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TRACK & FIELD: The Return of the Father Judge Relays Marks Its 31st Year By Honoring Past Participants and Preparing Current Athletes

By Rich Flanagan - Photos: Patty Morgan , 04/24/19, 4:15PM EDT

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Return of the Coach Joe Valley Father Judge Relays Extends Across Generations

By: Rich Flanagan (@richflanagan33)

PHILADELPHIA - To a bystander looking on from the fence that surrounds the track behind Father Judge High School, Dan Danifo looks like a member of the Crusaders alumni running unofficial times back and forth to the scorer’s table. His white baseball cap with the Crusaders emblem and Judge track and field t-shirt paint a wider picture.

Danifo represents a lot of what made the Judge Relays such a success starting with its inception in 1976. It was the premiere event to prepare teams for the Penn Relays and brought in schools from up and down the east coast. Danifo was a member of the Crusaders track and field team in the 1960s helping win Philadelphia Catholic League titles in 1961, 1963 and 1964.

From there, he became a Judge Relays official for a number of years before helping expand the event into the Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) level. He is the co-commissioner of CYO Track & Field Area A (all of the schools within Philadelphia) and he is credited with beginning the CYO Judge Relays. His love of the sport and pride for his school has been on display since he was making wide turns in the 100m and 200m while with the Crusaders. He’s proud of the significance of the event and has seen where it grew to from its humble beginnings.

“We would have over 100 schools that would come to this meet,” Danifo said. “We didn’t have as many events, but we had more teams. The new coaches of the team decided they were going to run the program differently.”

Danifo was one of seven inductees of the Coach Joe Valley Father Judge Relays Hall of Fame during a ceremony that had not been held for almost two decades. The Judge Relays ran for 30 years until an abrupt ending in 2005 due a variety of factors that put a stop to the annual meet. After many years of discussion and planning, the Judge Relays returned on Wednesday right behind the Bill Fox gymnasium where they had been held for thirty years. It was the 31st year of the event and brought out track and field legends from so many years ago.


Pictured from L to R: Hall of Fame Honorees Dan Danifo, Paul Poiesz, Joe Valley, Fred Rosenfeld, Ed Ulmer and Dr. Pat Boyle (not pictured but also honored Tim Hickey)

Valley, one of the honorees and who the event is named after, was present with his family. He was the head track and field coach from 1971-80 and was the founder of the Judge Relays. Another honoree was Dr. Pat Boyle, who was the meet director as a senior at Judge and remained in that position into the 1990s where he helped integrate more schools into the event including some from Canada. More honorees included Tim Hickey, who is the all-time winningest program in Judge Relays history with 41 victories while at the helm of William Penn High School, Paul Poiesz, a longtime Judge Relays starter, former Archbishop Ryan coach Ed Ulmer and Rosenfeld, whose Overbrook boys teams have 13 career wins at the Judge Relays.

2019 Father Judge Relays Event Highlights by Rich Flanagan:

Looking on at the honorees gives a good sense of what the track and field team has meant to the school for much of its existence, but the event was the highlight for many schools outside of the city. For those alumni who were able to participate in the event, its return is the culmination of years of hard work.

Mike Leonard, co-meet director and assistant track coach, was instrumental in bringing the event back to his alma mater and he said it all started by merely picking up the phone.


Father Judge assist. track coach Mike Leonard overseeing the days' events (photo by Patty Morgan)

“The biggest thing was getting teams here,” Leonard said. “It started with contacting teams, laying out a structure on how we were going to put this meet together and what would it look like. It looks different than how we did before with different events. At the end of the day, you have to get good teams here. That’s what matters and what makes the meet.”

Leonard had the privilege to run with the Crusaders at the Judge Relays as a senior in 2000 competing in the 4x800m, where his group finished in fifth place. He recalled why the event was so special and how it ultimately came back.

“It was the meet to get ready for the Penn Relays the week before,” Leonard said. “Now, 14 years later, we were just happy to bring it back. We had such a giving community that was all in on bringing this thing back.”


Coach Joe Valley Judge Relay April 17, 2019 (photos by Patty Morgan)


Photo by Patty Morgan


Photo by Patty Morgan

There were 37 teams present for the first Judge Relays in almost 14 years. Joining the Crusaders from the Philadelphia Catholic League was Roman Catholic, Archbishop Carroll, Archbishop Ryan, St. Joe’s Prep and Cardinal O’Hara, among others. Some of the girls’ programs included St. Hubert’s and Mount Saint Joseph Academy. Local programs like Chester, Haverford and Norristown made the trip. Programs from outside Philadelphia included Boys and Girls (N.Y.), Atlantic County Tech (N.J.) and Charter School of Wilmington (Del.).

The Crusaders track and field program took a backseat to some of the other sports for a number of years but when Brian Deck took over three years ago, he instilled a new wave of excitement and intrigue. After graduating from Abington High School in 1999, Deck was brought back in to be the head coach of the girls’ and boys’ cross country and track and field coach. He won three Suburban One League titles and a pair of state championships during his time with the Galloping Ghosts. He was named 2009 Pa. Track and Field Girls’ Coach of the Year. His boys 4x400 and 4x800m relay squads won titles at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational in 2011 with each team finishing ranked No. 1 in the country.

 

During his tenure at Abington, Deck founded the Abington Invitational in 2008, which turned into an annual event with a similar turnaround to the Judge Relays. In that regard, Deck knew what it took to develop an event of that size and magnitude and he, along with Leonard, wanted that to return to Judge.


Father Judge head coach and co-meet director Brian Deck monitors his team's progress. (photo by Rich Flanagan)

“With the history of the alumni, getting the kids the same experience as them is great,” Deck said. “I created something like this while I was Abington called the Abington Invitational. While at Abington, we used to come here. Mike and I wanted to get this thing back rolling. The alumni and the kids really appreciate it and it’s to give them the same experience.”

The Crusaders finished third in the finals of the 4x800 relay with a time of 8:25.22 in what would be their best team finish of the day, but they had their fair share of individual standouts. Mateen Muhammad garnered first-place honors in the shot put novice with a score of 37-00.00. Kevin Reagan placed fourth in the pole vault finals at 12-00.00. Shane Curran finished in 10th out of 31 runners in the 3200 finals with a time of 10:13.54. The host team enjoyed being able to welcome in so many new schools and old rivals and that was as exhilarating an experience for a runner like Curran.

“The atmosphere is absolutely fantastic and running out under the lights when it’s dark is really cool,” Curran said. “There’s some teams from New York and Virginia. It’s just really cool. I loved it so much.”

As the sun set on the return of one of Judge’s most heralded sporting events, many still hung around to see the last few runners cross the finish line and take in one more lap. Leonard looked on and was starting to realize what he and the alumni had brought to fruition.

COACH JOE VALLEY FATHER JUDGE RELAYS 2019 PHOTO GALLERY BY PATTY MORGAN- for more photos highlighting  the day's events click here:

“I don’t know if I can put into words what this means for so many people,” Leonard said. “From our community, we definitely had an outpouring of excitement to bring this back. It was sorely missed and we couldn’t do it then we had to stop when it finally stopped. It worked out that the time was now. In general, in the track and field community, when people heard the Judge Relays were back, they got excited and people still remember it. The brand still holds weight.”

To past greats like Danifo, having the Judge Relays back means a chance to reminisce about their time with the program but he did have one suggestion for next year.

“It’s the greatest,” Danifo said. “I can’t even describe how important this is because of all the years I’ve been involved here, dating to when it began, to see that it would be resurrected is a good feeling. It really is. I just wish they ran it on a weekend so we could get more help than on a Wednesday afternoon.”

Luckily for Danifo, the date for the next Judge Relays will be on Saturday, April 18, 2020. Expect to see Danifo on the track bright and early.