How times have changed 1959 to 2009

Discussion in 'The Tiger's Den' started by arizonafan, Sep 16, 2009.

  1. JohnLSU

    JohnLSU Tigers

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    Put it this way, Trindon Holliday's best time in the 100-yard dash is 10.00

    And Holliday is currently listed by LSU at 5-5, 161 as a senior.

    As for Reggie Bush, he posted a California high school state-best time in the 100-meter dash in 2002 at 10.42 seconds--but ultimately didn't pursue track because it interfered with spring football (LINK)
     
  2. LSUsupaFan

    LSUsupaFan Founding Member

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    You left out his greatest acheivement... Webster.
     
  3. Bengal B

    Bengal B Founding Member

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    I played football in high school with Mike Anderson who was an All American linebacker at LSU in the early 70's. It was no surprise that a big guy like Mike could win the state championship in the shotput but he also won the state championship in the pole vault. Most good pole vaulters are skinny guys.
     
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  4. arizonafan

    arizonafan Veteran Member

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    --Cannon wasn't just huge, but he was extremely fast... ran the 100-yard dash in 9.7 in high school and 9.5 at LSU as a sophomore (compare to the 1960 Olympics, where the fastest 100-yard dash run by anybody was 10.2 -- and that set the Olympic record at the time). Although they didn't do the 40-yard dash back then, Cannon is estimated to have run a sub-4.4 forty

    I think you all may be getting yards & meters mixed up. Back in Billy's day most of the races in the US were in yards but the Olympics were always meters. The 10.2 had to be meters as well as Trindon's 10.0 is in meters. A 100 meter dash is about 110 yards and Trindon's time is .2 faster than the 1960 Olympic record which really puts his speed in perspective. I'm pretty sure that Cannon's winning time in the SEC championship his senior year was 9.4 for 100 yards which is still BLAZING, especially for a guy his size. I'm not really sure how this time would extrapolate to the greater distance of 100 meters. Cannon was taller and heavier than most of the sprinters even today. They are usually larger than Trindon but smaller than Billy with the exception in height of THE FREAK Usain Bolt and even he is lighter than Billy. Also back in 1959 when Billy ran the training methods weren't nearly as advanced as they are today. When you add in the fact that he also won the shot put( I don't know of anyone else who has done this) it REALLY puts Billy's athletic ability in the realm of incredible.
     
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  5. JohnLSU

    JohnLSU Tigers

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    Good point, I forgot to consider the yards/meters thing (durrr). The book says Cannon ran a 9.7 100-YARD dash as a junior in high school and a 9.5 100-YARD dash as a sophomore at LSU.

    Yeah, the 100-yard dash is a shorter distance than the 100-meter dash. And the 100-yard dash was never an event in the Olympics.

    As for records in the 100-YARD dash, they had guys even faster than Cannon's 100-YARD time even back in his time... for example, Mel Patton (Olympic Gold medalist) ran a 9.3 100-YARD in 1948 (that broke the world record at the time), Ken Irvine (Australian rugby star) ran a 9.3 100-YARD in 1961 (that tied the world record at the time), Frank Budd (played WR for Redskins and Eagles) ran a 9.2 100-YARD in 1962 (that broke the world record at the time), and Bob Haynes (Hall of Fame WR and Olympic Gold medalist) ran a 9.35 100-YARD in 1962. Compare to the track legend Jesse Owens... he ran a 9.4 100-YARD in 1933 (that tied the world record at the time).
     
  6. MobileBengal

    MobileBengal Founding Member

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    That does seem a little more realistic. But we are talking about what, a difference of 10 yards? At full speed, those last ten yards have to go by pretty quick. I'd think he would still be damn close to 10 flat. That's amazing. I never realized he was that fast.
     
  7. arizonafan

    arizonafan Veteran Member

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    I'm sure someone will come up with some formula that will totally shoot down what I'm about to say but a 9.4 100 YARD is .94 sec per 10 yards? So that would make his 100 meter come out to 10.34. But the 9.4 is including the start & picking up speed part and in the last 10 yards he would have been flying at top speed. So I'm guessing something like 10.2 or less. In 1959 this would have been close to the Olympic record! Now the kicker is that we are talking about a relatively big guy who didn't train at track for a big part of the year but worked on football & building bulk for football. So all I can say is DAMN!! By the way, Trindon also doesn't train for track year around so how much would he cut off of his 10.0 if he did that? This is starting to make my head hurt!
     

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