HIGH SCHOOL

Remembering the 1983 state track champs from Harding

Many members and coaches of the 1983 Harding boys track team that won the Class AAA state championship reunited Friday night at Harding Stadium.

Rob McCurdy
Reporter
Coaches and athletes who competed on the 1983 boys track team at Harding reunited Friday night at the Marion Night Invitational to honor their Class AAA state championship. Head coach Rick Huddle of that squad is in the red hat.

MARION - David Jones played football at Holy Cross, lived in Europe and now is a vice president of sales for a database company in Washington, D.C., but thoughts of a long ago day are never far away.

Mike Jackson, who still lives in Marion and is a technician at TODCO, wakes up from dreams about it to this day.

Rick Huddle, the retired coach who oversaw it, is reminded of it all the time.

On June 4, 1983, four Harding teens and some coaches went to Columbus and won the Class AAA boys track and field championship inside Ohio State's Ohio Stadium.

"It's amazing," Huddle said after seeing some of the squad reunited Friday night along with former assistants Cheryl Huffman, Rex and Kirk Ballinger and Malcolm Wright. "Thirty-three years. Thirty-three years. Incredible."

What the Prexies did that season was incredible.

"We had a really special team, and not just the four guys who won the state meet, but the entire team kind of rallied around our coach," Jones said. "We started running in the mornings. The level of dedication we saw there was unprecedented."

Huddle was in his first year as the head boys track coach at Harding. After serving as an assistant for Lee Myers in the mid-to-late 1970s, he stepped away from track for a couple of years. But when Myers gave up the job, he stumped for Huddle to replace him.

"I knew what we had and everything fell into place," Huddle said.

Special training

Over the winter, before his first season, Huddle started holding indoor workouts at 6:30 a.m., which was ahead of its time.

"They believed in themselves and would do anything I asked them to do and anything it would take," Huddle said. "It turned into a winner."

At first it was a dedicated few who awoke early to come to school, but soon everyone was taking part in the workouts, even the girls team, according to Jones.

"(Huddle) managed to bond everyone together," Jones said. "It was about trust and faith that we were going to do something great."

It helped to have a couple of blue-chippers in Zorba Ross and Robert Pittman as well as Jones and Jackson. But there were others.

"People think it was just four kids who went to state — and there were — but they forget that we had 11 regional competitors. That is so unusual," Huddle said. "We won that (regional) going away. We set a record that will probably never be broken. We were peaking at the right time."

Jackson and Jones said the regional was the pinnacle for the vaunted 4x400-meter relay squad that included Ross and Pittman.

"When we were at Mount Vernon (for regionals), we ran some incredible times," Jackson said, adding that they clocked around a 3:14, which was among the best in the nation for high schoolers at the time. "They say we peaked that day, but I believe if we had another week, we probably would have done better."

Instead, they got rested and ready inside a week.

State champs

Ross, who did not attend Friday's reunion at the Marion Night Invitational, and Pittman carried the day in the Horseshoe. Ross scored 21.5 points, winning the long jump at 23-1 1/4, finishing second in the 400-meter run at 48.39 and going sixth in the 200 at 22.62. Pittman won the 110 high hurdles championship in 14.36 and was third in the 300 hurdles in 37.13.

By the time of the mile relay, the Presidents had the state title in hand over Berea.

"We knew we were going to win the meet, but our pride and joy was that 1600-meter relay team," Jones said. "Had we run what we ran the week before, we would have won it, but unfortunately we didn't."

The Prexies mustered a time of 3:19.52 to finish third behind Cincinnati Princeton's 3:18.39 and ultimately end up with 41 team points to beat Berea's 28, Massillon Washington's 26, Cleveland St. Ignatius' 24, Alliance's 22 and Columbus West's 21. Fellow Buckeye Conference member Findlay was ninth with 16 points.

"We were actually a little depressed," Jones said with a laugh. "If you saw a couple of photos, although we had won the state meet, we were actually slightly depressed about the fact that we didn't win."

Thirty-three years later, it's mostly smiles and laughs.

"From our freshman to our senior year, Marion Harding was quite recognized," Jackson said. "We'd show up to a track meet and the runners from other schools would say, 'Oh, there goes those guys from Marion Harding.' They knew us. That was one of the great things right there, knowing that we worked hard and we were getting a lot of accolades behind it."

The accomplishments and camaraderie never left the Presidents.

"The hardest part for me today when I was actually thinking about the ceremony is the only people I'm going to miss are my mom and dad sitting right there," Jackson said, pointing to the lower corner of the stadium. "That's what got me."

It's what got Jones to come back from the East Coast for a weekend.

"It's fantastic to see my old teammates," he said, "and even more so to see Marion getting together and doing their thing. It's really nice to see the track and the state it is in."

Huddle said 1983 and all those involved remain a part of him.

"Those bonds are still there. They've never left," he said.

It's why grown men still dream of that youthful day in June.

"I think about it often because I actually miss these guys," Jackson said.

At least they have memories of 1983. At least they had a reunion to recognize that long-ago yet cherished season.

Rob McCurdy is the sports writer at The Marion Star and can be reached at rmccurdy@gannett.com, at work at 740-375-5158 or by cell 419-610-0998. On Twitter follow @McMotorsport.