The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Throwing their weight around: The blue-collar stars of the Relays
02.27.2008 | Texas Relays
Texans love to do things big -- from landholdings like the enormous King Ranch to the hairspray-supported coifs on the heads of the state's grand dames. But few things come as big as the legends of the shot put and discus throwers who have left a sizable mark on Texas Relays history.
From the earliest days of the Relays, the hefty heavers have thrilled the crowds. Olympic legends like Al Oerter and Randy Matson got their start as collegians at the Relays, and record-holders Randy Barnes, Michael Carter and Darrow Hooper populate the lists of past champions.
Oerter, one of the all-time Olympic greats with four gold medals in the discus, captured three straight Relays discus titles for the Kansas Jayhawks from 1956-1958, and added the 1958 shot gold for good measure. Hooper dominated the university division shot and discus for Texas A&M from 1951-1953, taking all six available titles, and he also won two shot crowns in the high school division in 1948-1949.
Aggie greats Matson and Barnes took home seven shot and discus wins between them, and after Matson set the shot put meet record of 68-8 in 1967, it took 19 years for it to fall -- to a 69-2.25 heave by Barnes.
Carter, who still holds the prep national shot record of 81-3.5 from 1979, won two straight high school golds in 1978-1979, setting a still-standing record of 74-7.5 in '79, and added the discus title in 1979. As a collegian at SMU, Carter notched three more golds in the shot in 1980, 1981 and 1983. The Carter family picked up seven more golds recently with daughters Michelle (four straight high school shot titles from 2000-03 and two discus wins in 2002-03) and D'Andra (high school discus gold in 2004) adding to the trophy case back home in Ovilla.
The longest-standing meet record in the throws, though, belongs to a soft-spoken Rice graduate from Kansas.
"My experiences at the Relays ran the gamut from miserable to the sublime," said Ken Stadel, who still holds Rice school records in the shot and discus. "I remember being a wide-eyed and intimidated freshman in 1971, in awe of the best competition I had ever faced up to that point in my life. I was just happy to be there, and was hoping to not embarrass myself or my school.
"I recall the thrill of winning my sophomore year (191-0), in an unexpected victory over UTEP's Fred DiBernardi, the best collegiate thrower in '72, and I remember fondly the dominating victory in '73 (209-2), and being named the meet's outstanding performer.
"Both coach (Augie) Erfurth and (Bobby) May were in the main stadium when I threw my collegiate PR that day and it had not come over the PA yet. I was walking from the throwing venue at Clark Field, just outside Memorial Stadium, back into the stadium, when I ran into coach May. He asked me how I did, and I clearly remember the astonished look on his face when I told him the distance. Later that same day I threw my collegiate shot PR as well. That was a good day."
But after winning two in a row, Stadel's final collegiate season brought only pain and trouble. "The bitter memory lingers from my senior year, when I stayed in Houston with a back injury and never even attended the Relays. That was a tough one to swallow. In fact, it left such a bad taste in my mouth that a couple of years later I called Cleburne Price (then-Longhorns coach and Relays director) and asked him if I could come back and throw at the Relays as a guest competitor. He allowed me to do it, and I threw 218', which stood as the stadium record for some time, but as a guest it did not count as a Relays win."
In 1978, though, Stadel was an "official" competitor again and set an invitational men's record that still stands 28 years later. Competing for the Tobias TC, Stadel launched the platter 212-9 to etch his name in the books.
With the second-generation Carters, including 2006 NCAA indoor shot champ Michelle, her sister D'Andra, who is an up-and-coming thrower at Texas Tech, and Stadel's son Luke, the defending WAC shot put champion, in action at the 2007 Relays, fans can look for more big things from the blue-collar stars of the sport.