Interview: Greg Sholars
From Penn Relays records to a founding coach at AP Ranch, meet the man realizing the potential of track and field as a force for good
Greg Sholars, raised in Fort Worth, Texas, is a standout in the world of track and field. With an impressive athletic history, from competing in record-breaking races at the Penn Relays to coaching next generation champions, the Texas Christian University (TCU) alum has dedicated his career to nurturing young athletes at AP Ranch, which he, along with founder Mike Dry, has directed since 2012. We caught up with him on his amazing career.
On his first time at the Penn Relay Carnival…
The Penn Relay Carnival is just one of my fondest and greatest memories of track and field. I first came here my freshman year at TCU, in 1986. Some of my older teammates had already run at Penn Relays and knew what to expect and some were from Jamaica and had already been running at Penn Relays since high school, as there's a tremendous Jamaican following at the Relays.
On the atmosphere at the Penn Relays…
I’d never seen anything so huge; thousands and thousands of people. I was just taking in all the sights and sounds because the Penn Relays is more than just a track meet, it is truly an experience. Even walking up to the stadium, with the music, the traffic, the energy, the buzz that's on the streets as you make your way there is an experience in itself. I'd never seen that many people gathered in one place for track and field.
On setting records in the 4x100 and 4x200 relays…
Our relay team (Roscoe Tatum, Andrew Smith, Leroy Reid, Greg Sholars) went to Penn Relays in 1986, and we ended up setting the world's best time of 1:20.20 in the 4x200m men’s relay (not strictly a WR because we weren’t from the same country). We knew we were pretty good going in, but we didn't know we were going to do that.
And we also set the meet record for the 4x100m in 39.11, running the same order in both relays, with me as the anchor. As you’re waiting to start, there’s race after race after race going on, and there’s the paddock where the athletes are readying themselves to be called out on the track, moving forward, heat by heat, until it’s time.
I remember being in that paddock and I couldn't take my eyes off the crowd and the festivities and the people. I didn't have enough time to get nervous because before I knew it the baton was coming my way. And in all that excitement, we set a new record.
On being celebrated on the Penn Wall of Fame…
The Penn Relays have shown such class over the years; I still get birthday cards over the years from them! But this Wall of Fame is an amazing honor. I have a photo of one of our relay exchanges hanging in my office at home. And I have a photo of my son running past the Wall of Fame at Penn Relays, when he was on the Princeton team. It’s such a historic event, the oldest track and field meet in the States and the fact that they've partnered with Rekortan and put a world-class track in it just makes it even better.
“The amazing absorption means we haven’t seen as many injuries as we might expect through running on tracks repetitively, which is a great thing for the sport.”
On his post-college career…
I’ve been blessed to work with some of the best coaches in the country. I coached at the University of Florida with the likes of Steve Spurrier and Bev Kearney, the University of Texas, where Jody Conrad was my athletic director and Texas Tech University with Marsha Sharpe and Spike Dykes. Not only did we have some amazing success with some of the teams winning SEC championships and Big 12 championships, but I also got to experience some amazing mentoring from the coaches along the way.
On AP Ranch…
In 2012, we started Athletic Performance Ranch (AP Ranch), a youth track club in Fort Worth, Texas, for kids aged 9 to 18. Our goal is to use athletics as kind of a means to an end. We teach work ethic, humility, how to live with success and failure and the habits that it takes to be successful through education and sports.
Our mission is to provide a facility and access to the kids who didn't have it. There are tons of schools in Texas that have amazing budgets, but there are a lot of schools that don't have the budgets and the additional support. So we try to work with those schools and be the community they need to have success.
Some of the kids have gone on to compete at the Olympic level and have professional careers, but the ones we're really excited about are the kids that learn how to overcome obstacles and be teammates. Mike Dry, our main benefactor, has built amazing facilities and another major contributor to our success is Rekortan.
On the facilities at AP Ranch…
We’ve got the new gel G13 Rekortan Track with the SMART tech system in it, which is an amazing surface. Athletes such as Allyson Felix and Sha’Carri Richardson have run on it and done some of the fastest times in the world on this surface. The amazing absorption means we haven't seen as many injuries as we might expect through running on tracks repetitively, which is a great thing for the sport.
On what coaching means to him…
Growing up, I was in a single-parent home – one mom and five kids, trying to figure it out – and there were so many coaches that stepped up in my personal life and showed me a path, a track.
We’re put here to share and uplift and that’s our journey – it doesn’t even feel like work. It feels like community and it's what we love doing. The kids become our families and their families become our families. I always joke that my goal is to be at their college graduation, and I have been blessed to see that happen.
On Rekortan’s role helping AP Ranch shape track and field’s future…
We’re bringing all the different factors together here, and a great track is a key ingredient of that because it's literally from the ground up that you help the performance. Plus there's a sense of pride those kids feel when they come out here and they step on a truly world-class track. We’ve had athletes from all over the world training on it, so for our kids to be able to train on the same track that Olympians have trained on, gives them a sense of pride and a feeling of readiness.
The 2024 Penn Relay Carnival takes place April 25 to 27.
Rekortan is available globally through Polytan in EMEA, Asia Pacific and Australasia, and AstroTurf in North and South America as well as our global installer network.
