University of North Carolina Athletics
THB Up Close: Tar Heel Again
September 24, 2001 | General
Sept. 21, 2001
By Bill Freehling
Student Assistant
UNC Athletic Communications
Despite the successes of UNC track athletes through the years, just one Tar Heel alumnus or alumna holds a collegiate record for an indoor track event.
Who could this be? Marion Jones might quickly come to mind. But to find the answer to this question, one must look no further than 312 South Building: the office of Dr. Tony G. Waldrop, UNC's new vice chancellor for research and graduate studies and a former track star at the university.
On Feb. 17, 1974, Waldrop trimmed more than a second off the world record for the indoor mile, then shared by Tom O'Hara and Jim Ryun. Running at the San Diego Indoor Games, Waldrop, a senior at the time, crossed the finish line in 3:55.0 - his fifth of an eventual 11 consecutive sub-four-minute mile performances.
Although he said he is proud of the mark, Waldrop added that he is ready to be eclipsed.
"People don't let me forget about the record," he said. "Every year I'm hoping that somebody will break it. I've had it for long enough and would like somebody else to hold it."
Although Steve Scott now holds the American record for the indoor mile (3:51.8), and Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco has the world mark (3:48.5), Waldrop's indoor time is still the fastest by any collegiate student in the world. He also holds the American collegiate record for the indoor 1,500 meters (3:39.8).
Despite these records, Waldrop said his proudest moment from his collegiate athletic career came during his junior year, when he finished 11th at the NCAA cross-country championships held in Houston. Whereas track came fairly easily for him, cross-country was always more of a challenge.
Waldrop won the 1973 indoor 1,000-yard run and the 1974 indoor mile at the NCAA championships, six ACC titles and a gold medal in the 1,500 meters at the 1975 Pan American Games.
Waldrop's successes earned him numerous athletic distinctions. He is a member of the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame. In 1974, he was named ACC Athlete of the Year and won the Patterson Medal, an award recognizing ability, sportsmanship, morals and leadership that is the highest athletic distinction UNC gives.
Despite all this, Waldrop said his first priority was always academics. A John Motley Morehead and Firestone scholar, he said he spent many team bus rides studying political science, in which he earned a bachelor of arts in 1974. The NCAA recognized him as a top-five student-athlete in 1974 and granted him a post-graduate scholarship in 1975.
Waldrop advised today's student-athletes to live up to the name.
"Remember that you are a student and an athlete -- really be a scholar athlete," he said. "Maximize your enjoyment of everything college life can offer -- ranging from extracurriculars to the classroom."
He added that UNC does a good job ensuring athletes are also students. He also emphasized how important athletics could be in preparing students for a successful future.
"Athletics have given us many skills that we still use today," he said. As evidence, he cited the examples of former Tar Heel student-athletes including football player Matt Kupec, UNC's vice chancellor for university advancement, and track star Kent Taylor, president and CEO of the Texas Roadhouse restaurant chain.
These days, Waldrop said he only runs "from meeting to meeting," although his wife, Julee Briscoe Waldrop, still runs. Julee Waldrop was also a track athlete at UNC, where the couple met. She is now a clinical assistant professor in the UNC School of Nursing. The couple has two sons: Cabe, 16, and Dallas, 13.
Cabe runs cross-country at East Chapel Hill High School. Waldrop said he frequently attends the races there and also at UNC. He recently visited with the UNC coaches and pledged to help with anything they needed.
His job as vice chancellor for research and graduate studies has kept him plenty busy since he started on Aug. 1, however. His duties include overseeing a $400 million-a-year research budget, helping faculty prepare proposals for grants and planning the Horace Williams tract, a 600-acre piece of land UNC owns by the Raleigh Durham International airport that will be used to build research facilities.
In addition, Waldrop said he plans to give several physiology lectures this spring to medical students and will set up a research lab. At UNC, he earned a master of arts in physical education in 1980 and a doctorate in physiology in 1981.
Waldrop is a professor of cell and molecular physiology and has published many studies focusing mainly on hypertension, developmental neurobiology and the effects of hypoxia on brainstem neurons.
efore coming to UNC, he taught at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Dallas and the University of Illinois, where in August 1999 he became vice chancellor for research, a position that prepared him well for his role at UNC.
Despite achieving success in his two previous institutions, Waldrop, a Columbus, N.C., native, said he is happy he returned to North Carolina.
"It's great to be back, particularly as an alumnus," he said.
