INDIANAPOLIS — Olympic gold medalist and former American record holder Michael Marsh, two-time World Indoor champion Terrence Trammell, former world record holder and Olympic gold medalist Maxey Long, Olympic silver medalist and former American record holder Kathy McMillan and announcer Scott Davis were elected into the National Track & Field Hall of Fame, USA Track & Field announced today. The Class of 2021, comprised of two Modern Athletes, two Veteran Athletes and one Contributor, will be inducted at the Night of Legends, December 5, 2021 in Orlando, Florida, as part of USATF’s Annual Meeting. Following the induction ceremony, Class of 2021 memorabilia will be sent to the National Track & Field Hall of Fame at The Armory in New York City.
MICHAEL MARSH Born: August 4, 1967 If not for a move halfway across the country and a change of training groups and coaches, Michael Marsh might never have fulfilled the potential that saw him win a California high school 200m title as part of the legendary Hawthorne program in 1985. Marsh was a good but not great sprinter for the Bruins of UCLA, with his highest NCAA placing in the 100m a bronze in 1987. The next year he was fourth at the collegiate championships and then sixth at the Olympic Trials, earning him an alternate spot on the ill-fated U.S. 4x100m relay for Seoul. In the fall of 1990, after seeing no improvement during his first two post-collegiate seasons, Marsh picked up sticks and moved from the West Coast to Houston to train with the Santa Monica Track Club under the supervision of Tom Tellez and Mike Takaha. That move paid off almost immediately in 1991 with anchor duty in the first round of the World Championships 4x100 at Tokyo, where the U.S. went on to take gold in the final with a world record. Then came the big breakthrough. At the Mt. SAC Relays in April of 1992, Marsh sped to a lifetime best of 9.93 in the 100m and then notched his first sub-20 200m clocking with a 19.94 at Austin, Texas, in early May. Earning another relay berth with a fourth-place finish in the 100m at the Trials, Marsh took second to Michael Johnson in the 200m with a big PR of 19.86, a time that only five men in history had bettered at that point. In the third of four Olympic rounds at Barcelona in the 200m, Marsh cruised a relaxed 19.73, an American and Olympic record and only 0.01 short of the world record. Many observers felt he could have easily broken the world record had he realized he was that close. Knowing relaxation was the key to the effort, Marsh tried it again in the final. "I relaxed so much," he told Track & Field News's Dave Johnson, "I didn't even drive out of the blocks." He had to play catchup with Namibia's Frank Fredericks and eked out the win in 20.01. Running the leadoff leg on the 4x100, Marsh picked up another gold as Team USA set the world record with a 37.40. A finalist in the 200m at the 1993 World Championships and in the 100m at the 1995 Worlds, Marsh added a silver to his Olympic medal collection in 1996 handling the third leg on the 4x100. In 1995 he won the USATF 100m crown, the only U.S. title of his career. TERRENCE TRAMMELL Born: November 23, 1978 An upset win in the 110m hurdles at the 1997 USATF Junior Championships signaled the start of a long career at the elite level for three-time Olympian Terrence Trammell that would produce multiple medals across indoor and outdoor global championships. That 13.87 over the 42-inch barriers was the fourth-fastest ever by a high schooler at the time, and Trammell credited it to his prep coach, Napoleon Cobb, who stressed good technique. It didn't hurt that Trammell also had some of the best top-end flat speed ever seen in the hurdles world. Earlier that year, Trammell set a national high school indoor record in the 60m hurdles. A product of Southwest DeKalb High School in Decatur, Georgia, where one of his teammates was Olympic 400m hurdles gold medalist Angelo Taylor, Trammell was named High School Athlete of the Year by Track & Field News and he was a prized recruit for the University of South Carolina. Football's loss was track's gain, since Trammell was also highly rated on the gridiron and had strong interest from many of the sport's powerhouse programs. In his three years at South Carolina, Trammell twice won the NCAA hurdles double, taking gold indoors in the 60H and outdoors in the 110H in 1999 & 2000. After capturing his first senior U.S. title with a 60H win at the USATF Indoor Championships, he also won the 60m at the 2000 NCAA indoor meet, joining Willie Gault as the only men in NCAA meet history to complete the dash/hurdles double. Capping off that memorable season, Trammell won his first global medal with a silver in the 110H at the Sydney Olympic Games. Choosing to forego his senior collegiate season, Trammell won the USATF Indoors 60H in 2001, and then won his first of two golds in that event at the World Indoor Championships. Over the next nine seasons he would earn seven more medals, including a second Olympic silver in the 110H in 2004 and another World Indoor gold in the 60H in 2006. Trammell ended up with three World Championships 110H silvers in 2003, 2007 and 2009. Trammell set an American record of 7.36 in the 60H to take silver at the 2010 World Indoor Championships in Doha, and he twice cracked the 13.00 barrier in the 110H, ending up with a best of 12.95 from 2007. Coupled with his 6.45 PR in the 60m and a 10.04 best in the 200m, Trammell etched his name in the books as the best combined sprinter/hurdler of his time. An advocate for athlete rights, Trammell serves as president of the USATF Alumni Board and has been involved in the USATF Athletes' Advisory Committee. He also has a sports apparel company and has worked with youth athletes in speed development, track and field and football.
MAXEY LONG Born: October 16, 1878 Died: March 4, 1959 As the calendar moved from the 19th century to the 20th, Maxwell Washburn "Maxey" Long was a dominant quartermiler on the world scene, capturing three straight AAU titles for the New York Athletic Club in the 440-yards from 1898-1900 and winning Olympic gold at Paris in 1900. Long also won the 1899 AAU 220y and the 1900 AAU 100y, and was the IC4A 440y champion for Columbia University in 1899. Long's fastest time in the 440y was a 47.8 in 1900, a mark that stood as the best in the world around a curve for more than 15 years, but he also ran a straightaway 47.0 at the Guttenberg Racetrack in North Bergen, New Jersey, that year. Though some later questioned the validity of the timing for that effort, it wasn't matched until 1915. In 1897, Long was a member of the NYAC 4x440y relay team that set a world record of 3:21 2/5. KATHY MCMILLAN Born: November 7, 1957 Barely out of North Carolina's Hoke County High School, Kathy McMillan set an American record to win the women's long jump on June 12 at the 1976 AAU Championships, spanning 6.78m/22-3 to add more than seven inches to the existing national record. A week later she won the Olympic Trials with a mark that matched her record leap, albeit with an illegal aiding wind. In fact, all three of her legal jumps would have been good enough to win. The 18-year-old wunderkind had even more magic when she made her first Olympic appearance just over a month later at Montreal. Easing into the final after placing tenth in the qualifying round, McMillan opened with a foul and then steadily improved on her next four attempts, going 6.66m/21-10.25 in round five to grab the silver, less than three inches away from gold. A precocious talent, McMillan made her first international appearance for Team USA as a high schooler at the 1975 Pan American Games, where she earned bronze. She improved that to gold in 1979 and added a bronze at the IAAF World Cup. McMillan would have made her second Olympic trip in 1980 after placing second at the Trials but was thwarted by the U.S. boycott. In 1983, she picked up her second straight Pan Am Games gold to close out an illustrious international career. Domestically, McMillan won two AAU outdoor golds (1976 & 1979) and two AAU indoor golds (1977 & 1979).
SCOTT DAVIS Born: September 21, 1943 Died: August 18, 2010 With his booming voice and a personality to match, Scott Davis was one of the premier national and international track and field announcers from the 1980s until his untimely death from cancer in 2010. A clear and concise speaker who could use his statistics background to break down even the most complex of track and field situations for fans in the stands, Davis also had a world-class sense of humor. His passion for the sport showed through at every meet he announced, from home meets at his alma mater, UCLA, to the IAAF World Championships. Davis was the meet announcer for the Nike Prefontaine Classic for 21 years and served as lead announcer at several IAAF World Junior and World Youth meets in addition to his duties at senior events. He was the director of the Mt. SAC Relays for 20 years, where he doubled up as the announcer. Outside the stadium, Davis was a co-founder and president of the Federation of American Statisticians of Track (FAST), serving as editor of the FAST Annual for 32 years. He was also Secretary General of the ATFS, the international statisticians group, and helped found the Track & Field Writers of America (TAFWA).
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