greatest talent--- - wasted

[buckeye II]

Re: greatest talent--- - wasted

I'll offer Nelloms from the 'talent' standpoint, although I realize there are many others in the same category nationwide. Nelloms gave up the 100 as a senior because he had two teammates capable of placing at state. He began running the 110 HH as an alternate. At 5'7", he set a national record in his first year of running hurdles since junior high. Add this to his 400 of :45.3, and who knows what he could've run. Remember, most of his college career was spent 'after' receiving a gunshot blast to the chest and nearly bleeding to death. I believe he never regained full function of one lung. Since the gunshot and later conviction were of his own lifestyle choices, he would qualify under the 'wasted talent' category.

[vaulter83]

Re: greatest talent--- - wasted

I second Darrell Robinson. He almost seems like a myth here in WA. 44.69 in high school is amazing. Sadly he drank a container of antifreeze to try and kill himself a while back.

[highjumpsteve]

Re: greatest talent--- - wasted

>I second Darrell Robinson. He almost seems like a myth here in WA. 44.69 in
>high school is amazing. Sadly he drank a container of antifreeze to try and
>kill himself a while back.

I was at the Indy meet back in '82 when he ran his 44.69, and chatted briefly with him later that day... he was all excited about going to Houston and running with Tony ( ?) Ketchum. Seemed so young, so happy, so full of hope and anticipation.
Although I think he won one national title apparently his life got pretty messy. Sad.

[highjumpsteve]

Re: greatest talent--- - wasted

>I second Darrell Robinson. He almost seems like a myth here in WA. 44.69 in
>high school is amazing. Sadly he drank a container of antifreeze to try and
>kill himself a while back.

I was at the Indy meet back in '82 when he ran his 44.69, and chatted briefly with him later that day... he was all excited about going to Houston and running with Tony ( ?) Ketchum. Seemed so young, so happy, so full of hope and anticipation.
Although I think he won one national title apparently his life got pretty messy. Sad.

[basehead617]

Re: greatest talent--- - wasted

Re: Steve Williams

can someone give me a little rundown of his story? notable races/times, injuries, etc

[The Fern]

Re: greatest talent--- - wasted

Anyone who high jumped in the northeast in the mid 70's or followed it will remember Beenie White. Jumped 7'2" with no steps in Adidas Titans. SPROING!!

[MJR]

Re: greatest talent--- - wasted

William Reed, running 44.x in HS while holding his breath.

Joe Galeano, (HH, IH & HJ) would have made a great decathlete, but went AI at Tenneessee as a Freshman and dabbled a bit after that, never really getting anywhere. His HS 55mHH time still stands, I think. Probably the most talented athlete I've ever known. Coulda, shoulda, woulda been an Olympian had he gotten his priorities in order.

[br]

Re: greatest talent--- - wasted

How about Henry Thomas? He is also serving time for a slew of criminal offenses.

[Conor Dary]

Re: greatest talent--- - wasted

How about Henry Thomas? He is also serving time for a slew of criminal offenses.


Crimimal athletes! Now we are getting somewhere!

David Mack, who ran the 800 meters at Oregon, got into serious trouble in California a few years back.

Also as I noted on a separate thread before, Jared Leto who portrayed Pre played one of the criminals in the Jodie Foster film 'Panic Room'. The odd thing was he looked exactly as he did in the Prefontaine film, mustache and all. This of course, got me to thinking during the movie that this is a sequel to Prefontaine, where Pre, like Elvis is alive, but has turned to a life of crime.

[malmo]

Re: greatest talent--- - wasted

>Bob Duncan:

I agree with your assessment. Being from Ohio, I saw this guy
>rise thru junior high, high school, and finally up thru Ohio State. His
>achievements here are legendary. Chris truly did waste his talents thru his
>rape(s) of that minor girl. At the time that Chris was "involved" with that
>girl, a friend of mine was his coach and I can tell you that both, not too
>mention the rest of you, were stunned. But in the years that followed, I have
>been informed by someone close to me that Chris had evidently "looked" funny
>at many young women and teen girls. This person close to me told me that he'd
>even hit on her (she was in her early 20's at the time), despite the fact that
>he already had a gf and I think a kid at the time. Chris was his own worst
>enemy, and now he is serving some serious time. Truly sad.

Black man molests a little girl = life in prison.

White man molests a little girl, Governor of Oregon, Nike executive = scum of the earth gets away with it.

Go figure?

[Kurt Francis]

Re: greatest talent--- - wasted

Malmo:

What made you decide to bring up racism in this thread? We were talking about people who have wasted their talents in great fashion, not about injustices. I take each case on an individual basis. I know nothing of specifics of the ex-Oregon governor. I do know something of Nellom's errors. Let's stick to the subject at hand.

[basehead617]

Re: greatest talent--- - wasted

>Black man molests a little girl = life in
>prison.

>White man molests a little girl, Governor of Oregon, Nike executive
>= scum of the earth gets away with it.

>Go figure?


Was Nelloms black or bi-racial? i seem to remember this.

Anyway it was not for molesting, it was MANY full fledged sexual encounters ("rape") with the girl, premeditated, hidden, lied about, etc, over a long period of time while the girl was 8 to 10 years old. If any child sexual abuse case would deserve the life sentence it'd be his..

[79.]

Re: greatest talent--- - wasted

Lorenzo DANIEL
Ubeja ANDERSON
Steve KERR
Henry THOMAS
Devlon DUNN
Dawn SOWELL
Danny HARRIS
Lamont SMITH
...
(... and so many other enigmatic potentials.)

[Sprintstatman]

Re: greatest talent--- - wasted

>Steve KERR

That's Stanley Kerr I believe...:-)

[79.]

Re: greatest talent--- - wasted

Yes, of course...
Also many lost NCAA basket-ball talents.