> From: "Bob Duncan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Reply-To: "Bob Duncan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2003 15:51:29 -0600 > To: "track list" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: t-and-f: UW Indoor Meet Attendance Error > Resent-From: ghill <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Resent-To: gh <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Resent-Date: Fri, 24 Jan 2003 15:41:44 -0800 > > Some of the big stars of ITA were Jim Ryun and Ben Jipcho. (Keino & > Lindgren too, I believe.) As I recall, one of their gimmicks was a series > of lights set up around the track which indicated "record pace". (Did they > even have any outdoor meets?) Some of these meets even got national > televised coverage but after the ITA was dissolved, the athletes who were > involved had to struggle to get reinstated as amateurs. As far as I'm > concerned, all that the ITA ever did was to essentially shorten the careers > of some good athletes. I guess the reverse was true of a few of the > "legends", some of whom seemed really ancient (i.e. well into their 30s!) at > the time and must have come out of retirement to compete due to their > marquee value. I also recall hearing that many athletes couldn't afford > to "go professional" as they would lose out on their lucrative "amateur" > earnings.>>
The old "couldn't afford to turn pro" line has always played well for college football players, but I don't think there were many/any track guys vintage '72 who wouldn't have benefited from joining the ITA, at least relative to short-term cash gains. The ITA also didn't shorten the careers of too many athletes. Gotta remember than whe signed on, Jim Ryun, for example, was already a 3-time Olympian. In that era, people who kept going beyond one Olympics were rare, those who went beyond two--Al Oerter notwithstanding--were almost nonexistent. If there was one crime ITA committed in that area it was by signing Mable Fergerson, who was only 17 when she took 5th in the Munich 400. She had a huge-huge career ahead of her, but instead was one of the token women on the tour who never got a chance to do anything significant.
