While in Columbia, S.C., this past week, I was able to have dinner with one of my high school teammates, hurdler Donald “Duck” Taylor. Donald was one of the top Henlopen Conference hurdlers 1983-85 on our team that won three straight conference championships and did not lose a dual meet under coach Dave “Fredman” Frederick at Cape Henlopen. Donald was the first to dip under the 40-second barrier, setting a record in the 300-meter hurdles in 39.7. Hurdlers Art Hugger and Willie Savage also dipped under 40 seconds before their times were bested by Bruce Pitts, who broke 39 seconds. Isaiah Brisco then shattered the record that he still holds today with a time of 37.58. Donald has been in the restaurant business for the past 20 years as a manager, partner and owner. He even had a food truck at the peak of COVID. He currently is a district manager for the Zaxbys restaurant chain. Donald also ran some relays from time to time in the 800 and the 1,600, and even used cross country as a mileage base in the fall. Donald has eight children and 21 grandchildren. No. 22 is set to arrive in February. He lives just outside Columbia. When teammates go to battle together day in and day out, they form a bond that will never be broken. Thank you, Duck, for that hurdler/distance runner bond.
South Carolina track & field
My son Ben is the assistant operations director for the South Carolina track & field/cross country team, and I was able to see the staff in action for a Jan. 11 meet featuring 13 teams at the Carolina opener on the 200-meter indoor facility that is banked and fast. The program is a well-oiled machine, led by former Kentucky coach Tim Hall. Hall spent seven years at Kentucky before coming to Carolina, where he coached several conference, national and Olympic champions. Hall also coached at Tennessee, Clemson and Charlotte. Hall has five assistant coaches, an operations director, assistant operations director, graduate assistant, several managers and a full staff to handle meet operations including setup, FAT timing, results, officiating, check-in, security, medical staff, team trainers and refreshments, just to name a few of the important items at a track & field meet.
What was amazing to me was that the coaches were able to coach, unlike high school and many smaller colleges where most of the coaches become meet workers. Twenty-seven-year Carolina coach Curtis Frye, who built the program up to a national powerhouse, sat to one side of me, and Carolina hurdle Olympian Terrance Trammell, now coaching at North Carolina A&T, was also close by. The women’s track & field program was being honored at halftime of the Sunday USC/Texas game, so many alumni were in town.
One of the highlights of the day was watching a 4:06 indoor mile, a 3:07 mile relay by the Carolina men, and South Carolina track & field standout JaMeesia Ford, SEC Women’s Runner of the Week, running a world-leading time in the 300 meters, crossing the line at 36.48 for the win.
I also was able to watch the No. 2-ranked South Carolina women’s basketball team easily handle No. 5 Texas, winning 67-50 for their 11th straight victory. The sold-out game was like going to a pro game. It was high energy, loud and exciting, and I got to watch legendary coach Dawn Staley at work.
HAC Championships
The Henlopen Conference 2025 Indoor Track Championship was held post deadline Jan. 16, at the Worcester County Recreation Center in Snow Hill, Md. Results are available at milesplit.com, and look for highlights in next week’s column.
The HAC team championship trophy was presented to the first-place school for both boys and girls as well as honoring the HAC Coach of the Year. The DIAA State Championships date was recently confirmed to be Saturday, Feb. 22, at the Ott Center, University of Pennsylvania’s new indoor facility. The Ott Center is a $69.3 million, 73,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art indoor track and field facility on the southwest corner of the UPenn campus.
