TigerBlog wrote yesterday about Steve Morgan, the great Princeton sprinter from the Class of 1987 who still holds the Ivy League record for the 200 meters 34 years after he set it, not to mention the school records in the 100 and 200.
As TB learned yesterday, Morgan passed away in 2010.
To learn more about who Morgan was, TB reached out to Fred Samara, the head coach of Princeton men's track and field. This is what Samara said about Morgan:
Steve was a remarkable athlete for us. Steve had an amazing stride, the longest I’ve ever seen except for Bolt. I can tell you a funny story. At the 1985 Penn Relays, Steve was running the anchor leg for us on the 4x400 Relay. I was watching the race from the other side of the stadium from where our team was sitting. Now you need to realize two things: Steve was about a 30-40 point scorer for us at the Heps, and the Heps were the next weekend. So Steve was running a super race passing many runners. But all of a sudden I noticed a limp in his stride and him tugging at his leg. I became very distraught as I watched him repeatedly tug at his leg. 'Oh no, a pulled hammy' I said to myself, the Heps are lost. After the race I rushed over the the team and frantically yelled to Coach Larry Ellis with almost a tear in my eye, 'what happened to Steve;' 'how badly was he hurt,' what are we going to do now! Larry and the team started to laugh obviously reacting to my overwrought concern. I said 'why are you guys laughing?' So Larry falling down laughing at me said, 'Steve’s not hurt! His jock broke at the 200m mark and his privates were bouncing all over the place!'
That's a great story. And it's good to get some insight into a person whose name appears all over the record book.
Also, anytime you appear in comparison to "Bolt," then that's impressive stuff - even more impressive when it's more than just the fact that they share the same home country of Jamaica. Bolt, of course, is Usain Bolt, probably the greatest sprinter of all time.
The men's track and field team was the fourth varsity team in Princeton history, dating back to 1876. The first three?
You probably know that the first varsity team at Princeton was the baseball team, in 1864. The football team, you also probably know, dates to 1869. The third team was heavyweight rowing, in 1872. There were two other teams in the 19th century - men's lacrosse in 1882 and men's golf in 1897.
The 20th century saw a huge growth in teams at Princeton, especially from 1971 on, when women's varsity teams first made an appearance. The first six women's varsity teams were tennis, field hockey, open rowing, squash, basketball and swimming and diving, followed a year later (1972-73) by lacrosse.
From 1990 on, there were five varsity teams added: women's golf in 1992, men's and women's water polo and men's volleyball and in the 1996-97 academic year and then women's lightweight rowing in 1998.
Earlier this week, Princeton announced the addition of its next varsity team, the women's rugby team, which will move from its highly successful club status to become a varsity in 2022-23. Here is what Ford Family Director of Athletics Mollie Marcoux Samaan said in the story announcing the move:
"This is an exciting day for Princeton women's rugby and Princeton Athletics. The women's rugby team has been a transformative experience for generations of Princetonians, providing valuable educational opportunities and offering a strong, vibrant, empowering and diverse community. A tremendous amount of effort has gone into this process, and I am thankful for the passionate work of the club's student officers and members of the Princeton University Rugby Endowment board. We look forward to working together on a smooth transition from club to varsity status. We are proudly celebrating the 50th anniversary of women's athletics at Princeton this year, and I can think of no better way to continue that celebration than by making this announcement which will provide even more opportunities for female student-athletes to enjoy the enormous benefits of varsity athletics participation."
TigerBlog does not know much about the sport of rugby, other than the fact that it is pretty much non-stop action. He's looking forward to learning a lot more about it in the next few years.
The move, as Mollie says, will create more varsity athletic opportunities for women athletes, and it comes during the celebration of the 50th anniversary of women's athletics.
You can read the entire release HERE.
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1 comment:
I presume that, when an intercollegiate team has club status, all of its athletes are walk-on's and that, when it is elevated to varsity status, some or all of its players will then be recruited. What is the plan with women's rugby? How big is a varsity rugby roster and will all or most of it recruited by coaches?
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