Photo: Scott Hubbard (l) (center), Don Hubbard and Marshall Hubbard attend the Ann Arbor Huron High School Hall of Fame dinner, May 6, 2006.

Trivia: Who is the first American male to break 2:20 in the marathon? DONNY. Via equal parts good timing and perspiration, I was lucky to be part of a few notable firsts at Ann Arbor Huron High School. In my day, high school started with 10th grade and Huron was under construction. While all students still attended AA Pioneer High, the sports program for Huron and all who lived in its district began in fall 1967, my sophomore year. We still took our classes at Pioneer. I'd innocently signed up for cross country, not knowing what I was in for. Two weeks into the season we beat Tecumseh in a dual meet, the first sports win in Huron history.

Flip forward to fall 1969 and a move from way-overcrowded Pioneer into the beautiful new building along the banks of the Huron River. Through a confluence of events including new runners, great coaching, new- building aura, normal and unexpected improvements, our team won the Class A state cross country championship in November. The next Monday, a school assembly was held in our honor. Sweet stuff!

In track I set records in the mile and two-mile runs, mostly because the school was so young. They were reasonable times, but just set the stage for those that followed - particularly ones set by a budding runner I looked at across the dinner table every day: my brother, Don.

In junior high, Don ran fine times hinting at his potential. I figured he'd help Huron right away as a sophomore, running decent track times. Beyond that, my crystal ball went fuzzy. I hoped he'd do well, but you never know how young athletes will pan out. Little did I know Don was born to run and seize races with relish and abandon.

Since his longest junior high race was 880 yards (pre-metric era), it took Don a while to adapt to the 2.5-mile cross-country distance as a 10th grader. He improved weekly, grew in confidence and placed seventh at the Class A state meet, one spot behind a star teammate Karl Tsigdinos. A few weeks later Don ran a 4:25 mile in a time trial, a whiff of things to come.

Indoors in track, Don's first official race was a mile win in an auspicious 4:19. The state mile record was 4:13 then. In one race he went from, "When will he be good?" to, "How good will he get?"

As winter progressed, Don supplied answers regularly and with authority. By outdoor season it was clear he could run both long and hard, short and fast. I began wondering, "Who is this guy and why did he acquire all the fast-twitch fibers in the family?"

In his first outdoor meet Don won the 440-yard dash, the 880 in 1:58, and anchored the mile relay to a win. This established a pattern of fast times and successes, including a stirring near-miss in the 880 in a dual meet to the eventual state champ.

Don set a sophomore class record at regionals, running a 4:16 mile. He was poised to win state with a half-lap to go, but the day's heat smothered him and he ended up third, again in 4:16. Not including the odd quarter-mile race where he was a little out of his element, Don lost only twice during track season. He was disappointed not to win the state-meet mile, but oh, what a year it had been.

My brother battled injuries for the first time as junior in cross-country, but managed to win the conference meet and place second at regionals.

During the winter season, Huron qualified to run in a special "suburban" high school mile relay at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships in Detroit's Cobo Arena. Don got the baton first as Huron's anchorman, but was quickly passed by two others. My mother, sitting next to me, let out an, "Oh no," but I calmly said, "It's not over. Watch, he'll come back."

With the crowd of 11,000 going nuts, Don gradually caught and passed Ken Delor, a state sprint champ later that spring, and closed on the leader. Would he? Could he? ... No, he came up a stride short to finish second. It was an exciting, no, thrilling climax in a supercharged environment.

Outdoors, he anchored strong Huron relays to big wins, including the two-mile event at the prestigious Mansfield (Ohio) Relays. At the regional meet in Ypsilanti, just a mile from where I was running at the same time for Eastern Michigan University, Don won the mile in 4:12.8, a junior class record. Shortly after he was diagnosed with a stress fracture in a foot. Despite resting for a week, then running on a very painful foot, he won the state mile in 4:16. Teammates carried him, unable to walk, to the victory stand.

Injuries nagged Don again as a senior in cross-country, but he rallied to place second in conference and regional meets.

At the end of the indoor season, while anchoring a sprint medley relay during the Huron Relays at EMU, an awful thing happened. Don went flying around the initial turn in first, directly into the path of the Northville coach, who was in the wrong place at the worst time. Don flipped and landed on his shoulders, then lay stunned in lane one as the relay continued.

He was taken from the hushed field house in an ambulance and diagnosed with a broken collarbone. Broken also was Don's spirit. The slight, slender star ran on healthy doses of adrenaline and talent, for sure, but it was his ability to channel and thrive on emotion of the moment that raised his running an extra notch.

Badly hurt, passion compromised and impaired, his hopes for a four- minute mile were lost. After a month Don returned to running wearing a figure-eight strap, which restricted movement, around his shoulders. Damage to his psyche was just as limiting. He ran tentatively, but still qualified for state in the mile run.

I watched Don at state as he trailed the field for the first three laps, wondering what he was thinking. Later he told me he felt he was running in a fog. The gun for the last lap woke him; he produced a sub- 60-second split to finish fifth in 4:19 - certainly not what he wanted, but extraordinary under the circumstances.

A week later, the first Tri-State Meet (involving Ohio, Indiana and Michigan) was held in Fort Wayne, Ind. Despite Don only finishing fifth in the state-meet mile, Michigan selectors thought highly enough of his skills to let him anchor the two-mile relay. Don loved relays, feeding on his teammates' energy, but lack of training and diminished focus cost him a couple steps and what was a usually winning anchor became an unusual loss.

In perspective, it was just a tough way to end a remarkable prep career that quite a few older coaches, athletes and fans readily recall. It was three years worth the price of admission, coming through as often as he did and so fast.

I've written about Don in MR before, but needed to set the stage for an honor he received recently. On May 6 he was inducted into the Ann Arbor Huron High School Hall of Fame with five others. Introducing Don was his old track coach, Kent Overbey. (I was on his first team in 1969; he is still coaching in 2006!) Kent gave a passionate, lengthy speech highlighting Don's many prep accomplishments, and concluded, "Donny is the best runner we've ever had at Huron."

Among those attending were Don's nephew, Jeff, now running at EMU, and his friend Chip Hadler, a former rival at Pioneer and All-American at Tennessee. Also there was Jeff's mom, my ex-wife, Karen, who did more than a little bit of running in her day, and my youngest brother, Marshall.

Don had undergone arthroscopic gall-bladder surgery two days before the banquet. While sitting there quietly, Chip leaned over and said, "You know, what's so impressive about Donny, besides the things he did, is the credit he gives to his teammates. He's very sincere about that."

In Don's remarks - which he said he'd keep brief, to applause and laughter in light of Kent's (bless him) loquacious comments - he confirmed Chip's thoughts. Don singled out family members, Overbey and his cross-country coach, Des Ryan, for thanks, and closed with, "and my teammates, who made it all worthwhile and fun, and were always there for me."

Don still holds a few Huron records 32 years later. They may be broken in time, but the Hall of Fame is forever.

Biased I may be, but I can't think of anyone more deserving.

Answer: Leonard "Buddy" Edelen ran 2:18:55 in Fukuoka, Japan, in December 1962. MR