A Storied Run

A Storied Run Olympic Gold Casts Glow on Track and Field Tradition

by Steve Fink

Harry Marra, C’69, has spent the last seven years coaching two track and field athletes in Eugene, Ore. And while two people may not sound like much, when it’s Olympic decathlete Ashton Eaton and his wife, heptathlete Brianne Theisen-Eaton, it’s not your average coaching job. Especially after Eaton won his second straight Olympic gold medal for the United States in Rio de Janeiro, and Theisen-Eaton, who competed for Canada, took home the bronze. “It was really nice to see that…. We had our ups, we had our downs over the years. Good days, bad days, injuries. ‘Yeah, I just kicked butt,’ that was the feeling I had,” Marra said. Of course, it might not be this way if it weren’t for Mount St. Mary’s. It was at the Mount that Marra was introduced to the decathlon by longtime head coach Jim Deegan and economics professor Frank Zarnowski, C’65, who helped Deegan coach decathletes. Marra remembers his time well. Rio’s success was a fitting way to go out for Marra, who said this was his final Olympics. He celebrated his 69th birthday the same day Theisen-Eaton won the bronze. It turns out Marra is one of many track athletes who found success as a Mountaineer. The school became a Mecca for track in the 1970s, and the tradition continues today. Most recently, junior javelin thrower Kelly Yanucil became the first woman Division I All-American for the University following a stellar season that included her second consecutive conference championship. “It is an honor to wear that Mount emblem on my chest, to have that uniform on every single time I throw,” Yanucil said. Like Marra, Yanucil recognizes the Mount’s decorated history can be traced back to the Deegan, who, even after retiring in 2006, still volunteers to coach the pole vaulters today. “Inevitably, every program has to have a leader and Deegs was the guy. His enthusiasm was infectious,” Marra said.

“Positive enthusiasm and a sincere desire to get better at what you’re doing, to work hard and get better. I think I learned how to compete at the Mount with no fear of failure, and that’s the biggest detriment that any athlete or coach could have,” he said. It is late July, smack in the middle of this year’s brutal heat wave, and Deegan could be cooling off in a pool somewhere, kicking his feet up and enjoying a relaxing

READY TO SOAR / Coach Tim Nickas, C’12, provides words of wisdom to Kelly Yanucil, C’18, the Mount’s only woman to win the All-American title.

retirement. Instead, he is sitting in the track office hidden away in the back of the Knott ARCC, donning a Mount cap and athletic polo, waxing poetic about the time he wound up at the 1988 summer Olympic games in Seoul – for free.

“It was unbelievable!” the 82-year-old former track and field coach lauds, finishing up the long-winded story with a laugh.

“Well let me tell you what happens – this is the most interesting story,” he added, seguing right into a passionate follow-up tale of watching Mount student Peter Rono, C’92, win Olympic gold that year. He recalls every detail as if it was a local meet from last weekend.

On a couch next to him, current head coach Jay Phillips, C’05, listens intently, though he’s heard this one before. Still, he takes in every word because Deegan remains the heart and soul of the team.

“How do you try to explain what a legend is to the program?” Phillips said. “I go to Mount St. Mary’s each day and I walk down to the track and I see the team, and I see

everything that we do and we have, and it’s all because of him. For me, that’s very moving.” Deegan essentially fathered the program back in 1956 and brought it to international prominence by the 1970s. Top athletes from Norway, France, and Kenya clamored to enroll. Ten Mountaineers competed in Olympic games during his time. And at least one of his student athletes each year would attain All-American status from 1972 to 1994. One might expect Deegan to boast a trophy case jam-packed with plaques and mementos. But beyond a sprinkling of photos hung in the track office, he said souvenirs were never his thing. It’s clear why: Deegan’s near-photographic memory is his trophy case. He doesn’t need shiny hardware to show off. Such is the case when Rono won the gold medal. The feat surprisingly brought Deegan to just a modest celebration. Seeing Rono earn his Mount diploma meant far more. “I didn’t want it to be like something spectacular. He’s only a sophomore,” he explained. “I was more worried about making sure he graduated.” Naturally, that took Deegan right into the story of the time he tutored Rono to help keep his grades up – a recollection even Phillips was hearing for the first time. Rono, who came to the Mount from Kenya, struggled in accounting and was in danger of failing. Rono, who now resides in Lyndhurst, N.J. with his wife and works as a manager for New Balance, hasn’t forgotten the impact of Deegan’s guidance.

Whether it’s how he landed Kenyan twin brothers Kip and Charles Cheruiyot, who both competed in the 1984 and 1988 Olympics; how Norwegian recruit and Olympian Trond Skramstad, C’83, won both Division I and Division II decathlon titles in a span of 10 days in 1982; or his unexpected trip to France to recruit two-time Olympian Bill Motti, Deegan’s in-depth stories are worth more than even the grandest trophies. “Deegan was my coach, but he also took the role of my father,” Rono admitted. “I still hold Deegan very highly and the successes I’ve gotten in my life are through his contribution as my coach, my friend, my mentor.” He added: “I hated accounting so much, but he made me love accounting and I ended up getting an ‘A’ in the class.”

“I get a lot of enjoyment from the success of the athletes and seeing them improve,” he said. “And watching them [grow into] the people they end up being.”

There isn’t one particular Mount moment that shines above any other to Deegan. But the decathlon, a grueling, 10-event competition that stretches over two days, ultimately defined him.

The University’s track reputation exploded thanks to Deegan and Zarnowski, who ran for Deegan as a student before taking the economics gig at the school. Turns out Zarnowski always had an affinity for the decathlon, and wrote the book on the competition – literally. “Frank Zarnowski, to this day, is known as the foremost decathlon expert in the world. He’s done a lot of announcing at the biggest meets in the country, let alone the Olympics,” said Athletic Director Lynne Robinson, C’79. “It was really a unique situation. Knowing that Coach Deegan and Frank Zarnowski [were there], it was known to be a place not just for those new to the sport, but also really experienced ones who could train together.” Such was the reason that the school landed some of the top high schoolers in the country, including Mountaineer Hall of Famers Barry Stebbins, C’77, Tom Delmoor, C’79, and Gudmund Olsen, C’82. “I liked it as a career. They paid me to play games, can you believe that?” he joked. This past June, he took part in the ultimate reward: a reunion organized by his former decathletes. Phillips recalls Associate Head Coach Tim Nickas, C’12, one of Deegan’s final decathletes, sharing an emotional moment from the event that solidified the group as a Mount family. “Tim said Deegs went around when he realized not everyone knew one another, and he went around decathlete after decathlete introducing them,” Phillips recalled. “When he talked about them, it was so personal. You got a sense of exactly who they were, and not one thing was uttered about athletic performance.”

Over the years, Deegan coached 11 decathletes to All-American status. Ten won championships at the Penn Relays, the nation’s oldest and most renowned track and field competition. He also led the team to 20 conference championships. After retiring, he was succeeded by former All-American decathlete Jim Stevenson, C’95, who turned the team over to Phillips in 2015. Deegan admits he’s not sure how many more years his body will allow him to work with the team. Of course, after all these years, it’s never felt like much of a job. The proud father in all his glory. Moving forward, Phillips knows it’s that lineage, and of course the countless stories he’ll attain as coach, that will make his job worthwhile. “Having people like Deegan in your life can be very transformative, and it hits you that you can do that too,” he said. “For me, a lot of my wanting to really invest myself in loving this team, loving this staff, loving this University is because I watched Jim Deegan do it.”

The Athletics Legacy Continues

M E N ’ S S O C C E R TO R E T U R N TO DIVISION I OFFERINGS

During the Opening Convocation for the 2016–17 academic year, Interim President Tim Trainor, Ph.D., announced the reinstatement of the men’s NCAA Division I soccer program, with competition beginning in the fall 2018 season.

The announcement is part of a long-term plan to expand women’s and men’s intercollegiate athletics. Recently, men’s swimming and diving and women’s diving were added, and the Mount is looking to add additional sports in the future. The reinstatement of men’s soccer gives the Mount a total of nine men’s sports and nine women’s sports.

“We are very grateful to a loyal group of men’s soccer alumni whose leadership and fundraising efforts were instrumental in bringing their beloved sport back to the Mount,” Trainor said.

The men’s soccer program began play as a varsity sport in 1953, later joining NCAA Division I in 1988-89, and becoming members of the Northeast Conference in 1989–90. The Mountaineers advanced to the NEC title game four times (1994, 1996, 1999, and 2008). The men’s soccer program has had five coaches in its history, including Jim Deegan, who was the head coach for 38 years (1956–93).

GOLDEN GOALS / (LEFT) Sprint Medley Relay team after winning the 1977 Penn Relays Crown. From left: Coach Jim Deegan, Mark Martin, C’78, Tom Delmoor, C’79, Barry Stebbins, C’77, and Ron Banks, C’77 / (TOP–BOTTOM) Harry Marra, C’69, coach for Ashton Eaton, hugging Eaton after he won the gold medal in the decathlon in the 2016 Olympics / Peter Rono, C’92, winning the Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea in 1988 / Coach Jim Deegan at the 2012 NEC Championships hosted at the Mount