So-Cal Striders founders

[Tom Lane]

Does anyone know the founders of the Southern California Striders Track Club back in the mid-1950s? I believe Dr. Meredith Gourdine was one, but I don't recall the others.

[orvilleatkins]

Re: So-Cal Striders founders

The Southern California Striders were formed in the fall of 1955 by Mal Whitfield, George Brown, Lang Stanley, George Rhoden and Meredith Gordiene.
Who were the other great athletes who joined that club? What years did the SCS win the AAU Club Championship?

[bambam]

Re: So-Cal Striders founders

What years did the SCS win the AAU Club Championship?

SC Striders won in 1957-61, 63-70
BH Striders won in 1974-75 (I assume that's the same club with a new name)
Tobias Striders won in 1978 (I know that was the former SC Striders)

No club title awarded in 1971-73, so their dominance from 1957-1978 was almost compete.

[oneill]

Re: So-Cal Striders founders

Hiya there, Orville, how ya doing?

Striders were a great club in an era when post-college competition was scant, and the club provided opportunities for many great athletes to continue their competitive careers post-college, or to compete during the Summer months when schools were not in session. The Striders drew on the Southern California area, with its great collegiate track powers, USC and UCLA primarily, as well as military bases located in the area.

[paulthefan]

Re: So-Cal Striders founders

wasn't OG and WR 400 man Mike Larrabee a SCS after leaving USC?

[dukehjsteve]

Re: So-Cal Striders founders

I think Charlie D jumped for them

[oneill]

Re: So-Cal Striders founders

Bambam - Was the 1962 Club winner Santa Clara Valley Youth Village? Tabori and Beatty and a bunch of SJS sprinters? Igloi as coach, of course?

I was a club member, but hardly a scorer. Just filler material in little local meets. Mike Ryan kept the club going, and picked up the pieces after Igloi took it to the edge of bankruptcy.

[oneill]

Re: So-Cal Striders founders

Bambam - Was the 1962 Club winner Santa Clara Valley Youth Village? Tabori and Beatty and a bunch of SJS sprinters? Igloi as coach, of course?

I was a club member, but hardly a scorer. Just filler material in little local meets. Mike Ryan kept the club going, and picked up the pieces after Igloi took it to the edge of bankruptcy.

[Randy Treadway]

Re: So-Cal Striders founders

Ralph Mann is on the board here- he was a Strider I believe.
I know a guy (a USATF official) who told me he was the treasurer of the Striders during that period.
He also said there was some kind of connection with the guy who started the Muhammad Ali Track Club- (Harold Smith?), exploited Houston McTear, and then ran off with the money.
Not sure what the connection with the Striders is.

[bambam]

Re: So-Cal Striders founders

Bambam - Was the 1962 Club winner Santa Clara Valley Youth Village? Tabori and Beatty and a bunch of SJS sprinters? Igloi as coach, of course?

1962 Team Results:
1 NYAC 52
2 Santa Clara VYV 51
3 SC Striders 45
4 LA TC 40
5 Emerald Empire AA 36
6 USMC 32

Close but no cigar

[orvilleatkins]

Re: So-Cal Striders founders

oneill, I am well and assume you are too.
In 1962, who was in the LA Track Club? That is where Igloi went after leaving Santa Clara. When was that?
By the way, after Igloi moved to Santa Monica in 1966, I joined the SC Striders. I was with them for two or three years. I remember running with Bob Day, Ron Larrieu and Gene Comroe in the Santa Monica foothills.
I also remember sitting on the grass at UCLA with some of the guys and watching Bill Toomey break the world record. A fun afternoon.

[Randy Treadway]

Re: So-Cal Striders founders

Didn't the LATC include Jim Beatty and Bobby Seaman?

I remember as a kid seeing in the newspaper agate those San Jose sprinters listed for the "Santa Clara Valley Youth Village" -often just abbreviated SCVYV- and I remember wondering at the time whether that was an orphanage or something (like Boys Town in Nebraska), and if so how did they get so many good sprinters?

[orvilleatkins]

Re: So-Cal Striders founders

The LATC did not include those runners before Igloi got there. Was there an LATC before Igloi and who were the members before Igloi?

[Randy Treadway]

Re: So-Cal Striders founders

USATF says Beatty was indeed associated with the LATC when he was setting all those records:
http://usatf.org/athletes/hof/beatty.asp

[Randy Treadway]

Re: So-Cal Striders founders

From an interview with Bob Schul, '64 Olympic champ:

"You were a member of the very famous Los Angeles Track Club. What was the Club all about and who else was helped make up the Los Angeles Track Club?

The L.A. Track Club was the first and probably the best distance club in the United States. The Club held all the American records from 1500 meters to 10,000 meters except the steeplechase and I was third best in the U.S. Jim Beatty was the star when I came to the club and he was a great athlete. Others such as Laszlo Tabori, Jim Grelle, Bobby Seaman, and Max Truex were fine athletes and always ranked high. There were twenty other athletes who ran well but were not nationally ranked. Without these people it would not have been the same. Of course Mihaly Igloi was the force behind the club and without him we would not have been the athletes we became. "