By Paul Fetscher

Hugh Sweeny was generally known as one of the first White men to be found running thru the streets of Jersey City. For those of you who are either really, really old - or are great students of track and field, Sweeny one day ran into an elderly (then) gentleman, Horace Ashenfelter who was a resident of Jersey City.http://www.ashenfelterclassic.com/horace.shtml

Meeting such a luminary, besides Sweeny's penchant to run in the seamier sides of the world, insisted on running thru all parts of Jersey City. Sweeny met this scrawny local who was a boxer. He was doing his roadwork when Sweeny came across him. Within but a few weeks, this lightweight boxer (or was he flyweight?) was able to keep up with Hugh.

Needless to say, a Warren Street Shirt and Central Park were next on the schedule. Tommy promptly became a strong contributing member of Warren Street. However he didn't give up his boxing ambitions.

One night Tommy invited us down to the Jersey City Arena for one of his bouts. The scene was straight out of a Martin Scorcese script. The ring lights were bright. Puffs of smoke wafted over the room. Eddie Shannon had reserved the entire front row for Shannon's Bar and Grill and the normal hangers on; One Eyed Danny, Marty "the Ear", and the normal suspects who were only temporarily unnailed from their permanent positions at Shannons.

At the time, I was dating Kathy Van Forst (winner of the Carol Lynley Look Alike Contest). So I parade in, dressed for work in Manhattan, with a gorgeous blue-eyed blonde on my arm. Damon Runyon couldn't have positioned it better.

So a number of people come up and ask who I'm there for. "My boy, Tommy"

Tommy loved the positioning. Perhaps his opponent felt that if he beat Tommy, he might have had a larger problem later.

Well Tommy had a great night. Flyweights as they do, stood toe to toe - and simply flurries of fists flew. By the second round, Tommy started to have an edge. Round Three - Tommy's endurance kicked in and he simply pummeled his exhausted opponent. victory was had in the 9 minutes in the squared circle. As you might suspect, a substantial victory celebration was held at Shannons.

Central Park - 10 Mile Perhaps Sweeny's best run ever in Central Park. Sweeny was out with the lead pack. Passing the 4 mile in 20:04 Sweeny quipped. "Well, I can quit now. I've got my PR for the day" . Sweeny continued to a 50:40

(Those were the days when that wasn't fast enough to win) Alan Silber and I were running in the opposite direction and saw Tommy Downs with about 1/3 of a mile to the finish. Tommy, looking a bit bedraggled looked at us and asked in his inimitable Jersey City Accent,"How much furdder? Eym toyed!"

Tommy finished in about 53:and change,

Tommy Downs also posted his mark in the Marathon getting down to 2:20. Unfortunately, further down the road, Tommy fell into a bottle. At last report he had successfully completed rehab and had a steady job.

As we all care about those characters who filled out our finest hours, we also care about where they are now. Bruce Springstein at the time had a song that succinctly encapsulated who we were at the time - and what we did. In addition to "Growing Up", (They Said Sit Down, I Stood Up") he also wrote one that hit the nail on the head. "Glory Days".

6/21/05 Letter from Fabio Lanza:

Hi coach,
I have not been part of the WS actively running community in the last
year but injuries have been plaguing me. In the meanwhile, many
things have happened. I got my PhD and interviewed for a few
positions around the country... the final choice was University of
Arizona, in sunny Tucson, where I will professor of Modern Chinese
History.
I am leaving NY in the first week of July. It's not going to be easy.
The seven years I spent here were tough, eventful and a lot of fun. I
met amazing people, and among them, my fellow runners at Warren
Street have a special place in my heart.
Tucson seems to be a great place for running, biking, and outdoors in
general (no snowy winters) but i will miss the companionship and
friendship of the runners in Central Park. Please, Rick, pass along
my thankful goodbye to all the people at Warren street and let them
know they made my time in NY special, as a runner and as a person.
I will cherish my WS uniform and wear it in the Arizona races... and
I will be back in New York sometime, maybe for the Marathon.

Thanks for everything, and if you want to visit Arizona, give me a
call. I will send you my new email address as soon as I have one.
Best,
Fabio

9/22/03, Letter from Brennan runner turned Triathlete!

Hey Rick,

Thought you might like this... I just came back from Wisconsin. I have been MIA this summer since I was training for the Iron man (the full Monty... 2.4 mile swim 112 mile bike and a marathon). I was a novice more or less in the bike and swim, but also I would learn later in the 4th part as well... nutrition.

Any case, in a blistering 90+ degree day, the race turned into a survival match for Pros and guys like me. My race went perfect till about mile 90 on the bike when I threw up (salt imbalance and heat exhaustion, still working as to why). Needless to say, I came onto the run in bad form. After 5 miles collapsed, then managed to get some cola in me and nursed myself through the remaining 21 miles. I ended up with a 5 1/2 hour marathon(!) and in the medical tent. The whole day lasted an epic 13 1/2 hours. It was beyond words amazing. To train as hard as I did and end up with such a poor marathon was upsetting, but outside that it simply was awesome.

So... I had my Warren Street bib on ( click on this link: http://www.nesailing.com/IM.html ) which was kind of fun. I did here some "Way to go NY" in the mist of my delusional run. Next time I hope I will represent better on the run...

I hope to join you in practice tomorrow (102nd West Side Still?) and slowly get some speed back into my legs.

Cheers!

Brennan

In a letter from Bob Simmons, June 4th, 2002

Great to hear from you, Mike. I think about you and other Warren Street folks all the time. I've been keeping up on the team's performance, and we're doing remarkably well without a lot of last year's top scorers running as well as they have in the past, or in some cases not running at all. I wasn't able to run much this spring due to school responsibilities, so I've only recently been able to up my mileage, and then I was immediately stricken with an injury to my right lower calf, one of the few areas that has held up fairly well in the past few years. I got back up to six miles this morning (plus 20 min. on a Stairmaster), but I have a long way to go. I'm just hoping I can lift and stretch enough that I can hold off the same injuries from nagging me that have held me down for the past two years.

I was planning to run a big 20K in Des Moines this weekend, but that's not going to happen with my leg as tender as it is. My first race will be a 10K next weekend in Green Bay, Michelle's home town. I get a free entry, free spaghetti dinner, free hotel room, and a couple days to spent with my in-laws, whom I like a great deal, so I'm looking forward to it.

I don't think I'll get to NYC until the Club Championships, and that might be my only New York race this year. We're remodeling our first floor and an upstairs bathroom this summer, so money is tighter than usual, as is time, since I'll be taking my comprehensive exams next spring and have a phenomenal amount to read before then. If I could find a way to get Scotty to beam me to Manhattan, I'd be there every month, but the time and money it takes to schlep your way makes it tough. I'd like to take part in the marathon experience again, but it's at a terrible time of the semester, and the course is so tough that I'd have a harder time qualifying for the Olympic Trials there than I would elsewhere, such as Twin Cities (a four-hour drive away), which is in late September (a month into the semester), and which is hosting the national championships this year.

This is all to say that you'll probably only see me in August. I hope I'm healthy. And I hope that we can have a gathering of some sort after the race--that really adds to the appeal of coming out there. You folks are a bundle of laughs.

So all in all, my life has been great. I got through six more classes and one more qualifying exam this year, presented another paper, had a great year of teaching, worked on our department's scholarly journal alongside one of the world's most renowned classical scholars, and am constantly entertained by Michelle. All that's been missing is an appreciable amount of running. I have more time for it this summer, so I just need my flesh to cooperate.

I look forward to seeing you in August, and I wish I could head out more often. Give my best to Beth, as well as to Rick, John Nelson, Matt W., Brett A., Stephan, Jeremy, Celine, Mike A., Venkat, and others whom I am forgetting.

Best, Bob

April 4, 2002, In an e-mail from Nat Larson one of our hall of fame runners (thanks for the reminder) , Nat Larson writes...

Hi Rick-
It's been about 10 years since I raced competitively but I have great
memories of Warren Street, Tracy and you .... especially the 'death loops'
.... Anyway, I'm still in Tokyo and only running for minimal fitness (ie,
to stay in shape for skiing) but started toying with the idea of running the
marathon this year. Must be the fact that I turn 40 and need to re-live
faded youth and glory. But I linked to the WS page from the NYRRC site and
saw how great the club is doing and found your e-mail. So I thought I would
write and tell you I still have fond memories of WS ... even though I didn't
make the website "Hall of Fame" for my 2:18 marathon in a WS singlet (1992
Grandma's Marathon). But if I can make the commitment to run "The Marathon"
again this year I couldn't be more proud to run in a WS shirt -- even if I
have to dig my old one out of the mothballs!! So where are Tracy and Pat &
Bea these days? Just WS fans like me maybe ....

_______________________
Nat Larson
Merrill Lynch Tokyo