The Hero Within Us: A History of Track and Field in the 20th Century from a Michigan Perspective, by Keith McClellan
"The Hero Within Us: A History of Track & Field in the Twentieth Century From a Michigan Perspective" by Keith McClellan. 757 pages. $24 paperback. Eastern Michigan Press.

Michigan has a rich and glorious track and field tradition. "In the first three quarters of this century [Michigan] had more Olympic gold medal track and field athletes than any other state."

That's impressive and illuminating, as is the source of the quotation, "The Hero Within Us: A History of Track & Field in the Twentieth Century From a Michigan Perspective."

This massive volume, almost 700 pages of text, is the product of more than three and a half years of research and writing by Keith McClellan, an Oak Park resident. "It was a work of love," he told me.

Fully documented, "The Hero Within Us" is the result of hundreds of interviews with athletes, coaches, officials and family members; hours of rummaging through file cabinets, yearbooks, and newspapers, especially from the Detroit Public Schools and Detroit Police Department (which sponsored many early teams); and research from college archives and sports information departments.

McClellan has written three other books, most recently and notably the award-winning "The Sunday Game," which focused on the early years of professional football.

"I have friends who are interested in track and field," McClellan said. "After I wrote the book about football, they said, 'You know, our sport has been neglected. We'd like to introduce it to some folks.' That's how 'The Hero Within Us' came about."

Here, McClellan has focused on elite track-and-field athletes, particularly Michigan Olympians, world- and American-record holders. But the book is more than that. It's a history of track and field in Michigan, over the last 120 years or so.

McClellan traces the earliest days of organized track and field, from the heated competitions between universities of Michigan and Chicago, to national championships in Detroit, through to 1980s and '90s Olympians such as Paul McMullen and Gary Morgan. In between, there are countless names and stories: all entertaining and fascinating.

Many of the athletes are familiar. Road runners will recognize Greg Meyer, the last American male to win the Boston Marathon; and Jeanne Bocci. Readers from around the state will find local heroes. For instance, Detroiters are reintroduced to Lou Scott, high-school wunderkind in the mile in the 1960s.

Michigan was a big winner in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. The state cashed in on gold medals from Hayes Jones (hurdles), Henry Carr (200 meters and relay), and Rex Cawley (hurdles).

Cawley is the subject of one of the many anecdotes McClellan has unearthed. A national high school champion hurdler, Cawley decided not to attend the University of Michigan. When apprised of that, U-M track coach Don Canham bought him a plane ticket to visit the University of Southern California. Canham didn't want Cawley competing against U-M for another Big Ten school.

Ken Popjoy of Michigan State was the first Michigan collegian to break four minutes in the mile. But, he admitted, he got his start in running when "his father bet him $25 that he couldn't stick it out two weeks on the (high school) cross-country team." Popjoy later said, "I didn't want to lose that bet. I didn't have 25 bucks and I didn't want to cut that many lawns or wash that many cars."

Before hitchhiking to Michigan Normal College in Ypsilanti "with less than $50 in his pocket," Abe Rosenkrantz dropped out of high school in New York City. His job required him to make deliveries to businesses within a mile of his employment. The boss gave him 10 cents for each delivery, a nickel for streetcar fare to the customer and a nickel for fare back to work. Rosenkrantz soon discovered he could run back to the shop faster than the streetcar could take him -- and he could keep the nickel he saved from each trip. This led him to racing and, after returning to night school to get his diploma, a track career at Michigan Normal (now Eastern Michigan University).

"Hail to the Victors," the U-M fight song, was written by a track athlete. One of the two Jewish U.S. Olympians at the Berlin Games in 1936 was from Michigan. The stories seem endless.

The sociologist and historian in McClellan (he has a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago) also show up. For instance, he describes track and field's inclusion of blacks, Jews and women when there were few alternatives open to them, especially in athletics. He includes individual chapters on these topics.

And there's more, much more. For a history jock like me, it's nonstop page-turning. The photographs, more than 40, are special treats. McClellan's lists of "The Best 100 Male Track Athletes from Michigan" and "The 45 Most-Notable Women Track Athletes from Michigan" may spark debates too. I am not a big track and field fan. Yet I found "The Hero Within" fascinating. Real track and field fans may think they've found heaven with this book.

Ron Marinucci can be reached by e-mail at RMarin6424@aol.com.