Recently, I was talking with a friend of mine, Barry Russell, and we were discussing our time as coaches. Barry then asked me, who was my favorite runner that I ever coached. Without hesitation, I answered, “Greg Powell”.
I first met Greg at a road race when he was 13 or 14 years old, which was probably my first year of coaching at Duquesne University. It didn’t hurt that I won that road race. I remember thinking how much he enjoyed running and his constant smile.
We developed such a bond, that there was no doubt he would be running for me at Duquesne. Greg’s dad, Ed, was a professor at the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt), and he would have went there for free, but, at in the summer before his senior year, he chose Duquesne and he and his family put their faith in me.
When Greg was a senior in high school, at North Allegheny, he became one of, if not the the best prep runner in Western Pennsylvania. And every time I went to a meet to watch him run, he was always having fun and smiling. At the WPIAL Championships, (286 schools divided into two classifications) the regional meet to qualify for the PA state meet, Greg and Marcelo Cassiday were running in the lead with about a mile to go. Marcelo outran Greg in the last half mile and won the meet. I still remember, some 31 years later, how upset he was, and I made a promise to him that what happened that day would never happen again.
The next fall, as a freshman, Greg was the #2 man on the team behind Darby Reed, the previous year’s conference freshman of the year. He spent three years running second to Darby, but it wasn’t until his senior year that he stepped up and became the runner I always knew he could be, becoming an All-Conference (Atlantic 10) runner. At the NCAA qualifying meet, they started two divisions, and our program was having a down year (3 of the top 5 graduated), so we ran in the “University Division” as opposed to the “Championship Division”. In the University race, Greg and a runner from Boston College were leading with about a mile to go, when I yelled, “Do you want to lose again like you did to Marcelo Cassiday?” He looked at me with both desire and disgust and ultimately won the race by over 20 seconds, earning All-East accolades.
I received a message from Greg a few years ago: “Coach…running for you was a blast…some of my best memories. Yes we made sure we had fun, but you coached me to some pretty solid performances. I chose Duquesne for one reason only! I was heavily recruited by Pitt and a few others…but I wanted to run for you! So glad I did!”
Greg not only worked hard, but was extremely coachable. He was a great teammate and enjoyed every aspect of running in college. I looked forward to practice everyday during the four years Greg was at Duquesne. We have stayed in contact since his graduation and I always enjoy our 30 to 60 minute conversations. But the thing that I will never forget, is when I was running my first ultramarathon (36 miles), I was in second place and with five miles to go, Greg surprised me and was waiting to run me to the finish. He is still competing and smiling at races. I consider Greg a great friend and I am so proud of the man and father he has become.
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