Larry Gardner is pictured with family at this year’s Ohio Seventh and Eighth Grade State Track and Field Meet. From the left, Will Hastings, Mindy Hastings, Larry Gardner, Amanda Johnson, Lydia Johnson, and Lauren Johnson. Photo provided
It’s a day that Larry Gardner will always remember. A day when he competed in the OHSAA Class A state track and field shot put event in Columbus, and captured the state title. The day was May 23, 1975, and this year marks the 50th anniversary of Gardner’s impressive toss for the state crown. Gardner, who held a deep love for the game of basketball, was a versatile athlete in high school who not only competed in throwing events on the track and field team, but also ran sprints.
Without a weight room, Gardner’s impressive strength and agility didn’t come from a scheduled workout routine, but rather from working on the family farm outside of Georgetown and practicing basketball in the gym.
“I was either farming or in the gym,” Gardner said of his years as a high school student/athlete.
“I had no weights, no throwing shoes, and no pit. I threw off the playground, or off the road out here,” Gardner said of his high school shot put training.
Members of the Georgetown community and in other parts of Brown County still share stories of Gardner’s incredible strength as a high school student/athlete and as a Division I college athlete at Morehead State University. Some have said that he could bust a fully inflated basketball by squeezing it. When asked if the story was true, Gardner’s reply was “yes.”
While attending Morehead University as a student/athlete, Gardner could bench press 475 pounds or more and squat at least 650 pounds after he eventually started lifting weights.
Gardner’s track and field team from the early to mid 1970s was one that would make its marks in the Georgetown High School sports record books, one of the best G-Men track and field teams in the school’s history that was led by the most decorated high school track and field coach in the school’s history. Also a member of the team was Gardner’s good friend, Mike Becraft, who lived just down the road. Becraft was a standout and national class cross country and track and field runner for Georgetown High School, winning the Ohio High School State Championship in 1973 along with six state runner-up finishes and numerous other top five placements.
Gardner and Becraft spent a great deal of time together on the farm, developing a close friendship over the years.
As part of the G-Men team, Gardner and Becraft scored enough points to earn the Georgetown team third place in the state, missing state runner-up by just one point, according to Gardner.
The accomplishments of the Georgetown track and field team from the early to mid 1970s are still celebrated today by the Georgetown community, and Gardner’s accomplishments have earned him a spot in the Georgetown High School Athletic Hall of Fame and the Brown County Athletic Hall of Fame.
Gardner never lost a shot put event during his senior year in 1975. Of all three classes in Ohio (Class A, AA, and AAA), Gardner had the second longest throw.
Gardner finished runner-up in the state in the shot put event as a junior in 1974. He broke the state record in 1974, but it was broken later by the state shot put champion that year.
Gardner held the state championship record for three years with his throw of 57-7.75.
According to Gardner, he still holds the Southwestern District record in the Cincinnati area, the oldest record in all three classes, with a throw of 57-1.
While basketball was originally Gardner’s favorite sport in high school, it was the late legendary coach Vern Hawkins who helped him develop a love for track and field.
“I pretty much was a basketball player, and track was a fun sport. Vern Hawkins made it fun,” said Gardner.
It was Larry Gardner’s brother, Lynn, who helped to spark his interest in competing in the shot put event as a high school athlete.
“My brother, Lynn, he’s the guy who kind of got me throwing when I was a little kid,” said Larry Gardner.
Gardner went on to hold the long-standing Georgetown High School shot put record at 58-7. Gardner’s school record was eventually broken by 2013 Georgetown High School graduate Jess Adamson with a throw of 63-5.75.
It was former Georgetown basketball coach Bernie Cropper and Lynn Gardner who encouraged Larry Gardner to attend Morehead State University as a student/athlete, the chance to earn a college degree in education and compete in a sport he loves.
Gardner attended Morehead State with his friend Mike Becraft.
“It was a good decision,” Gardner said of his choice to attend Morehead State.
Unfortunately, injury limited Gardner’s success in track and field at Morehead State. But he’s thankful to have gotten the opportunity to be able to compete against and see some of the top athletes in the world while at Morehead State, and to experience the college life.
“I saw a lot of great athletes at track meets in the four years at Morehead,” said Gardner.
Larry Gardner went on to become the industrial arts instructor at Felicity-Franklin High School, where he worked for 33 years while also farming full time.
To this day, Gardner continues to express his appreciation of Hawkins, who helped to steer him in the right direction as a young student/athlete.
“The reason all of those state championships are up there on that wall (at Georgetown High School) are because of him,” Gardner said of Hawkins.
Gardner still carries a love for the competition, and around 15 years ago he competed in a masters throwing event. He was able to throw a 16-pound shot put over 40-feet while in his late 40s and early 50s.
Today, Larry Gardner enjoys life with his wife, Liz, his children, and grandchildren. He’s now a full-time farmer whose hobby is collecting and restoring antique machinery, mainly tractors.
Carrying on the family sports tradition are his daughters Mindy Hastings and Amanda Johnson who coach and teach, and his grandchildren, who are student/athletes within the Georgetown Exempted Village School District (Anna Hastings, Lauren Johnson, Will Hastings and Lydia Johnson).
Mindy Hastings, 1998 Georgetown High School graduate, broke Georgetown shot put and discus records and went on to attend Rio Grande University.
Lydia Johnson, a Georgetown eighth grader, recently competed in the Ohio Seventh and Eighth Grade State Track and Field Championship Meet, finishing third in the shot put event with a throw of 41-3.25.
His grandchildren all compete in sports, and Larry Gardner is their biggest fan.
Such success in sports comes with its share of challenges, and Larry Gardner has certainly overcome his share of difficulties to reach his goals in life. But looking back on all of the memories, Gardner said he wouldn’t change a thing if given the opportunity.
“I don’t think I would do anything different,” said Gardner.