Earl Bell, Steve Scott and Larry Young on Tuesday appeared
on a nationwide
USA Track & Field teleconference. Along with Gwen Torrence, the
three on
December 6 will be inducted into the National Track & Field Hall
of Fame,
with the induction taking place at the 2002 Jesse Owens Awards and Xerox
Track & Field Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, held at the USA Track
& Field
Annual Meeting.
Below are excerpts from Tuesday’s teleconference. For
a full digital audio
replay, as well as more information on the Class of 2002, visit the
News
section of the USATF Web site, www.usatf.org
USATF CEO CRAIG MASBACK: This is always one of the biggest
thrills for me in
any given year. First my thanks to Xerox and their Olympic Marketing
Manager, Terry Dillman, for all they have done for our Hall of Fame,
and for
their support of our greatest athletes, past and present. In years
like this
one, when I know all of the athletes being inducted, it’s even
more special
to me. This is a great group; it’s emblematic of what’s
great with our sport
of track and field. December 6 is going to be a great event.
TERRY DILLMAN: I’m really pleased to be able to represent
Xerox and to be
sponsoring the Hall of Fame Induction ceremony. It’s the sixth
one for
Xerox. These ceremonies are really fabulous. They’re emotional,
and they tug
at your heart. I look forward to meeting Steve and Earl; I met Larry
in New
Orleans and met Gwen in 1996 at the Atlanta Grand Prix.
STEVE SCOTT: This is a tremendous honor. To be able to compete
as many years
as I did, and to get the call from you, Craig – and you were
definitely a
competitor of mine – you’re actually a participant in
me being elected to
the Hall of Fame. Because as a competitor, I always wanted to step
to the
line to beat you. As the top American, you work to beat other Americans
every time you step to the line. I’ve always wanted to be in
the Hall of
Fame, and I didn’t think it was a lock, especially when you
look at all the
people who have not been accepted yet. I have a lot of my friends
and family
who are coming to the ceremony. I hope some of my rivals will be there,
too,
because they should take a lot of the credit for my being inducted.
… I
would also like to thank Xerox and Terry Dillman for stepping up to
support
this event.
Q: Please discuss the state of your sport and event group
in 2002:
STEVE SCOTT: The number of kids running is the same or up,
but I don’t think
we’re getting the same quality. I think there’s plenty
of talent in this
country, and I think there are no secrets when it comes to training.
We just
have to recruit young kids to make it appealing to be involved in
running.
Q: Steve, as a coach, have you learned more about your event?
STEVE SCOTT: Two things in particular. One is, take competitions
in stride.
I tell my kids, the bigger the competition, the less you need to think
about
it. The kids who succeed are the ones who are the most relaxed. Peter
Rono
in the ’88 Olympics, the guy had no pressure. Most athletes
really do
themselves a disservice by trying to force a performance instead of
letting
it happen. The other thing is to race less. I raced way too much,
traveled
too much and raced too many seasons. There are only so many times
you can go
to the well, so you have to make your races count.
Q: You came close to running a 4:00 mile at age 40, but never
quite reached
it.
STEVE SCOTT: There were little things that would come up,
injuries, where
when you’re 25 years old, you miss 2 or 3 days, but when you’re
40, you miss
three weeks. And when you miss three weeks of training, you’re
pretty much
starting from scratch.
Q: Will anyone break Eamonn Coughlan’s masters record
of 3:58 for the mile?
STEVE SCOTT: You’re seeing a lot more masters athletes
on the roads. If
someone offered $50,000 for a masters runner to break 4:00 outdoors,
I think
you’d see it broken in a year. There’s just not much incentive
for a masters
athlete to concentrate on the track when there’s money to be
made on the
roads. The training and sacrifice that have to go into a 40-year-old
breaking 4:00 in the mile, there just isn’t that incentive.
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