Ramstein's speedy Isaiah Fluellen
is DODDS' male athlete of the year
By Rusty Bryan, Stars
and Stripes
Ramstein junior Isaiah
Fluellen, a standout in football, basketball and track, is the 2001 DODDS-Europe male
athlete of the year. |
Acutely aware that the award is for yearlong achievement, the panel selecting the 2001
DODDS-Europe male athlete of the year struggled heroically to avoid the appearance they
voted for Ramstein junior Isaiah Fluellen solely on the basis of his track season.
In the end, Fluellen’s numbers proved too overwhelming to resist.
"When someone achieves a feat that stands so far above what anyone else has
accomplished," said Wiesbaden assistant principal and former wrestling coach Eric
Goldman, after the committee had agonized over balancing the qualification of the five
finalists, "I have to go with him."
With an almost palpable sense of relief, the other members of the committee — Tom
Richards of Wiesbaden, Sandy Arbour of Hanau and DODDS-Europe athletic director Karen
Snyder — quickly agreed.
In the end, the choice was a no-brainer. Fluellen’s numbers made sure of that.
After opening the track season with times in the 100, 200 and 400 meters that indicated he
was a threat to some of the oldest records in the school system’s books, Fluellen put
it all together one glorious Saturday in May.
Running in the Division I championships on his own track, Fluellen broke all three
marks, clocking 10.5 in the 100 to break a mark that had stood since 1963, 21.2 in the 200
and 46.7 in the 400. The old records in those last two events, 21.5 and 47.7, had stood
since 1979, when Kaiserslautern High School senior Alonzo Babers etched them into the
record books, seemingly for all time.
Five years later, Babers was an Olympic double gold-medalist.
Where will Fluellen be in five years?
"If he keeps working like he has, and he’s a hard worker," said Ramstein
track coach Bruce Steffensmeier as he watched Fluellen destroy the competition in the 400
at the European individual championships, "he’ll be running in the 45s next
year."
Michael Abrams / S&S
Ramstein's Isaiah Fluellen, the DODDS-Europe male athlete of the year, breaks out of the
blocks in the 200 meters while competing at the high school track and field finals in
Kitzingen, Germany, in May. |
For a runner whose record time this season placed him fifth among all prep
quarter-milers in the United States, getting into that range would make Fluellen the
fastest American in Europe, at least until those vying for spots on the national team show
up at the European summer meets.
Fluellen says he plans to keep working.
"I have my own speed training program that I picked up in Ohio," Fluellen
said. "I’ll be working on that this summer and getting ready for football."
Getting ready for football means that Fluellen, a wide receiver who helped
Ramstein’s remarkable run-and-shoot offense click for a Division I regular-season
crown, will be striving to improve upon an All-Europe season in which he scored 11
touchdowns in eight games and was unshakeable at cornerback.
Fluellen also played basketball well enough that, despite an injury, he was named the
Royals’ defensive player of the year.
Fluellen’s prowess in football and basketball, supercharged by those three sprint
records, was enough to push him ahead of his fellow finalists: Ansbach senior Josh Hayes,
last year’s athlete of the year; Würzburg senior Matt Shriver, a champion wrestler
who was MVP in the Wolves’ European championship football game; and Aviano senior
Aaron Williams, an all-conference football and basketball player who won individual
hurdles gold and bronze and silver in the 800 in the Europeans.
And as if the records weren’t enough, Fluellen added to his luster with a head
that he applied conscientiously in the classroom — he was academic all-conference in
three sports — and at the same time remains totally unaffected by his stardom,
according to Ramstein athletic director Robert Ermel.
Fluellen is "extremely talented, yet very quiet and humble," Ermel said,
"a team player in every sense of the word."
No wonder the committee gave in to the obvious.
RELATED STORY:
DODDS-Europe's female athlete
of the year
Back to June stories
Page Two news roundup
Stories from May, 2001
Stories from April, 2001
Stories from March, 2001
Stories from February,2001
Stories from January, 2001
Stories from December, 2000
Stories from November, 2000
Stories from October, 2000
Stories from August and September, 2000
Stories from June and July, 2000
Home |
