Mark
Kinnaird
has no clue why, but he’s still the
owner of the fastest time in the 200-meter dash at the Pennsylvania
State Athletic Championships.
Kinnaird’s
time edged out Slippery Rock’s Bob Brennan by 0.20 seconds with a
record-setting 21.19 at the 1982 Pennsylvania State Athletic
Conference [PSAC] track and field championships and is still atop
the list after 25 years. It’s the fifth-longest standing PSAC
record, second among track events.
Kinnaird, a 1983
Kutztown graduate and four-year member of the KU men’s basketball
team, was in no position to set this record at the start of his
college career. In 1980, he accepted a challenge to try out for the
track and field team, coached by the late Ken Meyer.
Two years later,
he was sprinting toward a PSAC record. Kinnaird anchored the
first-place 400 relay team in 1982, and added a second-place finish
in the 100 to go with his record-setting run in the 200. In 1983, he
finished first in the 100, 200 and 400 relay, helping KU win the
PSAC team title.
“Coach Meyer
believed in me and gave me a chance on his track team,” Kinnaird
said. “Coach Meyer and his family were my family away from home.”
As a member of the
basketball team, Kinnaird started 25 games his senior year,
averaging 6.0 points and 5.0 rebounds per game.
|
Kinnaird, left, in action in 1982. |
Kinnaird was inducted into the 1989 KU Athletics Hall of Fame and
was named to the 1980 men’s All Decade Team. He was part of the
first Hall of Fame class to include athletes other than members of
the football team.
Following
graduation at KU, he attended a Philadelphia Eagles mini-camp and
went on to coach track and field at Harrisburg High School from
1985-90, leading his team to three Pennsylvania Interscholastic
Athletic Association Class AAAA track and field titles. He competed
for the Philadelphia Gazelle Striders and Shore AC track clubs from
1984-93.
Kinnaird currently
works for IBM in Raleigh, N.C., and owns a national event planning
company, Kinnaird Enterprises. He married his wife, Valencia, in
2005, and tries to get to a KU basketball game every two to three
years.
Note: Kinnaird will be recognized during the
Kutztown-Edinboro homecoming football game on Saturday, Oct. 27, for
holding the PSAC 200-meter record for 25 years.
you
are visitor number
since October 2007
