Manhattan College - Manhattanite Yearbook (Riverdale, NY)

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FASTEST MILER OF THE YEAR Edward J. Walsh holding The Cafllolic Universe Bulletin Trophy, won in ihe Cleveland Knighls of Columbus Meet for his 4:1'I.5 mile, lasiesf of the year, on March 23. 266

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Track Leezderslz zf S soon as the College got back on its feet after the scars of war, George T. Eastment was named track, field and cross country coach to succeed Pete Waters. He took over his duties on February 1 after resigning his position as track coach of Bishop Loughlin High School, Brooklyn, where he was phenomenally successful for eigh- teen years. In addition to coaching he is

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an instructor of commercial law in the School of Business Administration. Manhattan's new coach, now 41 years old and a Georgetown law graduate of 1927, left an unparalleled record in schoolboy track., His Loughlin teams were virtually unbeatable. In competi- tion in the Catholic High Schools Athle- tic Association, they won fourteen, with one tie, out of seventeen indoor cham- pionships: won fourteen out of eighteen outdoor championships: and fifteen out of eighteen cross-country championships. In the last eleven years, Loughlin swept all the C.H.S.A.A. team titles without a break. Eastment's teams were equally suc- cessful in open competition. They won the National A.A.U. indoor interscholas- tic five of the last six years, won the Eastern outdoor championship six of the last seven years, and annexed the private schools cross-country run fourteen times in seventeen years. in eighteen years his Loughlin teams failed to turn up a win- ner only twice at the Penn Relays, where they captured twenty-six firsts. Under the coaching of Mr. Eastment, Loughlin has won over 350 team and relay tro- phies. 1945 was a particularly successful sea- son for George , as he is known to the hundreds of boys he has coached. He turned out undefeated indoor, outdoor and cross-country teams. The highlight of the season coming at Franklin Field, Philadelphia, when his lads ran off with four Firsts and a second in the Penn Re- lays against rivals from all over the Eastern Seaboard. Following these tri- umphs Mr. Eastment received national recognition in Life magazine which acclaimed him as the best high school track coach in the United States. Wlieii George took over his duties on Iasperhill the material he had to work 26 with was rather skimpy. He had a few men who had previously run in college competition and were in shape, but the others were either returned servicemen who had not run in a couple of years or freshmen. However, he built up a team in a few weeks and entered his men in the indoor meets at Madison Square Garden. His two mile relay team of lgnatius Rienzo, Tom Comerford, Phil rO'Connel1 and Eddie Walsli rated with the best in the country. He also coached the IC4A 600 yard run, the one mile run and the two mile run champions in the persons of Fred Sickinger, Ed Walsli and Ed C'Toole respectively. All of these men are returned veterans who served under Pete VVaters before entering the Army. The Iaspers took a surprising third place in the Intercollegiate Amateur Ath- letic Association of America Champion- ships. Army, the victor for the third straight time, totaled .SSM pointsg NYU, the runner up had 35 points. Eastment's runners beat the Navy team by one-half point. Manhattan had 22 points to Navy's ZIM. The Navy team, which had been very good during the war years was ex- pected to place second or third and Man- hattan was said to have a chance to finish fourth, but turned the tables. This point is brought out to show the progress that Mr. Eastment made in such a short time with a handful of hardworking young- sters. George was a crack middle distance man in his younger daysat Georgetown University, and was a member of the Hoya's championship mile relay team. His phenomenal success as a coach can be attributed to several factors. Fi rst, he is willing to work with any fellow no matter how slow he may be or -how little promise he may show, if the youngster is willing to work out faithfully and never stop trying. Tn many instances just such