happy birthday larry greer

[doug0914]

happy birthday to golden west college assistant coach larry greer, a former standout at lakewood high school and long beach state under ted banks. he has coached at fountain valley high school, orange coast college, cal state la and now golden west college, legend has it he once ran the palos verdes marathon in 251, not that fast for a 410 high school miler, but the catch is he drank a beer at each of the 26 mile markers, which has to be some kind of record.

[RMc]

>happy birthday to golden west college assistant coach larry greer, a former
>standout at lakewood high school and long beach state under ted banks. he has
>coached at fountain valley high school, orange coast college, cal state la and
>now golden west college, legend has it he once ran the palos verdes marathon in
>251, not that fast for a 410 high school miler, but the catch is he drank a
>beer at each of the 26 mile markers, which has to be some kind of record.

I think you have 2 Larry Greer's mixed up. The Larry Greer who ran 4:10 lives in Davis, CA and teaches at UC Davis--a long way from Huntington Beach! He lives down the street from me, his son is in my son's grade (and class once) and we celebrated this New Year's together in a progressive dinner. He no longer runs as that he was injured in college but he does bike seriously. I'll ask him about the marathon....;^)

[doug0914]

the larry greer who ran 410 for the mile is the assitant at golden west college, and his brother maury who ran in the vicinity of 410 at lakewood high school is the coach at citrus college. that would be a very weird coincidence if there are two larry greers who both ran 410 for the mile in high school who share the same birthday, february 4th.

[doug0914]

also the larry greer who coaches at golden west college has no children, he dated francie larieau while at long beach state (he claims) and still lives in lakewood, and is a substitute teacher at loara high school in anahiem.

[gh]

Maury Greer college teammate of gh; ran 4:12.8 in '68 for No. 17 on the yearly list. One place behind Ken Popejoy, three places behind some junior from Coos Bay.

Without looking, who led the list (4:08.0)? He also led the 2M list at 8:56.4. Clues to follow.

[doug0914]

just a guess but larry greer told me his brother ran against tim danielson one of 4 to break sub 4 in high school in i believe 69, so being 68 was the previous year i am guessing tim danielson, although i thought ruben chappins was the first sub 9 minute 2 miler in california. so i pick danielsen, 2nd pick chappins

[gh]

Danielson was 66. First Californian to break 9:00 was Mike Ryan in '64. There were at least three others before Chappins in '69. (and this thread now moves to Historical side)

[dj]

Without looking, who led the list (4:08.0)? He also led the 2M list at
>8:56.4. Clues to follow.

Peter Romero?

[gh]

His affiliation had "Heights" in it

[gh]

And he's not from the West Coast

[no one]

i would say bob barratti, but i won't, cuz i know better, although I know better .. and even though R Chappins has been ruled out - he didn't run the mile much in big meets

[gh]

He's from east of the Mississippi

[OneManJury]

Larry Greer was my teammate (one year older than I) at Lakewood High and we trained together. He was a truly great runner, studied the sport and trained like a beast, but did not run 4:10 (he ran about 4:24 in HS). His brother Maury Greer won CIF southern section in the mile in 4:12.8. Larry won the CIF southern section cross country championships by 50 yards his senior year - nobody could touch him. He ran 14:10 for 3 miles (tops in the US) and 30:10 for 6 miles (tops in the US) in high school and also had the fastest time in the US at 10,000 m for a high schooler. He ran 9:06 in the 2 mile as a junior in HS;as a senior, he ran in the CIF southern section finals with a fractured foot; I don't believe he was able to finish. Great runner and born to be a coach. Larry helped me train in the offseason. With his help, and the help of Dan Ryan our coach, I ran 4:13.7 my senior year at Lakewood HS. Thanks Larry, it was a great experience running with you. - Allen Browning, Lakewood High, class of '72.

[Bruce Kritzler]

Without looking, who led the list (4:08.0)? He also led the 2M list at 8:56.4. Clues to follow.

Dave Merrick?

[no one]

old thread recently commented on - I'm check hiking to Rich Elliott who matriculated to U of Kansas with my buddy Mike Solomon