Trailblazing: The True Story of America's First Openly Gay Track Coach

by Eric Anderson

Chapter One The Beginning Although some names have been changed, the following events are real. In January 1993 the Huntington Beach High School boys' track team, which I coached, organized a community track meet as a fund-raiser. We ended up having more workers than competitors, and rain was nearly the sole occupant of the bleachers lining our ancient brick-dust track. Of the few athletes who showed to compete, one runner caught my eye. His rail-thin body reminded me of a Kenyan runner's; he looked like a champion. He appeared old enough to be in high school, but I didn't recognize him and figured him to be a junior-high runner. Always on the lookout for future athletes, I wanted to find out more. But rules governing our sport prohibited me from speaking to potential athletes until they had graduated from the eighth grade. To circumvent this, I asked one of my runners, Erich Phinizy, to investigate. "Find out his age and where he goes to school," I said. "And tell him about our program." Erich returned with valuable information. The runner was in junior high and would be attending Huntington Beach next year. He also informed me that our future runner was of English descent. Erich pointed to the only two people sitting in the bleachers and said, "Those are his parents." Damn, not England , I thought. They're a bunch of soccer freaks . I hoped he wouldn't be like a former English runner of mine, who once remarked, "What's the purpose of running if there's no ball to kick along the way?" Although the soccer coach and I were close friends, we often competed for the same athletes, as soccer players are often runners and vice versa. Each of us ran a quality program, coaching our athletes year-round. "So, Erich, what's his name?" "Oh, I didn't get that, Coach. Sorry." "Don't worry about it." The possibility of this kid's running for our team excited me, especially since he had come to race the three-mile, an unusually long distance for a 13-year-old. I scanned the entry list and saw, unfortunately, that there were only two other runners in his race. One was a 60-year-old jogger, and the other was Erich. Eager to assess the kid's talent, I asked Erich to pace him. "Run alo

Genres: Nonfiction, LGBT, Memoir, Biography, Sports, Gay

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 15, 2000

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Eric Anderson is Professor of Sport, Masculinities and Sexualities at the University of Winchester, UK. He holds four degrees, has published 17 books, over 60 peer-reviewed articles, and is regularly featured in international television, print, and digital media. Professor Anderson is recognized for research excellence by the British Academy of Social Sciences and is a fellow of the International Academy of Sex Research. His work shows a decline in cultural homohysteria and promotes inclusive attitudes toward openly gay, lesbian and bisexual athletes as well as a softening of heterosexual masculinities.

Reviews

[Eli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anderson is articulate and concise in his book, as he is in person. His message concerning the still-extant institutionalized and near-institutionalized discrimination towards members of the LGBT community is important, but the book wanders into sports-memoir territory altogether too often when discussing the unnecessary and uninteresting logistics of the track team.

[Madisond · Rating 4 out of 5]

My overall rate for Trailblazing by Eric Anderson was a 4 out of 5 stars.
Eric grew up running cross country and track, and decided that his life goals were to be a science teacher, cross country and track coach and Huntington Beach Schools. There are many things that come across him, that make Eric reconsider if he really wants to coach there, and there are many things that come and that make him want to stay. It’s all about how opens up, and tells people he’s gay, but he definitely didn't think things would happen like that.
Some main strengths I found in this book was the great message this book had! Gays are no different than anybody else, and they should be treated the same, which unfortunately was not the case in this book. Also this book is very honest, and tells you exactly what happened, even if is was really bad. Another strength was that their wasn’t that much foul language, only when it was in quotes of a person basically.
Now, some weaknesses I found was how he describes he’s gay and certain things he does. You may not like to hear about things like that, so I wouldn’t chose this book. There is a tiny bit of foul language, but if that also bothers you, you may need to chose another book. Another thing is there are a lot of characters in this book, and if you have a hard time keeping them straight, and not getting confused, this book will be difficult for you!
Considerations before choosing this book, is if you are totally fine with gays, or not. Also there's fights, foul language, and disturbing things that happen to the main character because of the choices that were made earlier in the book. If you aren’t totally okay with any of those, this book wouldn’t be a good choice.
People I would suggest this too, are people that are fine with things like that, and it doesn’t bother them. I would also suggest this book to people who have something that they need to tell people, but they just can’t, like Eric in this book. People who don’t mind a little foul language, and fights would probably like this book too. Last, people who don’t mind gay’s and them being open, would be good because if you're totally against it like some people are, you won’t like this book at all.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like looking at books I am putting away at the library, and this one caught my eye, and I wasn't even shelving it.
It is about the first openly gay track coach. And it is a autobiography, which I rarely read.

Man, did he have a story to tell! I plan to do some googling on him when I get a chance to. His name is Eric Anderson. And I had a teacher with that name and another that I knew of, so I think it might be a little tricky with such a common name, hehe.

A lot of people gave him and his team shit after he came out, faculty and students did.

I read toward the end of it last night until I couldn't keep my eyes open, then I picked it back up when I woke up to read the last few pages. Definitely a page turner

[Collinb · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I didnt think i was going to like it but i loved it. It always kept me wanting to read more and i could hardly put it down.This is comming from someone who doesnt like to read at all. I actually hate to read. But i really enjoyed this book!!!

[Collinb · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I didn't know how it would turn out and. I hate to read, but i loved this book and i couldn't hardly put it down.