By Rod O’Donnell, Reprinted from 2019 - Numbers don’t lie. This month we will look at a variety of facts. The reader will find information that will form a pattern of where we are today and were yesterday in the world of sports. Some numbers will inspire, while others will depress, and many will reflect the direction in which our sport is going in terms of prominence.
51,701 – Boys and girls participating in high school track and field in Ohio
27,689 boys and 24,012 girls participating in high school track and field in Ohio
1,088,689 – Boys and girls participating in high school track and field in the United States
782 – Schools that sponsor outdoor track in Ohio
5,000 – Estimated number of athletes who participate on a typical weekend in indoor track in Ohio
24 – Indoor tracks in Ohio, that are used for competition
3 – Divisions in track and field in Ohio (population: 11.69 million)
4 – Divisions in track and field in Vermont (population: 626,299)
8 – Divisions in track and field in Mississippi – (population: 2.987 million)
109,405 – Attendance at the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championship – (2019)
4,000 – Capacity of the facility used for the NCAA Division I Indoor Track Championship
153,000 – Attendance at the 1962 2-day Russian/U.S. Dual Track Meet – held at Stanford Stadium
$139,853,341 – Combined revenue at West Virginia University and Marshall University, the only two NCAA Division I schools in the Mountain State
0 – The number of Division I men’s track programs in West Virginia
3 – States that do not sponsor Division I men’s track programs (West Virginia, Hawaii, and Alaska)
17 – Days permitted for practice before the first outdoor high school track meet in West Virginia
12.6 – Maximum number of men’s scholarships that can be used over a four-year period for NCAA Division I track and field and cross-country
21 – Events conducted at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships
163 – Size of the University of Nebraska’s football roster for 2019
30-35 – The roster limit placed on many Division I men’s track and field teams
2.56 – The percentage of high school football players who participate on the Division I level
.09% - High school football players who are eventually drafted by the NFL
22 – 2018 First round draft choices (32) who participated in track and field in high school
43% - Of the Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots were track athletes in high school. 92.5 participated in multiple sports.
50.9% - Of the Atlanta Falcons were track athletes in high school
60% - Of specialized athletes suffer more lower- extremity injuries
71% - Of Division I football players were multi-sport athletes in high school
4 –Number of track meets televised on CBS, NBC, ABC, ESPN in April/May/June 2019
102 – Collegiate track meets held on the weekend of April 13, 2019
4 – Members of the USA Track and Field team at the 2016 Olympics were from Ohio
16 – States not represented on the USA Olympic Team
16 – Members of the USA Team from California
9/8 – Teams from the SEC in the Top 20 at the 2018 men’s and women’s NCAA Outdoor Championships
These facts were gathered from a variety of reliable sources. Informed track followers need to understand the direction of our great sport and need to do all that is possible to promote and protect it.
Yours in track,
Rod O’Donnell
Read more of Rod O'Donnell's Keeping Track articles on - http://www.runohio.com