Who could forget his 44.5 anchor as a senior in '85 on the way to setting the National High School Record of 3:07.40 (Which still stands today) They did it against Roosevelt, Dallas, TX, with National Record holder Roy Martin (20.13 200, still stands) A shame Thomas and Martin never raced in high school.
Thomas was great, yes. Hawthorne's clear cheating to recruit so many athletes should never have been permitted. I was also in CIF southern section in the mid 80s and the lesson was that the grownups didn't really care about cheating. Nice. Those coaches should be ashamed.
I believe he was incarcerated for something, which obviously cut short his track career. It would be great to see him get his life back on track. But I have no idea where he is at the moment. Would love to know.
I'll never forget that day. I was sitting in the stands on the backstretch (the west side) and remember how he ate those guys up over there! Wish you had some of his high school races at Hawthorne..........
Wow HENRY THOMAS the BEst..I went to Hawthorne High also i know all about the tradition..Was wondering if you have any more videos of him Wow this is great!
Wow, I was there that day at Mt Sac, and saw UCLA do the same thing in the 4X4 the next year at that same meet. Thank you soooooooo much for posting this. All I'd ever had were memories...........
This was quite simply one of the best races I've ever witnessed.
I worked that MSAC Relays that year and was in the Press Box when the races started.
And Henry Thomas ran a truly amazing leg.
It's funny because here we are 20+ years later and we still remember it.
I was just telling my 12 year old son about it 3 weeks ago as we were jogging the MSAC X-Country course.
IONsek 1 year ago
Who could forget his 44.5 anchor as a senior in '85 on the way to setting the National High School Record of 3:07.40 (Which still stands today) They did it against Roosevelt, Dallas, TX, with National Record holder Roy Martin (20.13 200, still stands) A shame Thomas and Martin never raced in high school.
ThePresident45 1 year ago
Thomas was great, yes. Hawthorne's clear cheating to recruit so many athletes should never have been permitted. I was also in CIF southern section in the mid 80s and the lesson was that the grownups didn't really care about cheating. Nice. Those coaches should be ashamed.
pax911 1 year ago
hawthorne hs had a lot of talent back then
watching,thomas,mcgee, and vining were awesome
arcadetraderlax 2 years ago
whatever happened to Henry Thomas?
deadwetb0y 3 years ago
I believe he was incarcerated for something, which obviously cut short his track career. It would be great to see him get his life back on track. But I have no idea where he is at the moment. Would love to know.
bruinsfirst 3 years ago
dayum that stride was huge now that i actually seen him run i know he was that good
only1eva 4 years ago
I had 43.5 - as my colleague had as well. T&F News published 43.7.
3:01.09 University of California LA 1 Walnut 26.04.1987
Anthony Washington (46.1)
Kevin Young (46.4)
Henry Thomas (43.7)
Danny Everett (44.9)
dpasv 4 years ago
I'll never forget that day. I was sitting in the stands on the backstretch (the west side) and remember how he ate those guys up over there! Wish you had some of his high school races at Hawthorne..........
iguillo 4 years ago
Wow HENRY THOMAS the BEst..I went to Hawthorne High also i know all about the tradition..Was wondering if you have any more videos of him Wow this is great!
THROWER67 5 years ago
Wow, I was there that day at Mt Sac, and saw UCLA do the same thing in the 4X4 the next year at that same meet. Thank you soooooooo much for posting this. All I'd ever had were memories...........
:-)
iguillo 4 years ago
Sorry for the late reply. I'm hoping to get my Betamax fixed...so that I can convert those tapes to DV.
You're right. The following year was fun as well - with Danny Everett holding off Butch Reynolds!
dpasv 4 years ago