Today, Wednesday, June 7, 2023, is Global Running Day, a day to promote the exhilarations and benefits of the sport and to inspire folks to get moving. It also comes at a time when American track and field proponents, especially under the organization of USA Track & Field, are working to increase excitement around the sport in the United States. Track and field is the number-one participatory sport in American high schools, but, according to a Nielsen study from 2019, it was the eighth most-followed U.S. sport. In anticipation of the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, there is a special focus on reviving interest in the sport and filling stadiums in Southern California.
Global Running Day and the push to generate excitement for U.S. and California track and field events is also a good time to re-visit the speedy duo from Princeton, Bossier Parish, Robert and Webster Johnson. By the time they were in college at Southern University, Baton Rouge, they were named among the fastest brother-duos in the world by “Track and Field News” and the fastest in the U.S. When track enthusiasts in Southern California lament the loss of the golden age of SoCal track meets in the 1960’s, these Louisiana brothers know what’s at stake. They and their Southern University teammates were the ones generating much of the excitement in the Golden State, not only winning events and breaking world records.
Today’s equivalent of a track and field epicenter is Eugene, Oregon, but in the 1960’s, it was Los Angeles. If a runner’s or track team or club name was all over mid-century southern California sports pages, you knew they were in running’s elite, and the Johnson and Southern University names were there. For example, the “Modesto Bee” in Modesto, CA, on Sunday, May 30, 1965, ran the headline, “Southern TC (Track Club) Ties Mile Relay Mark.” The team scored three victories in that meet called “The California Relays,” tying the world record in the mile relay of 3 minutes, 4. 5 seconds.
At that meet, the freshmen brothers were metaphorically burning up the track not just with speed but by blazing a trail. The question of whether the team would be there or not had kept track officials and enthusiasts guessing. Until 1968 (1972 for football and basketball), the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) that regulates the rules of college sport, did not allow freshmen to compete. Southern U. was only affiliated with the NCAA, however. Its full membership was with the NAIA, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, which controlled athletics for smaller colleges. There was still concern the NCAA would step in. But Southern’s young team (led by a very young coach, Dick Hill) arrived and won three events, including the 440-yard baton event where they tied the world record (40.4 seconds).
A year later, the team broke the 440-yard relay world record, this time with the glory all to themselves. A headline in the “Modesto Bee” exclaimed, “Elated was the only word to describe the feeling of the fine Southern University of Louisiana relay team’s feelings when the quartet of speedsters heard the world record breaking time announced,” which was one minute, 39.6 seconds. The team of Harvey Nairn, Grundy Harris, Webster Johnson and George Anderson made an animated victory trip around the track.
In early 1967, Webster stayed in California, running with the 49’er Track Club, a private running club in the L.A. area, and was mentioned under the “Los Angeles Times” February 4th headline, “Six Relay Races to Spice Times [LA Times] Indoor Games Action.” The article that followed described the excitement of attending the 8th annual games in the L.A. Sports Arena, “Cheering for a record individual performance is a thrill in track and field, but for sheer sustained enthusiasm, there is nothing like a relay race on the indoor boards.” Each of the six races was expected to “stimulate the packed arena with their close quarters baton-passing, steady pounding of the boards and wild finishes.” That, of course, is exactly the excitement that USA Track & Field is looking for again today, to harken back to a time when the Johnson brothers, and other runners of the mid-1960’s, knew how to generate it.
Robert Lee graduated from Southern University in May of 1969, and Webster graduated in January of 1970. Robert Lee joined the army, where he also competed as a runner. Webster tried out for the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. Robert Lee tried out for the 1972 Olympic team. Neither of them made it onto the teams, though they continued to hold multiple national and international records. Webster moved to California in 1969 and taught and coached. Robert Lee came back to north Louisiana.
For more Bossier Parish sports history or school history, stop by the Bossier Parish Libraries History Center at 2206 Beckett St, Bossier City, LA. We are open M-Th 10-8, Fri 10-6, and Sat 10-5. Our phone number is (318) 746-7717 and our email is history-center@bossierlibrary.org
For other fun facts, photos, and videos, be sure to follow us @BPLHistoryCenter on FB, @bplhistorycenter on TikTok,
Image: Southern University sets world record for 440-yard relay in Modesto, California, May 28, 1966. Pictured from left to right are Harvey Nairn, Grundy Harris, Webster Johnson, George Anderson (AP Wirephoto)
Article by: Pam Carlisle
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