We’ve grown up in the land of LeBron James and football legends. But scores of professional athletes have faced off in The 330, from boxers throwing punches in the iconic Akron Armory to Olympic weightlifters getting their start in a community gym. Get ready: It’s game time in The 330.
Mark Croghan
Olympic Steeplechase Runner
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For 30 or so years, Mark Croghan has been running the long race. Starting as a distance runner in seventh grade, Croghan, now 50, found his stride in steeplechase, a distance race where runners clear hurdles and water jumps, at Ohio State University. The five-time national champion went to three Olympics, in 1992, 1996 and 2000. The Wadsworth resident inspired the next generation as a Kent State University coach for 11 years, leading the men’s cross-county team to its first Mid-American Conference title, and recently became fieldhouse facilities and operations manager at Kent State.
“I fell in love right away. I liked the barriers and the water jump and how that kind of broke the monotony of a normal distance race.
Every time you step on the start line, there’s that little shadow of doubt. Overcoming those doubts and fears was the most fun. Crossing the finish line after running a P.R. [personal record] or winning a race start: It’s a feeling that hasn’t been matched by anything else.
Being thrown into the pageantry of the Olympics was a bit overwhelming. I didn’t run as well as I would’ve liked. That experience in ’92 was a springboard to better performances in the ‘93 world championships: I finished fifth, within one second of the medals, and I ran the best race of my career.
No matter how well I ran, I was always chasing the same goals. The goal was to get a medal. Finishing fifth and not making the medals was frustrating.
Later on, [I] felt at peace with what happened. I realized that it was an amazing time in my life. To do it for 12 years and go to places and experience things that I know most people won’t get to, I’ve been very lucky. Part of it was being content with what I was able to accomplish as an athlete. And just enjoy being a husband and a father and a colleague, and trying to do those things the best I can.
It’s a matter of doing something as well as you can with the abilities you’ve been given, whether that’s going to the Olympics or finishing a 10K. That’s the great thing about running: There are different measures of success.”
as told to Kelly Petryszyn
Carol Heiss Jenkins
Olympic Figure Skater
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At the tender age of 16, Carol Heiss won the silver medal for figure skating in the 1956 Olympics. That immense honor was almost eclipsed by the fact that it was also her 16th birthday, and the men’s gold medalist and Akron native, Hayes Jenkins, kissed her on the cheek. The two wed a few years later, moved to The 330 and will celebrate their 58th anniversary this spring. Now 77 and living in Westlake, Heiss Jenkins went on to capture the gold in 1960 and still coaches young skaters at Serpentini Winterhurst Arena in Lakewood.
“I remember at Squaw Valley [,California,] in ‘60, all the athletes stayed in one Olympic Village. It was so much fun because, at that time, the Russians were all sort of elusive, and it was fun to sit at the picnic table having lunch with some of the Russian athletes because it was new for them to be in it. It was quite an experience to have them there. I was 20 years old, so it made a big difference to me when we marched in the closing ceremony with some of the Russian skaters and hockey players.
Winning the Olympic gold medal, you stand on the podium, and they play your national anthem, and then the American flag is flying in your honor. Amazingly enough, you never lose that feeling. It’s very vivid in my mind, even after all these years. First you feel very patriotic, and then it’s like you almost can’t believe that the moment has happened because from the time I was 5 years old, I was dreaming of being on the Olympic team and of the gold medal. For it to come true, it’s just amazing.
It’s always been a passion with me, even coaching now. I walk into a rink, put my hands on those doors to come into a rink and just feel at home.”
as told to Sharon Cebula
James D. George
Olympic weightlifter
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Weightlifting began as an escape for James D. George and his brother, Pete. While the sons of Bulgarian immigrants trained at the Barnholth brothers’ Akron weightlifting gym to forget the desolate Great Depression, weightlifting became a lifelong passion that led them to compete alongside each other in the 1956 Melbourne, Australia, Olympics. At those games, James set two world records: a snatch of 303 pounds and a clean and jerk of 389 pounds, and he won a bronze medal. He went on to earn a silver medal in the 1960 Rome Olympics. Now 82 , James lives in Copley and works at his longtime Akron dental practice.
“The Barnholth brothers produced two Olympians, three world competitors and seven or eight national champions. That’s an impossibility. These guys were genius motivators. They stressed discipline. The idea that kids from East Akron could end up traveling the world, that was part of my motivation.
Lifting weights is like a contact sport without another human. You get the feeling of weight. The pressure of weight is a very gratifying thing.
I was slightly bigger than my brother. He was a middleweight. I was a light heavyweight. We didn’t have any head-on competition, although there was some sibling rivalry. It was quite an experience.
You are competing against the best in the world. You have to pinch yourself and say, Am I really here? It is very humbling.
Any athlete will tell you that when you’re standing on the podium, hearing your national anthem played, there’s no feeling like it. Unabashedly, there were tears coming out of my eyes.
To be perfectly honest, I thought I was going to win the Rome Olympics. Although it is wonderful to win second, it was somewhat of a disappointment to lose. Age has a way of changing perspective. There was only one person in the world at that time that could beat me. In life if I can say, my golly, I’m second in the world at everything I do, wouldn’t that be incredible?”
as told to Kelly Petryszyn
THE SPORTS MINUTES:
Akron Vulcans
The Akron Vulcans extinguished before they even caught a spark. The team with a flaming logo was named after the process of vulcanizing rubber in Akron, but since it started in 1967, more people equated them with Leonard Nimoy’s Vulcan TV character, Spock, on “Star Trek.” The irony soon became apparent as the Vulcans came nowhere near living long or prospering. Before its season with the Continental Football League even started at the Rubber Bowl, its coach and general manager left, igniting rumors that owner Frank Hurn was in financial trouble. Turns out the rumors were true. After a 1-3 record, the debt-ridden team disbanded and officials embarrassingly raided the box office to pay the players and sold equipment to regain money. At least they make the winless Cleveland Browns look good. Maybe?
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Akron Black Stockings
The clock resets at the start of each Akron Black Stockings game. An umpire leaning on a cane and sporting a top hat and a long-tailed three-piece suit declares that it’s the 1860s, “a time period when men were gentlemen, and women were ladies, and a man’s word was his honor.” A part of the Vintage Base Ball Association, the team stepped up to the plate at Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens in 1995 to keep the spirit of gentlemanly competition alive. Using 1860s rules and vocab, players in long-sleeved period uniforms hit a small, softer ball with thin bats and catch with no gloves (ouch) as “cranks” (in modern words, fans) cheer them on in hopes of scoring a “tally,” er, run.
Motozilli
A little piece of Hollywood is parked in the new Warren motorcycle museum, Motozilli. The museum shows off this Junior Speedway bike — one of only 10 — that’s a scaled-down replica of the one that Bruce Penhall raced. He was later in the ‘90s film Chips about California Highway Patrol motorcycle officers. The Junior Speedway was one wild ride: There were no brakes. “Give it gas and hold on,” recalls Jim Iacozili, owner of the bike and of Triumph Yamaha of Warren. Motozilli is a joy ride through the Northeast Ohio motorcycle racing scene Iacozili and other speedsters were a part of with prized bikes, trophies, jerseys and more. triumphyamahaofwarren.com
Akron BMX Museum
Akron BMX came out on top its first year. After volunteers fought to keep a local BMX track when Stow BMX was demolished to make way for the high school, officials opened Akron BMX near the Derby Downs in 1985. That year, the Akron BMX team competed in the Battle of the Tracks in Marietta and scored a first place overall for Ohio trophy, which is on display in the Akron BMX Museum alongside other accolades and gear. The track is the biggest in Ohio and has been named a Top 10 East USA BMX track. In September, the track plays host to the USA BMX North East Gold Cup Finals. usabmx.com/tracks/1886
Akron Armory
In the ‘50s and ‘60s, this 2,500-seat High Street venue packed in capacity crowds for high-profile wrestlers and boxers like Haystacks Calhoun, Earnie Shavers and Dr. Sam Sheppard (?!). Strangely, Sheppard, the Bay Village doctor famously convicted of killing his wife and later acquitted, tag-teamed with friend George “The Great George” Strickland to wrestle competitors in 1969. The last boxing match took place on April 5, 1980, after a popularity surge in baseball and basketball overtook boxing and brought an end to the historic venue in 1982.
Ascot Park
Akronites were off to the races at Ascot Park in the 1940s. Horse-racing spectators flocked to the uniquely short three-quarter-mile track that allowed them to view horses clearly, even on the backstretch. Local lore preserves the story of Chiffon who won the Gold Cup in 1951 after running the race pregnant and Loyal Son who won the Ascot Gold Cup in 1967 despite entering as the underdog. In the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, the park hosted circuses and motorcycle races. Marred by vandalism and deemed a safety hazard, the grandstands were demolished in 1976 in a firefighter-training exercise.
Akron Wingfoots
LeBron James and his Cleveland Cavaliers aren’t the only ballers to sport the wingfoot logo on their jerseys. The Akron Wingfoots were formed by Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. workers, who donned jerseys with their company logo, in 1918, making it one of the oldest U.S. basketball teams. Before James’ iconic Nike shoes, the Wingfoots promoted early rubber- and canvas-based shoes. In 1937, 10 Midwest manufacturing companies formed the National Basketball League, and the Wingfoots won their first NBL title in 1938, defeating their rival, the Firestone Non-Skids. The Akron Wingfoots remained in ever-changing leagues until the mid-1970s when Goodyear ended team sponsorship. The name is now used for a privately owned National Amateur Athletic Union team.
