Great Interview with former Prep 800m National Record Holder George Kersh

Ricky Quintana

Mississippi prep star set National Record in 1987 Golden West Invitational that lasted nearly a decade before Michael Granville broke it - went on to Olympic level successes - now back at Pearl Mississippi raising a family - super interview of one of prep history's all-time greats and now giving back to our sports!!

800 METERS All-Time HS List from Track and Field News (Jack Shepard)
1:46.45 .................... Michael Granville (Bell Gardens, Ca) 96
1:46.58 ................................ George Kersh (Pearl, Ms) 87 (set in 1987 Golden West Invite)
1:47.31 .......................... Pete Richardson (Berkeley, Ca) 81
1:47.74 ..................... Alan Webb (South Lakes, Reston, Va) 01
1:47.9+ ............................. Dale Scott (El Cerrito, Ca) 72

In 1987, George Kersh dominated the high school 800m. The lanky senior from
Pearl, MS broke the national high school record twice finally lowering the
800m to a then best of 1:46.58. His 0.73 second lowering of the record is
the largest margin listed in Jack Shepard’s 2004 high school track annual
that dates back to 1963. Kersh still owns 4 of the top ten 800m All-Time
performances (his slowest being 1:47.84) from that season.
From 1987 to 1994, he earned 7 US top ten 800m rankings; his highest ranking
being 2nd in 1990 in 1991.
His best of 1:44.00 set on June 24,1992 in New Orleans at the Olympic trials
ranks him 11th among Americans All-Time. In that race, Kersh finished a
heartbreaking 4th behind Johnny Gray (1:42.80), Mark Everett (1:43.67) and
Jose Parilla(1:43.97) to just miss a trip to Barcelona, Spain.
Now 35 (Almost 36. July 3, 1968 birthdate), Kersh is an assistant coach at
his alma mater, Pearl, MS. Kersh’s former coach, Woody Barnett, has amassed
a dynasty there, accumulating a staggering 5 state titles and going
undefeated against Mississippi competition since 1999. The team also boasts
100 members, grades 7-12, including Kersh’s son, a seventh grader last year.
He spoke during one of the rain delays at the Golden South Classic in
Orlando, June 5. One of his track stars, Raymond Newell won the high jump
there with a clearance of 6-08. Kersh still holds the Golden South mile
record of 4:08.91 set in 1987.

RQ: What have you been up to all these years?
Kersh: Nothing much. Doing a little coaching. Doing a little running.
Nothing major. Just running with my cross country and a few of my track
kids. That’s about it.

RQ: You ended up back in your hometown, Pearl, MS.
Kersh: Oh yeah. Yeah. Back home. I have a family. I’ve been married for
several years. I have a twelve year old son and an eight year old daughter.
I’m enjoying being a father and my family. I’m slowly getting them involved
with running. That’s what I’ve been doing.

RQ: Any potential in your kids?
Kersh: Maybe. You never know. My son is a jack of all trades. He can pretty
much do anything. He had a pretty successful cross country season as a
seventh grader. He did a pretty good job for his first time running.
Hopefully, my girl will do some running in the near future. Slowly, trying
to get them there. Not a rush. I’m letting them enjoy themselves also.

RQ: What kind of times did your son run last season?
Kersh: He ran 19:08 for 5k. Not bad for a seventh grader. We were pleased
with it. He was always one of the top guys on the junior varsity. He was
always there. He gets after it and works hard so you never know. You just
never know. I’m just going to work with him every year and hopefully, he’ll
become a good runner.

RQ: What do you try and tell these younger kids?
Kersh: Oh man…. I tell you what, focus. Stay focused and dedicate yourself
to the sport. If you want to be successful, you got to dedicate yourself.
There’s going to be some ups and downs and you have to take the good with
the bad. That’s basically it.
You have to stay strong. You may not have a successful year the first year,
but if you hang with it, you’re going to have some good races. Those good
races are going to outweigh the bad by far. So just hang in there, knowing
you are going to do well.

RQ: You must be a household name in Pearl. Do these kids know who you are?
Kersh: Yeah, they do. They do (laughing). We show them a few tapes and these
kids, they don’t remember. Most weren’t even born when I was running. We’ll
go and show them some tapes when I was running. Their eyes will pop. They’re
shocked. I get out there and run with them and they say, “Ok, he can still
run.”

RQ: What got you back to Pearl?
Kersh: I was out in Santa Monica and I just missed home. I went back and
trained a little bit. I ran for a couple of more years.
My coach got me out there to help the Pearl team a little bit. I got the
hang of it and started to loving it. I got on and have been on it ever
since. It’s been wonderful to get out there and run with the kids and see
them develop year after year and get faster and faster. Just try and
motivate them and teach them a few things.
As a matter of fact, for cross country next year, just in the junior high
alone, we have 80 to 90 signed up. We had a lot of runners last year and we
only lost about 5 guys.
Keep them motivated and keep it fun. Do things for them and hopefully keep
building.
We won the state cross country meet this year, both boys and girls and also
won the boy’s track. We had an outstanding track and cross country season
this year.

RQ: As an African American male, do you carry a different perspective into
cross country and distance running that you can share with the kids?
Kersh: With the distance runners, you don’t get many blacks out. We do get a
few of them out. Especially junior high kids. We’ll slowly get them out.
They see that it’s for everybody. Anybody can do it, if they are well
trained. You just have to motivate the kids and get them excited. In
Mississippi, cross country and distance is not that big. If you keep them
motivated and excited, they’ll stay out there. They have a little success.
Once they have a little success, they’re going to hang in there. Get ‘em
hooked. Once you do that, they’re going to believe in what you do.

RQ: Do you teach at Pearl?
Kersh: I handle detention. Kids that get in trouble, they come to my
classroom and hang there because we can’t send them home nowadays unless
they fight. If they get in trouble, they come to me and I talk to them. If
we send them home, they can get into a lot more trouble so they stay with
me. I try to motivate them and ask them if they are in sports or staying
active. If not, I try to get them on my cross country or track team. That’s
basically how I get some of them out.

RQ: Do you follow track or cross country anymore?
Kersh: Just at the high school level. Pretty much Mississippi. As far as
track, I keep up with it a little bit on television and magazines and things
if that nature. On a world class level, I don’t. Every once and while,
college.

RQ: Not too many guys have run as fast as you did. What do you think the
problem is?
Kersh: No idea. I went to the SEC meet two weeks ago and I saw some
potential. I think in time that America will be there in the 800m again.
It’s just a matter of time.
It just so happens that those couple of years, it was a great time for the
800m. In the early 80’s also. Earl Jones, James Robinson and those guys set
the tone for us and kept it going. Hopefully, someone will step it up. I
know in the past couple of years, we’ve faded, but once again, I saw some
potential at the SEC meet. It’s just going to get a little bit better.

RQ: Who really struck you at the SEC meet?
Kersh: I think there was a freshman from Tennessee who ran 1:46[Paul
Cross]. That was pretty amazing. Anytime you have a freshman running that
fast, it’s just a matter of time for him to step it up and take charge of
being the next great American half miler. There’s also another guy at Santa
Monica [Khadavis Robinson] who’s still running pretty decent. In don’t know
his name, but every now and then he runs 1:45. We still have a few guys, but
just not at that top-notch level. But it’s just a matter of time. Not just
yet, though, but they’ll be there.

RQ: What led to you stopping you’re competitive running?
Kersh: Got lazy[ laughing]. Family. Just family. Working and spending more
time with my kids. I guess when you have a family, everything changes for
you.
Every once in a while, the fire will flame up. I want to do it again. You
just never know.
Last year, during cross country season, I went down to Foot Locker South
regionals and ran a 5k. I ran 16, 16:15 for my first race. I was there my
first two miles, but after that I just faded. It’s there. I just have to
make up my mind and just do it. No guarantee. I’m just out there training
with my younger runners and getting them over the hump and showing them what
it takes to be a good runner. If it happens while I’m there and while I’m
training with my runners, so be it. I’m not pushing it. If it happens, it
happens.

RQ: Are you a little more interested in track since it’s the Olympic year?
Kersh: Oh yes. Everyone always comes out of the word work. Someone is going
to surprise you here and there. I’ve been keeping an eye on whose going to
make the trials and who are the favorites going into the trials.
It’s been interesting watching the news and the preparations for the Olympic
in Athens. All the security and all that stuff.
You hear about all the people taking all the drugs and everything. People
getting banned. You keep up with a little bit more.

RQ: What is your take on the drug situation?
Kersh: If you’re doing it, you need to be out of the sport. Point blank. If
they are doing something illegal, they should be gone. That’s what I’ve
always felt and I still feel that way.
They shouldn’t be doing it. I’m totally against it.

RQ: Was it as prevalent as when you were running?
Kersh: Not like it is now because they’ve come it with all these types if
tests. A few years before I was running, they caught Ben Johnson. That was
pretty big.
With all the runners getting caught now, it’s all coming back into the
light. It started with the baseball thing and now it’s rolling on into
track.
It’s a good thing. They’re on top of it and they are catching the people who
are dirty.

RQ: Is Raymond Newell your first top level track athlete?
Kersh: In the high jump, yeah. Raymond came down last year with us. We also
had Bianca Knight last year. They were on top last year for us and now we
just have Raymond.

RQ: Any potential athletes that we may be seeing soon?
Kersh: You just never know [laughing]. Anything can happen if you work hard
and stay focused. It may happen. We have a lot of good athletes at Pearl as
far as runners. A lot of them have to commit to the sport if they are going
to get to this level.