Houston Sports - Leroy Burrell

Leroy Burrell

Born: February 21, 1967

Sport: Track and Field (12 world records, 3-time individual NCAA Champion, 9-time All-American, Olympic medalist: 1 Gold, coached 19 NCAA Champions, Hall of Fame)

It hasn't been a fun sports weekend for me with the Astros dropping all three games against the top team in the AL, the Texans losing their season opener in a heartbreaker, and my alma mater Texas State dropping their second game to a rival from just down the road.  With all of this misery, I didn't feel much like rewarding the local teams with much recognition, so we're going to go a bit of a different route this week.  Although it isn't track season, one decorated athlete and coach recently announced that he's heading back to the Lone Star State this coming year.  Leroy Burrell has a long history representing Houston on the largest stages that his sport has to offer, and has a trophy case to back up his claims of success.  He certainly merits inclusion in our list of major sports figures who have called our city home, so let's take some time to get to know a bit more about his story.

Burrell competed at UH from 1986-1990

Leroy Burrell was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to a barber who carried the same name and his wife, Delores.  As a child he was enthralled with sports, especially baseball as he watched his hometown Phillies win the 1980 World Series while he was still in middle school.  But having severe myopia in his right eye from birth impacted his ability to compete on the field, with an injury later in childhood resulting in young Leroy being legally blind in one eye for the rest of his life.  Despite the obstacles he faced, Burrell was an athletic young man and when he watched Carl Lewis win four gold medals at the 1984 Olympics, he channeled his efforts into a dream to dominate track and field.  As a senior attending Penn Wood High School in Lansdowne, PA, he etched his name into the state's record book by winning gold in the 100m, 200m, long jump, and triple jump, which resulted in Burrell single-handedly claiming the 1985 Class 3A state title for his school as he earned all of the 40 points they won.  Visiting the University of Houston on a recruiting visit, Burrell was excited when Cougars head coach Tom Tellez made sure that Carl Lewis, who no longer attended school but still trained there, was available.  It wasn't a hard sell as coming to Houston was all that Burrell wanted, but his first meeting with the Olympic legend started a spirited rivalry and lifelong friendship between the two giants of their sport.

It didn't take long for Leroy Burrell to make his mark as a collegiate athlete, as he broke Lewis' school long jump record for freshmen by leaping 26' 9".  Before the end of his first season, however, Burrell faced his first serious sports injury when he tore the ACL in his left knee during a long jump attempt.  There were those who thought the setback could end Burrell's career before it had a chance to take off, but while one season was a total loss the young athlete worked hard to recover and return for 1988, and he earned All-America honors for the first time that year.  One season later he earned his first world record in the 4x200m relay, teaming up with Carl Lewis, Danny Everett, and Floyd Heard at the USA Outdoor Championship in front of the home crowd at UH's Robertson Stadium.  At the same event, Burrell also claimed the fastest ever 100m by a collegiate athlete with a stunning 9.94 second time.  During his senior year, Burrell finished college with a bang by setting a world record in the 200m while also matching his own 100m personal best to win both races at the Southwest Conference Outdoor Championships.  With an eye on the upcoming Olympic games he kicked off 1991 with a world record in the 60m distance, and then after graduation he notched an additional four world records over the summer.  Burrell had defeated Lewis for the first time head-to-head and was officially the world's top-rated sprinter, but at the Barcelona Games in 1992 he was unable to finish on the 100m medal stand with a 5th place finish.  He did join forces with Lewis, alongside Mike Marsh and Dennis Mitchell, to claim a gold in the 4x100m relay in world record time, and it would ultimately be his only Olympic medal.  In 1994 Burrell married another world-class athlete, Michelle Finn, who had won a NCAA title as a 100m sprinter as well, and the couple would eventually have three children.  Despite competing regularly, including claiming the title as World's Fastest Man with a 9.85 second world record in the 100m distance, Burrell was forced to withdraw from the 1996 Olympic team after suffering an injury to his Achilles tendon.  Two years later, he announced his retirement from competitive track and field.

Although the active portion of Leroy Burrell's career had ended, a new chapter was about to begin.  Tom Tellez, the Hall of Fame head coach of the UH Track and Field team, announced his retirement in 1998 and Burrell was selected to succeed him.  It is never an easy thing to follow in the footsteps of a legend, but Burrell was certainly the man for the job.  Over the course of 23 seasons he led the Cougars to 31 conference titles for the men and 13 for the women, coached 11 separate Olympians and 15 individual NCAA Champions, and was responsible for 254 All Americans.  Alongside the success, however, Burrell had to deal with unspeakable tragedy as well.  Although his oldest son, Cameron, had claimed the 2018 NCAA Championship for UH in the 100m (joining his parents the only father-mother-son trio in history to claim the 100m title), he sadly took his own life in 2021 at the age of 26.  Seeking a fresh start and escape from the painful memories there, Burrell stepped down after becoming the longest-tenured head coach in UH history and accepted the leadership of Auburn University's track program in 2022.  After coaching four additional Olympians and leading the Tigers to four top-five finishes at the NCAA Championships, Burrell announced this summer that he has decided to return closer to home and has just begun his first year of leadership of the Texas A&M University track team.  He has been inducted into the UH Athletics Hall of Fame (2000), Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame (2008), Texas Track and Field Coaches Hall of Fame (2014), National Track and Field Hall of Fame (2017), SWC Hall of Fame (2019), and Texas Sports Hall of Fame (2021).  In addition to coaching, Burrell and his wife are involved in various organizations that focus on charitable outreach and mental health.

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