Ex-Howard Bison athlete captures bronze in hurdles

It wasn't that long ago that David Oliver was an afterthought on the U.S. track team, a hurdler who went unrecognized by television analysts when he finally won a major race. "A nobody," he said. But Thursday night, the 26-year-old Denver East High School (and Howard University) graduate stood on a podium in National Stadium, a 2008 Olympic bronze medal hanging around his neck, eight years after a college scholarship seemed beyond his grasp.

"They only pass out three of these every four years, so to be one of the people who've got one is definitely an accomplishment in itself," Oliver said. "To get one of them (means) you'll always be remembered." Once Chinese superhero Liu Xiang pulled out of a preliminary heat with a foot injury, the race lost its luster in China. But Cuba's Dayron Robles, the world record-holder, ran a remarkable 12.93 seconds to take the gold.

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Fierce Competitor: Sprinter Dix eyes medal

Excerpt:

Washington Dix, a former sprinter at Bethune-Cookman University and a longtime (Florida) prep track coach, recognized something special in his youngest son from his first organized race. Walter was 7 at the time. And he lost. "He was standing there crying," Washington Dix recalled after Anthony Gaines, who went on to play football and run track at South Florida, bested Walter. "I said, ‘Hey. It's time to get busy with this kid; he really wants to win.'"

"When I was younger, I used to cry a lot when I lost," Walter said. "I don't know why I hate to lose so much." "When he ran 9.93 with no wind in Sacramento at the NCAAs," Boldon said, "he became world-class that day, in my eyes." "Walt is one of those special people who's the total package." In the eyes of sponsors, too. Dix was offered millions to leave school and turn professional, but he wanted to finish his degree in social science and help FSU go for a third straight national title. He did both.

Coral Springs, Florida native Walter Dix is heading to Beijing in search of a gold medal in the Summer Olympic Games. The former Florida State Seminole will run in the 100 and 200 meters.

Walter Dix - 200m FINAL U.S. Olympic Track Trials 2008

Olympian Walter Dix Press Conference - Part I

Olympian Walter Dix Press Conference - Part II


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Liberia turns to B-CU coach

DAYTONA BEACH -- The position is not a prestigious one, nor does it occupy a rung on the way up the track and field coaching ladder. Garfield Ellenwood did not accept the job as head coach of the Liberian national track team to better his career. Indeed, all you need to know about the scope of this post is that Ellenwood was hired by a man whose full-time occupation is a pharmaceutical sales rep in Indianapolis.

The Liberian track team has 14 members, said Ellenwood, whose full-time job is head track coach at Bethune-Cookman University. Only three have qualified for the Beijing Olympics. They will be the only three Liberian athletes marching in Friday's opening ceremonies.

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Southern University making summer news

The lull in the Southern University sports year is on the verge of ending. Next month, football players will be on campus and Brian Johnson will be making long jumps in the Beijing Olympics. The full-on gumbo will be ladled hot and heavy later. Here’s a little summertime shrimp-and-corn soup to tide Jaguars fans over for now.

• Friday, in cool, hip and beautiful San Francisco, the Giants host the Milwaukee Brewers and leading off for both teams will be two former Southern players: Fred Lewis with the Giants and second baseman Rickie Weeks with the Brewers.

Both players arrived with little fanfare, Weeks as a freshman in 2001 and Lewis as a junior-college transfer in ’02, his only season at SU.

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Howard Bison Oliver blazes to 110 hurdles crown

David Oliver ran the fastest time in every round on the way to his first U.S. outdoor championship

When he found her on his victory lap, the former Denver East athlete and newly crowned Olympic trials champion gripped his mother in a long, tight hug. "I'm just glad to be able to share this moment with her," said Oliver, who blazed to the finish line Sunday in 12.95 seconds to win the 110-meter hurdles at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials. "She's my inspiration. Without her guidance, especially when I was younger, I wouldn't be able to do the things I'm doing now."

David Oliver's 12.95 wind-aided Olympic Trials Final race in the 110 meter hurdles.


Oliver's mother, Brenda Chambers, was an All-American at Colorado in 1981 in the 400 hurdles. She competed in the 1980 Olympic trials at the same stadium as Oliver but never had a chance to compete in those Olympics because of an American boycott. Her son only recently emerged as a track star. He played football and ran track at Howard University but wasn't a standout until after college. He was the lowest seed in the 110 hurdles in the 2004 Olympic trials but now has the second-fastest time in the world.

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UMES Track Athlete Fothergill Heading To Beijing Olympics

KINGSTON, JAMAICA--Allodin Fothergill has had a stellar sophomore year for the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES). From the start of an early indoor season he has garnered All-MEAC honors, earning two gold medals in the conference championship (200, 400-meter dashes). He then placed 10th in the 400 meter-dash in the NCAA Division I 2008 Indoor Championships (47.24). His performances during the Outdoor season improved as he qualified for the NCAA East Regional track meet. On the big stage he ran 46.40 to advance to the Outdoor National Championship. For personal reasons he would not make the trip to Iowa. But his season wasn't over.

Taking this time off proved successful for the Jamaican native as he returned home to reunite with family and compete in Jamaica's Olympic Trials in Kingston. To say Fothergill represented UMES well would be an understatement. In the 400-meter semifinals he placed third in his heat to advance to the finals. In the final round Fothergill scorched the track to a 4th place finish and an amazing time of 45.97. With his performance Fothergill was named to the Jamaican Olympic team for this year's 2008 Beijing China Olympic Games.

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Ex-TSU Coach Temple led first U.S. team to China in '75

Hall of Fame Coach Ed Temple (Edward S. Temple) is Tennessee's most honored and accomplished track and field coach. His famous Tigerbelles Women's Track Club of Tennessee State University (TSU) won twenty-three gold, silver, and bronze Olympic medals, thirty-four national team titles, and thirty medals in the Pan American Games.

Historic track trip helped to open doors

Profoundly polite people, hotels without keys and a relay team with only anchor legs. That's what former Tennessee State track Coach Ed Temple remembers most about a historic 1975 trip to China with a U.S. track and field team. As coach of the first American team to compete in China during the communist era, Temple guided 38 female athletes on a goodwill tour of meets in Hong Kong, Canton, Shanghai and Peking, now commonly known as Beijing.

"I was reluctant to go since it was China and no one had ever been to China at that time," Temple said recently. "But I was also curious. It turned out to be one of the most unique experiences I have ever had." With athletes preparing for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Temple looked back on his trip to China, which was just beginning to open its doors to more of the world.

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The 81 year old Coach Temple served the United States and TSU 43 years, retiring in 1993. He is a native of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and is a member of the National Track and Field Hall of Fame, the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame, the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, the TSU Sports Hall of Fame, and has also received the Helms Award.

Mr. Temple attended and graduated from Tennessee State University, (B.S. and M.S. degrees in Health and Physical Education; minor in Sociology). He has also done work toward the doctoral degree at Pennsylvania State University.

There is a wonderful story in the biography of Ed Temple on how he was persuaded by his neighbor to attend Tennessee State, that's very funny...

"It was fate and a bit of trickery that led Temple to Tennessee State University.

After his high school graduation in 1946, Tom Harris, Temple's neighbor and also a coach at Tennessee State, persuaded Temple to attend the university by telling him that Leroy Craig would be attending also. Craig was Temple's rival and after hearing this, he turned down Pennsylvania State University because he thought that Tennessee State University must have been a good school if Craig was enrolling, and so he too enrolled.

He later learned that Harris had misconceived Craig with the same story and both gullible athletes were coaxed to attend Tennessee State University. Declining Pennsylvania State University was not an easy task but nevertheless, Temple decided to stay at Tennessee State. A scholarship was not offered, so Temple was forced to compensate for his tuition with work-aid."

TSU coach sprints back to Olympics

Cheeseborough is U.S. assistant in women's track

Chandra Cheeseborough's life has been a collection of very fast, very significant footsteps. As a young girl she outran every boy in the neighborhood. As a teenager her feet carried her into the track and field spotlight, where she set American records, won Olympic gold medals and international acclaim.

She kept striding forward and became women's track and field coach at her alma mater, Tennessee State University, taking over the Tigerbelles program for the legendary Ed Temple. Now, as the United States prepares for next month's Olympics in Beijing, the 49-year-old Cheeseborough is taking another big step, serving as an assistant coach for the U.S. women's team.

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As an athlete, Cheeseborough was named to three United States Olympic teams. She placed third as a 17-year old in the 100-meter dash in Montreal. She qualified for the ill-fated 1980 Olympic team that did not compete because of a boycott. In 1984, at the Los Angeles games, she made Olympic history by running a leg on two Gold Medal Relay Teams and was the silver medalist in the 400-meters.

Coach Cheeseborough has led the TSU track program to a pair of consecutive Ohio Valley Conference Outdoor Track Championships and is the reigning OVC Indoor champion as well. She is a four-time OVC Coach of the Year.

A native of Jacksonville, Florida, she is a graduate of both Ribault High School and Tennessee State University, earning a B.S. degree in Health and Physical Education.

B-CU Coach Kia Davis chooses different path to Beijing Olympics

Excerpt from article:

"It really hasn't sunk in yet," the 32-year-old Kia Davis said by phone Thursday afternoon. "I want to treat it like just another meet, but I know it isn't just another meet. I'm sure I'll start getting those butterflies inside very soon."
The only thing that would make the experience better is the uniform she will be wearing in China.

Davis will compete for the Republic of Liberia, the homeland of her father and paternal grandparents, not for the United States. She will be competing in the 400-meter dash, and possibly the 200. "It wasn't an easy decision," Davis said. "I agonized over it. I sat down and had a long talk with my coach, Bethune-Cookman University's Garfield Ellenwood, who also is coach of the Liberian national team, my family and my fiancée (Michael Ford, an assistant coach at Baylor).

"I know some people won't like that," said Davis, who lives in Daytona Beach, Fla., and is an assistant coach at Bethune-Cookman University. "They'll think I'm un-American or unpatriotic. I've already received some static over it. If someone can come to this country and take a spot away from an American athlete, why can't an American do the same thing elsewhere?

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Two former Norfolk State sprinters qualify for Beijing Olympics

Former All-American Norfolk State sprinters Chris Brown and Chandra Sturrup qualified for the Beijing Olympics with victories in the 400 and 100 meters, respectively, over the weekend at the Bahamas' Olympic trials in Nassau.

Brown, 29, clocked a time of 45.43 seconds to edge 2008 NCAA outdoor 400-meter champion Andretti Bain of Oral Roberts (45.53). It was the second national 400-meter championship in Brown's career. Earlier this month, he set the national record of 44.40 at a meet in Oslo, Norway.

Sturrup, 36, will be competing in her fourth Olympics; she ran in Atlanta (1996), Sydney and Athens. She won the 100 meters in 11.14 seconds over the weekend. She will also compete in Beijing in the 400 relay.

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