Moment in Ohio HS History - Dayton Roth's 3:14.8 Record Team

[mosbyjuan]

Everyone must have forgotten about the 1982 Roth's 4x400m relay team that still holds the state record for AA

 

[JAVMAN83]

Everyone must have forgotten about the 1982 Roth's 4x400m relay team that still holds the state record for AA

Do you mean this one?

3:14.57 Dayton Roth = Quinthony Brown (11), Michael McCray, Juan Mosby, Laron Brown (12) AA 1st Final Region 8 Welcome Stadium, Dayton 28 May 1982

Hardly forgotten about. I have it as currently in my well unfinished 4x400m relay list as the #18 performance in Ohio history.

 

[JAVMAN83]

No. That's the price you pay by killing the old H.S. The records of the old ones get destroyed and the whole thing starts over, as if history never happened. Try finding records for Dayton Roosevelt, as if they never had any.

That is being RECTIFIED. The "Teddies" live again in my ever-growing database.

 

[JAVMAN83]

I see from this year's listed 4x400m record at the Region 4 (Wayne) meet that they still list the MILE relay time of 3:14.8 (it was hand-timed, not FAT as indicated) of Dayton Roth at the 1980 Class AAA District (as what the Region 4 Division I meet was called then).

 

[SLS]

LaRon Brown's father is Abdul Singh, a noteworthy master's sprinter who ran for the Dayton Master's Track Club .

La Ron went on to run at the University of Texas after transferring from Tennessee when his track coach Stan Huntsman took the Texas head coaching job. At Tennessee he played football and was an All American in track. As part of an all star team running for the South in 1983 he was part of a 4x400 team that ran 2:59:9. At some point he probably against Michael Johnson of Baylor since Texas and Baylor were both in the SWC at the same. In 1983 Brown was ranked #8 in the US in the 400m ( not sure if that was collegiately or overall). In 1984 he ran the 400 in the Olympic Trials. He ran a lot of solid races at Texas and played wide receiver. In 1987 he was drafted as a wide receiver by the Washington Redskins but was later waived.

His wife Benita Fitzgerald-Brown placed 4th in 1988 US Olympic Trials 100 m hurdles in 12.94, with LaVonna Martin edging her out for 3rd in 12.93.

 

[JAVMAN83]

LaRon Brown's father is Abdul Singh, a noteworthy master's sprinter who ran for the Dayton Master's Track Club .

La Ron went on to run at the University of Texas after transferring from Tennessee when his track coach Stan Huntsman took the Texas head coaching job. At Tennessee he played football and was an All American in track. As part of an all star team running for the South in 1983 he was part of a 4x400 team that ran 2:59:9. At some point he probably against Michael Johnson of Baylor since Texas and Baylor were both in the SWC at the same. In 1983 Brown was ranked #8 in the US in the 400m ( not sure if that was collegiately or overall). In 1984 he ran the 400 in the Olympic Trials. He ran a lot of solid races at Texas and played wide receiver. In 1987 he was drafted as a wide receiver by the Washington Redskins but was later waived.

His wife Benita Fitzgerald-Brown placed 4th in 1988 US Olympic Trials 100 m hurdles in 12.94, with LaVonna Martin edging her out for 3rd in 12.93.

Interesting information there, but a number of corrections/additions must be made.

Laron Brown, not LaRon Brown. His 1982 Dayton Roth yearbook, pg. 68 shows this clearly, and every other source I've ever seen referenced in newspapers and publciations show Laron. If he's changed it since then, it's news to us.

In 1983, Laron was the #7 collegiate runner in the U.S. according the the U.S. lists from the Jan. 1984 edition of Track & Field News. He was the #29 performer in the world with a personal best of 45.45 seconds in 1983. That's quite an improvement for a freshmen from his HS best of 46.7 MT!

Laron was indeed the lead-off leg for the South team that won the USOC Olympic Festival in early July of 1983 @ Colorado Springs. The time was 2:59.91

Laron made it to the quarter-finals of the 1984 OT where he placed 7th in quarter-final #4 with a time of 46.20

 

[KingHorn419]

Top 10 NFL 400m Sprinters:

Tommie Smith - 44.5
Rod Jones - 44.94
Travis Hannah - 45.17
Johnnie Barnes - 45.21
Pat Johnson - 45.38
Glenn Davis - 45.4
Waddel Smith - 45.44
Laron Brown - 45.45
Michael Jennings - 45.55
Scott Turner - 45.69

 

[SLS]

Interesting information there, but a number of corrections/additions must be made.

Laron Brown, not LaRon Brown. His 1982 Dayton Roth yearbook, pg. 68 shows this clearly, and every other source I've ever seen referenced in newspapers and publciations show Laron. If he's changed it since then, it's news to us.

In 1983, Laron was the #7 collegiate runner in the U.S. according the the U.S. lists from the Jan. 1984 edition of Track & Field News. He was the #29 performer in the world with a personal best of 45.45 seconds in 1983. That's quite an improvement for a freshmen from his HS best of 46.7 MT!

Laron was indeed the lead-off leg for the South team that won the USOC Olympic Festival in early July of 1983 @ Colorado Springs. The time was 2:59.91

Laron made it to the quarter-finals of the 1984 OT where he placed 7th in quarter-final #4 with a time of 46.20

I'm usually a stickler for spelling. Not sure why I did that when all of the articles I read clearly say "Laron".

 

[JAVMAN83]

Top 10 NFL 400m Sprinters:

Tommie Smith - 44.5
Rod Jones - 44.94
Travis Hannah - 45.17
Johnnie Barnes - 45.21
Pat Johnson - 45.38
Glenn Davis - 45.4
Waddel Smith - 45.44
Laron Brown - 45.45
Michael Jennings - 45.55
Scott Turner - 45.69

I had no idea Glenn Davis played in the NFL, but that's before I was born

 

[TCSoup]

I had no idea Glenn Davis played in the NFL, but that's before I was born

He was Mr Outside to Doc Blanchards Mr Inside at West Point. One of the most famous College football running duos in the history of college football. In 51 and 52 played in back to back NFL Championship games with the Rams losing one and winning one.

 

[Mr. Slippery]

Just to clarify, the Glenn Davis who played at West Point and won the Heisman Trophy is not the same Glenn "Jeep" Davis who competed in track and field at Barberton HS and Ohio State and was a multiple time Olympic gold medalist.

I am wondering if the list about fastest 400m runners in NFL history posted earlier in the thread has conflated the two men.

 

[JAVMAN83]

Just to clarify, the Glenn Davis who played at West Point and won the Heisman Trophy is not the same Glenn "Jeep" Davis who competed in track and field at Barberton HS and Ohio State and was a multiple time Olympic gold medalist.

I am wondering if the list about fastest 400m runners in NFL history posted earlier in the thread has conflated the two men.

Thank you. Most definitely crossed wires. Jeep Davis ran for OSU

 

[Zezzo!]

Keith Byars was a tailback at OSU from 1982-1985. He than went on to the NFL. He did run on Roth's 1982 state championship team in the 4 x 100 relay (42.41). I can also tell you that Laron C. Brown II of Roth set a new state record in the 400m of 47.08 in 1981

He also played baseball at Roth.

 

[Lancermania]

Here are the listed times for Roth's qualifying times to the state meet from the Welcome stadium meet
1980 - 3:13.7 - AAA
1981 - 3:15.5 - AAA
1982 - 3:14.57 AA

 

[Lancermania]

Roth's time of 3:14.57 listed in the Wayne Regional program as the record from 1980 was run in AA not AAA in 1982 not 1980. Their 1980 regional time in AAA was a converted 3:13.7.

 

[Lancermania]

Attached is the picture of the Dayton AAA Regional winning mile relay team, Dayton Roth, who ran 3:14.8 in 1980 for the MILE relay, not the 1600m relay.

Great team...unfortunately, for years, and to this day still, the Region 4 record is listed as 3:14.80 (it was MT, not FAT) for the 1600m relay. There is 30' 8" difference between the two, the 1600m being shorter. The record should read as 3:13.7 MT, not 3:14.80.

I hope in the future that the Region 4 powers that be will rectify this record. To allow a current team to run somewhere between 3:13.7 and 3:14.8 and take the record would do a disservice to that great Roth team.

My 2 cents.

The time of 3:13.7 is the time listed in the state meet program from 1980 as their qualifying time from the District qualifier at Welcome stadium

 

[JAVMAN83]

Roth's time of 3:14.57 listed in the Wayne Regional program as the record from 1980 was run in AA not AAA in 1982 not 1980. Their 1980 regional time in AAA was a converted 3:13.7.

Which/what year Wayne Region 4 program are you referring to, Lancermania? Looking at the FinishTiming "Live Results" link shows the Region 4 record as being 3:14.80 (which should be 3:14.8 MT) from 1980. However, as we all know, OHSAA decided sometime back in the 1980s to pretend that the 3:14.8 was run over 4x400 meters, and not the 4x440 yard race it actually was. You are correct, of course, that the 3:14.57 was from Roth's very last year in existence, 1982, at the then Dayton AA Regional, not in AAA competition.

 

[JAVMAN83]

The time of 3:13.7 is the time listed in the state meet program from 1980 as their qualifying time from the District qualifier at Welcome stadium

So, OHSAA did inititially recognize the converted mark of 3:13.7, but then decided later to pretend that the 3:14.8 was over 4x400 meters instead of the 4x440 yards which it actually was in 1980. I believe that is called mental gymnastics in many circles. As you and I, and many others in this statistical business do, unless an actual clock is at the point of the record distance, converted marks don't count as records. Those marks from the yards era, while historically significant, and in a number of cases BETTER than today's metric records, are treated as retired marks or converted marks without assigning any record affiliation with them. That is what I do with my lists. The marks co-exist with metric marks, but are not assigned record consideration unless a race like the mile itself has individual event record standing.

As a reminder for those not familiar with Welcome Stadium's past history, Welcome was configured as a 440 yard facility through the 1981 season. In 1982, it was configured for the 400 meters. There is no ambiguity or question as to this. I competed in the 1981 & 1983 AA regional meets at Welcome, so I'm intimately familiar with the facility at that time.

 

[Lancermania]

The thread starter was referring to the AA state record which Roth still holds to this day and was run on a metric track in 1982.

Now the record listed in the Wayne regional DI, R4 program is incorrect since it is a time in yards not meters., The 3:13.7 time as listed in the state meet program was put there by the OHSAA for comparison purposes because I'm assuming one or more of the other regionals ran their meet in meters not yards. As JAVMAN explains the converted time of 3:13.7 cannot be used as the record but I've read it can be used for seeding as was done in 1980.