Steeplechaser Conquers Barriers and Pratfalls

Published by July Cart/Times Staff Writer on  September 8th, 1988

BOUNTIFUL, Utah — One child answers the front door and three others peer from behind it. Jimmy, the oldest and, apparently, the bravest, steps from behind the door and guns down the visitor with his toy rifle.

Ra-ta-ta-ta-tat . Another reporter bites the dust.

Shrieks of laughter. Not from the children, who lost interest in their victim moments after winning the Battle of the Entry Hall. No, it is their father, that grown up little boy, Henry Marsh, America's best steeplechaser for what seems like forever.

Marsh loves a good practical joke, or a good ambush, having been on the receiving end of both so often in his 12-year career. Marsh, 34, is scarcely remembered as the American record-holder in the steeplechase. We don't often think of him as the only American track athlete to be ranked in the top 10 in the world in his event for 11 consecutive years. He's going to Seoul--he's on the Olympic team for the fourth time--but that's not the big thing.

We hardly ever think of Marsh as an attorney, devoted family man or even member of the U.S. Olympic Committee's executive board. He is all of those things.