In the spring of 1974, Jerry Smith was still new to Iola Junior High School.
He’d been hired the previous fall as an assistant to Iola High football coach Ray Houser, and as such, his other duties included taking over as track coach for the junior high kids.
He recalled a conversation with principal Elmer Frazell about an upcoming dual track meet Iola was about to host.
“He asked if we could increase the number of teams,” Smith said.
Smith and his assistant, Dave Flack, decided to find out.
They sent out cards to 20 area schools, inviting them to bring their athletes to Iola’s Riverside Park.
Nineteen said yes.
“We were flabbergasted,” Smith chuckled. “I was thinking, ‘jiminy, what did we get ourselves into?”
The large meet continued to grow through the years.
Today, 50 years later, that track meet has become the Terry Lower Invitational, one of the largest middle school-level meets in the state.
The 2024 rendition starts bright and early Tuesday morning at Riverside Park, with 15 schools (at least) scheduled to attend.
NOWADAYS, digital timing on a rubberized, all-surface track and field makes keeping track of the hundreds of athletes lining up for various races, throws and jumps a seamless affair.
Fifty years ago, it was a different story, Smith laughed.
“For one thing, the track was in terrible shape,” he noted.
That was in the days that the track circling the football field was covered in crushed cinders.
