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Wessell honored for distinguished career as a track starter
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| Joe Wessell has been a starter at track meets for high schools in Arkansas and colleges such as the University of Arkansas, Ole Miss and Alabama for 30-plus years. Wessell will be one of six inducted into the Arkansas Track and Field Hall of Fame June 7 at the Wyndham Riverfront in North Little Rock. Courtesy photo |
By CORY CLARK
cclark@paragoulddailypress.com
After more than 40 years of dedication to track and field, Paragould resident Joe Wessell has attained one of the highest track and field honors in the state.
Wessell will be inducted into the Arkansas Track and Field Hall of Fame June 7 at the Wyndham Riverfront in North Little Rock at the 14th annual Hall of Fame ceremony.
Along with running track in college at Arkansas State Teachers College (now University of Central Arkansas) Wessell has been one of the top starters in the state of Arkansas and the SEC during a 30-year career.
“I feel very honored,” Wessell said. “It’s kind of a select group.”
In the past few years, he has been the official starter for the University of Arkansas and he has also served as the regular starter for Ole Miss and Alabama.
“This weekend I’m going to Mississippi State University,” he said.
To be an efficient starter, Wessell said it is important to try and keep the athletes as calm as possible.
“They are just so keyed up and ready to run,” he said. “You try to do it as calm of a manner as you can.”
Since he began starting races, Wessell said there have been many technological advances that put added pressure on starters.
“If you miss it now with cameras and television everybody else sees it too,” he said.
One reason, Wessell said, he has been a successful starter is his experience as a sprinter.
“I was a sprinter and I know how to start and I know what to look for,” he said. “You don’t try to guess the gun, you anticipate it.”
Wessell first became involved in track when he was in high school.
“When I was growing up if you wanted to play football you ran track,” he said.
After graduating high school, Wessell attended Hendrix University in Conway his freshman year.
“They had me running the 880,” he said. “That was a killer.”
But after his freshman year, he transferred to ASTC and his track career began to take off.
“I had to sit out a year because of transferring, so I ran intramural track,” he said.
One day, Wessell was approached by track coach Raymond Bright about joining the track team.
“Coach Bright really took an interest in me and one day he said he wanted to see me sprint,” he said. “So I became a sprinter.”
Wessell said Bright immediately made an impact on his 100-meter time.
“He told me I did not know how to start properly,” he said. “He worked with me every day with the starting gun.”
Wessell said Bright had a huge impact on his life as well as his track and field skills.
“He was quite a guy,” he said. “I contribute a lot of my wanting to do what I do today in track and my success in college to him.”
As Wessell progressed in the sport, so did the ASTC track team as it won three AIC championships from 1961-64.
Wessell recalled the day during his senior season when Bright said there was a freshman who wanted to challenge him for his 100-meter starting spot.
Wessell married during his senior year, so he sat out a semester and came back to the team. “I came out there and I thought I was in shape and he beat me and it was right before our first meet at Louisiana Tech,” he said. “Coach Bright said he was going to let me go but I would only be setting up the blocks.”
After losing his spot, Wessell said that was all the motivation he needed.
“I came back the next week and I challenged him and I got my position back,” he said.
One thing he learned from Bright was that the weather was never too bad to run and he had a saying for whenever one of his athletes would ask if the conditions were too bad to compete in.
“It would be raining and cold outside and he would say ‘this is just the way we like it,’” he said. “It did not make any difference to him how cold it was or if it was raining.”
In high school, Wessell said his best time in the 100 meters was about 10.8 or 10.9 seconds.
But in his last collegiate meet, Wessell recorded his fastest time ever in the 100 meters.
“My last hundred that I ever ran in the AIC I broke 10 seconds,” he said. “I ran a 9.9”
While attending ASTC, Wessell made several connections that would have an impact on his future in track and field.
One of them was his roommate, former Arkansas State track coach Guy Kotchel.
After graduating from college, Wessell worked for his father for a year before becoming a teacher and track coach at Paragould High School.
Though his coaching stint lasted only three years, Wessell said it was an experience he will always treasure.
“I would love to coach track again,” he said. “I wish I could do it on the side.”
Wessell said he would like to see more young athletes get involved in track and field.
“I really wish more kids would go out for track,” he said. “It is an individual as well as a team sport.”
After leaving PHS, Wessell went to work for the Ralston Purina Company and soon got a call from his former roommate.
“One day Guy Kotchel called me and asked if I would come start meets for his track team at Stuttgart and then later at Pine Bluff,” he said.
Once Kotchel got to ASU, Wessell began starting meets and just never stopped.
“I still enjoy it and I have a lot of fun doing it,” he said.
Over the years, Wessell has started races with some of the top sprinters in the world.
“In the last Olympics in the 100 meters I had started all three of the top finishers,” he said. “I’ve had a chance to start some really great athletes.”
Wessell said his love for track and field has kept him involved with the sport and he has no plans to stop doing what he loves to do.
“I’ll do it as long as I don’t get too old to screw it up,” he said.
A couple of memorable meets Wessell said he has worked included being invited to Duke University in 1987 for the Summer Olympics festival.
“There were so many great athletes there,” he said. “I think there was about 30,000 people in the stands.”
Another memorable event for Wessell was the 1988 World Police and Fire Games in Memphis.
“It was police and firemen from all over the world,” he said. “They had age ranges from people in the 20s to people in their 50s and 60s.”
Wessell said seeing athletes compete in their 50s at a high level makes him want to get back out onto the track.
“I still feel like I could do a lot of stuff if I got out there and worked on it,” he said.
Later this year, Wessell will be the official starter at the NCAA Regionals in Fayetteville and he will also work the Arkansas High School Meet of Champions in Hot Springs as well as the 5A state meet at Paragould High School.
Wessell will be inducted into the Arkansas Track and Field Hall of Fame June 7 at the Wyndham Riverfront in North Little Rock at the 14th annual Hall of Fame ceremony.
Along with running track in college at Arkansas State Teachers College (now University of Central Arkansas) Wessell has been one of the top starters in the state of Arkansas and the SEC during a 30-year career.
“I feel very honored,” Wessell said. “It’s kind of a select group.”
In the past few years, he has been the official starter for the University of Arkansas and he has also served as the regular starter for Ole Miss and Alabama.
“This weekend I’m going to Mississippi State University,” he said.
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“They are just so keyed up and ready to run,” he said. “You try to do it as calm of a manner as you can.”
Since he began starting races, Wessell said there have been many technological advances that put added pressure on starters.
“If you miss it now with cameras and television everybody else sees it too,” he said.
One reason, Wessell said, he has been a successful starter is his experience as a sprinter.
“I was a sprinter and I know how to start and I know what to look for,” he said. “You don’t try to guess the gun, you anticipate it.”
Wessell first became involved in track when he was in high school.
“When I was growing up if you wanted to play football you ran track,” he said.
After graduating high school, Wessell attended Hendrix University in Conway his freshman year.
“They had me running the 880,” he said. “That was a killer.”
But after his freshman year, he transferred to ASTC and his track career began to take off.
“I had to sit out a year because of transferring, so I ran intramural track,” he said.
One day, Wessell was approached by track coach Raymond Bright about joining the track team.
“Coach Bright really took an interest in me and one day he said he wanted to see me sprint,” he said. “So I became a sprinter.”
Wessell said Bright immediately made an impact on his 100-meter time.
“He told me I did not know how to start properly,” he said. “He worked with me every day with the starting gun.”
Wessell said Bright had a huge impact on his life as well as his track and field skills.
“He was quite a guy,” he said. “I contribute a lot of my wanting to do what I do today in track and my success in college to him.”
As Wessell progressed in the sport, so did the ASTC track team as it won three AIC championships from 1961-64.
Wessell recalled the day during his senior season when Bright said there was a freshman who wanted to challenge him for his 100-meter starting spot.
Wessell married during his senior year, so he sat out a semester and came back to the team. “I came out there and I thought I was in shape and he beat me and it was right before our first meet at Louisiana Tech,” he said. “Coach Bright said he was going to let me go but I would only be setting up the blocks.”
After losing his spot, Wessell said that was all the motivation he needed.
“I came back the next week and I challenged him and I got my position back,” he said.
One thing he learned from Bright was that the weather was never too bad to run and he had a saying for whenever one of his athletes would ask if the conditions were too bad to compete in.
“It would be raining and cold outside and he would say ‘this is just the way we like it,’” he said. “It did not make any difference to him how cold it was or if it was raining.”
In high school, Wessell said his best time in the 100 meters was about 10.8 or 10.9 seconds.
But in his last collegiate meet, Wessell recorded his fastest time ever in the 100 meters.
“My last hundred that I ever ran in the AIC I broke 10 seconds,” he said. “I ran a 9.9”
While attending ASTC, Wessell made several connections that would have an impact on his future in track and field.
One of them was his roommate, former Arkansas State track coach Guy Kotchel.
After graduating from college, Wessell worked for his father for a year before becoming a teacher and track coach at Paragould High School.
Though his coaching stint lasted only three years, Wessell said it was an experience he will always treasure.
“I would love to coach track again,” he said. “I wish I could do it on the side.”
Wessell said he would like to see more young athletes get involved in track and field.
“I really wish more kids would go out for track,” he said. “It is an individual as well as a team sport.”
After leaving PHS, Wessell went to work for the Ralston Purina Company and soon got a call from his former roommate.
“One day Guy Kotchel called me and asked if I would come start meets for his track team at Stuttgart and then later at Pine Bluff,” he said.
Once Kotchel got to ASU, Wessell began starting meets and just never stopped.
“I still enjoy it and I have a lot of fun doing it,” he said.
Over the years, Wessell has started races with some of the top sprinters in the world.
“In the last Olympics in the 100 meters I had started all three of the top finishers,” he said. “I’ve had a chance to start some really great athletes.”
Wessell said his love for track and field has kept him involved with the sport and he has no plans to stop doing what he loves to do.
“I’ll do it as long as I don’t get too old to screw it up,” he said.
A couple of memorable meets Wessell said he has worked included being invited to Duke University in 1987 for the Summer Olympics festival.
“There were so many great athletes there,” he said. “I think there was about 30,000 people in the stands.”
Another memorable event for Wessell was the 1988 World Police and Fire Games in Memphis.
“It was police and firemen from all over the world,” he said. “They had age ranges from people in the 20s to people in their 50s and 60s.”
Wessell said seeing athletes compete in their 50s at a high level makes him want to get back out onto the track.
“I still feel like I could do a lot of stuff if I got out there and worked on it,” he said.
Later this year, Wessell will be the official starter at the NCAA Regionals in Fayetteville and he will also work the Arkansas High School Meet of Champions in Hot Springs as well as the 5A state meet at Paragould High School.
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