Search Is On For Girls Who Want To Run

By: Keith Mills

Wanted! “Runners, runners and runners,” said Larry Williams.

Specifically, high school girls who want to continue their cross country and track careers in college.

“That’s what we’re looking for,” Williams said. “Even if they are novice. We'd love to be able to help them go to college and keep running.”

Williams is chief executive officer for Madison Bohemian Savings Bank and is the coach of the new Community College of Baltimore County women’s cross country and track teams, which will begin their inaugural season this September and feature students from both Essex and Catonsville Community Colleges.

“We got the program approved relatively late, so we’re a little behind the 8-ball," Williams said. "But the main thing was to get it started now. We don’t care if they play soccer or lacrosse; we'd love to have them come out. Hey, some of the best cross country runners I’ve seen are basketball players. The main thing the first year is everyone who comes in will improve their times, whether it's a 5K time at the Thanksgiving Turkey Trot or a 10-miler.”

Williams is no stranger to competitive running. He graduated from Dulaney High School in 1972 and ran for the Lions, who won their first of five state cross country championships in 1968. That team included Bobby Wheeler, Roger Dunkerton and Bill Brozy and was run by two of most influential coaches in state track history -- Bob Dean and Jim McCoach. Dean also won a boys state track championship at Dulaney in 1969, six girls state cross country titles and one girls state track title. McCoach coached cross country at seven different schools including Calvert Hall, which he built into a private school power.

Williams then went to Catonsville Community College, where he ran for Jack Manley and nurtured a love for running that still exists today, more than 30 years after he left Catonsville in 1974 with an associate degree in business.

“Bob Dean, Jim McCoach, Mike Carroll, Jack Manley,” Williams said. “I’ve had great mentors in running, and this is my way of giving back.”

Williams has done more than just get the women’s running program started at CCBC. He has put up $25,000 of his own money for as many as 12 cross country and track scholarships to be used for the new running program.

“They’re funding the program. We’re funding the scholarships," Williams said. "We put the money together. Now we have to find the girls to give it to.”

“They” are the two-year schools at Catonsville and Essex. Thanks to the support from Catonsville athletic director Brian Farrell and Essex athletic director Mike Ershler, Williams was able to start the program this year with a heavy emphasis on establishing a consistent program for girls throughout Baltimore County and beyond who want to keep running in college but may not be able to afford a four-year school or may not want to go to a four-year school.

“The education you get at a two-year school is excellent,” Williams said. “Why would you pay $40,000 a year when you can go to a community college, get the same education and then go to a four-year school if that’s what you want to do?”

That’s exactly what Williams did, except for one thing: he never made the move to a four-year college. Instead, he started working as a teller at First National Bank, which eventually led to a career at Harbor Federal and an association with one of the greatest high school football players ever to come out of Baltimore, Bob Williams.

“I’ve had a lot of great mentors in sports, and I’ve had a lot in business,” Larry Williams said. “But probably my No. 1 mentor ever is Bob Williams. He taught me so much about so many things.”

Bob Williams was an outstanding player at Loyola Blakefield. He eventually went on to quarterback Notre Dame, where he led Frank Leahy's Fighting Irish to the 1949 national championship. In 1988, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Bob Williams sold Harbor Federal and retired 10 years ago, while Larry Williams eventually started Madison Bohemian.

And now he is giving something back to a running community that has included his three daughters: Lauren, a 2005 graduate of Loch Raven High and now a student at Towson University; Erin, a junior at Loch Raven and a member of the Raiders track and cross country teams; and Kelsey, an eighth-grader at Ridgley Middle School.

“I thought there was such a real lack of options for girls who wanted to run after high school,” said Larry Williams, who is also getting help from his brother Gene, the athletic director at Mount de Sales Academy. “There is also a big lack of female running coaches. Most of the coaches of the girls teams around town are guys. So we’d love to develop more female coaches.

“If I wasn’t comfortable with Brian [Farrell] and Mark [Ershler], this would not have happened. We are going to let the county high schools use our indoor facilities for meets so they don’t have to go all the way down to Prince George’s County. They got behind it, and now we are committed to something that we think is really beneficial to the running community. We just need some kids.”

The girls programs at Hereford, Dulaney and Loch Raven are among the best in the state, but Williams and his coaches will target every other Baltimore County school for potential athletes, in addition to Baltimore City and surrounding counties.

“Western Tech has an excellent program,” Williams said. “City schools, Howard County, too. The private schools in our area, I would like them all to give us a chance. We’d love to get the athletes who just graduated, but we’re having trouble finding them because we got such a late start. But girls in the 11th grade now, we have to target them.”

CASE COURAGE AWARD

’Tis the season for high school athletic awards banquets. One of the most prestigious in the area is the Gerry Case Courage Award, presented annually to a pair of seniors at Broadneck High School.

Case overcame a significant learning disability to earn all-state lacrosse honors as a player for coach Clay White at Broadneck. He graduated in 1996 after leading the Bruins to the Class 4A state championship by scoring the winning the goal in overtime. He went on to Loyola College, where he died of meningitis in 1997.

The Gerry Case Memorial Lacrosse Tournament was started one year later at Broadneck, and two Bruins seniors are presented the Case Courage Award each year at the school’s end-of-the-year banquet, held last Thursday in Arnold.

Danielle Webber and Mike Atkins were this year's winners. Webber was diagnosed early in her high school career with diabetes, but daily insulin shots and constant medical check-ups did not keep her from enjoying a strong career in basketball. Later, she feared she may have a serious liver problem but again she continued to play a huge role on the Bruins' basketball team.

Atkins played for the basketball team, and a broken hand threatened to end his senior year early. Despite a cumbersome cast, he showed up for practice every day, supporting his teammates until the cast was removed and the hand healed.

When it did, Atkins responded by making a team-high six three-pointers in his first game back and finished the year as one of Anne Arundel County's best players.

WADE ROAST HONORS FORMER DUNBAR COACH

Tyrone "Muggsy" Bogues was there. So were Reggie Williams, David Wingate, Tim Dawson, Darryl Wade, Pete Pompey and hundreds of other former players, college teammates, family and friends of Bob Wade, who was roasted and toasted last Friday night at Martin's West.

"It was a great night," Wade said.

It was a night highlighted by a passionate trip down memory lane by Bogues, who transferred from Southern High School to Dunbar in 1982 and not only helped the Poets finish unbeaten and win a national championship in 1983 but formed an incredible bond of trust and friendship with Wade, his wife Carolyn and son Darryl that still exists today.

"It was very emotional," Wade said. "You never really know the impact you have on a young man at the time. But Muggsy talked a lot about the impact our family had on him. We had a father-son relationship that still exists."

Wade will forever be known for taking the Dunbar program that William “Sugar” Cain built in the 1950s and '60s to unprecedented heights. But his legacy is more than just wins and losses and two national championships. It was the relationships he built with his players -- relationships that are as strong today as they were 30 years ago when he was instilling accountability and discipline to hundreds of young men.

"That's what it was always about," Wade said. "Those relationships. Those bonds. It was great seeing the guys back together. It always is."

Issue 3.23: June 4, 2008