“Too much milk tends to slow a man up,” 1920

Every once in a while I chance upon something that almost smashes me in the face with the understanding that the past really is a foreign country. These pages are an excerpt about training that come from a very, very long document written by Rice’s first coach and Athletic Director, Philip Arbuckle, about how to coach track and field athletes. There is pretty wild theorizing going on in here. Some of it makes sense but some of it sounds like the stuff my three year old granddaughter says.

But that thing on the second page about “staleness’? I think I’ve got that, especially the irritability and bad temper part! Note that the remedy is absolute rest and a change of diet. I’m thinking more doughnuts might help.

Here’s a nice picture of Arbuckle, who was a wonderful man and a good coach too. I’ll have another post about him tomorrow.

Bonus: From the windows of the new office building/parking garage. The views are spectacular.

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8 Responses to “Too much milk tends to slow a man up,” 1920

  1. Wright Moody says:

    I had to laugh when I read this. I had a coach once that preached about the evil of “dissipation” during training. He was talking about sex. I wonder if this coach was meaning the same connotation? Wright

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  2. Melissa Kean says:

    Yeah, I’ve heard that too. It’s clearly nonsense! ; )

  3. Buddy Chuoke says:

    Thanks Coach Arbuckle for your words of wisdom. As an old athlete, I should have known these pearls of “Training” already, but I suppose it is never too late to learn and adopt the ones I have been slacking on. Henceforth, I will try to refrain from dissipation, eat a healthy diet composed of about 80% stuff, eat potatoes at every meal, and sleep on my right side with the window open. That should help me prepare for the next Senior Olympics.

  4. Bill Johnson '57-'58 says:

    Mutton as a meat is really strong and has a very distinctive odor. I think I will stick with lamb. Did they really serve this on the training table?

  5. Francis Eugene "Gene" Pratt RICE INSTITUTE 1956 says:

    That part about No dissipation (i.e., SEX) leading to good performance, and vice versa.

    If true:
    Babe Ruth hit NO home runs in the majors,
    Wilt Chamberlin scored no points in the NBA,
    and I was All-American when I was at Rice.

  6. James Medford says:

    “A healthy diet ought to be composed of about 80% eating stuff.”
    Wiser words were never … wait, what?

  7. Steve Lukingbeal---Hanszen 1976 says:

    Training rules are like time honored religious practices. You become a better person not because you strictly adhere to them but because you live a disciplined life.

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