Three track heroes establish marks that stand the test of time

Two things will happen this weekend that figure prominently on my personal calendar.

I start getting serious about high school track and field again, and I clean and put out the deck furniture at home.

These two annual rituals arrive on the same April weekend every year.

Of course, the weather dictates as it usually does.

I have no interest in indoor track and didn't have any interest 54 years ago when I was running in high school.

Because of the weather around here, the outdoor season is always a little slow to get off its marks.

I circle the last weekend in April because I know that's when they stage the Palatine Relays. I'll walk through the gate Saturday at Chic Anderson Stadium to watch my 58th straight Relays, an achievement that impresses even me.

Maybe there's somebody else out there who has seen the same track meet for 58 or more consecutive years, but I am proud of my record.

I am very interested in records and feel track and field has at least three that are among the greatest sports records of all time.

They just don't get any media attention compared to high-profile sports.

How can you possibly top the 107 consecutive victories by Edwin Moses in the 400-meter hurdles, 116 straight victories by Parry O'Brien in the shot put, and 4 straight Olympic gold medals and world records in the discus by Al Oerter?

Let's start with Moses.

Watch the young hurdlers this weekend in competition. Watch them hit hurdles and knock over hurdles.

So many things can go wrong when you're skimming over those hurdles. You may mess up your steps just a little. That's all it takes.

I think it's mind-boggling that Moses went to the starting line 107 times from 1977-1987 and never lost a hurdles race at 400 meters. The streak ended in Spain by .11 seconds.

Growing up in Dayton, Ohio, Moses was cut from the basketball team and kicked off football for fighting. He turned to track.

"I found that I enjoyed individual sports more," he said. "Everything is cut and dry. Nothing is arbitrary. It's just a matter of getting to the finish line first.

"I have the killer instinct. It's ego. When I'm on the track, I want to beat everyone."

O'Brien, who revolutionized the shot put by devising a new throwing technique, broke and set the world record 17 times from 1953 to 1959 while winning 116 straight meets. He captured 2 gold and 1 silver medal in the Olympics.

O'Brien was the first shot putter to exceed 60 feet with the 16-pound ball, and he extended the world record over 4 feet in six years.

It all started when he lost a meet in 1951, drove back to his room at the University of Southern California and began experimenting with an idea that he had been thinking about for years.

At the time, shot putters were aligned at the rear side of the 7-foot ring. They hopped, turned 90 degrees and threw.

O'Brien thought you needed a stronger throwing action, and he started taking a 180-degree turn. He added a spin to the turn, and the records started falling.

Everybody has bad days. Not O'Brien. He had remarkable consistency in his career.

Oerter also epitomized consistency.

He was a sprinter and then a miler in high school until a discus landed near his feet one day at practice. He casually threw it back so far that the coach immediately made him a discus thrower.

Oerter won Olympic gold medals in the discus in 1956, 1960, 1964 and 1968. Only Carl Lewis has duplicated that feat, winning the long jump from 1984 through 1996.

Oerter's sweep was more remarkable because in each case he broke the Olympic record, beat the world-record holder, overcame an injury and was not the favorite to win.

At 43, he achieved his career-best throw of 227 feet, 11 inches.

There are so many things that can go wrong in the discus throw, including the wind.

In 1987, Oerter quit elite competition for good, saying, "The drug culture had taken over."

Track and field may get lost in all the media attention given to other more glamorous sports records, but Edwin Moses, Parry O'Brien and Al Oerter certainly belong in the team picture.

In fact, I'd have them sitting together in the front row.