Calvin Bostic had a tough time holding back the tears.
Disciplined in front of his friends by Jim Lafferty, Forest Park Junior High School’s track coach, Bostic left a team meeting six years ago bigger and disappointed.
“I came into that first track meeting laughing and cutting up,” Bostic recalled. “Before I sat down, Mr. Lafferty told me I was too silly and that I had to sit out a year. I was cut from the team before I set a food on the track.”
Although he was just a 13-year-old seventh grader at the time, Bostic didn’t let the tongue-lashing keep him from attending every Forest Park event, hoping to impress Lafferty.
“Whenever I think back to that first meeting, I’m thankful for what Mr. Lafferty did for me,” said Bostic, now a senior at Forest Park High. “He taught me that track is a serious sport and I now approach every event as if it were a state championship.”
The lesson that Bostic learned has led to a brilliant high school career that could end in record-setting fashion in June.
“My goal is to become the first Ohio male athlete since Jesse Owens to win four individual state championships in the same year,” Bostic said.
“A Girl from Dayton (Trotwood’s Lavonna Martin” did it several years ago. I plan to try in the long jump, both hurdles (100 high and 300 intermediate) and the 200.
Ohio Stadium in Columbus, site of the state meet, is almost like a second home to Bostic.