1992 state 4x100 champs (bottom left, Carson, bottom right, M. Phillips; top left, E. Dabner, top right, M. Cook)
Editor's opening note: This is a second part of B-side's 4x100m relay series.
It's funny how the older I get life seems to repeat itself a little. An athlete or team from the present will remind me of someone or a team from the past. A song will come out and be sampled with a beat from back in the day. The 1992 4x100m relay was a remix of the 1986 4x100m relay. The difference is that in '86, I was the anchor man, and in '92 I was the sprint, hurdles and relays coach. For me, life indeed had come full circle as I returned to my old high school after graduating from college.
At the end of our school’s regional final basketball loss, I stood up and guaranteed out loud that we'd win the state title in track. I told all the athletes the first day I walked in the gym, ‘Fellas, we are winning state!’ This was no easy task because we were from central Illinois, in a two-class system, not three like today where everyone is a champion. We would have to beat the powerhouse schools from Chicago as well as East St. Louis Lincoln and Senior High School.
The 1991 Class A 100m champ, Eric Dabner (Dab) had transferred over from Decatur St. Teresa and Marcus Phillips (eventual 110/300H state champ) had years of club experience, but the rest of the team were seniors who had never really run track because they had grade issues, etc. But in 1992 everything lined up perfectly as these same kids all of a sudden had the grades, weren't in trouble, came to practice and most of all believed me when I said we were winning state. I as a coach had learned some things about politics in college track and field and decided early this wouldn't be an issue on my team. Every athlete on the '92 squad respected Coach B' (me) because they had to run a time trial to earn a spot on the 4x1 (this would be continuous all season long). Nobody had a guaranteed spot, there were no favorites and it kept the so-called stars honest. Every Tuesday someone could say, ‘Coach I think I can beat whomever,’ and Wednesday there would be a run off. Each runner knew that they had to stay out of trouble, keep up their grades, and be ready at all times for the 4x1 challenge.
The 4x1 was figured out and it would be led off by Jason Carson, a guy with excellent reaction out the blocks and a solid 100m sprinter. Second leg was Marcus Cook, an athlete that could run anything from the 100-400m. The third leg was Phillips, who ran a monster curve. Anchor leg would be Dabner.
At every practice we worked on handoffs and it had to be perfect three times in a row to move on to the next leg. I demanded excellence and was driven as it spilled onto the 4x1. I told them the stories of '86 and the times we ran. The '92 squad as a group decided they wanted to be the greatest 4x1 in city, school and maybe even state history.
As the regular meets came and went I started noticing a lot of similarities between the '86 and '92 4x1 squads. They had swag and they wanted to be the best not only in the state but nationally. The races were blowouts in the same fashion we did it and their times were dropping and getting close to the times me and my boys ran. The fans even started to drive to the meets like they used to in '86. I stood and watched a race one meet and it hit me. This is 1986 all over again! Carson was breaking stagger like ES, Cook ran the backstretch like the Love Dr., Phillips ran the curve like Wood (and they both ran the 100/300h), and Dabner was the dominant sprinter like I was. They even followed the same unwritten rules of each leg and what their job was when they touched the baton. They were intimidating like 86, but talked a little more than us. They'd let the opponents know they were racing for second place. I even had them doing the exact same relay drills we did. I can still hear Carson saying at the check in at meets: "Goin’ to get 'em Coach! We are going to get 'em!” They worked extremely hard, but had a lot of fun. They knew their opponents and systematically took them apart. The inexperience from the first two legs that I was concerned about wasn't an issue. They were running like vets!
We won city and conference easily. The sectional meet was unreal as the weather looked scripted for sprinters. I could tell something big was going to happen because the times continually dropped and we had huge wins over both E. St. Louis schools at the E. St. Louis Relays meet. At the seeding meet, I didn't even write a time down. I just wrote VERY FAST! The gun sounded and all you heard was "whoooo" each leg of the relay. When Dabner crossed the finish with another blowout, they had run 41.70. They had matched the '86 squad! We went crazy as I ran down the track with everybody's gold chains around my neck and arms raised. This was almost as good as state, but not quite.
As the state meet approached the '92 squad was being hyped as the favorite to win the 4x1 at state by the Chicago Tribune and Sun Times... just like in 1986. But there was one other team who had been making noise all season- Proviso West! We had been on a collision course all season and they had a monster anchor in Kerwin Badie. All season we knew they had an eye on us and what we ran, just like we had an eye on them.
Every week you would hear, ‘What did Proviso run?’ As the prelims approached, we warmed up on the indoor track. When we walked in it seemed like everybody else just stopped and looked at us. I had Cook set up his marks and signaled to Carson to bring it in: click! Phillips step it off, Cook bring it in: click! Dab set it up, Phillips bring it: click! One flawless hand off a piece as jaws dropped and we walked out to the check-in tent. We won the prelim in a blowout. The 4x1 finals were set. The Matchup: MacArthur fastest time in prelims vs. Proviso West second fastest time in prelims. The squad came by my house to study the tape of the prelims and I knew it would keep them off the street and well rested.
The finals arrived the next day and we were trying to not only win the 4x1, but be the first team from central Illinois to win a team title. We knew if we ran the way we had been we'd win the title. As we went to check in tent I told the official, “the next time I see you, we will be state champs.’ The fans were ready and it seemed like everybody in town showed up wearing blue and white. People that never came to a meet or didn't even understand track came out. It was a great community moment.
Each man jogged to his spot with game faces on. As Carson got into the blocks I realized I had waited six years for this moment. The gun sounded and Carson got out nicely, but Proviso West’s lead off was rolling as well. As Cook exploded out they clicked on a nice hand off and he rolled down the backstretch. I was feeling great because Phillips and Dab were third and anchor.
We were opening up a big lead and I'm thinking Proviso West is coming, but there was no Proviso West. They had botched the hand off and been disqualified. The hand off to Dabner was a repeat of what I had seen all year from them. He roared down the stretch as we screamed and jumped up and down. He crossed the finish and we had done it. State Champs 4x1!!! I went crazy and screamed, "Yessuh" and "I told you" over and over. After all the hugs, high fives and fist bumps I ran to the check-in tent to meet them. But before we left I tapped the official on the shoulder and when he turned around I said, ‘I told you we would be state champs.’
Life came full circle as the 1986 4x1 left a mark that can't be healed as an athlete. But as a coach in ‘92 I was given another opportunity to coach the first relay champions from our school. To make it even better, we went on to win the team title. We were the first central Illinois school to win a title in 67 years. My guarantee months earlier that we'd win state had come true. The 1992 4x1 and team state champs is one of the greatest moments of my life.
This is dedicated to my college coach Mark (Heavy D) DeVenney from the University of Nebraska… RIP Coach