An event that now receives national recognition for its high caliber competition all began with a small group of committed volunteers and a passion for high school track and field.
Bill Buchalter remembers how Golden South began as he shares below.
“It sounds clandestine, but it simply was a back-room meeting at the Central Florida YMCA. Max Clark, of the YMCA, coaches Terry Long of Seminole Community College, David Huggins of Lyman and Phil Newlon of Edgewater high schools were trying to find a way to give the area’s elite track athletes opportunities to compete.
One of the ideas tossed about was putting on our own track meet. Thus the Golden South Classic was born. Clark enlisted the help of Hartwell Conklin, then working public relations for the Orlando Sentinel.
Conklin convinced his bosses of the project’s worthiness and community business leaders like Manny Garcia at Burger King quickly jumped on board.
It became a southern success through creativity and trying new things – like becoming the first postseason high school meet that invited girls, by adding relays for boys and girls Golden South created a unique challenge from schools in different states to earn an opportunity to compete against the other states, and by developing special events and clinics to complement the event itself. It was also successful because of the volunteer work on behalf of a majority of Central Florida’s high school coaches.
Oak Ridge High School Coach John Hemmer’s membership on the Olympic Development Committee helped bring national support from coaches and leaders in the sport like Steve Simmons, Brooks Johnson and Clyde Hart. That led to future Olympic athletes participating in the meet. One of the first development races included high school stars Michelle Finn Burrell and Gwen Torrance who became Olympic gold medal winners in 1992 for the 4x100m, and who went on to win several other Olympic and world medals.
The rest is history with more than 30 Golden South participant athletes going on to win Olympic medals.”
Bill Buchalter