LIKE FATHER, LIKE DAUGHTER

by Pete Cava

INDIANAPOLIS, May 29, 2003 --- In more than a hundred years of American Olympic track and field history there have been just two parent-child combinations.

The first was Alice Arden and her son Russ Hodge. Arden was a high jumper at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin while Hodge competed in the decathlon at the Tokyo Games in 1964.

Next came Charlie Jenkins, a gold medallist in the 400 and 4x400 relay events of the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne. In 1992 his son, Chip, won gold as a member of the U.S. 4x400 meter relay at the Barcelona Olympics.

Will Michael and Michelle Carter become the next members of this elite cadre? Michael won a medal at the 1984 Olympics. Michelle is one of the America’s top track and field prospects and ranks among the top entries for the adidas Outdoor Championships at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, June 13-14.

The Carters have already made history as the first father-daughter record holders in high school track and field. Michael says Michelle’s dedication and passion for the sport will determine the Carter family joins the list of parent-child Olympians. Michael is surprised that so few children of Olympic track athletes have followed their parents to the Games. “That’s a special group,” he says. “You’d think there’d be more. When your parent is an Olympian, you have guidance and know how to avoid the pitfalls.”

In 1979, when Michael was a senior at Jefferson High School in Dallas, he set a national record of 81 feet, 3.5 inches with the high school shot. Still on the books, the record may be as untouchable as Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point single-game scoring binge in 1962.

On April 26 Michelle, a senior at Red Oak, Texas, High School, put the shot 54-4.5 at the Texas 4A Region 2 Championships. Michelle’s toss bettered the 20-year-old high mark of 53-7.75 by Californian Natalie Kaaiawahia.

Michelle broke the record a second time on May 9 at the state meet in Austin with a heave of 54-10.75. She already owns the national prep indoor mark, 54-9.5 at the Nike Indoor Championships last March in Landover, Md.

Michelle has dominated the prep girls weight events in Texas, winning the state shot and discus titles four years in a row. “It means a lot to me,” she says of her double four-peat. “I haven’t heard of too many people who win both events all four years. I was kind of happy to do that.”

Michelle is part of a strong group of homegrown talent recruited by Bev Kearney at the University of Texas. Kearney, the 2000 U.S. Olympic women’s coach, has also corralled sprinter/long jumper Marshevet Hooker (Southwest, San Antonio) and sprinter Jerrika Chapple (Lancaster).

“Michelle had no intention of signing with Texas, but Bev asked her to visit,” says Michael. “She was all set to sign with Tennessee when she went to Austin. Texas won her over when she looked at the whole program, the athletics and the academic side.”

Michael Carter went to Southern Methodist University, where he starred in track and football. He won seven NCAA shot put titles for the Mustangs and earned all-conference honors in football. In 1984 he placed second in the shot put at the Los Angeles Olympics. Less than a week later he was playing football for the San Francisco 49ers.

Carter went on to become an all-pro nose tackle in the NFL. During a nine-year career with San Francisco he played in three Super Bowls (1985-89-90). He’s one of a hatful of athletes --- Jim Thorpe, Ollie Matson and Bob Hayes come to mind --- who distinguished themselves in the Olympics and professional football.

Most two-sports stars gladly abandoned their track careers for football glory. Carter, on the other hand, wanted to continue a dual career in sports. “If the rules barring professionals in track changes,” he told reporters after the Olympics, “my shot putting might not be over.”

The big guy (6-2, 275 when he competed in the Olympics) feels he could have done better if he’d been able to concentrate on track. “If I was strictly a shot putter, and not splitting my time with football, I would have set the world record,” he says.

Michelle took up sports at an early age. But she chose basketball and soccer over track. When Michelle switched from a private to a public school, she didn’t make the basketball team. Wanting to stay active in sports, she told her parents she was going to try putting the shot.

“I was really surprised,” says Michael. “It wasn’t going to come from me. I wasn’t going to push her.”

Michelle says her father never mentioned his track and field exploits. “He never did push it,” she recollects. “He never threw it in my face. I didn’t hear much about his track career until my freshman year, and then I heard about it from other people. Then I asked him, and he told me stories about it.”

Michael says Michelle and her sister D’Andra, also a promising high school thrower, have rarely seen his Olympic medal. “All my awards are still at my mother’s house,” he says, “so they don’t see it.”

While maintaining a low-key profile, Michael has played an important part in his daughter’s track career. Red Oak High School coach Hope Porter described Michelle to USA Today as “the cream of the crop” when it comes to technique and fundamentals.

Michelle won a silver medal at the 2001 World Youth Championships in Debrecen, Hungary. Last year she won the shot at the Golden West Invitational in Sacramento and took third behind a pair of collegiate throwers at the U.S. Junior Championships at Stanford. She heads to Raleigh as the defending shot put champ in the adidas meet. She also placed third last year in the discus.

Michelle says she always competes against herself during meets and, unlike most young athletes, she has no idols. “I don’t look up to anyone,” she says. “If I look up to anyone, it’s my dad. He worked hard and was very dedicated.”

Still, Michelle insists that she’s not following in her father’s footsteps. “He did his own thing, and I’m doing mine,” she says. “But it’s nice to use his career as a guideline.”

Michael says his daughter’s future is completely in her hands. “I’m not one of those parents who’ll stand behind her with a whip,” he says. “I’ll guide her and point her in the right direction. But it’s got to come from her. She’s got to have the heart for it.”

Can Michelle surpass her father’s achievements with an Olympic triumph and a world record?

“Everything is in her lap right now,” says Michael. “It’s going to be a lot of pressure on her. She has to do the work, learn the technique and get rid of her faults and train properly. If she has the love and compassion to do it, it’ll get done.”