It wasn’t uncommon for Bob Stallcup
to be sitting in his Holly home on a Sunday morning and see a
familiar teenage face showing up in his driveway looking for a
hot breakfast and a ride home. If it was later in the afternoon,
the teenager may ask for an ice cream cone instead, but still
expect the ride home.
For Stallcup, who served as the Grand Blanc boys crosscountry
coach for 28 years, the boys track coach for 24 years
and the girls cross-country coach for six years, the chance
to compete with the best meant you had to go above and
beyond when others didn’t. That’s what he preached to his
runners and that is what his runners took to heart.
So, when one of his runners ran the roughly 10 miles from
Grand Blanc to his house, the least he could do was offer
some food and a ride home for being committed to succeeding
even if that meant running on one of their few days off.
It was constant high standards that helped Stallcup lead
the Bobcats boys cross-country squad to state titles in 1977
and 1979 as well as second-place finishes in 1976, 1978 and
1983. And it is that success that sees Stallcup inducted into
the Greater Flint Area Sports Hall of Fame’s Class of 2012.
“I’ve had some great awards, but this is my home town and
I grew up here,” Stallcup said. “I have been around Flint all
my life and I probably know three-quarters of the people who
are in (the Hall of Fame). That’s why it means a lot, because I
know most of them and the things they did to get there.
“It means a whole lot to be part of this Hall of Fame, as
much as any national award I received.”
Stallcup isn’t short on national awards. Along with the 1977
Division 1 state cross-country championship, Stallcup’s team
that year was also named the mythical national champions at
a meet in California that named the unofficial best team in the
country for years.
In 1984, Stallcup was named the national cross-country
high school coach of the year for his success over his career.
In 2002, he was inducted into the Michigan Interscholastic
Track Coaches Association Hall of Fame as well as the Grand
Blanc High School Hall of Fame.
Ed Stanbury, who ran for Stallcup on the 1977 state
championship squad that set a state record with an all-time
low 51 points, finds it as no surprise that Stallcup has earned
a spot in the Greater Flint Area Sports Hall of Fame. Now,
35 years later, Stanbury still goes to Stallcup from time to
time to get words of advice on the current Grand Blanc boys
cross-country and track teams, both of which Stanbury now
coaches.
