April 18, 2004

At a recent Penn Relays press conference, Carnival Director Dave Johnson pointed out that the only two athletes he knew to have competed at Franklin Field in junior high school and high school and then returned to the Penn Relays as Olympic Gold Medal winners were Herman Frazier and Jon Drummond.

"I ran there in grade school," Drummond pointed out. "Has Herman done that?"

In a track career that has spanned two Olympic Games appearances (1996, 2000), one Gold Medal (4x100 meter relay, 2000), countless Penn Relays runs, and a bit of controversy, Jon Drummond always seems to get in the last word. Whether it's his give-and-take with fans or standing up for what he considers unfairness, Jon Drummond has never been at a loss for words.

His Penn Relays career began in 8th grade at Lamberton Elementary School, when he ran the shuttle relays on the infield, then continued through Lamberton Junior High and Overbrook High School. When he ran for TCU in 1990 and 1991, the Horned Frogs had two first-place finishes in the Championship of America 4x100 relay and one in the 4x200 (1991), he had one first in the College Championship 100 meters (1991), and he was named the meet's outstanding relay performer in 1991. He then won three straight Olympic Development 100 meters (1993-94-95), and has returned every year since, most recently as part of the USA vs. the World relay series.

"I was a key to getting Nike interested in the Penn Relays, to bring in the elite athletes," he said. "I made a big stink. I had to be at the Penn Relays. Then maybe four years ago we got a few athletes to come, now we have, what 150, 200."

A "big stink" is what Drummond raised last summer in Paris at the World Track and Field Championships. His false start disqualification in the 100 meters literally drove him down onto the track. His lay-down may have been the most photographed and discussed scene from the meet.

"The true story is that I had been fighting that false start rule for awhile," he said. "It doesn't help our sport, it helps TV. You can't change a rule that's been in place for 50 years without defining how the new rule works."

With electronic pads now in starting blocks for major meets, the false start is based on the runner's foot leaving the block before the starter's pistol fires. Drummond was judged to have done that. His reaction was to lay down on the track in protest, and he lay there long enough to certainly mess up the TV schedule.

"I did not false start," he still insists. "I told the officials that because of my stance in the blocks I could not put my foot on the pad, but there was no compromise.

"The runner in the lane next to me did not come to a full stop in the set position. There were three people rolling in the blocks. You react to the runners around you. The starter should have called us up, but instead he fired his pistol.

"I was not throwing a temper tantrum. Actually I layed on the track because it was the most comfortable position I could be in. With the pre-race tension and excitement I was cramping up. I really couldn't stand.

"Looking back at it, it did look like a tantrum. It came out as 'Mr. Funnyman Lays on the Track'. But I was fighting the rule. In a French newspaper I still have, a judge said that I did not false start. I stood up by laying down."

Unfortunately, it's that incident which may remain a major part of the Jon Drummond legacy as much as the career which has seen him go from his West Philadelphia roots to international recognition as one of the top sprinters of his generation, a career which he is not sure how much longer will last.

"I like running," Drummond said. "After 2000 I though that after one or two more seasons I'd retire. But it's not getting more difficult. I enjoy training, I enjoy the adrenaline rush you get. I enjoy the competition. I look at Gail Devers. She's still among the best. As long as I stay healthy and injury-free, who knows. I think I have a few more years, but I do think that this will be my last Olympics."

Drummond and Gail Devers will conduct the annual "School Days" event in the Palestra when they return this week for the 100th Penn Relays. They'll speak before several hundred Philadelphia-area grade school students, discussing their philosophies on and off the track. Drummond's own "With People" organization puts on clinics to promote track and field.

"I've been doing that for awhile," Drummond said. "My best way to define what I do is to say that track is my stage. If people pay money to be in the stands, you have to give them something back."

And when he's on the Franklin Field track on Saturday, part of his giving-back will be to the large crowd of Jamaicans who annually come to Franklin Field to support their high school athletes, and now their international athletes in the USA vs. the World events.

"I have a great relationship with them," he said. "It's fun for me. When they boo and hiss me it's all in fun. I love the fact that the Jamaican fan base has gotten larger and larger."

After Penn, Drummond will concentrate on his preparation for the U.S. Olympic Trials in Sacramento in July.

"You don't want to peak too soon," he said. "The fact that the U.S. has great competition in the Trials means there's not much room for error. You try not to overrace. You want to peak at the trials, and then peak again at the Olympics (in Athens in August.)"

Almost as soon as the Olympic Trials end, Drummond, who now lives in Las Vegas, will return to Philadelphia to host the Jon Drummond Summer Relay Invitational, a first-year age-group track meet, on Saturday, July 24.. According to Drummond, the meet does not have a definite site, but he has been in discussion with officials at La Salle University to use its Frank Wetzler Memorial Track in McCarthy Stadium on the North Philadelphia campus.

"Philadelphia has never had a high-purpose meet for high school kids," he said. "Our kids have to go to the South or the West. For meets in the summer."

The meet will be sponsored by the Jon Drummond Foundation, which has been set up "to help disadvantaged children who have shown ability in athletics, education, the arts."

"Right now it looks like the U.S. Olympic relay teams could be available to be there," Drummond said. "It's not 100% yet, but I've talked to some of them and they're interested in coming."

Which is what Jon Drummond will always be to followers of track and field, of all ages...interesting.