Don't You Love Success Stories?
Read on, and discover how Mac Wilkins arose from his sickbed,
waded through a crowded field of discus throwers and set a new world record

by Roy Conrad

Horatio Alger could have written this one. Or maybe that great prevaricator, Baron Munchausen. I mean, it's the old, "hero (tall, dark and handsome, of course) is injured, overcomes adversity, ends up on top of the world" thing.

The hero of our success story for today is Mac Wilkins, he of the renowned multiple throwing talents. Today, he put together a good portion of that talent into throwing the discus a world-record distance 226-11 (or 69.18, as they announced at the time, tending to confuse all those poor Mt. SAC Relay fans not truly conversant with the metric system).

"No, I didn't think I was ready for a world record," said Wilkins afterwards. "I would have been satisfied with anything over 215. I hurt my back weightlifting a week ago and I can still feel it."

Although the injury was not a "severe" one, it was certainly troublesome. Indeed, Wilkins even had to cut down on his beer ration in the interim, not wanting it to inhibit the work of the anti-inflammatories he was being treated with.

Still, when he arrived at Mt. SAC, he was at a place with a great tradition of fine discus throwing (including world records in 1960, '63 and '64, the latter two in this meet by AI Oerter).

"1 thought I needed a long time to warm up, because of my back," he said. "So I even went down to another field and took 10 easy throws. I had Craig Caudill [the intermediate hurdler] throwing them back and he nearly hit Ken Stadel three times.

"He asked me what the last line was, and I told him about 213. He told me I was landing about five steps past the line. I said, 'C'mon, you mean the second line from the end.' But he said no. Then Ain Roost came over and told me I had a couple of at least 69 meters [226-4].

"I thought, 'Gee, just what I need to know.' I didn't get all tense and excited, but it did have some effect like that."

Excitement is what started when the actual warm up session began. "I saw Jay Silvester get in there and he looked so good-he just blasted that sucker. I usually kind of ease that first one out there, especially in my condition, but I got in there right after him. Watching him made something happen; everything kicked in. I just blasted three warm up throws. It was just like a competition, they were 'all out there.' "

Some portion of the credit here has to go to SiIvester, a great motivating force for Wilkins (who came by the T&FN offices earlier in the week and picked up a 1971 issue of the magazine because it had such a "classic" shot of Jay on the cover).

"Having Jay here really helped," revealed Wilkins. "He is the thrower whose technique I try to emulate. Being able to watch him throw helped me get up for the competition."



Then it was time for the real competition, in a massive field of 26 throwers. Mac opened with 202-9. "That was crap," he said. "It was just like a warm up throw [not today's]. I was tight, I was nervous, it was just a bad throw. I thought, ' Jeez, just what I need, another 212-foot competition after warming up at 225.'

"But I was able to control myself, get into the right technique and eased the next one there. I wanted to get it up in the air; it got up in the air but the technique wasn't really that good. I scooped it a bit. That was 225-7, but I thought it was about 208. It didn't feel that good, and it didn't look that far either."

But it was the No.4 throw in history, behind only John Powell's recognized WR of 226-8 and two unaccepted SiIvester marks of 229-9 and 230-11.

Mac's monologue continues with throw No.3: "So the next one I had good technique, but I was tight and it went about 150 feet, so I fouled on purpose.
"Then, I was thinking about quitting. I had a long throw, my back was hurting. But I took a couple of warm ups and it felt like I could go on. Plus, I wanted to get my technique grooved.

"The next throw I got in there, and it was a pretty good throw. That was the record. It kinda wobbled, wasn't too high. It bounced and continued to go a long way. When you get a really good flight on a discus it'll hit, and bounce, and it won't go very far. This one went a long way. There was still a lot of power left in it -- that's pretty exciting."

But Wilkins explains that although it was a "good" throw, it could have been better: "It wasn't a PR throw. When you get one of those everything is effortless, you can't even feel the implement in your hand and it's just like you're not doing any work because technically you're very efficient and the body mechanics are throwing the implement. It isn't your muscles straining to throw it. None of these throws were like that. I felt if I had a PR throw it might've gone 5-10-ft, further."

With one world record toss under his belt, was he ready for another? "I thought I could throw farther," he said, "but I was just in there trying to maintain some semblance of concentration and I was pleased to get in two more 221 throws [221-6 and 221-5, to be exact]. So, that was nice. I didn't want to just fall apart and throw 190 or something."

And how about that bad back? Did all the joy and excitement diminish the pain? NO: "It was still really painful during each throw. It seemed to get worse as the competition went along. (Gee, I must be some kinda AI Oerter or something.) I was so messed up I couldn't even jog. It would start grabbing up."

So ended perhaps the finest discus series ever. It averaged 219-6, 2" behind what Ricky Bruch once did for 5 throws. But Bruch had only 3 220-footers, while Mac's 4 in the category are a new high.




And an even finer series considering the size of the field, which slowed things down greatly. "I was surprised I could maintain my mental energy. There was such a long time between the 225 and the 226, perhaps a half-hour or more."

But that's good. "It could screw you up," realized Wilkins, "but that's how it's going to be in the Olympics. It was really pleasing to be able to do that."

And Mac's conclusion to the whole affair? "I'd like to say I could throw a lot farther, but perhaps I shouldn't. I'll allude to it: Those throws were not maximum efforts. I still have a long way to go. It's nice that it happened to be a world record, but it won't be satisfying if that's my longest throw this year."

Behind Wilkins came the deepest field ever, with 15 throwers bettering 185, 17 over 180. And the light (perhaps 10mph) right-hand quartering breeze, although an aid, did not create a PR-studded set of results. Second-placer Dick Drescher added 4" to his old best with his 209-8, and the only other PR of note was a 199-3 by Mike Weeks of San Jose State in 6th (making it a dismal day for Powell, losing his world and school records in the same competition).

Silvester, although looking very strong in his warm ups, fouled all three throws (a couple of them long ones) , thus giving no indication of how his fifth Olympic campaign is going.

Other marks of note in this not-the-best, not-the-worst edition of the meet also came from throwers. In the women's javelin, Kate Schmidt showed she is still in good form, the ground meeting her spear at 211-6, the No.2 throw in US history, No.9 all-time in the world.

And in the hammer, Bill Diehl suddenly emerged as a national force, becoming the first American to meet the Montreal qualifying standard, with his 228-0 spin. That moves him to No.7 all-time among Americans.

It was fitting that something such as the discus should highlight this meet, whose title's inclusion of "Relays" belies the true nature of the meet. It's nothing like the Midwest Three, or Penn. It's more like a real track meet, with stress on the individuals. On the jumpers and throwers as much as the relay runners.

And the pick of today's field was Mac Wilkins (whose story doesn't have the completely happy ending, as he trudged off home to San Jose to nurse his still-sore back).



From Track & Field News
May, 1976