Long Put

The hulking teen-ager stood by the shotput ring in his track suit, the muscles in his 17 1/2-in. neck bulging, his 50-in. chest heaving in easy rhythm. Dallas Crutcher Long III spoke almost casually of distances never before achieved with the 16-lb. shot. "I should hit at least 66 feet by the end of the year." he said.

He may be right. At 18, Dallas Long already stands 6 ft. 4 in., weighs 255 Ibs. Fortnight ago in Tempe, Ariz., he flung the shot an astounding 64 ft. 6 in., a full 16 in. farther than the world record held by Parry O'Brien. For good measure, he topped O'Brien's old mark of 63 ft. 2 in. on three other tosses. But the throws were made in an exhibition, and they cannot be approved for an official record.

New Delivery. The son of a Phoenix College math and sociology teacher, Long began putting the shot in grammar school, started to show real promise at North Phoenix High School under Track Coach Vernon Wolfe, onetime University of Southern California pole vaulter. Wolfe put him to work lifting weights, had him study movies of O'Brien ("You might say he was a sort of hero of mine then." says Dallas). Slowly he mastered O'Brien's 180DEG body-spin delivery. Despite the fact that he was picked as an all-state tackle, Long gave up football his senior year to concentrate on the shot. Says Wolfe: "It was quite a decision to make. It was a question of being just a good shotputter or a great one."

As a freshman at the University of Southern California. Dallas Long switched from the 12-lb. to the 16-lb. ball, two months ago heaved it a prodigious 63 ft. 4 in. in a freshman meet. The field sloped too much to qualify the toss for a world mark, but it brought Parry O'Brien himself hustling down from the stands. He rushed to the dressing room, put on a track suit, and registered 63 ft. 6 3/4in. Said O'Brien: "I just hope I can fight him off for another year or two, but it's going to take some doing." Just a month later, in Santa Barbara, Long officially matched O'Brien's world mark.

Relaxed Approach. In contrast to O'Brien, who practices constantly, eats wheat germ, honey, and high-energy foods, and works himself into a competitive swivet before a meet by listening to his own tape-recorded pep talks, Long is casual and easygoing. He does not go all out in workouts, eats whatever is served at the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity house, is so relaxed in competition that he often does not bother to watch his competitors perform. A steady B student, he works in a local drugstore one night a week, takes many night classes (he is planning to become a dentist), at mealtime waits on table like any other fraternity pledge.

U.S.C. Coach Jess Mortensen is still polishing Long's form. "We're hoping to get him a little lower over his right leg so he can be pushing on the shot a longer period of time. He also has a tendency to let the shot drop a little too low just before the throw." But he speaks of Long's ultimate capabilities with awe: "If I say 70 feet, people will think I'm crazy. But if I don't say it, this boy will probably do it."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.