Vince Parrette aka Vinx - Triple Jump claims?

[basehead617]

I'm a fan of a musician named Vinx. A fine singer and artist who toured with Sting, kind of flashed in the pan and fell off the map in the early 90's. Recently I came across his webpage and noticed this tidbit:

http://vinx.com/index.php?page=bio

From the bio:
So... the journey starts in 1976, when Vinx attended Kansas State University on a track scholarship. In 1977, hate nearly took away Vinx's athletic career and his life when racists burned down his house, along with the home of another black family living in his Kansas City suburb. Vinx was severely burnt by the fire. He overcame his injuries and three years later made the world's second longest leap in the triple jump. This qualified Vinx for the 1980 Moscow Olympics. When President Jimmy Carter called for an Olympic boycott that year, Vinx's athletic goals were put on hold.

....

When Vinx's Olympic dream was deferred, he turned his back on track, but after two years returned as an assistant coach for the women's track team at the University of Texas. In Texas, Vinx rediscovered his Olympic ambitions and began working toward the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. After an injury at the trials took him out of the running for the '84 Olympics, Vinx stayed in Los Angeles and began working as a fitness trainer for the rich and famous. His clients included Stevie Wonder, George Hamilton and Marisa Tomei.

--

Aside from the fact that this is probably one of the most pompous bios I've ever read, of course it had me questioning his story here - as people are known to exaggerate their athletic achievements. Especially when it comes to track, since I guess people figure the real history is less well known to most people. His wikipedia page is gone, his bio doesn't mention his real name, and so it required some googling.

From what I can tell, his birth name was Leslie Jackson Parrette, Jr. At some point he started going by Vincent D'Jon Parrette. There are a lot of hits for him with Parette and Perette and Perrette too. Very odd. Anyway, as Vince Parrette it seems he really did TJ for Kansas State in the late 70s..

There's a lot of hits for high school(!) and college results, which kind of amazed me - more and more newspapers from the 1970s are coming online in recent years. That used to be a huge black hole for internet searches. Anyway, I did find this mark from an indoor results sheet:

http://www.huskers.com/fls/100/tracksta ... 24F036.htm

Devaney: F 17.03m 1980 Vince Parrette, Kansas State 55'10.50"

I also saw a reference in an old newspaper to him being the collegiate record holder at the time?

So, if that result is legit, then I guess it's conceivable he did have the 2nd best jump in the world that year?... however, I don't know the stat sources as well as people on this site do. Is there anywhere this can be confirmed? I'm not even sure if that is his best mark.

Would appreciate any info from you expert stat detectives.

[dukehjsteve]

Just dug out my old T&FN issues. Here's the 1980 highlights for him:

11th in the NCAA
7th in the Olympic Trials
4th best jump in US
10th best jump in World

Typical bio embellishments.
Why not tell the truth ? He was darn good, why spoil it with fibs.

[gh]

He had the second longest indoor jump in the world in 1980.

[Daisy]

He had the second longest indoor jump in the world in 1980.

He overcame his injuries and three years later made the world's second longest leap in the triple jump. This qualified Vinx for the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

So a white lie followed by a bold faced lie.

[Bruce Kritzler]

Ranked #7 in US in 1980 by TFN.

[lonewolf]

I had never heard of "Vinx" but I do remember when Vince Parette was a good jumper at Kansas State.

[gh]

He had the second longest indoor jump in the world in 1980.

He overcame his injuries and three years later made the world's second longest leap in the triple jump. This qualified Vinx for the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

So a white lie followed by a bold faced lie.

Nobody has less tolerance for track phonies than I, but I find "bold-faced lie" a bit strong here. As in, we have no idea who wrote the Wiki piece, and what they used for source material. If Parrette is sayign that stuff, string him up; if it's something of which he might not even be aware, I back off in my criticism slightly.

As to the source-material aspect, somebody who doesn't know teh sport and finds a 1980 "world list" with VP as No. 2 might well think that was the definitive list, even if it were just indoor.

And the "qualified him for the Olympics" may well have been referred to as such in contemporary literature if it was an Olympic-standard mark.

[Daisy]

If Parrette is sayign that stuff, string him up; if it's something of which he might not even be aware, I back off in my criticism slightly.

I was under the impression it was from him, even if written in the third person, the quote is on his web site. http://vinx.com/index.php?page=bio

If it's a fan page then I see your point.

[basehead617]

This is exactly the information I was looking for, thank you..

I can pretty much guarantee he wrote it.. not as egregiously wrong as I expected

[dukehjsteve]

This is exactly the information I was looking for, thank you..

I can pretty much guarantee he wrote it.. not as egregiously wrong as I expected

But wrong is wrong. As I said earlier, he was very very good... so why tarnish it with exaggerations ? Time for someone ( you ? ) to clue someone else in that he's outed, albeit for a non-criminal offense.