"O God! Put back Thy universe and give me yesterday." (Henry Jones)

Back in 1968, I believe we had the very best graduating class ever in my experience. They had a plethora of outstanding students and athletes. I am still in touch with several of them through e-mail, or Face Book, or Plaxo if you will. At the time I was fortunate enough to be the coach of the winter track team, a team incidentally which I urged the school board and the athletic director to create. So,it was in 1968 that we had four boys who, in dual meets, usually ran in the sprints. When they ran the mile relay they called themselves the Four Horsemen, and deservedly so. No other team in Nassau County could beat them. In the mile relay each runner ran 440 yards carrying a baton. They were happily accepted to run their race in the Millrose Games in Madison Square Garden and also the NYU Invitational. Right now, I am in touch with three of these lads: Bob Marsden, Barry Meyer, and Chuck Hendrickson. The other athlete was Bill Sherwood. But we cannot find his e-mail address.

...Now at this place in time, they are each reminiscing about their triumphs... to the point where my son, Joel, placed a video on U-Tube of their race in Madison Square Garden against outstanding teams from the high schools in NYC and elsewhere in the state. Barry Meyer describes one race of the Four Horsemen which should raise a few hairs on your body.

... "As a foursome, we did have many proud moments. I remember the NYU Invitational distinctly. The first thing was our being placed in heats for the preliminaries with something like 105 teams in the beginning. I remember our talking as we sat on the boards, sharing emotions (fear?), holy shit, 'these guys are six feet and five feet are legs;' butterflies couldn't come close to describing the churning, adrenaline already flowing. But we held the fear at bay and set out to do the work we needed to do, each performing to his potential. That truly was our finest hour. And we owe much of it to 'Doc', for believing in us, for sharing the time with us, pushing us (for taking our pulse before sending us around the NSHS parking lot island one more time), for helping us see what we could be and pushing us to achieve it."

...Bob "Flash" Marsden added another description of how he remembered the atmosphere in the NYU Invitational. Remember these guys are now in their late 50s and I am amazed at how much they can recall. But the fact is that this event, I told them, they would remember all their lives...soak it up. Now Bob too often describes himself as a weak student in high school, but his vivid description, like Barry's, belies that:

... "Of all the athletic venues we ever performed in I have to say the greatest memories were at the 102nd Engineers Armory. I can still smell the musterol and the ben-gay rubbed on the neurotic legs of sprinters. We ran against some of the best of the day - Otis Hill, James Jackson, Larry James, and Marty Liquori. I remember when we ran perhaps our finest race as a relay team, and this was not the mile relay. 'Doc', told us afterwards that it was our finest moment and it was in the 880 yd. relay, NYU Invitational. As we sat there on the wood deck, lining up the heats for the two-section final, there were 16 teams; 64 sprinters of which there were four white-bred, suburban participants. The audience around us looking as if to say: 'what chu doin' here boy'!! Comically, we never would have received our silver medal - (MEDAL? Hell it was a marble table-piece that I proudly display on my Fathers desk in the foyer) - if someone hadn't fallen on the turn during Barrys' leg. Barry morphed into a hurdler and vaulted over the carnage sprawled in his path, appearing out of the smoke like some NASCAR driver!"

...So now I have immortalized these guys in this blog--and I hope it will please them--because they gave me years of joy.

(If you are interested to watch the team's mile relay at the 1968 Millrose Games click on the link below)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7ZuSHh6Phs