From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

It was one of the most remarkable performances in South Jersey track history.

And it happened 53 years ago.

It was June 1, 1967, and Deptford was entered in the two-mile relay at the old Delaware Valley Meet of Champions at Franklin Field.

Coach Jim Hawkins’ Deptford middle-distance squad was on a roll that year. The Spartans – in only he school’s seventh year of existence – had won the two-mile relay at the Kiwanis Relays at William Tenant in a meet-record 8:10.6 and then gone to the Long Branch Relays and set a meet record of 8:01.3.

Then they went to the Northeastern Meet of Champions at Highland Park and set another meet record and South Jersey record of 7:54.0, breaking the meet record of 7:58.4 set a year earlier by Essex Catholic.

At the Penn Relays, the same quarter – Wayne Jenkins, Tom Williams, Jerry Clark and Irv Jenkins – won the South Jersey mile relay in 3:22.8, breaking the meet record of 3:24.3 set in 1963 by Haddon Heights.

Same four guys won S.J. mile relay at Penn in 3:22.8, broke record of 3:24.3 set in 1963 by Haddon Heights.

So Deptford was undefeated going into the Delaware Valley M-of-C and chasing not only their own South Jersey record of 7:54.0 – that converts to a 7:51.2 for a 3,200-meter relay – but the meet record of 7:52.1, set a year earlier by Malvern.

Wayne Jenkins led off with a huge 1:56.9 split, Williams ran 1:57.4, Clark came through in 1:58.8 and Irv Jenkins anchored in 1:56.1

Deptford had run 7:49.0, won the race, broke the meet record and shattered the South Jersey record.

At the time, that was the only South Jersey performance in the all-time New Jersey two-mile relay top-50 (according to my 1968 New Jersey Track Annual).

Here’s the story from the June 2, 1967, Courier-Post:

Deptford’s performance stood as the South Jersey record for 16 years until Willingboro won the 1983 Penn Relays in 7:40.99 on the same track as part of their Penn Relays 4-by-800-DMR double.

It was another 20 years until another South Jersey school ran faster.

To this day, more than half a century after Deptford turned in that miraculous performance, it remains No.7 in South Jersey history!

That’s truly incredible!

Here’s the full all-time South Jersey boys outdoor 3,200-meter relay top-50 performance list!

All-Time S.J. 3,200-Meter Relay Top 50

7:40.43 … Egg Harbor Twp., 2017
7:40.71 … Pleasantville, 2013
7:40.99 … Willingboro, 1983
7:43.57 … Haddonfield, 2015
7:44.25 … Willingboro, 2003
7:46.28 … Delsea, 2018
7:46.2h … Deptford, 1967
7:47.27 … Egg Harbor, 2016
7:47.66 … Kingsway, 2011
7:47.96 … Haddonfield, 2016
7:47.9h … Willingboro, 1982
7:48.16 … Kingsway, 2013
7:48.25 … Vineland, 2012
7:48.3h … Woodbury, 1977
7:48.70 … Rancocas Valley, 2016
7:48.92 … Highland, 2018
7:49.34 … Cherokee, 2000
7:49.67 … Washington Twp., 2009
7:49.72 … Haddonfield, 2019
7:49.85 … Cherokee, 2012
7:49.95 … Delsea, 2018
7:49.9h … Willingboro, 1978
7:50.1h … Camden, 1977
7:50.26 … Ocean City, 2003
7:50.3h … Willingboro,
7:50.87 … Haddonfield, 2014
7:51.07 … Washington Twp., 2008
7:51.09 … Mainland Reg., 2004
7:51.52 … Vineland, 2010
7:52.53 … Willingboro, 2002
7:52.60 … Cherokee, 2011
7:52.66 … Cherokee, 1998
7:52.75 … Egg Harbor Twp., 2018
7:52.7h … Willingboro, 1978
7:52.90 … Rancocas Valley, 2017
7:53.03 … Bishop Eustace, 1997
7:53.44 … Shawnee, 1991
7:53.99 … Highland, 1991
7:54.16 … Woodrow Wilson, 2011
7:54.5h … Paul VI, 1991
7:54.74 … Paul VI, 1990
7:54.78 … Highland, 2017
7:54.94 … Kingsway, 2014
7:55.0h … Edgewood, 1984
7:55.19 … Pleasantville, 2012
7:55.53 … Delsea, 2017
7:55.63 … Rancocas Valley, 2018
7:55.67 … Rancocas Valley, 2014
7:56.30 … Rancocas Valley, 2019
7:56.36 … Ocean City, 2017
7:56.5h … Vineland, 1966