Jerry Molyneaux
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The one time Western coach moves up and on to Northwestern High
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By Alejandro Danois
Growing up in the Virgin Islands, Northwestern Athletic Director Jerry Molyneaux was captivated by the game of basketball. He enjoyed playing hoops, but sports were more of an outlet than any serious pursuit for him. A middle child among seven brothers and sisters, Molyneaux's early dream was to be an architect.
He excelled in carpentry at Charlotte Amalie Vocational-Technical High School and worked with his father building homes on afternoons and weekends. During the summers, he worked full time, preparing himself for a future in home construction and architecture.
While Molyneaux was in the 11th grade, one of his brothers " back in the Virgin Islands on break from studying art at the University of Pennsylvania " rose early one morning, laced up some running shoes and bound out of the family home to run a few miles. Intrigued, Molyneaux began to join his brother for the early morning runs.
"With him being my older brother, I expected him to run better than me," said Molyneaux. "When I found that I was better than him, I decided to run track because I used him as a target to determine my running ability."
He went out for the school track team and quickly earned recognition as one of the island's top runners in the 400 and 800 meters.
"I was not a sprinter but felt comfortable running the mile and longer distances," said Molyneaux.
As a senior, he traveled with some of the Caribbean's top scholastic track athletes to run in highly competitive meets in Puerto Rico and the United States.
After an impressive showing at the prestigious Penn Relays in the spring of 1976, Molyneaux was approached by the Morgan State University track coach on the infield of Franklin Field and offered a full scholarship. But when he arrived at the campus in the fall of 1976, things were not as they should have been.
Along with fellow Virgin Islands runner Neville Hodge, who is the current head track coach at Morgan State, Molyneaux walked into the school's administrative offices and found that there was no record of his scholarship or impending matriculation.
Seated in the office of Athletic Director Earl Banks, Morgan's legendary football coach, the shell shocked Virgin Island teenagers pled their case. The young men did not have any housing accommodations, little money and a bleak outlook without their promised athletic scholarships. The coach who extended the scholarship offer at the Penn Relays was no longer employed at Morgan.
"We don't have any records of you and we don't know if you guys are legit," Banks told the stunned pair.
Word spread quickly through the campus grapevine of their plight. A Morgan professor, who was a native of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, agreed to open his home to the young men until they were able to enroll in school or forced to return home.
"We didn't want to go back home because that would have been embarrassing," said Molyneaux. "Going back to a small island, people would have wanted to know what happened because everybody knew that we were going away to run track in college."
Molyneaux and Hodge were persistent, attending a full slate of classes for two weeks. They were a constant presence in Banks" office, pleading to be granted the opportunity that was promised them.
"I'm going to give you guys a shot," Banks told the ecstatic young men from the Virgin Islands, ending their two week nightmare and making good on the scholarship offer. "But when I look over the railing to watch you run at the Penn Relays, I want to see you in the front."
The pair laced up their spikes, determined to thank Banks with impressive performances that rewarded his leap of faith in them. Molyneaux and Hodge thrived as Morgan athletes, even though they coached themselves for the majority of their college careers. When they graduated in 1980, they were in possession of a number of the school's track records.
The boycott of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow dashed Molyneaux's hopes of representing his homeland on the world stage. He continued to run competitively while teaching science at Lake Clifton High School. During summer vacations, he returned to the Virgin Islands and worked as a carpenter.
In 1984, he was selected to run on the 4x400 relay team for the British Virgin Islands in the Olympic Games in Los Angeles. In the cavernous coliseum, Molyneaux shared the track with the likes of Carl Lewis and Mary Decker, giants of the sport.
His relay team finished fourth in their trials and did not advance to the medal round. Nevertheless, the cacophonous roar of the crowd and exhilaration of competing in the world's ultimate athletic showcase was a surreal realization of his athletic dreams. "I always thought, from when I first started running track, that I wanted to run in the Olympic Games," said Molyneaux. "When I got there, I felt like I achieved what I wanted to achieve. But when the games were over, it left me empty. There were no more goals left."
Back in Baltimore, he decided to nourish the still burning embers of his inner fire by coaching. He coached at Lake Clifton, Friends, Forest Park and Bowie State. He spent summers coaching the city's top talent with Baltimore's accomplished Ed Waters program (now known as the Baltimore City Track and Field Club).
In 1987, he became the coach at Western. By 1989, the Doves began to establish themselves as the top girls program in the city and one of the top in the region and state. From 1990 to 2005, Molyneaux's teams won an astounding 16 straight Baltimore City Championships.
Over the years, he has sent a plethora of runners to college on track scholarships. Theresa Lewis, the 2005 All-Metro performer of the Year and two-time State Champion in the 100M hurdles, is currently starring at the University of Louisville. Leticia Wright, last years Indoor Performer of the Year and All-Metro selection, is now a freshman running for the Ohio State Buckeyes. Latosha Wallace, a 2003 Western grad, was the Pac-10 400M dash champion while attending Arizona State and is a U.S. Olympic hopeful for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
James Carter " a 2004 Olympian who finished fourth in the 400M hurdles at World Championships in Osaka, Japan this past summer " attended Mervo and was coached by Molyneaux and his staff with the Baltimore City Track and Field summer program. Bernard Williams, a 400M relay Olympic gold medalist in the 2000 Sydney Olympics and silver medalist in the 200M at the 2004 Athens Games who attended Carver High School, is another recipient of Molyneaux's tutoring through the Baltimore City summer program.
"I was determined to give those athletes what I didn't have," said Molyneaux. "I competed without proper coaching for most of my career and I was driven to help my athletes reach their potential with the proper support and guidance."
In 2006, the Doves surrendered the city title to Mervo while Molyneaux was attending his father's funeral in the Virgin Islands. Upon his return, his team beat Mervo for the 3A regional title and went on to capture their second consecutive state championship. The Doves were also state champs in 2002.
Last year, Western again ruled the city landscape, earning Molyneaux his 17th City Championship.
Most followers of the city track scene were shocked to find him at Northwestern High School this fall, attempting to weave his magic at a school not known for recent running success. Molyneaux was, himself, shocked at the circumstances that led to his separation from what he calls his "baby", the Western track program.
He stopped into Northwestern one day last spring on an innocent errand to borrow some volleyballs for his physical education classes at Pimlico Middle School. He noticed an unruly young man making a scene in the hallway, a student he recognized as one of his former pupils a Pimlico.
While an administrator spoke with the boy, Molyneaux approached and offered his assistance. The administrator turned out to be school principal, Tajah Gross, who was a former colleague of Molyneaux at Pimlico Middle and very familiar with his coaching track record. She informed him that Northwestern was looking for a new Athletic Director.
"Jerry is a symbol of strength, courage, leadership and perseverance all wrapped into one," said Gross. "We wanted somebody that the kids would hold in high esteem and be an exemplar of excellence to take them to the next level, and not just athletically."
"I wanted to be an Athletic Director for a long time but I did not want to leave Western," said Molyneaux. "I knew that if I wanted to grow professionally, I had to step out and take on this new challenge."
Molyneaux insured that the Western tradition would continue by grooming Alicia Williams, one of his former athletes, to take over as head coach. Williams was a member of the 2002 state champion Doves who later excelled in the 800M at Howard University.
"Having Coach Jerry as a mentor impacted my life tremendously," said Williams. "He was a coach and a father figure and having that relationship is important because he talks about life and real issues. I've seen a lot of people who can't do what Coach Jerry does. He makes you want to run fast for him."
In addition to overseeing the entire sports program, Molyneaux will tackle the immense challenge of making Northwestern track relevant again.
"Our goal is to have a track program that can compete against anyone all over the United States," said Molyneaux. "I'm not shooting to be competitive only in Baltimore or Maryland. My goals are very high."
No one in the Maryland track community will be surprised if he's able to consistently churn out champions at Northwestern. After all, perseverance and excellence have always been wired into his personal make-up. From refusing to be turned away at Morgan State, to running in the Olympics and establishing a powerhouse at Western, he's always found a way to triumph.
"I like to put forth my best effort," said Molyneaux. "And with my best effort, losing does not come into my vocabulary. If I do it right, we should be successful."
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