches in the United States to institute twice daily workouts.
"It was the European method -- very austere," Urbino continues. "It worked for me, but I can understand how he would come under fire. There were seven scholarship runners when I started and only two left by senior year." Urbino has since become a D.C. Superior Court judge and for the past three years has sent his two children to Camp Olympic. He says Benedek's coaching helped his 12-year-old son, Ian, win the 3,000-meter run at the regional junior Olympics held in North Carolina last month.
"It was an awful time then," says Benedek about the year he was fired. "It was Vietnam. There was no leadership in the country. We gave up our principles. I don't blame the youngsters."