I grew up not..........

[Brutal]

...30 miles from Delano California and still have no idea what Leamon King looked like. I have also never seen a picture of Hal Davis who was from Salinas California. Both great world record sprinters that are just names without a face to me.

That'a a hint!

[bhall]

Re: I grew up not..........

Posted on behalf of GH-

Leamon King
http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/assets ... n_king.jpg

Hal Davis
http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/assets ... _davis.jpg

[Brutal]

Re: I grew up not..........

WOW!!!!!!!!!

Thank you very very very much I truly appreciated that.
Leamon looked about like I pictured him. Then there's Hal Davis who is not a tall black guy...ha! Talk about a shock!!....whoa! Thanks again.

[Per Andersen]

Re: I grew up not..........

Yes, Leamon King was great. He was a special hero of mine. Growing up in Norway I saw him run a 100 against Bjorn Nilsen a 10.3 guy and one of the leading Europeans. King got a bad start and was trailing by 2meters at the 50. Then he put on a burst of speed unlike anything I have ever witnessed, blew by Nilsen and won handily. Unfortunately that was one of his last races. He then retired at age 21. In October '56 he was in the shape of his life during the U.S. warm-up meets before the games in Melbourne. Twice in two weeks he ran 10.1 tying the Williams/Murchison w-rec. In one of these races he beat the great Morrow. Of course King did not make the team in the 100 having finished 4th in the F.O.T in June. At Melbourne he ran on the winning relay team. I'll go to my grave wondering if he could have beaten Morrow in the 100.

[Brutal]

Re: I grew up not..........

Tommie Smith from Lemoore and Leamon King from Delano are the two great sprinters from the San Joaquin Valley in the heart of California. This area also produced both decathlon greats Bob Mathias Tulare and Rafer Johnson from Kingsburg.

I was big up on all of them but had never seen even a picture of King while meeting both Mathias and Johnson and having seen Tommie run a couple of times. Leamon was always a mystery to me. More than once I was tempted to go to his old high school in Delano to see what they had. He was a great high school sprinter.

I'd read somewhere that he an amazing finish and here you are talking about his finish so I guess he did.

Not sure he beats Morrow in Melbourne but pretty sure he would have been there for the silver.

Of course let's not forget that Jim Golliday was injured.

[Guest]

Re: I grew up not..........

Wasn't Lee Evans from the Valley, too?

[Guest]

Re: I grew up not..........

Overfelt High School in San Jose

[Guest]

Re: I grew up not..........

Whoops --- guess I had it wrong. Thought I had read that Lee grew up picking raisins around Fresno. Ah, memory . . . fades like one's vertical jump.

[gh]

Re: I grew up not..........

Evans born in Madera, an archteypal Central Valley town; can't find a citation for you at this point, but I'm pretty sure I recall his talking about picking cotton when very young before his parents moved to San José.

[Guest]

Re: I grew up not..........

Sim Iness, Olympic discus chapion in 1952, first man over 190 feet, was a Tulare High School contemporary of Mathias.

[Jacksf]

Here's another photo of Hal Davis.....

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl= ... D%26sa%3DN

[Jacksf]

Here's another photo of Hal Davis.....

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl= ... D%26sa%3DN

[mrbowie]

There was no prettier sprinter to watch than King. He was very exciting.

[Jacksf]

couldn't find a photo of King....

[Jim Rorick]

Lee Evans competed for Cental Union of Fresno for his freshman and sophomore years (1962-1963), then transferred to Overfelt in San Jose for his last 2 years.