Kalen Walker of Iowa runs a white American record 9.94 in the 100 meters to join Caitlin Clark, Cooper DeJean, and Riley Moss as mid-2020s white Hawkeye standouts.
Having grown up in Texas, I took an intramural business trip to our office in Pennsylvania about 20 years ago and was amazed when the office cleaning lady came by one evening when I was working late and was a white lady.
Pretty sure that would no longer be the case now, but it was then.
When I first moved to central New Jersey from the DC-Maryland suburbs in the mid-1980s, I was astonished to find that the trash collectors were white. Such a thing was unheard of in DC.
I just assume players with hair hanging out of their helmets, ridiculous dreads etc, don’t really want to win as much as the guys with the Johnny Unitas hair cuts. You see these laughable hairstyles in ncaa basketball frequently now as well.
It's 100% legal to get tackled by the hair and happens frequently. I can't understand why these guys have these hairstyles in the first place, much less play football with them. Seems like it would be really painful.
Go to Youtube and search for "hair tackles" and there are plenty of results.
Normally think of linemen when we hear about cornfed Iowa athletes. Walker is ripped, the thighs on this guy. Not sure, but it looks like he did not have a great start but made it up mid late race.
Iowa football's signature success has been with tight ends -- over the past several decades they've put out a string of them who have done very well in the NFL.
True but given the region. At least it suggests a connection between hair and strength. I've never heard it suggested before that curly hair means speed or strength. In fact testosterone is the trigger in a lot of baldness.
Kalen Walker is really fast. I study sprinting stuff so heard about him before. When he runs you can here his fast legs pounding into the ground. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/mdC_xBci8fs
Matthew Boling, the last great American white sprinter - at least in high school, then he went to Georgia and faded a little bit - has curly blond hair.
I never heard of the idea that men having curly hair equated to higher levels of testosterone. I'm sure numerous examples abound of men with straight hair having higher T levels as well. It doesn't really sound like it can be 100% quantified, much less proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
Especially as it appears at least in the West that most white men do not have curly hair. Does that automatically mean that they have extremely low levels of testosterone? Obviously not. So perhaps there are a combination of other factors at work regarding which white men have high or low levels of testosterone.
The biggest turnaround in the 'black-white sports gap' has been in heavyweight boxing.
In the 80s the heavyweight division was totally dominated by blacks of West African descent, and had been for decades. This fact was not pointed out by the media especially, but it wasn't political to notice it in fan conversations about boxing. It was simply seen as the natural order of things that would never change. 'Great White Hope' was a term of derision.
But now in 2025 we have to look all the way back to 2003 for the last great black heavyweight champ: Lennox Lewis. The 4 best heavyweights of the last 20+ years have all been white: the Klitschkos, Tyson Fury & Usyk.
Tim Dwight was a white wide receiver/sprinter for Iowa in the late '90's. He won the Big Ten 100 meters championship in 1999, and had some success in the NFL as a receiver and kick returner.
Speaking of, I love watching clips of Caitlin Clark. She's not a pretty girl but has this goofball tomboy affect I find absolutely adorable. Nike and the WNBA are leaving a lot of money on the table by not putting her front and center for their brands.
I once read an observation, probably on the letsrun.com message boards, that made perfect sense: you start off racing the shortest distances--like a sprint across the playground against your classmates. If you lose, you move up in distance. The 100m is the glory event in track and field. There's no doubt that most of the world-class 200 and 400 guys would race the 100 if they could.
So let's combine this observation with the Stockton theory of great white American basketball players only developing in very white places. The white kid who grows up with black kids is more likely to lose at the 100, so he moves up to longer distances. The white kid who only grows up around other white kids can stick with the 100.
I noticed this at Louisiana's high school track meet last month. The 100 and 200 were dominated by black sprinters. The 400 had way more white people.
That's what makes Usain Bolt the greatest Olympian of all time. His medals are worth far more than Phelps's when you think of what a small number of children have access to competitive swimming.
I lived 14 miles from Iowa during my childhood and we would go there weekly to use the supermarket.
They had lots of white people. White people everywhere you looked.I don’t remember if they had curly hair.
Having grown up in Texas, I took an intramural business trip to our office in Pennsylvania about 20 years ago and was amazed when the office cleaning lady came by one evening when I was working late and was a white lady.
Pretty sure that would no longer be the case now, but it was then.
Three years ago in Philadelphia I saw a meter maid who was a white guy. As a southerner, I was gobsmacked.
When I first moved to central New Jersey from the DC-Maryland suburbs in the mid-1980s, I was astonished to find that the trash collectors were white. Such a thing was unheard of in DC.
I just assume players with hair hanging out of their helmets, ridiculous dreads etc, don’t really want to win as much as the guys with the Johnny Unitas hair cuts. You see these laughable hairstyles in ncaa basketball frequently now as well.
I can't believe no one's hair has gotten caught on equipment or fingers yet.
Speaking of which, how fast could Walker run with a more aerodynamic hairdo?
It's 100% legal to get tackled by the hair and happens frequently. I can't understand why these guys have these hairstyles in the first place, much less play football with them. Seems like it would be really painful.
Go to Youtube and search for "hair tackles" and there are plenty of results.
A "Democrat" baggage handler at New Orleans airport was killed when her hair got caught in a belt conveyor.
In other evidence that the WNBA is not a serious sports league, acrylic nails are not banned.
I always assumed their agent was telling them"You will get more endorsement money if you have a noticeable look"
Remember Bob Hayes, the World’s Fastest Human and his 71 touchdowns with the Dallas Cowboys? He played before they invented sticky Spider-Man gloves.
He didn’t have the best hands…might have caught 100 with gloves.
I wonder if Kalen Walker will consider the NFL? How many teams have a white wide-receiver? I’ve heard good things about diversity.
Normally think of linemen when we hear about cornfed Iowa athletes. Walker is ripped, the thighs on this guy. Not sure, but it looks like he did not have a great start but made it up mid late race.
Iowa football's signature success has been with tight ends -- over the past several decades they've put out a string of them who have done very well in the NFL.
To wit: https://magazine.foriowa.org/story.php?ed=true&storyid=2354
For sure, big George Kittle fan.
I have never heard of a correlation between testosterone and curly hair.
Samson?
Long, certainly: Curly, unstated.
True but given the region. At least it suggests a connection between hair and strength. I've never heard it suggested before that curly hair means speed or strength. In fact testosterone is the trigger in a lot of baldness.
Beethoven ran the 100 in ten flat.
haha- the Chuck Norris of his day.
Kalen Walker is really fast. I study sprinting stuff so heard about him before. When he runs you can here his fast legs pounding into the ground. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/mdC_xBci8fs
The part about curly hair is interesting.
Matthew Boling, the last great American white sprinter - at least in high school, then he went to Georgia and faded a little bit - has curly blond hair.
I never heard of the idea that men having curly hair equated to higher levels of testosterone. I'm sure numerous examples abound of men with straight hair having higher T levels as well. It doesn't really sound like it can be 100% quantified, much less proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
Especially as it appears at least in the West that most white men do not have curly hair. Does that automatically mean that they have extremely low levels of testosterone? Obviously not. So perhaps there are a combination of other factors at work regarding which white men have high or low levels of testosterone.
The biggest turnaround in the 'black-white sports gap' has been in heavyweight boxing.
In the 80s the heavyweight division was totally dominated by blacks of West African descent, and had been for decades. This fact was not pointed out by the media especially, but it wasn't political to notice it in fan conversations about boxing. It was simply seen as the natural order of things that would never change. 'Great White Hope' was a term of derision.
But now in 2025 we have to look all the way back to 2003 for the last great black heavyweight champ: Lennox Lewis. The 4 best heavyweights of the last 20+ years have all been white: the Klitschkos, Tyson Fury & Usyk.
What is it with the obsession with curly hair? Hey, Larry Bird had slightly curly hair...therefore..Please enough.
Tim Dwight was a white wide receiver/sprinter for Iowa in the late '90's. He won the Big Ten 100 meters championship in 1999, and had some success in the NFL as a receiver and kick returner.
Perhaps Tim Dwight is to Iowa as John Stockton was to Gonzaga?
Steve, ICYMI:
https://substack.com/home/post/p-164576977
A White Australian guy, Lachlan Kennedy, just ran 9.98 seconds in the 100 metre sprint.
Speaking of, I love watching clips of Caitlin Clark. She's not a pretty girl but has this goofball tomboy affect I find absolutely adorable. Nike and the WNBA are leaving a lot of money on the table by not putting her front and center for their brands.
Attempts to make sprinters into wide-receivers usually fail. Bob Hayes is an exception.
I once read an observation, probably on the letsrun.com message boards, that made perfect sense: you start off racing the shortest distances--like a sprint across the playground against your classmates. If you lose, you move up in distance. The 100m is the glory event in track and field. There's no doubt that most of the world-class 200 and 400 guys would race the 100 if they could.
So let's combine this observation with the Stockton theory of great white American basketball players only developing in very white places. The white kid who grows up with black kids is more likely to lose at the 100, so he moves up to longer distances. The white kid who only grows up around other white kids can stick with the 100.
I noticed this at Louisiana's high school track meet last month. The 100 and 200 were dominated by black sprinters. The 400 had way more white people.
That's what makes Usain Bolt the greatest Olympian of all time. His medals are worth far more than Phelps's when you think of what a small number of children have access to competitive swimming.
This makes a lot of sense; thanks.