The forgotten american sprinter...?

Is Steve Williams even recognised as one of the greats in t&f circles in the USA?

Link to a page on Sporting-Heroes

I don´t know what the requirements are to be recognised as `great´, but in T & F news he was no.1 in the US 100m from 73 to 75, and no.2 from 76 to 78. That´s pretty damn good. Bad luck probably kept him out of the big races when it counted. Charlie could definitely say more.

Interesting to look at that list in T&F news - names such as Houston McTear among others - great performances in their time but not Oly winners. The Olympics seem to make or break track guys in the public view.

Here´s the URL for the list:

http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/archive/rankings/men/100usranking.pdf

Even though I’m across the pond Steve Williams was a big mid-70s hero. He couldn’t start to save himself against pocket rockets like McTear but I think I just about remember a meet (USA v USSR?) where Williams took the last leg in the 4x100 against Borzov. He gave Borzov a 1-2 metre start and beat him by 1-2 metres. A stunning performance - at least that’s how I remember it from nearly 30 years ago. Anyone else recall?