My Hero: Maurice Smith on Herb McKenley
The 2007 world decathlon silver medallist Maurice Smith of Jamaica tells spikesmag.com about his admiration for four-time Olympic sprint medallist Herb McKenley...
“I read a lot about the (1952) Helsinki Games that Herb McKenley is famous for when I was young. When I started at Calabar High School I got to know a lot more about him because he was once head coach there.
He was all about track and field and really passionate about it. I watched tapes of what he had accomplished in the past and it really motivated me to want to do better. He would often hold team meetings where he would talk about what is important and what it really takes to reach the top.
I remember
he came up to me and asked me to do the heptathlon.
I was always willing to do anything he asked. I never wanted to let him down, or for him to be disappointed in me. I was ready and willing to try it.
He told me to be mentally strong and to develop a love for athletics. Those comments have always kept me going.
He was a real people person with a good sense of humour, but when it was time for business he could certainly get serious.
I remember one competition we had at High School, when
we should have been warming up for our events but we were sat talking to the girls. I always remember
he came over and said, ‘What are you talking to these girls for? You are supposed to be warming up, get ready for your competition.’ Then he turned to the girls and said, ‘Stop messing around with my boys and let them focus.’ Ever since that moment whenever we had a track meet and we would see him coming, we would take off. He was not a man afraid to voice his opinion or say what was on his mind. That was his personality.
After I left Jamaica to start my college career in the US, I didn’t talk to him so much and he got sick. But
a couple of weeks before he died, and a few months after I won the silver medal at the World Championships, I went to visit Herb at his house. His speech was not too good by then but you could tell how happy he was to see me by the look in his eyes.
He told me how proud he was of me, and how proud he was of the progress I was making.”
***Herb McKenley died aged 85 following complications of pneumonia in November 2007. He won the Olympic 400m silver medal at the 1948 London Olympics. Four years later at the Helsinki Games he landed silver medals in the 100m and 400m and helped steer Jamaica to gold in the 4x400m relay. He also set world records for the 400m and 440yds
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