Willie the Predictable

His full name and title is Willie D. Davenport, Olympic Champion Hurdler. The "D" doesn't stand for anything, he says, though sometimes he likes to tell his girl friends that it means "dangerous." On the track "D" is strictly for diligent, dependable and, at least to some fans, dull. Willie is just too predictable. At this year's Millrose Games in Madison Square Garden, for example, a group of spectators, wagering among themselves, stopped short when it came to the 60-yd. high hurdles. "Hey, you wanna bet on this event?" said one. "Are you kiddin'?" cried his companion. "Not with Davenport in there. He wins all the time."

Willie D., of Southern University in Baton Rouge, La., has simply reduced the feat of record breaking to a routine. In one remarkable string of eight meets this season, he twice equaled the world indoor record for the 60-yd. hurdles and set new world marks at 45, 50, 70 and 120 yds.

Game of Catch Up. "The secret of my success," says Davenport, "is staying relaxed." What keeps him loosened up? "Pressure," he says paradoxically. "I thrive on pressure." He has had plenty. Hot on his heels this season have been Erv Hall and Leon Coleman, the second-and fourth-place finishers in the 1968 Olympics. In Philadelphia two weeks ago, Davenport was so relaxed that he seemed to have fallen asleep in the starting blocks. "I don't know what happened," he says, "but all of a sudden everybody was out there ahead of me. From then on it was a game of catch up." Catch up he did. Scissoring smoothly over the first hurdle, he eased past Coleman and then, with three more galloping strides, overtook Hall to win the National A.A.U. Indoor Championship and his 15th straight meet this year.

Now 25, Davenport is a relative latecomer to track. He did not begin running the hurdles in earnest until his senior year at Howland High School in Warren, Ohio. Then he joined the Army and kept jumping--out of airplanes for the 509th Airborne Regiment and over hurdles for a track club in Mainz, Germany, where he was stationed. While still in the service, he qualified for the 1964 U.S. Olympic team but failed to make the finals in Tokyo because of a pulled thigh muscle. Last year, he again made the Olympic team and again was troubled by injuries. It was apparently just the kind of pressure he needed. He relaxed his way into the finals and then tied an Olympic record for the 110-meter hurdles with a winning time of 13.3 seconds.

Longest Jump. After graduating in June, Davenport plans to make the longest jump of his career--into professional football. Though he played cornerback in college, he wants to perform as split end in the pros because "that's where the money is." The San Diego Chargers, who drafted the 6-ft. 1-in., 185-lb. speedster, may disagree, but Davenport figures he can adjust to offense. After all, he says, "Football players need speed, balance and coordination, and a hurdler has all of these." He might be right. Running Back Paul Robinson of the Cincinnati Bengals and Flanker Earl McCullouch of the Detroit Lions, the pro leagues' rookies of the year last season, are both reformed hurdlers.

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