‘Cosby Show’ re-run features masters 4×4 at Penn Relays
I never saw this episode, but “The Cosby Show” segment re-running this week includes a story line of the masters 4×4 relay at Penn. It’s supposed to air 3 to 3:30 p.m. Friday on WGN, which is available on many cable systems. (But check your local listings for exact time.) Here’s the episode summary: “Cliff Huxtable is convinced to run a rematch of a masters 4×400 relay grudge match at the Penn Relays.” On the Wikipedia entry for Cosby, we learn: “His love for track has also been shown with his long time sponsorship, and on-track work with the Penn Relays. For many years, Cosby has been known to work the finish line at Franklin Field and congratulate athletes.”
Wikipedia also says:
In 1988, Cosby ran the anchor leg at Penn in a two-team race on a 4×400 relay. In a unique twist, Cosby’s team was far ahead and his premature celebration was broken when Olympic medalist Valerie Brisco-Hooks, the other team’s anchor leg, patted him on the “boom-boom” and passed him en route to victory. The event ended up as a scene on The Cosby Show showing Cosby, as Dr. Huxtable, losing an important grudge match race against the team of former college rival Col. Sanford “Tailwind” Turner (USMC).
Cosby would have been 50 at the 1988 Penn Relays. Anyone get his split? (My comments still don’t work, so email me if you have the information.)
6 Responses
I remember watching that episode as a kid!! Is he the person responsible for the expression “a bear jumped on my back” describing the last 100 meters of a 400?
Seeing Bill Cosby at the Penn Relays was always one of the highlights of the meet for me. My teammates and I were always trying to figure out ways to meet him. He did congratulate and help up my college roommate after a blistering 400 leg of the DMR. He always seemed to be a big supporter for the Relays, especially the grade school shuttle relay held on the turf of Franklin Field. He certainly got the young kids involved in the meet.
Bill Cosby did at least three television shows about track & field.
On his old series (1970’s) in which he played a gym teacher, he told the story about the high school meet in which he was asked to be substitute anchor of the mile relay team with disasterous results. That may have mentioned the bear jumping on his back as well as ol’man rig.
In his later series (1980’s) in which he played Dr. Huxtable, he had two track & field shows. I was at the meets at which the races for both shows were taped.
In the first show, his rival challenges him to a relay at the Vitalis Olympic Invitational Indoor Meet which used to be held at the Meadowlands, NJ. The relay was a 4 x 2-laps. (A lap at the Meadowlands was 160 meters. My recollection was that Cosby pretty much ran this like a real race.) The best scene in the show may be when he goes with his son to workout at the Manhattan College gym which has bleachers on the infield inside the first turn. At one point, he wearily runs into the turn out-of-view behind the bleachers and his son waits for him to come back into view at the other end of the turn, and waits, and waits , and…
The second show was the one that the blog describes at the Penn Relays. The show made one big mistake in my view. They forgot to cue the crowd of over 40,000 to yell and scream for Dr. Huxtable and so the crowd seems pretty subdued. And, of course, Cosby was only up for one take. Since he was hamming up his 400m lap, the split is probably quite slow.
Cosby also mentioned track on some of his comedy albums. My favorite Cosby story is about the time he is entered in the high jump in what is supposed to be a tough meet. He clears his opening height (6’4″?) as do a few others. Then bar goes up two inches and he matches he PR. Then it goes up two more inches and he clears that and maybe only one other guy does also. Just as he is getting psyched about maybe winning the event, an official goes over and tells him to take a breather while the dozen guys who passed up to that point warm up.:-)
When they eventually resume, he passes until the bar is at 8 feet, can’t even touch the bar in three attempts and goes home where he reports that he went out at 8 feet.
Hello,nice post thanks for sharing…. I just joined and I am going to catch up by reading for a while. I hope I can join in soon
great topic, thanks for sharing this
I was there, he ran 1min 30 sec not bad ,hooks had to run 53 to catch hem,
Many of the extras in those episodes were Philadelphia Masters runners, for quite a few years after they’d get an occasional check in the mail from the repeat fees.
Leave a Reply