Sports, Ink

Can you wait several more days before you find out who will be this year's class in the Western New York Running Hall of Fame? You'll have to wait. The voting on which five of the 10 finalists will make the Hall took place on Wednesday, and the winners will be announced in The News a week from Sunday. Take it from a voter - any of the 10 certainly could end up honored.

It's a busy week for area running, now that the weather has warmed up again. (Note: the waterfront was rather chilly Saturday morning during the Heritage run). Here's the schedule from buffalorunners.com:

* Town of Tonawanda 5K, 1 Pool Plaza in Tonawanda, 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, 876-7424. I've done this race a couple of times, and it's a nice flat course for those so, ahem, inclined.

* Buffalo Greek Fest, 5K, 146 W. Utica St. in Buffalo, 6:30 p.m. on Friday, 796-3381. Greek food at a postrace party might be a nice switch from pizza and hot dogs.

* Run with the Rapids 5K, Old Falls St. in Niagara Falls, 9 a.m. on Saturday, 278-2111.

* Bully Free 5K, 71 Lorraine Ave. in Buffalo, 9 a.m. on Saturday, 816-4809. Let's welcome this new race to the list.

* Chris Griswold 5K, Como Park in Lancaster, 10 a.m. on Saturday, 685-2640. The organizers don't let anyone go away hungry, and many runners take home a door prize. Too bad my streak of winning lawn hoses at this race came to an end a while back.
 
* SSPP's Charge of the Knights 5K, 5480 Main St. in Williamsville, 6 p.m on Saturday, 440-8003. It's rare to have a Saturday night event, and this race almost sounds like it's a chess competition. Plenty of activity after the race by the sounds of it.

-- Budd Bailey

Now ... where are those short-sleeved t-shirts?

It's been time to get that particular item out of the closet lately, as we've had absolutely perfect running weather of late. Organizers of this weekend's races must have smiles as large as their faces.

Here's the schedule for the weekend, courtesy of buffalorunners.com:

* NCCC Alumni Association 5K Run, 3111 Saunders Settlement Road in Sanborn, 6 p.m. Friday, 614-5910. It's time to ramp up the schedule for night races, always a good sign. This one has been around for some time.

* Catalyst Race for a Cause, 2745 Seneca St. in West Seneca, 6:30 p.m. Friday, 824-4655.

* Allegany Adventure Runs, various trail runs, Allegany State Park in Salamanca, 9:30 a.m. Saturday 574-0888. With three different distances, there's something for everyone here.

* GBTC Grand Island Half Marathon (News Runner of the Year race), Beaver Island State Park in Grand Island, 10 a.m. Saturday. This is a staple of the running calendar, and a good warmup for the Memorial Day weekend marathon for those who choose to use it that way.

* Running Water 5K, Northtown Center in Amherst, 10 a.m. Saturday, 536-3004. This is an interesting course that feels like it's a long way from big-city life, which makes it an interesting change of pace.

* ARC of Orleans County/Terri Krieger Memorial 5K Run, 189 North Gravel Road in Medina, 2 p.m. Saturday, (585) 589-5516 (x227). Saturday afternoon races are very rare, but this event seems to like it.

One other note - the finalists have been selected in the voting for this year's class in the Western New York Running Hall of Fame. The selections will be announced the day before Memorial Day, better known as Buffalo Marathon day around these parts.

-- Budd Bailey

(Born on February 16, 1933) -- Buffalo sports figures have had plenty of good nicknames over the years. “Golden Wheels” ranks with any of them.

Elbert Dubenion was born in Georgia and played college football at Bluffton, a school in northwest Ohio. The college even has a tribute to Dubenion on its web site.

It took the wide receiver a year to land in professional football. He turned up in the first training camp in Bills’ history in 1960, which was held in East Aurora. Conditions were a little primitive, but Dubenion didn’t mind at all.

He moved into a starting job, and caught 42 passes that first year for 752 yards. That’s an average of about 18 yards per catch, showing his speed. By 1964 he averaged an amazing 27.1 yards per catch, and helped the Bills win an AFL title. Dubenion stayed with the team until 1968.

Then he moved smoothly into scouting, and spotted a wide receiver at a small Pennsylvania college who he thought had potential. Elbert Dubenion turned out to be right about Andre Reed.

--- Budd Bailey

(Born October 7, 1950) -- Dick Jauron never revealed much about himself to Buffalo Bills’ fans during his tenure as the head coach. That’s too bad, for his story was an interesting one.

The Illinois-born Jauron moved to suburban Boston at a young age, and was a standout athlete there. The Boston Globe called him one of the 10 greatest high school football players in Massachusetts history. From there it was on to Yale, where he ran for almost 3,000 yards in three seasons.

Jauron went to the Lions in the fourth round of the 1973 NFL draft, and he found a home as a defensive back. Jauron made the Pro Bowl in only his second season, and played through 1980.

His coaching career started with the Bills in 1985, and he worked his way up the ladder through the Bears and Lions from there. Jauron got his chance to be a head coach when the Bills hired him in Jan. 2006. After three straight 7-9 seasons, Jauron got off to a 3-6 start in 2009 when Buffalo decided to make a move. He was fired, and Perry Fewell was named the interim coach.

Then after a year in Philadelphia as an assistant, Jauron was named the defensive coordinator of the Browns in 2011.

--- Budd Bailey

(Born September 11, 1951) -- Johnny Newmann has had one of the most interesting basketball careers imaginable. None of it, more or less, came in Buffalo.

He grew up in Memphis and signed at Mississippi. The 6-6 swing man averaged more than 40 points per game there as a sophomore, stirring up comparisons to LSU legend Pete Maravich.

Newmann didn’t stay long. He became the first pro basketball player to claim “hardship status” and signed with Memphis before his college eligibility had expired. He averaged almost 20 points per game in his first two years with the Pros of the American Basketball Association. He bounced from there to four other ABA teams when the league merged with the NBA in 1976.

Braves co-owner John Y. Brown brought Newmann in to Buffalo in the fall of 1976, as Brown wanted an ABA flavor to the team. But this signing didn’t work out, as Newmann only played four games here and was released. He went to the Lakers and Pacers before leaving the NBA in 1978.

But Newmann wasn’t finished yet, as he played and then coached overseas. His passport must have been well-stamped after coaching in such places as Cyprus, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, China, and Japan. In 2010, he was picked as the coach of Romania’s national team.

-- Budd Bailey

(Born September 2, 1954) -- At least by one standard, Rick Manning might be the most celebrated high school baseball player from Western New York in the modern era.

Manning came out of La Salle High School in Niagara Falls. He was taken second in the major league draft in 1972. That’s rather tough to top. Manning also picked up the largest bonus in local sports history.

The outfielder spent the rest of 1972 and all of 1973 in Class-A Reno. Then it was up to Oklahoma City for a little more than a year when he was called up to the major leagues for good.

Manning wasn’t a power hitter, but in his first two years he posted averages of  .285 and .292 and played a smooth outfield. In fact, he won the only Gold Glove of his career in 1976. Manning stayed with the Indians until 1983, when he moved to the Brewers. Manning retired at the end of the 1987 season after a 13-year career.

He wasn’t done with baseball, though. Manning started working on the Indians’ telecasts in 1990, and is still on the job. That’s longer than any announcer has worked on the Cleveland broadcasts in team history.

--- Budd Bailey

(Born August 13, 1962) -- There are two places where you won’t hear anything bad about Turner Gill. One is in Nebraska. The other is in Buffalo.

Gill grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, and was an excellent all-around athlete. In fact he was a high draft pick out of high school by the Chicago White Sox. Owner Bill Veeck couldn’t sign Gill drew to a dispute over $5,000, and Gill headed to Nebraska to play football.

He saw a little playing time as a true freshman at quarterback in 1980, and was put into action for the second half of a 1981 game against Auburn. Gill led the Cornhuskers to victory, and Nebraska ran through the rest of the Big Eight season unbeaten. It was more of the same in the next two years, as Gill had a 28-2 record as a starter for the Huskers.

Gill went into coaching from there, first at Nebraska. He landed a job with the Green Bay Packers as director of player development, and thus it was a surprise when he was hired as the head coach at the University at Buffalo in Dec. 2005. In his third year, the Bulls won a conference championship and played in their first-ever bowl game.

Gill stayed one more year, and then left for Kansas. He spent two years there before losing his job with a 5-19 record. Gill landed at Liberty University.

--- Budd Bailey

This isn't a bad time to check up on the News' Runner of the Year standings. We've got some new faces at the top, according to the statistics compiled by Buffalorunners.com.

The men's race is as close as it's been in years. Vasilis Kariolis is in the lead, but such runners as Jim Park and Chris Walters are right behind. And everyone in the top 10 is a couple of wins or so away from taking the lead potentially.

On the women's side, it looks as if Allison Carr is going to have trouble defending her title. Jennifer Koeppel-Acker is having a heck of a year, and certainly will be tough to catch with only five races to go.

Jeff at buffalorunners.com also does the race calendar. Here's what is coming up in the week ahead:

* Cosumel 5K, 153 Elmwood Ave. in Buffalo, 7 p.m. Friday, 913-7115.

* Dunkirk Lakefront 5K Race, Memorial Park in Dunkirk, 9 a.m. Saturday.

* MSMH River Run 5K, 145 N. 4th St. in Lewiston, 9 a.m. Saturday, 298-2249.

* Erie County Fair 5K, Fairgrounds in Hamburg, 9 a.m. Saturday, 649-3000. This year's race will start and end on the race track. Do not bet on me to win, place or show.

* Christin Padasak Memorial - Autism Awareness 5K, 393 North St. in Springville, 9:30 a.m. Saturday, 949-4072.

* Stephen's Cross-Country Run, 6K, Long Point State Park in Bemus Point, 9 a.m. Sunday, 488-0788.

And worth a mention is the 26th annual running of the Moonlight Run in Williamsville on Wednesday night. That's a lot of runs in the dusk.

One other non-race event is coming up -- the Brooks Cavalcade of Curiosities bus is coming to Fleet Feet at 2290 Delaware Ave. in Buffalo on Monday. The double-decker bus visits from 3 to 8 p.m.

-- Budd Bailey

Good news in the financial front: we won't have a re-run of the Orchard Park Half-Marathon fiasco in Niagara Falls.

The Italian Festival there collapsed at the (relatively speaking) last minute, and the 5-kilometer race went with it. That left runners who had already entered wondering if they would get their money back. One of the people involved in the festival wrote to say that refunds were on the way, in the form of returned checks since they had not been deposited. Sam Granieri reports that some runners may show up at 10 a.m. Sunday just to run the course informally.

Elsewhere ...

* We had an interesting situation pop up in the Runner of the Year standings with the Ronald McDonald race. A runner registered for the race, but couldn't make it ... so he gave his number to a friend who was also a runner -- who didn't tell anyone about it. Therefore, the replacement finished second in his age-group.

The USATF is pretty clear that you have to have your own name on the bib, so I decided to take away his points from the Runner of the Year results and move the others up a notch. However, since a runner has to enter two races to be eligible for season-ending awards, it's not likely to make much of a difference since the replacement apparently doesn't race that often. Still, I want to make a point here and discourage such actions a bit -- race directors have enough to worry about without that added into the mix.

Someone told me the story about how his wife had registered for the Turkey Trot but couldn't go at the last minute, so the guy carried her chip along at the race so he could return it. The funny thing was, the chip said she finished fourth in her age-group, a half-second ahead of her husband.

The Brooks "Cavalcade of Curiosities" is coming to Fleet Feet on August 13 from 3 to 8 p.m. It's a double-decker bus, with an "Arcade of Oddities" on the lower level. How often do you get to see the world's biggest shoe? The bus usually only comes out for marathons, so it's unusual to have it in town.

And my wife had a surprise waiting for her at the Engineering Society race on Wednesday night. She came along to take a walk on the waterfront while I ran. When we arrived, she was "recruited" to work on the water station on the course. After a quick lesson, she did fine ... as several runners they had never tasted more delicious water than the liquid she handed out. She also got the race t-shirt, which seems fair, since she probably worked hard that I did in running the four miles.

Here's the weekend schedule, courtesy of buffalorunners.com:

* Jason Raby Memorial 5K Run, Lewiston Porter Senior High School in Youngstown, 7 p.m. Friday, 754-8281.

* Coach Capuani Cross Country Kickoff Run, 5K, Frontier High School in Hamburg, 9 a.m. Saturday, 926-1720.

* Crossroads House of Circle of Life 5K, 11 Liberty St. in Batavia, 9 a.m. Saturday, 374-4741.

* Taste of Lancaster - Fire Fighters For Food 5K Run, Central Ave. in Lancaster, 9:30 a.m. Saturday, 684-4818.

* St. Christopher Summerfest 5K, 2660 Niagara Falls Blvd. in Tonawanda, 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, 216-4103.

* Ultra 12-Mile and 4-Mile Trail Runs, Holiday Valley Ski Resort in Ellicottville, 9:30 a.m. Sunday, 574-0888.

* Pennies to Heaven 5K, 767 Ridge Road in Lackawanna, 10:30 a.m. Sunday, 863-2684.

-- Budd Bailey

     (Born July 9, 1947) -- You may have heard of this fellow for a variety of reasons. Since this is the sports section, let's stick to that area.

     Simpson was born with the name Orenthal James Simpson, supposedly after a French actor. He developed rickets and needed braces until the age of five. What were the odds of him becoming a running back?

     That's what happened, though, and he was a great one in high school and junior college in the Bay Area. Then it was on to Southern California for two years, where he might have been the best college running back ever. He won one Heisman Trophy, and probably should have won two.

     Simpson was an obvious choice as the top draft pick after the 1968 season, and the Bills grabbed him. It took a while for things to come together here, but Simpson was sensational once he got going. In 1973 he ran for 2,003 yards, the first NFL player to reach that number.

     Simpson added two more great years before injuries slowed him up. He was traded to San Francisco for a boatload of draft choices, but only played two mediocre seasons there. Simpson did enough, though, to be a first-year selection to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

--- Budd Bailey