University of Texas at El Paso ScholarWorks@UTEP
Combined Interviews Institute of Oral History
10-3-1989
Interview no. 783
Milton Ottey
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Recommended Citation Interview with Milton Ottey by Dr. Charles Martin, 1989, "Interview no. 783," Institute of Oral History, University of Texas at El Paso.
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Institute of Oral History at ScholarWorks@UTEP. It has been accepted for inclusion in Combined Interviews by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UTEP. For more information, please contact [email protected]. UNIVERSITYOF TD(ASAT EL PASO
INsTI TUTEOF []RALHISTORY
II.ITERViEL,JEE: Milton Ottev
I NTERIJI E[.IER: Charle
PROJECT: Histoqy of the Unj_versity
DATEOF II.ITERVIEH: October 3, 1989
TER}4SOF USE: Unrestricted
TAPEIiO: 783
TRANSCRiPT I-IO: 783
TRA}{5SRi BER :
BI06RAPHICAL5Yf-l0PSI5 0F INTERVIEiaIEE:
Born in Jamaica, raised in canada, came to urEp in 1980 on a lrack scholarship; srudenr-arhlere ar UTEP1980-85, 1989-90.
5UI,II4AR'/OF II'ITERUIEI/:
Describes first impressions of El Paso; compares educational systems j-n Canada and U.S; tells about his track career as a high jumper including competition in 1984 Olyrnpics, gold medals at the Commonwealth Ganes in 1982 and 1986; discussion of UTEPts coaching staff; comments about track team members Bert Cameron and S. Nyarnbui and conments on high nurnbers of foreign athletes on Ted Bankfs UTEP traek team; describes UTEPTs winning the NCAA i-ndoor track championship.
Length o{ Intenview: 45 rninutes Length nf Transcni pt 21 paees l'lil ton 0tte;r 0ctober 3r i?gF Charlee H. f4artin UTEP75th Anniuereary {DiamondJubiieei
This is an interu iet4 cc,nductedin El Paso, on 0ctober 3, l9g? b'y f,harI es f4ar'tin uiith f4ilton 0ttev.
f4: Al I r ight , i t seemeto be worlting nsw {or reasnns that are unknstrtnto us.
i.Jha are hre to complairr. All night, nor\rNe can go back to r,+herewe r.tjere
in sur {rame a{ mind {i{teen minutes aeo. I nrould I ike ta do is e.tar't
out r,,rith just a brief descriptiorr o{ r,rrhereyou were borrr and ulher'eyou
grerarup? And rarheneyou werrt to prep*ratc,ry schoel sr seccndary school c'r
r,uh.*teuenthey wouid cail it?
ftltay, I was barn in Jamaica, I rnouedto Eanadawhen I was ten years old
and iiveci in Toronto. I at tended geuenal h i gh schoois, T imothy Eden
being the last.
0: T irnothy Eden?
l'l: $econdary schoel,
0: 0kal' and you graduated or
l'll I graduated in 1?79,
14r Hot+did you, r,rell what kind o{ athlEtic career did vou have durinq voun
{inal ysars? Hor.qdid you then lear'n about the Uniuersity o{ Texas at El
Paso?
0: bJell, 197? I basicaliy becarnea high iumper at Uan. I"d been told that I
could have been any athlete I uranted,whether it's {ootball, basl{etba11
or vcrlleyb'al I on whatevern in u;hateuer', track or {iEld. I excel led
quicleer in the high jump arrd I enioyed it so I ltept with it. I eent
letters o{{ to r.rarieusuniuergities in the *al1 c{'79. Sent one o{{ ta
Ber.lteler, f,al i{srnia. John trledell, r.rrhor,uaE the assistant caach ther'e, trttey
'7?, got in tsuch with me. I chose nnt to take a echolarehip th8t year, '80' because lraanteci to trtait anci tnain {or the 0lfmpics, in
Un{ortunately. we boycotted, I got back to f,ledel1, in Berkeleyt and
{ound out thai he had msuedhere to El Paso. Hp receiued the letter that
Fer.kele:r had sent him, He got quickly back in touch rarithme; brought me
dovlnfor a r,risit. And hene i arn. you MI gltay. l,rthatwere your {irst irnpre*:ions o{ El Paso, trrhen arriued?
0r l4y necnuit ing tr ip or
F4. , e i ther your recru i t ing tr ip and or rrrhen yc'u { irst came here
permanent I y?
0: t,leil, I"d never heard s{ UTEF, I'd neuer heand of El Faso. lalell, the
oniv time I'd errer heard o{ El Paeowas in the westerns and that sounds
real {unn1r. I had an imagecnming in becauset+hen the plane Ianded I
cou'ldn't errengee the citr' All I saw r$asdesert and tumbie i'{eedE or
whateuer have you until the plane turned around and dscked. f4y imagewas
lik*, "This is in the degert.' It"s. lilte I visioned something iit somethingwith a Etone ual ls arsund it, an sasis Br sc'mething l il{e. A{ter the plarre turned arsund I started breathing a little easier rlhen I sald the c ity. I t trrasa bit scary. lt Nas a bit scary. BecausB ytru"re '/ou tal k ing to someone r.';ho's used to green. know: 9r'een tneesr gneen grasg. You knsw a lot o{ trees rrourrd. It'g a big di{{erence. M: Lrlhatraras your {irst impression coming oueF ts the camFUs Gr {irst irnpressionss{ caming ts the campus? 0: I lilted the campus. I lilced the ar'chitectural Istyle]r hor',,ihey build their buildings, the Aztec etyle, Bther than the {act that it wasn't gneen I thought it L\ras acceFtable, El Paso itse'l{: I iigured I r,tras coming here {s'r two reasons: one rrrasts do traclt, and tr^rswas to get an Bttey education, 5o obuiously I 1iked it enoughEs that I signed on, H: How did it +eel going {rorn north o+ the bc,rder down to the ssuther'n border in tenms s{ the mixed cujture here, the southraresternculturer ild the border cuI ture u.ri th l4exi cs here? 0: I can''t remember {eeling anvthing reall:r di{{erent other than the {act that it's extremely hot, I think I adapted quite well to El Faso. I got a litt1e homesicll. I enioy l4exican, '/ou ltnow, I like hst spicy thirrg:. That's a f,ar.ibbeanpart o{ me. 0ther' than the {act that I rnis.sedhorne I didn"t really {ind El Pasn all that badr although it wae uerv baring because unl ess you haue a car here you can't real I r get o{{ and do anrth ing. I't : Right. tlid:rcu notice any particular di{ferenceE that stand out in your mi nd between the Canadi an educati onal system and the Amer'i can educati anal system? In Canada etjen i{ ysu take the unirrerEitiesr /BU knorat;rc'shar.re colieges and you har,'euniver'Eities and there"s a big dif{erence. In United States there''s so many di{{erent colleges, junior cslleges, city colleges, state col I eges that I th irrk the standar'ds haue dropped tremendsusl]r ' The *ducat ienal I eveI is not qui te as h igh . Al so you tal{e Canadatath ich i:. also part o{ the conmonr,rrealthand r'elated to England, it still has a bit o{ the English educational system inuolued in it. Mr 0l(ayr 'rhy don't you describe ycrur careep here at UTEP, kind of chnsnologically, as an indiuidual and then rare'lI come back and tailt a I ittie bit rnore about your teammatesand the team success? [: fil{ar. hlel1, I arniued here in the {all of '80, If80. I had a gaod ccach John f,ledell. He taught me a lst. The {irst year indoors I tosl( secsnd in indc,or tracl{ ancif ieid, l.lCAA's,secnnd ouidoorE NCAA's. Fairly success{ul 0ttey year. I irnFroued by about { iue cEntinretErs. The {al I o{ the seccnd year , 1982, I impraved trernendously, I r.uonat the end of the year. I had carnpleted30 samething cc,rnpetitisrrsand ended up with 26 straight wins. Receiued the numberone r'anking in the warld. Had the highe:t high jurnp anyone has.ever had. tJery succees{ul, I wsuld gather. The iollonring year I br.oltemy leg, r'eall;v curtailed it, 1983, 1.4. Hnwdid ;vsu break your leg? [r : I was high jumpirrg. It (4aB the ?lst sf Februar.;* in Lc,sflngeles, approximatel:' ?:30 in the evening. And that lqind o+ curtarled things, 'l Fertunate {or fipr ese than {our sr { i ue months af ter I brnke m;vI eg I tias back in stif{ competitiorr. I pla.ced?th at the u,rorldchampionship in Helsinkim 1984. i,t : Hc'ld on. ldhenwere these worl d championsh ips? ll. The.v$sr.g in August o{ 1983. i'4 . And you placed ?th. f,lsv.rin these {inet ttoo yeers had you set a personal t i mean always ;vou set a personal hest, but do you nernember. particulanly urhat yaur best t^rasat that time? I'm tryirrg tc, rememheryou said that ysu liind sf set the record for Hf,AAor something? l*lellr I held th* Nf,AArecord,I had firany recordg, traclt records, UTEP recordr f,anadian commorrweBlthr'ecordr numepousrecords. But ag m;vslsn personai goal:. i dan't try to set any, I juet tr;r 1s jump as best as I can and as high as I can. Ss each year -- you know sal, it'd be nice i{ I iumped x but {ir.et let's r,rrinbe{ore we think o{ jumping, Right. So I've never' gons ts a /ear o{ saying, you knor,u,thie is rny goal that I wan.i ts i urnF,. H: [kay. 5o you had these traroyeare of corrsiderabl e succeEs t he l.l[*As and then you had the injuryr /ou begin ts comeback. 0tter llr '{eah, gth, "sg I placed I thinl{ 4th sr Fth on the indoors. The 0lymF,ic year, "€4, I can't rememberwhether or not I have an/ el igibi I i ty Ieft then. Eut I nememberat the 0l yrnpic GarnesI pl aced 6th, t4. The:e rarer.ethe qames in? s: Los Ange1 es. H: Represent i ng? ltr '95, f,anada. uery succegs{ul jumFt ?'? and a quanter. 1..{. frlheredid you do that jump? Uhr gosh I don't know. I.ue been in so manymeets. Exacily r,,rhereI .lumpedthat one I couldn't reallf pin point {cr ;*6rr. H: {,Jasthat your career h ish? 0: l.ls, t,,t. fikaI, we're comi ng ta that . n. l'ly hest year '8? a{ter rarasIf*d, The commc,nwealthGames t*euld he the majon competitisn. This year I won Euer.stadt, r,uhichis the uns{f icial high iumFr w8rld high ismp champinn:.hipe. I jumped that at l,S and had a s{ series c,{ 7'd, 7'7's in absut {iue or six compstitions. i rnade i.-l?-!j f:anadiarr t:hampionship*, in July I jumFed?,? ll4, which is my career '80 best. In yeah, I went on to rarinningthe cornrnonu,,ealthGames, 14' 0kayr r.rrhy dsn't you describe just brie{ly r,sherethey were and what the Commonr,uea'lth 6ameE ar.e and then hauuysu d id in the , . . fdeli the r [:ommonwealthGames are o{ the ex-British f,slonies, rou knou which is f,anadato Carribean and supposedly South Ftfrica but they-r.e no lcrrQer eligih'le for comFetitisn, but antr csuntr.y that had tieE with Gneat Br i t ian. The Commonr,rrealth sames have been around f or numenousyears. It's not recognized in the uorld, sesn as a big rnajor compptition but ag far' as the cornmonwearthgoes it's one of the majon ones. I r.uonin IgBZ: [tt t e;v I wan it in i?gd. Just ta get ahead sf things this year, r.tanuarywill be m,'"third f,ommonwealthGames and I'm going {or my third gold rnedal r.vhi ch is unprecedentedtcday, I guess that.s the tuord. t4: lalherswere these heI d i n thsse yearE r,uhenyou competed? '92 it r,,lasheld in Brisbane, Australia in Septernber.[rctaber. ,Sd it was held in Scotland in Auguet, uery cold and unpredictable r,leather. And next year January rlill be in I'lewZealand. Auckland. M: l'loratulhen ;vou Iparticipated in] these Eommsnrr,ealthGanreE you aiso r.an into s.omesther LITEFath I etes as weI I ? tr. Bh .veah . In l98? in Austnalia, i{ r.+ehad totaled the amountof medais that were won by UTEPathletes! krs would have wsn ihe f,omrronwealth Games, sn medal counts. l,,lyambuito t???) to Bert Camerc,n.I tol myself tc' ai'i thp cther l.liger'ian-..and A{r icans that nere here. i thaught we had a pretty good repr.esBntatlue there, HI I ra,ouldthinlq su. tlkay, norAryou rnentioned th.ri you r4ere particular.i;r ccached by Jchrrlaledel I . You rnight mentisn who the head coach r/JaEat that t ime and u*rho the c,ther cc'achesrarere and r',rherethey recru i ted athleies {rsrn. [t; Ldelir t;hen I came here tc, UTEP,Ted Banl(swas the head coach; Jc,hn{,rledsll trtasthe assistant rnen'Band r,uomen's1[ol I in Thurston was a grad-assistant and [:ourtney, I can't neally rememberr,+hc else were assietants alsc,. John was basicai ly involved with my pnogram. He tsol care of my pr.ogram and he was the un]y one i nuslued r,ri th that . Ted on the othen hand ouerseed everything. He rrae more concernedHi th the distant runners. But as a head ceach, he does maltethe decisienel what"s t$hat and Hhat'g r,+hat. Notartrihat t'{as their philssophy c'n where they raauldrecruit athletee {r.om? 0t tey 0: lalellr Ted liked to go {oreign because it's a {ield that's sn taF,; it's a lot of our' athletes and a lot o{ them are uerl gaod, Fsr instance, L\rs had the Nigerianr the A{rican, what was it the Tanzanian connectisn which wsuld be f,lymbuibecause he spoke the language. He kner,rrwhat's going on over there and he's l$i11ing ts help his countrymenout hy bringing hirn hene {orr :rou knorrieciucational purposes and al:.o to run. And since ther do it naturall:r there becauseapparently thef run {rorn their hqu:.e tc echoolr Bo it's a natur'al Frocess. Ei Fasa is uery much I ike Tanzania, {rom what I hear. So this becamemone or less a pipel ine on ss the :pont wr i ter's or tracF; and f ie 1d netasand al I these ather track and { ie I ci '/ou magazineswouid put it. know UTEPr.rrae the {or.eign Fipel ine. f{c,',+ths inonic thing about the irrhslesituation was that schosls that were against UTEP, lifte {or instance UILA, u.rhen the;vr4sr.g the tsps the:r r(on with numerousfsre i gn ath I etes al so, {sr i nstance, Oon 0uarry. Don ↑i, /ou l( n ortt an d lst s{ 'lamaicansand people from the islands and such, But because they weren't r,,.linrringand Iwere lc,sing to teams that] had a lot o{ A{r'icansr at least thie is my irnpr.e:.eion,they wer.eagain*t it, I t's I ike ther al 1 o{ the suddendec ided that , ol{a;/UTEF is winn ing the liEAAs and the Tr ipl e Erau,rnsand al I these championsh ips but they wnn i t t{ith {sreign athletes, so they're nst being Amenican. They a'lI o{ the sudden becamean t i -Ameri can. They becamexenophsbes. Ted L{ouI d al se get t-shirte made up everytime r,,lerdon a championshipsand it was by l.like or they r,,,eredorrated or sornething. As Eoon as it hrasanncunced that we won the title r,ue'dal1 get these t-shirtE and we'd put it sn. It r,rouldsa)r, "UTEPEl Paso NCAAf,harnpiGns" {or that year and on the bark it wsuld E&ys, "Dorr't be :<,enophobic."Right. So to us that r,rrasreal halariouE becausetJe r\rerewinning ever;vthing hut althaugh the other echsals luould Uttey sarr ";veahr reah, but )tou're a {oreigner," lde looked at that as being sour graFes. Becauseas. I sard i t a f ore igrrer or an Arnerican were al I athletes nnce you put the shaes sn and t{e're on the track and it's up tn you to beat rne. The rules say 1'rn supposedto be here and I can be heret se what's th i'-. 1..l . 5ur'e. And did these school6 er/entually themseluestherr,.. ? 0: A lot o{ them were very teed o{{ at UTEPbecause they also wouid try tc' get athletes {rom the sam* area but they cou'ldn"t dc' it, Yc'uknc,t{ tde't/e had rurnars that x school uias trring to get athlete and the kid shows uF at the college r.rliththe samename but it'E nst the samepprsorr, ro the,r' nrasteda ;t'sar. They wasteo a schajarshrp, you knoirr,on somebod:rr.',rho thel' didn't know nathing ahoui because they didn't knc'hr anythinF *bout the Ferson. But rde had the connections wher'ewe ineur'ed that r.*egot the r'ight persDns, h,,l . I lt Did Banks euen tnauel over there or'som€ nther'people trauel? 0l I don't recall Ted talting a r'ecr'uiting tnip, I mean r$erre tallling almost ten years norz;hut I can't remembErhinr taking a recruiting tr'ip, lrl : Do you rell' on people that.., ? llr ftn people, yes, You know, like the athletes, rre ourseiueg uere ambassadorsof UTEP. l*legcr ahead and t+eedoutr f ind somebod;r. fde'd sa,'-t "'/srl knBrrJ,thene's thiE athiete here and there's this athlete there," and r,+e'dget in touch t,rith them; be it from Jamaica, Trinidad, Bar'bados, Bahamas . Bltav . H: trkay. l.rle're tall(ing about your accBmplishments perhaps, we ehculd mentiorr then how well the teamsr,{ere ds ing dur ing those years al so? The cther UTEPteams? :t lalell fior the indc,c,rand outdoor teams specif ically? lalernentioned IL tn 0ttey paesrng, I rsant to go back on this tapic speci{icaliv' Lrlelluh. Each year , how they uireredo ing? n. Each yeer we did r,treil, although in i983 u.rhichis r,ohenEanl{s le{t and a I of o{ othen th ings star'ted happening in the universi ty. t'ty {irst yean I r,Jesr/ery irnpressedu.rith the people that were here. I cams here because I wanted the best, From the nesumeI sarrrthe plaques, the tnophies and the Feople that Here here, it r.lasno doubt in my mind that i{ I canre here I L{ould be the best. That's h6Lrrit r.*as' trlith Bert Cameron,r,+ho I'd met a :/ear Far I ier , t andl l.lymbui . l.{ . [ti Bertn Bert's a kid. Bert and I are uer'y goocj{riendE, ile met in lFTP a.t the tdorld [up in t4ontneal. fde got to be pretty good. In {act t+henI t*ras dnr,tnhene {c,r my recru i t ing tr ip, he toak car'e o{ me. l.,leunderetand each sther becauser{e ane {rom the sanreisland. And that ts me hrasa piue {or UTEPbecause I had somebsd;rI csuld relate to. Bert is a uuild gur' He's l ike a kid but he couid run I ilte a honse' r'4. And hsw succegg{ul t,Jashe? !-t' Eert rdasueryr rjer;r'suEcess{ul, He won his {irst NIAA r,*hile at UTEP; number one in the r.torld, 199?, and i?83 i*or'ld champion. Un{ortunatelyt l9S4 r.rrsuldhaue been his greatest year and I can't knorar i{ you f,an remember seeing this runner in the semi-{inale. He started outt he was {ar,rnrite {or the gold medal, Ihe started out] at a l0tt meters intr the racs, he I ike u.rentup into the air grabbed his hamstring camedor,';n, stc,pt came tc a comFlete stc'p. EuenybsdyelEe r'+asat least 50 lvardEahead o{ him, He got back running and ran so hard to qual i{y. ln a 400 ;vouden't corre to a dead Etoo and then do that you knew, Arrd he iu:'t quall{ied' 0t tey He just barel;r qual if ied. The ironic thing about it rlaE that i{ he hadn't o{ done it, he r.{ouldhave been in shape to t'un the {inals and that's it. But hecausehe ran to quai i{y ts make it to the {inalE he hurt his hamstring so badly that he could not even r,aall{the next da;v. i r.eally {elt it {c'r Bert because I knew he had the gold rnedal, Fc,r'an athlete at the world class level I have experienced it and he's experienced it and a iot o{ athletes have exper'iencedit: the iniuries. It'g r:ery hard tc' corneback {rom, not becauEeyou got r.*lorsebut because s{ the t ime yBU tc'ok s{f euerybady el se has improued. And ;/BUhaue to / comebaclt ta the state that you r,*ereand then urorl{aga i n . 5s you r'e i n the hole nB matter what you da, And thsse are the problemEsr the occupational hazards o{ an internstionai traclt athlste. l,l : I,rlhyden't you tell rne a little t,it ahout the A{rican distance runners and the ir guccesses.? tdell, I dsn"t knowf ;youknow, because r^re had 5s many here we netler really.,. . trle didn't speal{rea'l I/r N€ didn't hang out, ure didn't talk I ike Bert and I did, f,l;rambuiis a man I respect a great deal . Here t4€ ape a man -- you l(nor.rrtalte a young athlete coming into the program -- he has ss rnuchtitles under'neathhim: a siluer medal in'$CI FiyrnFrcs. He rras just dotrn to earth. He waE still living in the dorms. had a roommate, Ynu ltnoi.1lhe speaks to euer'ybndyal though hal f the i ime lr'su couldn't understand Nyarnbuilrras saying. But he rpealts ts euenybc'dyand he loues kids. He's like "Ah manr you are craz;r'manr" you l{not,'l, He's iust a jcy ts be uith. It uas a qreat asset {or me to haue f.lyamhuiherp or to haue thiml in my 1i{e. I still respef,t hirn. I i+ish the rnan couid run forever but unfsntunately r,trecan't. He is a great per:.an ar,,.rayfr'orn the tracl(. He helped his fellaw mant his {ellor* countrymen, to better 0t tey themse1ueE r ts get a better education and I dan't:.ee him as being ver'v sel{ish, f{: And ther.e ape eomeother success{ul aihl eteE at that t ime too: peopie I ike Steue Hannon,penhaps, or Shahongaand sthers. 0: l,rlell Shahonga, Zack t'litst{artu ' therE"s so many. They al I h it on Sterie, Steue wag my roommate fi! {irst yeari he's a different gu;rt di{{erEnt attitude {rsm what I have. t,,t r ldherewas he {rom? rl: He r{as {rsm Bahamas, triple jurnpen. He is veryr venyr uery talented. Uer'y talented triple jumper'but Steue just did not knur^rhow handle it. He just did not know hor,v tc r,rorl(hard and becomeL*lhat he cc'uld haue become, He could have been one o{ the gneatest I thint< hut because o+ his perEc'nality he would ciarn up sanretimee,He wsuld talk to you tr.thenhe felt I ike it. He didn't trust anyonel he r.uas aluays competing against evErybody, r,+henthere'e no paint ts be ctrmpeting. 5o he Hasn't uery r.,rell looked uFon but he rrras {airly rpst'ected as a triple jurnper but a.s a person auray{rom that I personally just say, "Lnlel1,StevE r,saESteve." 14. l.rlelI , hotodid al l these people, since you haue l{ind o{ a Uni ted Nat ions in a way or' f,cmmsnwealthgarne6, a United f.lations contingent, what were the personal dl'rrarrics of hauing people f rorn Eo many di{{erent hack gr oun ds? llel l it teaches xour :/ou knsrArthat your Et4n 1itt le wsnld is nct necessariIy t+hat you think it is. 1'ou talte America, fou knora,America is so caught up land I'm rrst llnacl{ingArnerica) but it's true, it's such a big cc'uniry that sther than the border csuntries, f,entral Amenicahas no clues e{ Hhat's going on in the rest s{ the u+oridr the)r think that America is ihe world. UTEPhad the unique oppor.tunity where yau had so 0ttey rnanypeople: I rneanyou hau* the l,lexicanssrou have the fanadians, you have the Caribbeans, your l.ligerians, the Af r icans; rarhatetrerhaue ycur that h,eing in cne aree you see that there is a dif{erpnce. ','our s(dn perspectiue on thing: is not neccesEarily the v.rayit is. 5o ysu learn 't'ou about di{{erent cultunes, knor,,l, I'ue seen these guys cookr rou know 'fou the Africans cook things. l{nou.rI loolq it and I,m lilte, ".fou gu;t'sape sepious." You knaw the smell but ysu taste the thing and it"s good. So i t op*ns up youn mind to di {{erent cul tures, to di {fenent th i ngs and that'E something that I didn't thinls that the Foreign Students 0{{ice tool( aduantage o{ . "/su haue the Forei gn Students 0f{ i ce but ysu literally haue a melting Fotr that's what America is all about night, it's a melting pot, but nobody toolt advantagea{ it; nabody r.eail;v cared. t4. Juet {or the record now, the team charnpianshipsduring this period, Ds remembero{{hand l.thich yeans that you won the f.lCAAteam championsh ips? CI: Er,rery year that I t{as here that I was activel:r csmpetingwe uronthe team championship:. Psrrtiac, 14ichigan1?81 we wsn it, irrdosrs. 0utdsor.E rre 'AZ Hon it in Batc'nRouge, rArer^ron it indoors I thinlq it was; i thinlt it trtasPan i iac l'lichigan again, or e i ther the . r^rhatthe,"- cal I that dome in f,lichigan? 14. 3i lverdome, something Dorne? 0: Ssmething dome, one e{ those dornes tr: Pontiac Dome . IPontiac Siluer llr Fantiac, Pontiac. In Pantiac, 14ichigan,we L{onthat and that r.+asthe {irst year they had there. f,le iook at 1992 in Provo, Utah. Lde had that hands dor.,rn. 14l That r,+asthe outdoor , '/eah, [t: I think that's the I a:.t urewcn, and that L+asunder the gui dance o{ Bttel' f,oachJohn fdedell. That's af ter Ted Banl+sle{t, t,t . 5o duning that period o{ tinre the }4iners therr r,rrerethe... ? 0: [aletserE UTEPwas the school to be recl(snedwith. I don"t care trrhat other school came in, once we wall{ed on the turf with our uni{orm on, everybody l{neHr*rhs We r,ilBre and they knew they had ts beat Ue, At least that's the frrar lte saw i t . The coachesr on the ather- hand, were very nePuous; the athl etes wene ueny con{i dent t I aughtErl . There hlas and maybe i should get ints thiE there r{as a senee of pride with this team. The tearn kner.$tJhat they had ts dc'. lrje had freedonr to dc, r.,rhat [4e ttil l. lrlerarent sn a trip; rxe stayed in nice hoteis,not gneat hotels, but tde stayed aulayfrorn the dorms. hle gct our pocl{et money and there Lirene t.|er;v little restrictions on us and I think that was qood {or.us at the time, ['.lelrrere rnature adults, TENDOF SIDE OI.IE] IBEGII.ININGOF SIDE TIdO] '/eah, 0l er,rerybodydid their. job and if yeu didn,t, the next mor.ning you'd hear from the coach in the o*{ice. So ;vouhad your freednm but i{ rou '/c'u messedup kner.rryou t'lere going to get it. Ted Banks uas a man that I t{as nst tso close with, but I FeEpectedhim, He prornisedsomething .he prnmised me r,uhenI came, r,+henI eigned my lettsn oi intent, that he,d get me a ner,rhigh jumF Fit and new uprights; he got it {or.me. He maciea pramise he"d tnied hiE best to keep it and I can respect that. He neuer. d id r'espect me, pensonall y. I don,t knor,rrr,{hat r,{as going on in the man,s business. I kner,,lhe r'+antedto urin, The pride o{ the tearnwas Eo great 'fou vou didn't want to iet it dor,+n. didn't want ts let the team dor,^rn1 l'ou rAtantedto ds your job to the best sf youn ability. '/ou corneand you 0ttey t'Jsrl{ hard and uhen cornFetitinn time came, ysu gavg it all you har,re. Becauseall r*re had then was our'Eeluesbecause r^re did nst feel an/:.upport frsm the university as {sr' as the publ ic goes, As {ar as the community, I th i nk thef got so used to us r,ri nn i rrg that they tcrol(i { f or grarrted. Ther wouidn't comeout tc' the track meets because "Bh )/Bihr they,re ail foneignens" and r,uhat ,'trlhen that,s we heard. are you going to get Eorne American€ on your teamgrthen you get this, when ;rg,ugs1 that.,, *nd ysu knor* footbalI was winning thein one gameper year and they were getting whatever the;vr,uant, The basl{etbaiI Flayers who__you knsrArthis might sound a bit bitter because I did {eel bitterness at the tirne and I still dc' nstd--andthe basltetball team who rr.rcnone championship in IF6d and that's all we hear'd absut, "Texas l,rlester.ntg66 f,hampion,,and then you toalk into the Unrnn and ;/srj EFe this thing advertising their championships and her.erAre are. 1,oulinow, rd€,uerdon tr.iple cr.suJnsiwe won rnegaNf,AA charnpionships. l.{obody ,,Hey, cared. l.lohsdywanted te Eay, way tc, 98"' And the hur't that I felt and the hurt the other athletes felt that the cammunitv raised such a big {uss cver the basl{etball team winning t{'Acryou knora,and here r,,.reare cGming bacrr from an NCAAf,hampionship and there waE ns recogni t ion giuen. Fut erierybcd;"k,ent cr.azy {or baskett,alI because they won t'lAC' t'rlAf,was important to r,^re us but won l^lACns Fror,lBrn but nobod;r cared othEr tharr ounselves. {^Jecared ahaut c,urselues, Bne thing that stsod out, this is after Ted reft, this a{ter.rohn reft, and r'$p rlent back to pontiac, 14ichigan in rg*i{r Indoons, and it was uery stcippv whether or nst we'd uuin or not. And uuecame back urith the f.l[AA championship. And that"s the same ;year.that the 14iner,.sbasketbal i team did not, I thinlrr get inuited tn the f.lIT. 14l Ther got left aut o{ both ane s{ those years. Ittey fl: rind there L{assuch a b iq rurkus about i t that the cnmrnuni ty thr.er.+them a parade downl"lesa. And hene we ar'e coming in that evening and that''e r,{hat r,^re" re hearing is about a parade that'e been thror{n f cr the t'aeketbal I team becauge the;vdid not rnakesome basl{etball game. And r\r€"re r,*alking in L,Jith an tlf,AAtroph;v and there'E one camera there to meet us, ,'0h by the wai'r gu;'/s,congnatuIations." l.lot ver;vmuch appreciated. I harre a ring; they {inallr decided to gi+e us ring* {or I'If,s,tahich I thinlt Jahn l,{edell got {or us, and they toid us that they'd be gaing bach on giving us diamondchips in thern. The;r"ll give us ErrenBW but when you graduate you get the rest. I wil l graduate in December. I,m r.,randening i+ I,m gning to get my diamond chips and my ring. But I u,rentc'rrer tc' Silr,renman"sa couFle days ago and i see a big display o+ the rings that are madeup {or the basketball team {or'r,rlinnirrQtdAE. It"g not the lady's. {ault, don't gei me wrong. But as a gu;r'tirho''E heen on l.lCAAnumerous i*inning teams, and I standin,l in a place r$hene they're putting in a shriner i{ rou willr {on a baskethra'llteam r^rhor.rrins. ldAC and the Iady is speal{ing eo proudlyr which she does haue reason ts be proud! you knor.ir ghe'e represerrting sornething. Bui she's spealiing to somebodl.r.{ho/s an f'lf,A*champirn who'e Han lif,AAchanrpionships, But s.he's Ec,proud, "Bh .veE t',emal{e uF' ss Franyr'ings {or' them er..ler;vtimethey i*lin a hlAf,." And I think; bacl(: I'm an l.lEAAchamp, numeroust imes rn the team. trlhat do I haue is shor.v{or' it? I don't haue a ring that says ',NEAAg',that I can feel pnoud o{. 0ncr again, the coach came uF tc, me and saysr he heard the conuensation, tloach Kitchens, and he Eays, "Hor.rrdo /ou {eel." I said. "Lil(e s.hit." And hp sa;'rs,"l knc'w. I can te11." I+ that's Silvermsn's {ault, it's not the lady's {au1t. Eut I think this Unirrersity needs to recc'gnize irthat they haue {rsm rarhatthey don"t haue. They haue a heII nf CIttey a track tearnr one that can not he matched again as {ar.as the Llrrited States goee in col legiate and they just dumpedon u:.. H: It seems lil(e track, in general, has lost ssmeo{ the public {ollor,rring because Zfr years ago rlhen I uras in h igh schooi, euen h igh school tracli attracted great attention. They tallced about tremendous attendance be{sre I camehere at someo{ these meetings with 10,0U0 people showing 'l up {or thern. And it :eems il(e ther.e's just been a decl ine,,. [,Jel1t it went dawn becaueeI think they just got used tn us r,*inning or they just t+antedto see Americans. The;rulanted more and mc,r.eArnericans on the team but then r",ihenwe started loairrg, urhenHeidleberg came in and al I this stu{{ happened,we"rp Gn a EUBF,enBisnand ysu knsw the tearnr,iras not up where it should be. I heard r.umors,"0h yeah. trhy aren't guys tuinning anymore," nnd I th inl{ the publ ic al l a{ a sudderrr€al ized Hhat they had. f4: Ssmetimes fou don''t aFFreciate *ornething unt i i you I ose i t, lt! That'': r'ight, And I think thEt's the frrhc'lething. I juet hope that nor,rr, t",lehave a gaod cc,achhere. fde haue a gand sta{f : myself , ex-l,liner, :.ti1l hoping to graduate this f,hristmas. tlolbert Elliat membero{ a r*inning teamt Head Scatt members{ a winning team, and ue haue an interest in the progr'amto build it and to do the best jgb r,\recan -- pessibiy c&n with the athletes we harre. lJe"r;ebeen recruiting I ike craz;v, I think right nor4we haue a uery good tearn. l4oet o{ them are f rsm El Paso here, and they"re uery taiented k ids and they ell want to worl( hard. I {eel the;r Xnsr,lrthat the coaches nor,,Jare inter.ested aE a Fenson aE well as an athlete and a student and that's the imagewe're trring to Fraject tr-r them becauser,,Je want them to graduate. I personally don't want anr-snets 'Ysu E'e lilte me. knor,+,I wish I {inished my education )r'pars agor hut fit tei' unfortunately track had talten a presence in my 1i{e where I could make a I iuing out o{ it. It"s :.tili paying for a lot o{ thing* {or me and 1'ue dnne a lat, It'E nut euerytiodythat is capable c{ doing that, I+ yc'u can all the mcre Fower.to you, but please I hope ever.ybodygets their educaticrr becaueenight ncr,+i{ I'd gotten it I r,uould have an assistant ceach instead o{ grad assistant. But I dan"t l{ncwoi{ I'd graduated already I would not have appl ied {sr it. Tit {or tat; ysu deal the cards You'ue got, Hey that's pr'ettf gc'od. tLaughterl I'm uer.,-haFpy r,uith the Frognamwe haue new, l,t . 5o rou think the {uture def initel;* lc'oks nn the upswing? 0r Yeah. I de{initely think so. CoachKitchens is a uery good man and r.rte ran ds it, [.decan build it, Eut I don"t knorr; what,s gaing Gn uith footbalI, and once again, laoks l ike since I cameback, fcotbal I star ted losing again. I left they e.tarted winning, so Ilaughter], frl . =-he l'ly tari {e r once went to l'texics and u* beat , f{e upEet EYUthe defend ing champicns, "l4ayhethey -..houldpay me ta ga ts f,lexicc,msre B{ten,', *nd eo in that area I think things ane looking up but we need the people ts concentrate on uE, I thinlt tracl{, mayheI'm a bit biased, but traclt is the best thing UTEP has as {ar. as athletics go. It is the best future. llr ilne sr twc' last que:tions quicitly hene. talhen you tJere csmpeting, hor,r di++icult r,,,rasit to juggle the academicside blith the dernancssf training and cornpet ing? f'll l4anf people eay you can dc, hsth. flt the leuel Hhere I r$ag, I rarasan el ite athlete I ilqe nranyof the athletes hene were el itE. Lle wgre the best in our {ields sr one o{ the best in our {ields, I'd be on the track {rom t*,roo'clccl.i until six-thirty r,*orking. Then I gotta go hcme, go baclr 0t tey to the dorms, eat, study, catch a good night sleep and then get up and go tcr class the next morning. Nat ts mentisn when yBU'pe tnaveiingr you I eaue here Fr i day morni ng or Fr i day a{ tern*on i f lrBU haue a double header', which can range {rom LA to l.lew'/or.l(bacl{ to El Paeo and that's on the trteel(endand I haue to get up {or class l,londaymorning, It taltes its tol l . Track becamerny numbercne {scus, During exam t irnes I'l I st il I be 'l wsrking out because that's what makesmy iving, I mean this what b,uilt f4altaldi, thie is what madel4altaldi r.rrhathe is. I got to see hal{ o{ the war'ld withsut paying {or it, really. Education r,rrise I"ve realized now tthatl I should haue concentrated a I ittle bit more on it. I shouid haue concentrated an classes I was taking to insure that I graduated. It is a hard iob, A loi o{ the ciuil ians, a lot of the kids out there, ther thinls iust berause you're an athlete, I don't think they judge uB *rom {ostbal 1 pla/Fns and basl{etball playens because}r'ou/re an athlete on scholarship you get speciel priuileges, l,rlhatthe:/ don't understanci is that the classes that I missed I haue to get the nates fer'them. I haue to malle up the test that I missed, I haue ts catch up on thirrgs that I do miss. I ma:"not be in class but i haue to catch up qn thing:. 5o my job, is. tr,{ice as hard, You might haue a job but ysu're here in the city at all times. If I dsn't competeI don't get mr educatisn. I+ I don't get my education, I don't campete. It's twa {uii-time iabs carried out at the same time. It can be done but eacrifices have to be made. Y6u've gtrt to knst*,what you want. Somepeople are into tracl( or into athleticE iust to get an education. All the mere por^rer'to them people. Then there are the elite people who are in it becauee they rlant ts be the best they can be. And we can nst look at them. I've hacipro{esscr's herer }'ou finor,rr t;hen I +ini:.hed ml. el igit'iI ity I couldn"t understand thiE {rame o{ 0t tey mind. The prnfes.sor eaIE to ms, "fih, since ysu're knor,+longer. competing *or the school you cannot be excused for missing for.a track meet." And I'm like: this is mf jot', This is nrhat payg me. It is my jsb, I"1l rnal(e up the wonk that has ts be dsne. "Sorry if you're not in class three t imes I'I I dnop you, " Ysu knou,r! are pr'a{essors in th is th ing ior teachirrg or because I arn the pro{eEsor. I+ there's an athlete who's doing, or i+ thene"i a perssn rrho is doing sanrething with their li{e, al\tay 4rom this, rxhy can"t you see that this penson is tr.ying tn bEtter themselueeby doing this and tr;ving to get an educatisn at the same time. *s an educatar you shouldn't have that tunnel vision that "Educatisn is the th i ng. " There's guys r,*ihadropped sut o{ h i gh school whu ar.e rnal(i ng more mgney than a profee.ssr right nol+. h,f. fth yes, we are ulell aware o{ ihat. 0: Right. Sa r,,rhatI couldn't understanciis that, is he an educator id iot . tJery in{l exibl e. Underetand that there are things rnore important but this Fprson has tal{en the time ts say "I'm doing this but I can still do this and better. mise I { . " JuEt becauseyour th ing is educatisrr doesn't mean th is gu;v's thirrg is education. And I thinl< thoEe are the kinds s{ things we need to lnoll at. it"s that rrreneed to help euerybod;r3s much ae passible and be flexible. I"m nst saying bnealqthe nules, understand that. Each perEsnrs. dif {erent, Sne thing I"ve tried to ds rlith my athletes is that I can"t take euerybody and judge them underneath the samerules. Tou ds what yau can ds to tlhat ;vsur bodr {epls I ilte tc'day. I don't expect yc'u to keep up ui th sorneone r.,,rhohas been train ing {or {our year': at the uniuer:i t;r 'ycu leuel, i dorr't expect )nsuto rurr i ike him; I expect tc run the r:I&.r' rlttey you can run, but I expect t0[ percent, Eecauseynu might be giuing it a '' 100 percent, the guy ahead of you might be giuing 50 pencent , rcru ne going to irnproue;he's nst. Right now he lcrnltsI il{e he's doing a hell c'{ a lst betten than you but in neal ity you are doing a hell of a lst better' h im. And that i s my cnncept . n:{ r IE there anything I didn't a.s.l(you? Br tdelI, I dsn"t know, f,{ope,I dan't think ss. $scial actiuitiesr IFg. Ther'e''svery little in El Faso unless you haue a car. ILaughterJ 'l'es, tl : we'rs a car BFiented society. IIr I must say though, r,+henI r,'rasgoing to schc'sl her'e I hated El Fasc'. I didn't see anything gaod about El Fasa. 0ne I didn't har.rea car real ly. l"lymentality Ithen cornparedts now] was tstaliy dif{erent. f,aming back here in a ioh trpe ef situation I have a di{{erent outlac,lt on Ei Pas.c,. I den't necessari I r loue i t but my per.spectiue en El Paso charrged. l,laybe I'm a little t,it rnoremature. I'm not Eo much partying aE I probahly r,vsuldhaue been. It's not a bad place. It's pr.ettr good. MI f'taybethe duI I ness kept yau sut c,f troubi e , ILaughterl l'laybethat's right tao. But jool{ing at it right nar,rr,I r.rrould r'ecnmmendEl Pas.ots anybodywho is intenested in tracl{ nst just becauEe i'rn a coach becauEe i{ yau're interested in being the best ynu can be uhat you warrt to in any srruirorrrnerrt.El Faso is not the nrast excitingl it'E nst a f,alifornia, it's not f,al-Ferkeley, it.'s not a U5[ tor] UCLA r{here yBU can {ind excitement. Here it"E there, i{ you uarrt ta f ind ii, There'g Juarez if you neally r,lant it, There's l,lonopol:r,s.There,s all these other things going on. But the distractinns is something rou harre to ioolr {or. DistractisnE is not something that's going to {ind you. I+ :/ou u.rant an educati,:n csrnehere. I{ ysu ulant to de track comehere, and 0t tey :/0u can do both, tlI sounds good. TENDIIF INTERVIEI,,J]