Bill Thorn. Track Coach.
Bill Thorn is arguably the best high school Track and Field coach in the Southeast and hands-down the best in Georgia. I ran for Coach Thorn in high school and he was, for many years, "the thorn in my side."
I always thought him as a mean, crusty, old man, but he just wanted the best for his team and to see people succeed athletically. He would never let you quit and made you push your body's limits to the max. His battle cry was "given time, hard work beats talent." And that very maxim rang true in his own life.
When Coach Thorn developed cancer, instead of submitting to chemotherapy, he of course chose to run it out. At 77 years old, he's the only runner to complete every single Peachtree Road Race since it's inception in 1978. "The Peachtree" as it's known to the locals, is the world's largest 10-K race. At Landmark Christian School, my alma mater, Coach Thorn led the track team to an amazing 7 consecutive state titles ('96-'02).
He's well respected as both a runner and a coach. I'm proud to say that I've run for Bill Thorn. Every time I run I can still hear him yell, "Change speeds Brooks! C'mon Brooks, change speeds!" I always thought I was in top gear, he seemed to think otherwise…
Filed under: Atlanta on March 28th, 2008
from coach thorn to coach brooks….the mantle is passed….
I remember when you ran the 400m or 800m race in the Landmark Stadium. Paul Heard was sitting next to me and when the gun fired, he said, “Oh no! Taylor went out to fast, he will never be able to keep that pace.” . . . . . you did and you won and you set a record. Paul turned to me and said, “He ran like a race horse, he never stopped. I am glad I saw it.”
Every time I saw him after that, he talked about it. He passed away two years later.
That was an unbelievable moment. You were awesome!!!!! (and still are)
My memory of Coach Thorn is when you and I met the team at McDonalds for breakfast before a Saturday workout. As usual we had sausage and biscuits with a cup of coffee. Coach Thorn came over and chewed me out for letting you eat that “junk” when I should have known to make you eat pancakes for carbo loading. It was Saturday, we always eat junk food.
I remember that as well. I can also remember me buying sausage biscuits before several track meets and then running to the bathroom to scarf them down before he caught me. I hate those pancakes.