Winning state track championships was nothing new to Michigan School for the Deaf in the early 1960s. The Flint school already had three Class D titles and four runner-up finishes from previous decades.
By 1961, though, the Tartars had gone 12 years without one, and had never strung three in a row.
That drought ended in dramatic fashion in 1961, ’62 and ’63, as MSD swept three consecutive Class D crowns and re-established the school as a state track power. As part of that run, they also won five straight regionals and five Motor Valley Conference titles.
Those 1961-63 teams now enter the Greater Flint Area Sports Hall of Fame and join the 1945 and ’46 MSD track teams, which won back-to-back titles and were inducted in 1997.
For coach Earl Roberts, the sweep gave him six state titles in 19 years. A variety of talented athletes spread over several events made it happen.
Among the standouts and highlights were: Donald Smith, who set a state record in the long jump in 1962 and ran on multiple state-winning relays; Dave Takacs, whose final throw won the shot put in 1963 and sealed a 43-34 victory over Brethren Norman Dickson; Gerald Blakely, who won the 880 yard run in 1961 and was part of state-winning relay teams with Caswell Hassell, Jim Bischer, Bill Ingram and Brown Jordan that year; Wilbert Reed, who won the 440 that year and also ran on two relays; Ron Scripter, who was on winning relays in multiple years and came within three-tenths of a second of winning the 880 and setting a state record; Anson Mitchell, Dominic Zito, Steve Kovacs, Gerald Vernon, Gary Blumerick, Bill Angelbeck, Frank Fickies and Bill Hoffmeyer, all of whom contributed to the Tartars winning seven relay events in their three-year state run.
Other athletes contributing to conference, regional and invitational titles were shot-putter Alan Haywood, pole vaulter and relay runner Glindell Young, high jumper Fred McFadden, miler Robert Morrison and sprinter Bob Zweng.
But the biggest standout on the team was Abram Powell, a lanky, 6-foot speedster from Pontiac who won the state 440 three consecutive years from 1962-64 and went undefeated in 35 consecutive races. He also ran on the winning 880 relay team in the 1963 state meet and won the broad jump in 1964, the year MSD’s streak ended with a third-place finish behind champion Covert.
Powell’s specialty was breaking from the line into a big lead, despite the disadvantage of not hearing the starter’s pistol.
“Oh no no, I caught that gun pretty quick,” he replied, shrugging off the disadvantage. “It didn’t matter if they were hearing or not, I was able to take them. I took off and was way out. They couldn’t catch me.”
That was evident in the 1964 state meet. Powell got his usual fast start and won the 440 by 5 yards for his third straight state title in that event.
But he missed his final chance at the state record of 51.2. Powell had clocked 51.1 just four days earlier in a dual meet, but wind and 90-degree heat at the state finals slowed him to 52.1, above his two previous state-winning times of 51.9 in 1962 and 51.75 in 1963. Powell also won the broad jump at 21-4 in 1964, missing the state record by an inch.
Like many of his track teammates, Powell also played football and basketball, the only other sports available at MSD.
“He was a rail-thin halfback, but he was fast,” said Scripter.
“And that was because he didn’t like anyone to catch him,” Scripter added, slipping into wry humor. “He didn’t want anyone to tackle him. He didn’t like pain.”
Scripter, who came from Durand, was pretty fast himself on the track, coming within an eyelash of winning the state 880 one year. Running in a cluster the first lap, Scripter found himself stuck there as one runner pulled away in the second lap.
“Once there was an opening, I was able to get out and catch up,” he said. “But by the time I caught up it was too late.
“If I would have just been able to break out of that cluster of kids, I could have gotten first place. But he was really far ahead. I had a lot of catching up to do, but, wow, just .3 seconds at the end. We both broke the state record, 1:59-something.”
Anson Mitchell, another 1964 grad, hailed from Sault Ste. Marie. He was on the 1963 state-champion 880 relay squad and also did the broad jump. A two-way player in football, Mitchell was only the second deaf player in state history to make two All-State teams in one year, the Associated Press All-Star team and the Detroit News first team.
Perhaps the farthest any student-athlete traveled to MSD was Fred McFadden, who was born in Beaumont, Texas. A high jump specialist, he won at the Goodrich Invitational and competed in regional and state meets.
“My mommy and daddy sent me there when I was 12,” he said. “My first day there, I just loved it. I stayed five years. All the deaf kids loved me. Communication was good. The community was good.”
MSD trackmen also shone at a Midwest open meet in Indianapolis, a stepping stone for the International Olympic Games for the Deaf. Zito won the 100-meter dash in 11.1 seconds and set a world record for deaf athletes with a 22.4 clocking in the 200. Powell won the 400, extending his quarter-mile streak, and tied for first in the triple jump. Scripter won the 800 and Takacs took the shot-put.
At the 1965 Deaf Olympics in Washington D.C., home of Gallaudet University, Scripter placed third in two heats of the 800 but finished fifth in the next heat and was eliminated. He later attended Gallaudet.
