https://www.cleveland.com/opinion/2021/03/the-never-befor...

Cool story - thanks for sharing!

I Remember Elmore Banton. Great guy!

I worked with him one summer as a student janitor. We were assigned to different dorms but were thrown together on a few work crews over the summer. At that time he went by Elmo, later it got shortened to just, Mo.

When I worked for The Post, I was initially assigned to cross country. I knew nothing about the sport. He took me under his wing, spent an afternoon explaining the strategies, etc. and gave me a list of 10-12 storylines to consider for my fall coverage. Some of them were self-serving, but most were great background stories on the runners, including how they split scholarships by quarter to make it through the year. Then he introduced me to the team and told them, "You WILL return his calls for interviews; you WILL make yourself available to him after practice and meets. You WILL be respectful and helpful."

Could have been because we were both from Akron -- in fact, his wife and kids lived in Akron and Mo split his time between home and Athens -- but he went above and beyond.

Even though Mo was older than me, I knew of him when he coached in the Goodyear Heights Hot Stove League at Reservoir Park in Akron. Here's a pretty cool picture of him winning the NCAA cross country race. Always enjoyed talking with him at the Green and White Club tailgates when he'd come back for Homecoming.

https://media.library.ohio.edu/digital/collection/archive... /

For awhile, he was the coach at John Carroll.

https://jcusports.com/sports/womens-cross-country/roster/...

While I realize that some modern, revisionist grammarians consider this correct, I would have thought that an old school guy like you, Alan, would have said "older than I." Not being judgmental, just registering a bit of a surprise.