Word: coaching
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...watery and bloodshot. Normally calm and pleasant, he changed into a grouch. Says Mel: "I feel weak-weak as a kitten -when I walk on the field. I feel too tired to warm up, and I don't warm up much. Not as much as other fellows." U.S.C. Coach Dean Cromwell (now head coach of the Olympic track team), who has a reputation for inspiring his athletes with well-chosen malarkey, never goes near...
...school May Day celebration, when he was twelve, he outsped a dozen other kids across a dusty field, and discovered his talent. It wasn't until he went to University High that Mel met the coach who knew what to do about...
...Patton's basic style of running. After one look at him, he decided that what the kid needed most was time to develop. Pursell kept him on the "B" squad as long as he dared (until Mel ran a 10.2 against Manual Arts High one day). Then the coach began to rub OR some polish...
...first, Mel was carrying his arms too low. But the coach cautioned him against raising them too high; that would tighten up the shoulders and cut down his relaxing. Quick to catch on, Mel became a "floater" in two semesters. In his second year he sliced his time down to 9.9 seconds. The-next year it was 9.8. He didn't lose a race in high school...
When Patton first noticed that he was tense and tight before a race, Pursell reassured him: "If a runner is perfectly composed and at ease, he's no champion." Pursell was Patton's idol. When the coach suggested that Mel not dance ("It takes the tone out of your legs"), Mel didn't. He forsook swimming and lolling on the beach because Pursell advised him to. Pursell, no man to grab credit, told Patton that everything he knew about track he learned from Dean Cromwell...