Stephanie Hightower provided many a memorable moment on the track.
Now, she is stepping up in the USA Track & Field hierarchy, elected to a four-year term as president during USATF’s annual December meeting.
Hightower first caught my eye when she ran for old Stuart High School in Louisville, then during her days at Ohio State University — where she was coached by Mamie Rollins.
Today, Hightower makes her home in Columbus, Ohio, where she is Columbus College of Art & Design’s vice president for instutional advancement.
From 1977 through 1980, Hightower was undefeated over the 60- and 100-meter hurdles.
In 1980, she won the 100-meter hurdles at the U.S. Olympic Trials. Her time of 12.90 seconds was the second-fastest ever by an American. Thanks to an ill-advised boycott of the Moscow Games — ah, yes, what better way to make a political stand than to sacrifice your best athletes? — denied her the chance to compete in the Olympics.
Looking for a top-three finish — and an automatic berth on the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics team — Hightower was involved in the closest race I have ever seen.
Running on the same L.A. Coliseum track that would be used in the Games, the first four finishers crossed the line within one hundredth of a second. There was an agonizing wait for the finish photos to be read and re-read.
Finally, the results: Kim Turner won in 13.12. Benita Fitzgerald, Pam Page and Hightower all clocked 13.13, placing in that order. Page’s margin over Hightower was a thousandth of a second.
Fitzgerald went on to win the Olympic gold medal. Turner tied for third, with Page in eighth.
Suggesting that the 1984 result was tougher to take than the 1980 boycott, “it was more devastating, you’re absolutely right,” Hightower told me at this year’s Trials. “But you know what, things happen for a reason. I’ve been blessed to be able to, over the last 25-plus years, continue to work in track and field as a volunteer.”
Now 50, Hightower just completed her eighth year as national chair of “women’s track and field for high performance.” She began her USATF Board service as a member of the Athletes Advisory Committee, also serving as that committee’s secretary and representative to the U.S. Olympic Committee. She serves on USATF’s International Relations Committee and chaired the 2007 CEO evaluation committee.
She also has served as a team manager, leader or chief of delegation at the Olympics, World Championships and/or World Youth Championships.
In her new office of president, she succeeds Bill Roe, who had served for eight years.
In the first round of voting, Hightower was named on 304 ballots, followed by USATF vice president Dee Jensen with 263. Bob Bowman, a former USATF vice president, had 58 votes and was eliminated.
In the head-to-head final vote, Hightower topped Jensen 328-300.
“I’m excited about the opportunity to serve this organization,” Hightower said in a USATF press release. “We have a multitude of opportunities that lie before us, and I’m just happy that I’ll have the opportunity to work with the USATF family and move the sport into the 21st century.”
Best wishes, madam president.
Cheers for some officials
* Congratulations, also, to Kenny Morton of Louisville. Morton, whose many contributions to track and field include directing the annual Mason-Dixon Games, won one of five officials awards presented at the USATF meeting. Appropriately, he took the Charlie Ruter Award.
Ruter, from Fern Creek, is known to every serious track and field enthusiast in Kentucky, and by many around the world. He trained nearly every veteran official in Kentucky, including yours truly.
Lori and Ron Boemker won the John Davis (officiating) Award. This award name also has a special spot in my heart, as the late Mr. Davis was my high school track coach at Glenbrook South (Ill.). We crossed paths many times in later years as he continued to “give” to the sport he loved by serving as a top-rate official.
Boos for some well-meaning but nit-picky officials
As long as I have mentioned track and field officials, I’ll let you in on the pet peeve coming out of my experiences as a reporter and USATF official.
In basketball, players are disqualified for such situations as too many fouls, a flagrant foul and multiple technical fouls.
In football, penalties are assessed according to the severity of infraction. Offsides is a 10-yard penalty, holding is 10 yards and a personal foul is 15 yards. In rare instances, usually dealing with a fight, players are ejected.
In baseball, arguing beyond bounds of civility likely will get a player or coach ejected.
But in track and field, ah!, high school officials are taught to disqualify athletes for improper underwear.
Right here in Kentucky, a state champion in the 100 meters was disqualified a few years ago because his boxer shorts were peeking out from underneath his uniform shorts.
At the Mason-Dixon Games, a team title was lost because a 4-by-400 relay team was disqualified for improper uniforms. The relay squad in question had all four members in white shorts, with white tops and blue lettering. The improper “uniform” came from two runners having white compression shorts showing on their thighs, while the other two had blue compression shorts.
To disqualify a team for something like this is disgraceful. The call is not even in the spirit of the uniform rule, which no doubt was instituted to prevent something like a relay member in a red shirt handing off to one in a blue shirt — thus making for confusion in the exchange zone.
The responses I get most often from officials when I challenge such decisions are “a rule is a rule” coaches are at faullt, and/or “we have to teach these kids to be responsible.”
To which I say, who is preventing you from using common sense?
For those who adhere to the ”a rule is a rule” philosophy, I would point out that virtually all of us have driven 26 mph in a 25 mph zone. Likely that most of us have gone through a stop sign without coming to a FULL stop. We’ve even done these things in the presence of police officers, who are sworn to uphold the laws. Fortunately, most police officers know how to use common sense.
If coaches are at fault, OK, let’s penalize the coaches, not the athletes. Let’s say “X amount” of infractions will result in a one-meet suspension of the coach in question, with higher penalties possible if infractions continue.
Teaching kids to be responsible? That is a task for parents and, to a lesser degree, mentors. Officials have the role of ensuring a safe and fair competition. However, a few officials rate the “success” of their efforts on how many athletes they disqualify — the more the merrier.
And what about holding officials accountable? If an athlete passes inspection in the marshalling area, that should be good enough to compete without fear of a uniform DQ. Most track and field officials volunteer their services. But a warning to a marshal and/or a demotion in responsibility is in order if kids continue to get disqualified.
At a time when young athletes can develop a life-long love of the sport, some lack-of-common-sense disqualifications have the same effect as clubbing the kid over the head and saying “we don’t want you in this sport.”
A rule is a rule, but there’s no rule against using common sense!
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Alan Stein, Baseball, Beijing, Crystl Bustos, Dale Dawson, Eastern Kentucky, Julie Bartel, Keith Elkins, Lexington Legends, Michael Clark, Olympics, Pat O'Conner, Taylor Long, USA Softball, football | 
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Posted by Mark Maloney
Ask me when I fell in love with sports and you may as well ask when I first registered a pulse. I can't recall ever being without either. 
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