For the past 100 years “The Garden” has been the focal point of America’s sport world. Many of our country’s major sports events and championships have been presented there. I grew up with The Garden as the Meca of the sports world. Thus, imagine my surprise and pleasure when while I was living in the New York area a friend of mine who ran for the New York Athletic Club asked me if I would like to represent his team in the Melrose Games at The Garden. This track event served as the National Amateur Indoor Track and Field Championships.
It seems that his team did not at that time have a long jumper, an event that I had done well in while in college five years before, so my friend suggested me as a fill-in. I was, of course greatly excited by the opportunity even though I knew I was too far out of shape to do anything serious in this event. A chance to compete in The Garden, even though I knew I would not do well, was impossible to refuse. My friend provided me with a Participant’s Pass and I just walked into The Garden and went to the dressing room. After suiting up I walked out onto the track before 10,000 fans and started to get really excited.
For me my own event was not the main attraction. I jumped a bit over 20 feet, a couple feet less than what I had jumped in college, and surprisingly I did not come in last. My event was won by Paul Herman from NYU who jumped around 25 feet. For me the main event was the spectacle of the Garden itself, jammed full of cheering fans yelling for their particular favorite. I starred upwards in absolute awe and wonder. During the competition I stood about 10 feet from John Thomas of Boston University when he high jumped 7 feet for a new indoor world record, and a little further off when Perry O’Brien form USC broke the indoor shotput record. I must admit that I was quite dazed and in awe of the whole thing.
However, what I found to be the most interesting “event” was the challenge that all competitors faced in trying to stay out on the track to watch the various events close-hand. You see, the indoor track area was so small that some officials, in order to view the on-going events. all decked out in tuxedos, were assigned to walk around and shoo those of us who had already competed back into the locker-room to make room for the current events. One guy called these officials “Penguins” and that’s what they looked like, waddling around trying to shoo us off the floor inside the track. Of course, none of us who had already competed were about to give up our closeup view of the on-going events.
So I soon realized what the trick was. We simply stayed ahead of the Penguins as they waddled along, moving slowly around inside the track and then we had the best seats in the house. So this turned out to be one of the most interesting events of the night, this crowd of non-current participants staying ahead of the officials just far enough to remain “out of harm’s way”. This whole evening was truly one of the highlights of my athletic career, even though I did not do very well in my own event. To have actually competed in The Garden was indeed more than just memorable. The year was 1959.