Died: Dick Bank, 90
On February 23, in Los Angeles; of heart failure. Best known for his “Look at Mills! Look at Mills!” interjection in NBC’s telecast of the ’64 Olympic 10K, Bank went on to do memorable work on CBS’s track series in ’69 and ’70. Blessed with an encyclopedic memory and a fierce attention to detail, he was one of the sport’s most savvy experts ever. He served as T&FN’s first HS Editor in the early ’50s.
Died: Edsel Curry, 97
On January 08, in Montrose, California; of natural causes. As a USC frosh took 2nd in the ’43 NCAA long jump and captained the Trojans the next year.
Died: Harry Groves, 89
On February 23. The head coach of Penn State for 38 years after 12 years at William & Mary, Groves coached 227 All-America athletes and 14 Olympians. A member of the USTFCCCA Hall Of Fame, he was a ’92 Olympic assistant and head men’s coach for the ’95 Worlds.
Died: Abadi Hadis, 22
On February 04, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, of an unspecified illness. One of only 5 runners in history who have broken 13:00, 27:00 & 59:00, he won bronze in the ’17 World XC at age 19. He World Ranked twice in the 10K, topped by No. 7 in ’17. In ’18 he was No. 5 at 5000.
Died: Vladimir Inozemtsev, 55
On February 05. Ukrainian triple jumper holds the Soviet Record at 58-8¾ (17.90), still good for =No. 10 on the all-time world list. World Ranked twice, topped by a No. 2 in ’89. ◻︎
