Morgan State University Athletics

The Morgan State University Legacy Track Meet honors past great track and field persons who have represented Morgan both nationally and internationally.
           
Because Morgan State University has had many outstanding track and field athletes, the University will honor these athletes by each decade. This season the University will be honoring the MSU Track & Field Teams for the classes from 1947 to 1950. The following
decades will be honored during the following periods:
           
The first runner from Morgan to bring glory to the to the program was Dr. George H. Spaulding, Head of the Chemistry Department, who placed in the decathlon at  the Penn Relays in 1930. Dr. Spaulding also teamed with another Morgan great, Russ Sterling, to bring Morgan its first CIAA Championship in track.
    
Other great men of the era were Alfonso Cottman, Ducky Ross, and Elmore (Pepper) Harris.
    
In 1948, Coach Eddie P. Hurt, put together a relay team of Sam LaBeach, John Crooms, William “Bill” Brown and Bob Tyler. The team won the Class B Mile Relay Championship of America race at the Penn Relays. Their time was just as fast as the winning time for the Class A race won by New York University. The following year Morgan was invited to compete in the Class A race against the best in the country.
           
Realizing that Morgan had the makings of greatness, Coach hurt asked Samuel LaBeach if there were any other great runners in Jamaica that would be interested in attending Morgan. LaBeach gave the name of his friend, George Rhoden.
           
In 1949 history was made when the foursome of Samuel LaBeach, Bob Tyler, Bill brown and George Rhoden broke the Penn Relay record, but was disqualified on a disputable charge. The same group came back in 1950 to break the same record that had stood for 56 years. The team continued to win at the prestigious Melrose Games in New York City and other meets throughout the country. The historic four ran a 3:09.4 at the Los Angeles Coliseum Relays which was two seconds off the World Record. Morgan State College gained widespread recognition. Sports Illustrated, Time Magazine, Ebony Magazine and the Afro-American Newspaper featured the team in their publications.
           
The foursome became goodwill ambassadors for Morgan State College both nationally and internationally.
           
Because of the popularity of this outstanding team many great sprinters were attracted to Morgan. Art Bragg won the 100 yard dash at the 1952 and 1953 Penn Relays. Josh Culbreath won the 400 meter hurdles at the Penn Relays in 1953, 1954 and 1955. Robert McMurry was the NCAA 440 yard champion and ran a 45.8 at the Penn Relays. Bob Barksdale won the High Jump in 1955 and 1956, while George Dennis tied Barksdale in 1955 and won in 1957. Lance Thompson won the Penn Relays Long Jump in 1952.
           
The Flying Four Relay team of Otis ‘Jet’ Johnson, Herman Wade, Jimmy Rogers and Josh Culbreath broke the CIAA Mile Relay mark set by Morgan Historic Four.
           
Morgan won the Penn Relays 4x110 relay four years in a row from 1953 to 1956 and also won the 4x220 relay in 1953.

During the 50’s, Coach Eddie Hurt had a cadre of sprinters capable of running the 100 in 9.6 and below. In addition to the above mentioned runners there were: Ken Kave, Dickie Waters, Paul Winder, Byron LaBeach, Lawrence Griffin, Linwood Morton, Bobby Gordon and many others.
           
Due to Morgan’s outstanding track field achievements, the school was awarded the opportunity to host the national A.A.U. Relay Championship of America. Morgan won the 1600 Relay in a time of 3:09.7 just one and five tenth of a second off the world mark set by a United States All-Star team in the 1932 Olympics. Dan Ferris, Executive Secretary of the Amateur Athletics Union (A.A.U.) and guardian angel of Track and Field in the U.S. gave high praises to the Morgan Bear Relay team.
           
A quote from an article in the Afro-American newspaper in 1950 stated: Dan Ferris was among the 3,500 spectators that witnessed the first championship meet on a Historic Black College campus and told the Afro reporter “Coach Hurt and his Morgan associates cannot be praised enough for the work they have done here. That is an excellent aggregation. It matches anything I have ever seen representing a college in nearly 40 years of track.”