THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, April 7, 1995 TAG: 9504070668
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ED MILLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
Across the corner from Norfolk State's Gill Gymnasium, inside a new eight-foot stadium fence, hard asphalt gives way to the soft bounce of a brand-new, unraced-upon, eight-lane polyurethane track.
The springy surface is painted green, with gold lane markers. It feels fast underfoot, even through street shoes.
``It is fast,'' says Norfolk State track coach Steve Riddick. ``The fastest.''
Riddick's assessment is not exactly unbiased, but it can't be taken lightly. The man knows a thing or two about speed.
Easily the greatest track athlete in Norfolk State history, Riddick was one of the fastest men in the world from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s. He won a gold medal in the 1976 Olympics as a member of the United States 4x100-meter relay team.
Now Riddick has returned home to rebuild the Spartans' men's track program. The team will make its home debut under Riddick Saturday at the Norfolk State Relays.
To Riddick, the track is a symbol of Norfolk State's renewed commitment to track, a sport that had its heydey in the 1970s under former coach Dick Price, now the athletic director.
``It's the best facility around,'' Riddick said. ``It shows the university is making a commitment.''
To Price, the track is the payoff of a promise made three decades ago, when he came to Norfolk State.
``They promised me this 30 years ago when they hired me,'' Price said, laughing.
There has never been a track meet on Norfolk State's campus because the school has never had a track to call its own. When Price was coaching and Riddick was running, ``We ran around Lake Taylor High School,'' Price recalls.
``We ran through the streets right around the campus,'' Price said. ``The only time we had a home meet was at Foreman Field.''
In recent years, the men's and women's teams have practiced at Norfolk Academy, and it was not uncommon to see them running around the concourse at Echols Arena. Despite this, the Norfolk State women have had one of the nation's top programs under coach LaVerne Sweat.
The track has been so long in coming that Price joked that if he died Sunday, he'd die happy, because he would have lived to see a track meet at Norfolk State.
The meet itself is a continuation of the old Norfolk Relays, which were held at Foreman Field from 1965 to 1974, and at Booker T. Washington High from 1975 to 1983.
The meet, which begins at 9 a.m., will feature high school, college, olympic-development, Special Olympics and masters (over 40) competition. Riddick is serving as competition director, in charge of bringing in the talent.
``My objective is not to bring in a lot of world-class talent initially, but to inaugurate this track with a smooth, well-run meet,'' he said.
Indeed, Riddick returned to his office on Tuesday to find a phone message from world-class sprinter Dennis Mitchell, calling to say he may not be able to run.
With a little more time and a lot more money, Riddick says he could easily have brought in a dozen Olympians to christen the track. But uncertainty over the track's completion date put him behind schedule, without time to raise the corporate cash needed to lure track's fast-lane performers.
Look for next year's meet to have more big names, Riddick says. As for Saturday, Riddick is still hoping that Mitchell might show, and hopeful that Virginia Beach's Andre Cason, who has been working out on the track, might run as well.
Heading up the college field is George Mason, which was second in the NCAA indoor meet recently, and Norfolk State, which was fourth in the Division II indoor meet. The Norfolk State women, led by national spring and long jump champion Chandra Sturrup, will compete.
``There hasn't been a field like this since I was running here,'' Riddick said.
Tickets are $5 for adults, $2 for students. Call the NSU ticket office at 683-9009. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by RICHARD L. DUNSTON, Staff
Norfolk State track coach Steve Riddick, a former Spartan and
Olympic gold medalist, says the new facility is the best around.
by CNB