The 72-year-old Gary native and former world record-holder in the 100-meter dash talks about the distortion of current sprint records because of the use of rubberized tracks, improved starting blocks and illegal steroids.
Q. You are retired as the associate head track coach at Illinois after helping the Illini claim 30 Big Ten individual championships and 16 Big Ten relay titles in your 18 years. What inspired you to get involved in track and field as a youngster growing up in Gary?
A. Jesse Owens came to Gary Roosevelt High School to speak when I was a junior in 1949. That’s how I was motivated to run. I wanted to break his records. His birthday was Sept. 12, 1913, and my birthday is Sept. 12, 1931. How ironic. Growing up on welfare was difficult for me and our family. My high school coach, Louis “Bo” Mallard, used to tell me, “Willie, if you win your race today, I will buy you a steak dinner.” You can imagine how I ate.
Q. As the Olympic Games prepare to begin in Athens, there is so much talk about steroid abuse among the track athletes. As a former world record-holder, how does that make you feel?
A. You cannot say you’re the best in the world if you’re using something illegal. I don’t think steroids should be accepted. And if anybody is caught using them, they should be eliminated. The steroid abuse is a little more widespread than just in track in my opinion.
Q. You defeated Olympic bronze medalist Ira Murchison and broke Jesse Owens’ 20-year-old 100-meter world record by a tenth of a second (10.1) during a meet in Berlin in 1956. How do you think your credentials stack up as a candidate for the Track and Field Hall of Fame?
A. I think my credentials are good enough to be admitted, if it’s the U.S. Track and Field Hall of Fame and not the Olympic Track and Field Hall of Fame. I didn’t make the Olympic team. It wasn’t because I wasn’t good enough. It was because I got drafted into the Army. I had to go to Ft. Knox, Ky. Then I suffered a leg injury. I was a two-time NCAA champion. Freshmen were not allowed to compete on the varsity when I was at Illinois. I was second in the NCAA as a sophomore in the 100. And I would never give up that world record later, that meant so much to me.
Q. Training and conditioning are so much better for today’s track and field athletes. Do you ever wonder what times you could have turned in under these circumstances?
A. I’m disappointed in some aspects. Records are being eliminated because they’re running on the rubberized surface. That makes a big difference. We had to shuffle and make a hole in the cinder track instead of using fancy starting blocks. And I never lifted weights in my life.
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