Assault on the Hundred

Since he swept the short dash events at the 1956 Olympic Games, 23-year-old Bobby Morrow, late of Texas' Abilene Christian College, has been recognized as the world's No. 1 sprinter. But this year Morrow has won occasionally but lost often--not because he is running any slower but because a new crop of sprinters has appeared to make a wholesale onslaught on the 9.3-sec. world record for the 100-yd. dash. So far this year three of Morrow's challengers--Bill Woodhouse, Ray Norton and Roscoe Cook--have equaled the world record.

Bill Woodhouse, 22, hardly looks like a sprinter. Heavily muscled, short-legged, and packing 150 Ibs. on a 5-ft. 8-in. frame, he is often mistaken for a weight thrower by track fans. But this year he is making Abilene Christian forget about Morrow. Son of a Mason City, Iowa, railroad switchman, Woodhouse was a promising sprinter in high school, was given a scholarship sight unseen from Abilene Christian. When he arrived, Coach Oliver Jackson got a shock. "When he got off that train." Jackson recalls. "I said to myself that if he ever ran as fast as 10.2 I'd be surprised. But the first time I timed him, he ran 9.9 in cross-country shoes. I took my watches and had them checked. I couldn't believe a squatty guy like that could run that fast."

Gone with the Wind. Coach Jackson patiently worked to refine Woodhouse's galloping, head-bobbing stride ("Sometimes he'd have his shoulders almost up to his ears"). Last year, with a more relaxed style, Woodhouse pressed Morrow so closely that in three races the judges overlooked him completely for second because in photo finishes the two Abilene jerseys appeared as one. With Morrow graduated this year, Woodhouse equaled the world mark, ran a 9.1 race that will not count because he had a favoring wind at his back. "I've improved every year," says Woodhouse. "I run smoother, where I used to run choppy."

Broad-shouldered, bird-legged Ray Norton, 21, of California's San Jose State, might have had a world mark to himself. He was so far ahead in a preliminary heat in the Fresno relays last month that he eased up and looked back over his shoulder to see what had happened to his competitors. Nevertheless, Norton ran the heat in 9.3. Said Head Timekeeper Snort Winstead: "I think he would have run 9.1 if he hadn't turned his head." Last month at Fresno the lean (6 ft. 2 in., 175 Ibs.) Norton caught the fast-finishing Morrow in the last few strides to win the finals.

Running after Roscoe. Fortnight ago at the Modesto. Calif, relays, Morrow, Norton and Woodhouse trailed as chunky (5 ft. 9 in., 154 Ibs.) University of Oregon sophomore Roscoe Cook came from nowhere to pass them all and equal the world record. Cook, 20, had stage fright before the race. "I was scared," he admits. "I had to run against these greats. I just didn't think I was the material to be in the same category with those guys, but I remembered what the coach told me: 'Keep your jaw loose, relax, and drive when you see that tape.' "

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