An Remarkable Athlete's Story and a Sad Ending

Nora Attaway on the right.

In 1982 I had a sophomore on the team who was willing to compete anywhere that a spot would open for her to fill. During that season she competed as a long jumper, a thrower in the shot put and discus, and in the 100 and 200 if there were spots available. She always did her best and never complained about where she got to compete; she just wanted to be a competitor. She competed in 7 meets total including the District Championship meet because we were allowed unlimited entries in District.

She competed in a total of 18 events and never scored a point or even made the finals but she never stopped trying. She started out with marks of 11'4 3/4" in the long jump; 18'3 in the shot put; and 14.71 in the 100 meters. She never threw far enough to get measured in the discus and she didn't run the 200 until the District meet. But she kept working, kept trying and would compete every time she was given an opportunity. She had her season bests in the four events she competed in at District. She threw 21'5" in the shot put; long jumped 13'7 1/2"; ran the 100 in 13.93 and the 200 in 30.02.

So what made her an "remarkable athlete"? In my opinion it was the fact that after a year like the one she had on a team that was loaded with outstanding athletes she was still willing to come back again the next year. And what about that next year?

Her Junior year I convinced her to come out for cross country; she didn't play volleyball or basketball and the conditioning could only help her if she was going to do track again. She was the same in cross country as she was in track, hard work, no complaints and always ready to compete. She was a back of the pack runner but she stuck with it.

I knew from Nora's sprint times from her sophomore year and in practice that she was never going to be a sprinter but with the strength that she gained in cross country and what speed she did have I was hopeful that with proper technique she could become a hurdler. She had the long legs and the willingness to try that made three stepping possible.

Her junior year she started out running the 100 hurdles in Texas and in her first meet placed 6th in 18.58; scoring the first points she had ever scored in track. She placed 3rd in the third meet and her time dropped to 16.8. When we started competing in New Mexico she added the 75 meter hurdles. The first time she ran them she finished 2nd and ran 12.69. By the end of the season Nora had lowered her times to 16.11 and 12.02; she set meet records in the 75 hurdles at Artesia and Lovington and qualified for the state meet. (Those 75 meter hurdle records still stand because the event was no longer run after 1983).

Her senior year she again ran cross country and came into the track season with high expectations and picked up right where she had left off. She was top 3 and under 17 seconds in all of our Texas meets and came back to New Mexico setting a new meet record 05 15.95 in Portales. She was 2nd and ran her best ever at Roswell when she ran 15.6. Placed 2nd at Artesia, won and set a new meet record at Lovington of 15.83 and was District runner up with a 15.86. She ran the state qualifying standard in each of the qualifying meets and competed in the state meet again.

She was a great kid, a classy young lady, an outstanding student and made herself an outstanding athlete by being willing to work hard and do what she needed to do to be the best. Here is a picture of us with another LHS student in Washington D.C. where we went for a Close Up government week long workshop.

And the sad ending? She went away to college in Missouri and sadly was murdered and never fulfilled her goals and dreams. She was a Remarkable Person!