12th Man Magazine Feature: Fast Track
February 06, 2015 | Courtesy: Texas A&M Athletics
Deon Lendore—T&T and Texas A&M’s Olympic medalistFAST TRACK with the completion of its new home in the south end zone of Kyle Field,
12th Man Productions will have the premier facility of its kind in the SEC We’ve all heard the famous adage—you can fool some of the people some of the time.
But you can’t fool mom.
Deon Lendore—Texas A&M’s Olympic medalist, national champion, all American and newly-crowned winner of the prestigious Bowerman Award, collegiate track and field’s Heisman Trophy—has his mother’s intuition to thank for kick-starting his career in the sport.
As a two-sport prep athlete at Queen’s Royal College in his native Trinidad and Tobago, Lendore admits he wasn’t into track that much. Soccer was his passion and love but his mother, Chrispina Edmund, wasn’t fond of her son playing such a physical sport. Deon would leave the house with his track spikes, but keep his soccer boots at school and frequent soccer practice instead.
That is, until mom stepped in.
“One day, I don’t know how she figured it out…I think I was too dirty when I came home,” Lendore recalls. “She asked me if I went to practice, and I just couldn’t lie. She told me she didn’t ever want to see me going to soccer anymore. She sent me back to track and I had to stick with track.
"Deon is a true Aggie. This kid will be an Aggie his whole life. He’s one that loves the institution, loves the opportunity and loves the environment here."
- Pat Henry, Head Coach “But, after I saw how I was progressing? Over time, I realized I wasn’t that bad. And track wasn’t too bad.”
He got better and faster, but his ceiling was low on the tiny Caribbean island where sport is dominated by soccer and cricket. His high school coach, Charles Joseph, pushed Lendore to leave Trinidad and head to the United States—explaining that stiff college competition would make him a better athlete.
Next came the big decision…where to go?
Watching track races on the internet, Deon and a friend stumbled upon a video of the Aggies’ 2010 national champion 4x4 relay team. The results spoke for themselves.
“They were just great,” Lendore recalls. “From that, one video led to another, and I thought to myself, ‘I think I want to go to this school’.”
After working through a friend who had a friend who was a student at A&M, Lendore made contact with the coaching staff and less than two weeks later was inside the Gilliam Indoor Stadium on an official visit.
“I came to that home meet and saw the atmosphere, and I fell in love. I wanted to come to (A&M).”
One of the first things that stuck out to the Aggies’ hall of fame coach, Pat Henry, during the recruiting process was Lendore’s determination and desire to be the best in everything he does.
“Just like a great quarterback or a great running back, (track athletes) want to go to an environment where they know they’ll be a part of a competitive team. And that’s Deon. He’s a team guy, and that was a big part of it…he knew this was a place he might want to look real hard at.”
"I love running for Texas A&M. The people here are so welcoming. They accept you for who you are and support you 110 percent."
- Deon Lendore As a wide-eyed freshman trekking around the College Station campus, 3,000 miles from home, Lendore says he spent his first year learning the tradition—soaking it all in, from ‘Howdy’ to “the Aggie sway”, as he calls it.
He claimed three Big 12 titles that spring and ran well enough at Trinidad’s national championships that summer to earn a spot on the country’s track delegation for the 2012 London Olympics.
At just 19 and a freshman in college, here he was running the anchor leg on his country’s 4x4 Olympic relay team. He led Trinidad to the top qualifying time in the semifinals and the following day, with a medal at stake, he got the baton as the anchor leg again. Turning the homestretch he heard a roar from the Olympic Stadium crowd and a quick glance behind him showed a flash of white—the host country was hot on his heels. Lendore held off the challenge by 13 hundredths of a second, crossed the line and…passed out.
“My teammates caught me, then they started screaming at me. When I opened my eyes they were yelling at me, ‘We did it! We did it! We got a medal!’ I looked up at the screen and saw Trinidad and Tobago in third and I was so happy.”
That moment, he admits, changed everything for him. He knew making the choice to come back to college would mean people would expect so much more out of him—but it also gave him a tremendous boost of confidence.
“After running in the Olympics, I think I can run anywhere now.”
Much like football, basketball and baseball, lucrative pro contracts are out there. But for Lendore, he couldn’t picture being anywhere but Texas A&M.
“Deon is a true Aggie,” Henry says. “This kid will be an Aggie his whole life. He’s one that loves the institution, loves the opportunity and loves the environment here. You have to understand…after winning a bronze medal at the Olympics he could have signed a pro contract, but he put all that off because his education is very important to him. Being an Aggie has been very important to him.”
Sitting in the stands of the track stadium and seeing him beam when he discusses being an Aggie, there’s no doubt where he belongs.
“I love running for Texas A&M. The people here are so welcoming. They accept you for who you are and support you 110 percent. That’s what I love about Texas A&M. Being an Aggie is one of the greatest things you can be, no matter where you go and what you do.”
As his A&M career continued, the records continued to fall. The championships piled up. He helped win a team national championship in 2013.
"Being an Aggie is one of the greatest things you can be, no matter where you go and what you do."
- Deon Lendore Then came a text message from assistant coach Alleyne Francique.
“He said to me, ‘You’re going to win the Bowerman next year’. I knew that wasn’t an easy feat. All I asked him was, how are we going to do it?
“He said, ‘We’re just not going to lose’.”
The following spring, Lendore did just that. He went undefeated through 14 races at 400 meters. He swept SEC and NCAA titles (both indoor and outdoor). He produced some of the fastest collegiate times in the sport’s history. He set national records.
All told, including relays, Lendore won five SEC championships and three NCAA crowns.
In one season.
It’s no surprise that his name was called as the Bowerman winner last month.
“The Bowerman is such an important award for our sport,” A&M head coach Pat Henry explains. “We have as many people participate in track and field as there are playing football at the NCAA level—and there’s only one award. For him to be named the best male out there—that is just outstanding.”
In a sport dominated by individual performances, he is the consummate ‘team’ guy. Lendore makes sure to point out how his victory will help his beloved Aggie track and field program.
“It’s a great feeling to win the Bowerman. It’s all about completing the smaller goals for the bigger goal. And for the program, people will respect it even more. It shows that Texas A&M impacts the track world and the Aggies too can be up there with anyone else.”
"He’s about making the best. He wants to make you a great athlete and he likes the challenge of making great athletes. That’s what I like about Coach Henry."
- Deon Lendore The engaging 23-year-old, who will earn his degree in sports administration with a business minor this December, has one semester left in his collegiate career. And even after all the national recognition, he is ever grateful to Pat Henry for taking a chance on bringing him to Aggieland.
“When I came here, I wasn’t the best and I wasn’t the fastest out of high school. There were a lot of guys faster than me. But Coach Henry took me, and the fact he actually took me and told me that he’d make me a great athlete gave me a lot of trust in him and in the program.
“He’s about making the best. He wants to make you a great athlete and he likes the challenge of making great athletes. That’s what I like about Coach Henry.”
So after all the records, the Olympic medal, the national championships, the Bowerman Award…what is there left to accomplish?
“I like breaking records,” Lendore says with a big grin. “All the old records I have I will try and break again. My goal when I came up here was to try and be one of the best quarter milers that have ever run for Texas A&M, and my goal this year…is to try and make Texas A&M even more well-known out there.
“I want people to not only know Texas A&M, but to fear Texas A&M…and know that once there’s a Texas A&M uniform out there you should be scared. You should be worried about what we’re capable of doing.”
Deon Lendore's Twitter Page: https://twitter.com/deonlendore
