RIP: Roddie Haley - a Penn Relays legend and NCAA champ for Arkansas as a freshman - has died at 56

1991premilechamp wrote:

1991premilechamp wrote:

“ Haley’s Comet “ Part One

I was incredibly fortunate to be a teammate of the Rocket. I was one year ahead of him and I anchored that fabled DMR World Record at Penn when Roddie ran 43.5. He ran so fast that the baton was so hot when I got it, I still have the burn marks on my hand from that day. I will share my recollections with the legend here.

Roddie showed up in the fall of 84 as a highly touted freshman out of Texarkana. He had had some epic duels with Roy Martin on 4x400m anchor legs in Texas high school. Now Arkansas had just won its first ever National title the previous year, and coach Johny Mac, being Johny Mac, all told us we will win all 3 national titles the next year, Roddie’s first year in Hog land. So we won cross country. Then Roddie helped anchor our indoor 4x400m to second place at nationals and we won that meet. We also started to see how special he was.

Penn Relays Rolled around. Now we had some stud sprinters on our team. Michael Conley at 20.1, Wallace Spearmon ( 87 worlds Team USA) 20.2 and 10.1 and Fred Cleary at 13.5 hurdles. Conley also had won the silver medal the previous year in the Olympics in the TJ. Yes, he won the silver in the big 5 ring circus AND still came back to college. Think about that next time some present day 3:52 miler complains about no contract. Haley ran on our winning 4x100 and 4x200 teams at Penn putting in solid legs for sure. But he really shined on the DMR. I ran lead off that year and we wanted a lead for our anchor, Paul Donovan as George Mason had ( World Champion to be ) Abdi Bili running anchor. I handed off in second after an average 1200m leg and Roddie threw down a 44.2 to take the lead and blow it wide open. He just destroyed everyone. Our 800 guy ( Gary Taylor) kept the lead and Paul Donovan ran a stellar solo 3:56 and didn’t let Abdi catch up to him. It was unheard of to have a 400m guy have so much impact on a DMR, but Roddie single handedly had just changed the game. We distance runners now loved him. And his nick name was now the Rocket.

That spring he won the NCAA 400m beating an incredibly stellar field including World Championship medalists. It also gave us 10 points and helped us win the team title and the triple crown. He then got a ( tired) 3rd at USA nationals, his only loss of the year. He went to Europe and won all 6 races but two Europeans refused to race him as he was on fire again. Those Europeans did beat the two other Americans that had beaten Roddie at USA’s, so Roddie ended up being “ only “ ranked 3rd in the world that year when he should have been first. Not bad for a freshman year. And yes, this #3 ranked in the world athlete came back to college the next year ( putting salt on that 3:52 story….) so the legend continues…

TBC

Part Two. Haley’s Comet discovers the 500m.

So the Rocket came back for year two. We all thought he might go pro, as Spearmon, Conley and Cleary were all gone with the first two getting contracts, but we were happy he stayed.

Roddie was always so Friendly and willing to help teammates. He was a complete car guy. A few times after practice he came over to help me out with car issues ( as Joe Falcon and I only had one car and we needed it!). The guy was a genius with a wrench and diagnosing issues. Saved my butt a couple of times.

He also became interested in our training even declaring he was going to do a few runs with us “ skinny distance guys”. I took him on a 4 mile loop one day in the fall and he hung on me like glue. We went up a big, big hill at the end and when we reached the top we rested a bit. He was like “ alright Cuz, got me some endurance now. Thanks. “. I didn’t tell him I ran 6 more miles later. But, how many sprinters in college volunteer to do a 4 mile run at 6 min pace with a sub 4 guy? What a stud. He was one of us now.

Roddie could also analyze races and be bang on. The previous year ( his freshman year) he watched me anchor our DMR at indoor nationals ( and we had heats in that event back then so you had to run it twice). I got the baton in the final way behind thanks to our 1:55 800m lead off guy, but was able to catch up as they went out at a fairly modest pace (good thing as Tim Hacker had got it in first and he was the class of the field). I took the lead with 600m to go and wound up the pace progressively. Going into the last corner I peaked back and I had dropped everyone. Or so I thought. Hacker was actually camped out on my outside shoulder not the least bit impressed by my surge. So now it was down to a kick. I held off Tim stride for stride for half the straight but then succumbed to his speed.
Mentally I wasn’t too bad, as how can I spot Hacker 3 seconds and then beat him? I did have the fastest anchor of the meet. But Haley sat me down and said, “ look Cuz. You had him. He moved and you held him off. You just kinda gave up the last 30 meters”. And he was exactly correct. Hacker had just won NCAA cross in the fall and I was intimidated. Now Roddie wasn’t on that DMR. In fact he had a 4x400m later that day. But he took time to analyze my race and give me invaluable insight on it. And he was a freshman! Even Johny Mac just said “ Good job, too much to make up on Hacker”. But Haley was right. And deep down I knew it, and learned from it. What incredible insight.

Indoor season started 1986, Haley’s sophomore year. John put Haley in the 500m since it was a new Championships event that year. We all talked about how fast the NCAA 400m champ could run. Haley’s grandmother had always told him when he started racing as a young kid that she only wants to see two numbers up on the scoreboard, meaning he had to break 60 seconds for the 400m at that very young age. He transferred that logic to the 500m. He told us there would only be two numbers on the clock and would break 60. now the world record was 1:01.1 or something ( as we all looked it up after the Rockets prediction). That’s all we talked about on our easy runs, could the Rocket really break 60? surely not? That would be crazy!

The night of the meet, every single guy on the team was glued to the track for that race. Everyone! Warm ups, warm downs etc were all changed to accommodate to be able to watch Roddie run. I was lucky as I was the race before (1000m, also a championship event that year). I set some minor record when I won. Roddie nodded to me after the run and said “ Thanks for warming the track up for me Cuz!” To this day one of the bigger compliments I have ever gotten. The man was telling me I ran well.

The gun went off for his race. Now the Arkansas track back then was a 200m FLAT track with tennis courts in the middle. No banked corners to hold your speed in. Haley went out in 47 point at 400m. We all were yelling and screaming!! Going out in 47 on a flat track ??!! Crazy!! He held on to run a shade over 60. He shattered the World Record. The place went nuts. Haley couldn’t even stand up for 8 minutes more or less talk but they finally interviewed him. He gave classic answers like “I had the revs up high early” and “ I was running like a mad man”.
Classic Haley.

Later he told us 60 was going down this year. Not one of us doubted him. Not one.

To be continued later if there is interest….

1991premilechamp wrote:

1991premilechamp wrote:

“ Haley’s Comet “ Part One

I was incredibly fortunate to be a teammate of the Rocket. I was one year ahead of him and I anchored that fabled DMR World Record at Penn when Roddie ran 43.5. He ran so fast that the baton was so hot when I got it, I still have the burn marks on my hand from that day. I will share my recollections with the legend here.

Roddie showed up in the fall of 84 as a highly touted freshman out of Texarkana. He had had some epic duels with Roy Martin on 4x400m anchor legs in Texas high school. Now Arkansas had just won its first ever National title the previous year, and coach Johny Mac, being Johny Mac, all told us we will win all 3 national titles the next year, Roddie’s first year in Hog land. So we won cross country. Then Roddie helped anchor our indoor 4x400m to second place at nationals and we won that meet. We also started to see how special he was.

Penn Relays Rolled around. Now we had some stud sprinters on our team. Michael Conley at 20.1, Wallace Spearmon ( 87 worlds Team USA) 20.2 and 10.1 and Fred Cleary at 13.5 hurdles. Conley also had won the silver medal the previous year in the Olympics in the TJ. Yes, he won the silver in the big 5 ring circus AND still came back to college. Think about that next time some present day 3:52 miler complains about no contract. Haley ran on our winning 4x100 and 4x200 teams at Penn putting in solid legs for sure. But he really shined on the DMR. I ran lead off that year and we wanted a lead for our anchor, Paul Donovan as George Mason had ( World Champion to be ) Abdi Bili running anchor. I handed off in second after an average 1200m leg and Roddie threw down a 44.2 to take the lead and blow it wide open. He just destroyed everyone. Our 800 guy ( Gary Taylor) kept the lead and Paul Donovan ran a stellar solo 3:56 and didn’t let Abdi catch up to him. It was unheard of to have a 400m guy have so much impact on a DMR, but Roddie single handedly had just changed the game. We distance runners now loved him. And his nick name was now the Rocket.

That spring he won the NCAA 400m beating an incredibly stellar field including World Championship medalists. It also gave us 10 points and helped us win the team title and the triple crown. He then got a ( tired) 3rd at USA nationals, his only loss of the year. He went to Europe and won all 6 races but two Europeans refused to race him as he was on fire again. Those Europeans did beat the two other Americans that had beaten Roddie at USA’s, so Roddie ended up being “ only “ ranked 3rd in the world that year when he should have been first. Not bad for a freshman year. And yes, this #3 ranked in the world athlete came back to college the next year ( putting salt on that 3:52 story….) so the legend continues…

TBC

Roddie could also analyze races and be bang on. The previous year ( his freshman year) he watched me anchor our DMR at indoor nationals ( and we had heats in that event back then so you had to run it twice). I got the baton in the final way behind thanks to our 1:55 800m lead off guy, but was able to catch up as they went out at a fairly modest pace (good thing as Tim Hacker had got it in first and he was the class of the field). I took the lead with 600m to go and wound up the pace progressively. Going into the last corner I peaked back and I had dropped everyone. Or so I thought. Hacker was actually camped out on my outside shoulder not the least bit impressed by my surge. So now it was down to a kick. I held off Tim stride for stride for half the straight but then succumbed to his speed.
Mentally I wasn’t too bad, as how can I spot Hacker 3 seconds and then beat him? I did have the fastest anchor of the meet. But Haley sat me down and said, “ look Cuz. You had him. He moved and you held him off. You just kinda gave up the last 30 meters”. And he was exactly correct. Hacker had just won NCAA cross in the fall and I was intimidated. Now Roddie wasn’t on that DMR. In fact he had a 4x400m later that day. But he took time to analyze my race and give me invaluable insight on it. And he was a freshman! Even Johny Mac just said “ Good job, too much to make up on Hacker”. But Haley was right. And deep down I knew it, and learned from it. What incredible insight.

1991premilechamp wrote:

1991premilechamp wrote:

“ Haley’s Comet “ Part One

I was incredibly fortunate to be a teammate of the Rocket. I was one year ahead of him and I anchored that fabled DMR World Record at Penn when Roddie ran 43.5. He ran so fast that the baton was so hot when I got it, I still have the burn marks on my hand from that day. I will share my recollections with the legend here.

Roddie showed up in the fall of 84 as a highly touted freshman out of Texarkana. He had had some epic duels with Roy Martin on 4x400m anchor legs in Texas high school. Now Arkansas had just won its first ever National title the previous year, and coach Johny Mac, being Johny Mac, all told us we will win all 3 national titles the next year, Roddie’s first year in Hog land. So we won cross country. Then Roddie helped anchor our indoor 4x400m to second place at nationals and we won that meet. We also started to see how special he was.

Penn Relays Rolled around. Now we had some stud sprinters on our team. Michael Conley at 20.1, Wallace Spearmon ( 87 worlds Team USA) 20.2 and 10.1 and Fred Cleary at 13.5 hurdles. Conley also had won the silver medal the previous year in the Olympics in the TJ. Yes, he won the silver in the big 5 ring circus AND still came back to college. Think about that next time some present day 3:52 miler complains about no contract. Haley ran on our winning 4x100 and 4x200 teams at Penn putting in solid legs for sure. But he really shined on the DMR. I ran lead off that year and we wanted a lead for our anchor, Paul Donovan as George Mason had ( World Champion to be ) Abdi Bili running anchor. I handed off in second after an average 1200m leg and Roddie threw down a 44.2 to take the lead and blow it wide open. He just destroyed everyone. Our 800 guy ( Gary Taylor) kept the lead and Paul Donovan ran a stellar solo 3:56 and didn’t let Abdi catch up to him. It was unheard of to have a 400m guy have so much impact on a DMR, but Roddie single handedly had just changed the game. We distance runners now loved him. And his nick name was now the Rocket.

That spring he won the NCAA 400m beating an incredibly stellar field including World Championship medalists. It also gave us 10 points and helped us win the team title and the triple crown. He then got a ( tired) 3rd at USA nationals, his only loss of the year. He went to Europe and won all 6 races but two Europeans refused to race him as he was on fire again. Those Europeans did beat the two other Americans that had beaten Roddie at USA’s, so Roddie ended up being “ only “ ranked 3rd in the world that year when he should have been first. Not bad for a freshman year. And yes, this #3 ranked in the world athlete came back to college the next year ( putting salt on that 3:52 story….) so the legend continues…

TBC

Part Two. Haley’s Comet discovers the 500m.

So the Rocket came back for year two. We all thought he might go pro, as Spearmon, Conley and Cleary were all gone with the first two getting contracts, but we were happy he stayed.

Roddie was always so Friendly and willing to help teammates. He was a complete car guy. A few times after practice he came over to help me out with car issues ( as Joe Falcon and I only had one car and we needed it!). The guy was a genius with a wrench and diagnosing issues. Saved my butt a couple of times.

He also became interested in our training even declaring he was going to do a few runs with us “ skinny distance guys”. I took him on a 4 mile loop one day in the fall and he hung on me like glue. We went up a big, big hill at the end and when we reached the top we rested a bit. He was like “ alright Cuz, got me some endurance now. Thanks. “. I didn’t tell him I ran 6 more miles later. But, how many sprinters in college volunteer to do a 4 mile run at 6 min pace with a sub 4 guy? What a stud. He was one of us now.

Roddie could also analyze races and be bang on. The previous year ( his freshman year) he watched me anchor our DMR at indoor nationals ( and we had heats in that event back then so you had to run it twice). I got the baton in the final way behind thanks to our 1:55 800m lead off guy, but was able to catch up as they went out at a fairly modest pace (good thing as Tim Hacker had got it in first and he was the class of the field). I took the lead with 600m to go and wound up the pace progressively. Going into the last corner I peaked back and I had dropped everyone. Or so I thought. Hacker was actually camped out on my outside shoulder not the least bit impressed by my surge. So now it was down to a kick. I held off Tim stride for stride for half the straight but then succumbed to his speed.
Mentally I wasn’t too bad, as how can I spot Hacker 3 seconds and then beat him? I did have the fastest anchor of the meet. But Haley sat me down and said, “ look Cuz. You had him. He moved and you held him off. You just kinda gave up the last 30 meters”. And he was exactly correct. Hacker had just won NCAA cross in the fall and I was intimidated. Now Roddie wasn’t on that DMR. In fact he had a 4x400m later that day. But he took time to analyze my race and give me invaluable insight on it. And he was a freshman! Even Johny Mac just said “ Good job, too much to make up on Hacker”. But Haley was right. And deep down I knew it, and learned from it. What incredible insight.

Indoor season started 1986, Haley’s sophomore year. John put Haley in the 500m since it was a new Championships event that year. We all talked about how fast the NCAA 400m champ could run. Haley’s grandmother had always told him when he started racing as a young kid that she only wants to see two numbers up on the scoreboard, meaning he had to break 60 seconds for the 400m at that very young age. He transferred that logic to the 500m. He told us there would only be two numbers on the clock and would break 60. now the world record was 1:01.1 or something ( as we all looked it up after the Rockets prediction). That’s all we talked about on our easy runs, could the Rocket really break 60? surely not? That would be crazy!

The night of the meet, every single guy on the team was glued to the track for that race. Everyone! Warm ups, warm downs etc were all changed to accommodate to be able to watch Roddie run. I was lucky as I was the race before (1000m, also a championship event that year). I set some minor record when I won. Roddie nodded to me after the run and said “ Thanks for warming the track up for me Cuz!” To this day one of the bigger compliments I have ever gotten. The man was telling me I ran well.

The gun went off for his race. Now the Arkansas track back then was a 200m FLAT track with tennis courts in the middle. No banked corners to hold your speed in. Haley went out in 47 point at 400m. We all were yelling and screaming!! Going out in 47 on a flat track ??!! Crazy!! He held on to run a shade over 60. He shattered the World Record. The place went nuts. Haley couldn’t even stand up for 8 minutes more or less talk but they finally interviewed him. He gave classic answers like “I had the revs up high early” and “ I was running like a mad man”.
Classic Haley.

Later he told us 60 was going down this year. Not one of us doubted him. Not one.

To be continued later if there is interest….

1991premilechamp wrote:

1991premilechamp wrote:

Part Two. Haley’s Comet discovers the 500m.

So the Rocket came back for year two. We all thought he might go pro, as Spearmon, Conley and Cleary were all gone with the first two getting contracts, but we were happy he stayed.

Roddie was always so Friendly and willing to help teammates. He was a complete car guy. A few times after practice he came over to help me out with car issues ( as Joe Falcon and I only had one car and we needed it!). The guy was a genius with a wrench and diagnosing issues. Saved my butt a couple of times.

He also became interested in our training even declaring he was going to do a few runs with us “ skinny distance guys”. I took him on a 4 mile loop one day in the fall and he hung on me like glue. We went up a big, big hill at the end and when we reached the top we rested a bit. He was like “ alright Cuz, got me some endurance now. Thanks. “. I didn’t tell him I ran 6 more miles later. But, how many sprinters in college volunteer to do a 4 mile run at 6 min pace with a sub 4 guy? What a stud. He was one of us now.

Roddie could also analyze races and be bang on. The previous year ( his freshman year) he watched me anchor our DMR at indoor nationals ( and we had heats in that event back then so you had to run it twice). I got the baton in the final way behind thanks to our 1:55 800m lead off guy, but was able to catch up as they went out at a fairly modest pace (good thing as Tim Hacker had got it in first and he was the class of the field). I took the lead with 600m to go and wound up the pace progressively. Going into the last corner I peaked back and I had dropped everyone. Or so I thought. Hacker was actually camped out on my outside shoulder not the least bit impressed by my surge. So now it was down to a kick. I held off Tim stride for stride for half the straight but then succumbed to his speed.
Mentally I wasn’t too bad, as how can I spot Hacker 3 seconds and then beat him? I did have the fastest anchor of the meet. But Haley sat me down and said, “ look Cuz. You had him. He moved and you held him off. You just kinda gave up the last 30 meters”. And he was exactly correct. Hacker had just won NCAA cross in the fall and I was intimidated. Now Roddie wasn’t on that DMR. In fact he had a 4x400m later that day. But he took time to analyze my race and give me invaluable insight on it. And he was a freshman! Even Johny Mac just said “ Good job, too much to make up on Hacker”. But Haley was right. And deep down I knew it, and learned from it. What incredible insight.

Indoor season started 1986, Haley’s sophomore year. John put Haley in the 500m since it was a new Championships event that year. We all talked about how fast the NCAA 400m champ could run. Haley’s grandmother had always told him when he started racing as a young kid that she only wants to see two numbers up on the scoreboard, meaning he had to break 60 seconds for the 400m at that very young age. He transferred that logic to the 500m. He told us there would only be two numbers on the clock and would break 60. now the world record was 1:01.1 or something ( as we all looked it up after the Rockets prediction). That’s all we talked about on our easy runs, could the Rocket really break 60? surely not? That would be crazy!

The night of the meet, every single guy on the team was glued to the track for that race. Everyone! Warm ups, warm downs etc were all changed to accommodate to be able to watch Roddie run. I was lucky as I was the race before (1000m, also a championship event that year). I set some minor record when I won. Roddie nodded to me after the run and said “ Thanks for warming the track up for me Cuz!” To this day one of the bigger compliments I have ever gotten. The man was telling me I ran well.

The gun went off for his race. Now the Arkansas track back then was a 200m FLAT track with tennis courts in the middle. No banked corners to hold your speed in. Haley went out in 47 point at 400m. We all were yelling and screaming!! Going out in 47 on a flat track ??!! Crazy!! He held on to run a shade over 60. He shattered the World Record. The place went nuts. Haley couldn’t even stand up for 8 minutes more or less talk but they finally interviewed him. He gave classic answers like “I had the revs up high early” and “ I was running like a mad man”.
Classic Haley.

Later he told us 60 was going down this year. Not one of us doubted him. Not one.

To be continued later if there is interest….

Haley’s Comet part 3.

To clarify part Two, The race I described was Our very first indoor meet of the year, January 16th. He ran 1:01.1 for the world record.

Roddie’s next big meet of note that year was conference. Now we were in the SWC back then with just about every school from Texas in it. Baylor, as always with Clyde Hart, had great 400m runners. The conference distance was 600 yards that year. Way further than 400m and even further than 500m. Baylor had two guys that were experienced in the event and had gone 1, 2 the years before. They had publicly stated in the press they would flat out run the kick out of Haley. They were just going to run away from him. My perpetual roommate on the road, Gary Taylor and I were talking to Roddie about this. Roddie said something like, “ No way Cuz. How are they gong to run the kick out of me when I will be out in front of them!”

The day of the race, Haley pointed at the finish line to me and Gary (Gaz) and said “watch right here with one lap to go, right here, ALL you will see behind me is PAIN!!!” Gaz and I severely adjusted our warmup so we could be watching right at the finish line of this 3 plus laps race. Haley took it out like a madman! 47 point at 400m! In a 600y! The two Baylor guys lined up trying desperately to hang on. At the bell Haley was dead right. All we saw behind him was absolute pain. Their facial expressions are still burned in my mind.
It was a complete death march that last lap of the 10 laps to the mile wooden track in Reunion arena that day, but no one got close to Haley. That was pretty much the last time anybody in our conference ever said anything to fire up Roddie.

Next up was Indoor Nationals. 10 lap to the mile wooden track in OK city. Haley stormed through his heat running a new world record of 60 point. He told us all the next day he would break 60 in the final. I was personally glad my race was before his, so I could not only watch it, but I wouldn’t have to worry about him setting the track on fire as he had promised he would. Villanova had two complete studs in the final, both Olympians to be ( and one a gold medalist ). Edwin Modebidi and Chip Jenkins. Both formidable adversaries. Roddie took it out HARD, and they lined up behind him waiting for him to fade as he surely would with his crazy pace!
I believe to this day they are still waiting for him to fade as he didn’t. He ran 59.8 to be the first person under 60 in the event. His 3rd world record of the season.

It is my understanding that this year they didn’t have a rail on the inside of the track, just a line, so they had incorrectly measured the track from the line instead of the edge of the track equating to a small difference per lap. I think a tenth of a second or so. The thing that bothered me ( and I lost an NCAA record, not a world one, but still..) was that after the edge of the track on the inside there was a 12 inch drop off to the floor. So no way you would be running close to the rail. Nobody wanted to fall off and break an ankle. And at the speed Haley was going, NO way was he close to the rail. So the tracks gods at OKC owe Haley a lot.

next up Penn Relays and the fastest 400m split on sea level ever…