Clancy Edwards (born August 9, 1955) is a retired

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

sprinter from the

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. He was considered one of the best sprinters in the world between 1974 and 1978. He won the

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

at the

1977 IAAF World Cup The 1st IAAF World Cup in Athletics was an international track and field sporting event sponsored by the International Association of Athletics Federations, held from 2 to 4 September 1977, at the Rheinstadion in Düsseldorf, West Germany. Over ...

, the most important meet of that year, defeating future World Record holder

Pietro Mennea Pietro Paolo Mennea (; 28 June 1952 – 21 March 2013), nicknamed ("the Arrow of the South"), was an Italian sprinter and politician. He was most successful in the 200m event, winning a gold medal at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, and set a world r ...

. While in high school, he ran for Santa Ana High School His 21.32 (converted from a hand time of 21.2) for 220 yards winning the 1973

CIF California State Meet The CIF California State Meet is the annual championship track and field meet for the California Interscholastic Federation. The meet was started in 1915 for boys and 1974 for girls. Every athlete in every high school in California has a direc ...

was the best time in

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for twelve years. He was also 2nd in the

100-yard dash 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

. Edwards began his collegiate career at Cal Poly in 1974, running for their track team, the

Cal Poly Mustangs The Cal Poly Mustangs are the athletic teams representing California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California. The university fields twenty-one teams and compete in NCAA Division I; they are primarily members of the Big Wes ...

(where he won titles under the tutelage of coach Steve Simmons), and Santa Ana Junior College in 1975. He left there citing personal problems and missed a year of college in 1976. He also missed out on the

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

because of injury. In 1977 he transferred as a junior to the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8. ...

(USC). While at USC he was one of the best sprinters in the world, helping them to the Pac-8 collegiate championship. He was ranked (see below) in the American top ten at 200 metres five times between 1974 and 1979 including #1 in 1977 and 1978. Worldwide those rankings were not much different, ranking #1 in 1978 and #3 in 1977 behind Mennea and Olympic Champion

Don Quarrie Donald O'Riley Quarrie CD (born 25 February 1951) is a Jamaican former track and field athlete, one of the world's top sprinters during the 1970s. At the 1976 Summer Olympics he was the gold medallist in the Olympic 200 meters and silver med ...

. And he was #2 worldwide in 1978 at 100 metres. Edwards' fastest time over 100 metres was 10.07 seconds, set at

Eugene Eugene may refer to: People and fictional characters * Eugene (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Eugene (actress) (born 1981), Kim Yoo-jin, South Korean actress and former member of the sin ...

in June 1978. In that year, Edwards achieved the remarkable 'double-double' of winning the 100 and 200 m events at both the NCAA (United States collegiate) and AAU (United States National) Championships. He was the first to do this since

Hal Davis Harold Edward Davis (February 8, 1933 – November 18, 1998) was an American songwriter and record producer. Davis was a producer and writer for Motown Records for nearly thirty years, and was a key figure in the latter part of the Motown ...

in 1943. That same year he also recorded the world's best year performance in the men's 200 metres at the dual meet against cross-town rival

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

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, clocking 20.03 on April 29, 1978. In both 1977 and 1978 he was awarded the Pac-10 Track athlete of the year. Also in 1978, Edwards ran the anchor leg of a University of Southern California team (with Joel Andrews, James Sanford and William Mullins) that broke the world record in 4 × 200 m relay event with a time of 1.20.26 at

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on 27 May. They broke the record even though they came second in the race. The team that won from the Tobias Striders track team was multi-national and so was not eligible to hold the record (that team of Guy Abrahams, Michael Simmons,

and James Gilkes recorded a time of 1.20.23.) Injury ruined his 1979 season. The following year, the United States boycott of the 1980 Olympics meant he lacked the motivation to re-find his best form and to carry on with his track career post-1980 onto the next Olympics.

Track and field rankings

Edwards was ranked among the best in the US and the world in the 100 yard/100 metre and 200 yard/200 metre sprint events in the period 1974-79, according to the votes of the experts of ''

Track and Field News ''Track & Field News'' is an American monthly sports magazine founded in 1948 by brothers Bert Nelson and Cordner Nelson, focused on the world of track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on runnin ...

''.

References

External links

1978 Year Rankings

1975 Pan American 4 x 100 metres relay final

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Clancy 1955 births Living people American male sprinters Track and field athletes from Phoenix, Arizona Sportspeople from Santa Ana, California Track and field athletes from California Athletes (track and field) at the 1975 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade gold medalists for the United States USC Trojans men's track and field athletes USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners Medalists at the 1977 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 1975 Pan American Games

Track and field rankings

See also

References

External links