Balboa High School Track Team
Hello everyone! Here we are in the second week of July, the summer is flying by! This young man in the photograph below was part of the Balboa High School Track Team during 1948-1949, but we don’t have his name. Does anyone recognize him?
Who else can share memories about being on the track team? Share with us in the comments below!
12 Comments
John Schmidt ( BHS 50 )
No Doubt. Charlie McCarther
BHS Class of 49
Bob Zumbado
Charlie McArthur long time 100 yd dash record holder CZ schools. He was BHS 1949. In 1955 when I graduated from BHS, Charlie still held the record.
Jim
Track was a fairly popular sport. Coach Cleve Oliver coached it for many years from the 60’s to the 90’s. The league was organized in various ways to adapt to the changes in population and the number of schools. For a time BHS, CHS and CZC all sponsored teams. Meets were held at Balboa Stadium, which had a strange shaped track because it was originally built for baseball, and at Cristobal High School. The college had a track under the Bridge crossing the Canal, and rarely had meets there. Cristobal also sponsored meets. Curundu Junior High had the Cougar Relays there under Coach Louis Husted just for JV track. Later on we drafted four track teams from 7th grade to sophomore in college, with two teams sponsored by Balboa, one by PCC and one by Curundu. Eventually four coaches all practiced at Balboa with these mixed school teams. After a while only high school students could be on the teams, but we kept four, later two and they competed with the middle school. I coached the middle school and our meets were at Curundu as the school system approached the end in the late nineties. We had our meets at Curundu in the afternoons by then and they were pretty marginal. My middle school girls won the girls and one of the two high school teams always won the boys by then.
Previously at Balboa we had great meets with lots of competitors, an organized officiating crew, and Friday night meets under the lights. We had four meets, one sponsored by each team, and the Balboa Relays, which Coach Oliver ran for many years and invited clubs and teams from the military, University of Panama, and Panama track club to compete, as well as our kids. It was a pretty big deal for a while and Coach Oliver got extra pay initially to set it up.
I coached track for the Green Devils mostly from 1986 to 1999, finishing with the Cougar Middle School team at the very end. My youngest son got all league in the 400 meter relay his senior year. We determined all league (All Zone) by the fastest time or best distance or height during the season.
Derrick
Hi coach, did you coach the 1993 Green Devils track team? I was on that team.
Michael Quispe
What a blast from the past! I only attended BHS for the last semester of my senior year in 1985 when my father was stationed at Ft. Clayton. I then went to PCC for a year and ran track for both schools. I ran the mile and remember vividly how different and how much more difficult it was to run on those tracks compared to the east coast of the US with their all weather tracks. Times were much slower but it was still neat to travel to the other side of the isthmus to compete in Cristobal.
Santiago “Jimmy” Mellado
I was on the track team in Panama under Coach Manny Fernandez at Balboa Elementary School, Lou Husted at Curundu Junior High School and Clive Oliver at Balboa High School from 1973-1979 (4th grade to 10th grade). My love for track was fueled by these coaches and Coach Oliver helped me learn many of the events of the decathlon. That was the start to putting me on a path to the Olympics. I competed in the 1988 Olympic Games in the decathlon for the country of my birth El Salvador and placed 26 out the 42 who qualified scoring 7,517 points setting 6 national records. The decathlon record still stands as of Dec 2020.
Ruben Wallace
Hi Jimmy. Do you remember me? We competed against each other a couple of times. I wondered about your parants when I became a parent. You and your brother were so squared away. I hope you are doing well. Are you still preaching?
wallace.ruben@gmail.com
Chris Kline
Hey Mike – I fondly remember training with you. Hope you are doing well! Chris Kline
Michael Quispe
Hi Chris!
I’m doing very well and I hope you are as well. Great to hear from you. I just now made it back to this page.
10dimensionz@gmail.com
Jimmy
Hi Ruben,
Yes, I absolutely remember you! If I recall correctly, you ended up jumping over 7′! How fun and way to go!!
I’m currently serving as CEO of Compassion International. We’re privileged to serve 2.2 million children who are living in severe poverty in partnership with 8,200 local churches… many of which live in the same countries where I grew up. Both my brother and I still love God and are driven by deep faith in Him.
Bless you my friend!
Johnnie Walker
I was on the track team from 76-78 any of my track buddy still around? I’m presently living in Panama!
Michael Quispe
Hi Chris!
I’m doing very well and I hope you are as well. Great to hear from you. I just now made it back to this page.
10dimensionz@gmail.com