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Clyde Glosson and Warren McVea haven't raced in more than 40 years, but McVea conceded one last week.

History: Near the photo finish of a ballyhooed 100-yard dash at San Antonio's Alamo Heights High School on April 4, 1964, in front of a shoulder-to-shoulder crowd that included Gale Sayers and the Kansas City Chiefs' Curtis McClinton, McVea flung out his left arm, effectively holding Glosson back.

"I can finally let it be known," McVea told the San Antonio Express-News last week. "Everything he said is the truth. He's not lying. In fact, Clyde wouldn't lie.

"And he's never complained to me about it since."

Glosson, who's going into the San Antonio Sports Hall of Fame next month, isn't sure why McVea fessed up. He hasn't asked, either.

But he has an idea why fans have taken sides all these years.

"I'm an ordained Methodist minister," he said. "Everybody saw the difference in Warren and myself."

In the spring of '64, San Antonio sports fans knew them only as a couple of the nation's greatest amateur athletes.

Glosson starred at predominantly black Wheatley, then a member of the Prairie View Interscholastic League. McVea, a year older and a bigger star, went to Brackenridge, an integrated UIL school.

The question of whom was faster was so compelling, Glosson said, officials allowed PVIL schools to compete in the Mule Relays to get an answer.

Just the opportunity to run in the Mule Relays gave Wheatley athletes exposure they'd never had before, Glosson said, and they made the most of it.

Glosson, 5-11 and 155 pounds, had raced McVea in junior high and lost. McVea, 5-9, 175 pounds, one of the most elusive runners ever on a football field, was quick out of the blocks. Glosson knew he'd have to match McVea's start. When he did, McVea countered.

"After 40 yards, he hit me with his left elbow, which knocked me off stride," Glosson said. "And then at the finish, he started throwing elbows again.

"But it was a good race."

Here's how good: They finished in 9.5 seconds, one-tenth better than the Junior Olympics record Glosson would set two years later.

McVea took first, though, because of his lean and a hold.

After Brackenridge, McVea played at the University of Houston and for the Chiefs. Ever since, he's never been far from trouble. He told the San Antonio paper he's a driver for a courier service in Houston.

And Glosson? He set a national high school record of 20.6 in the 220 in '64. The 41.5 run by his 440 relay team also was a national record.

An alternate on the '68 Olympic team, he competed for Trinity and then UTEP, played a couple of years in Buffalo and another in the World Football League.

For 27 years, he taught history in San Antonio's school system. The last 22, he's also been a fifth-generation minister. Now legally blind because of glaucoma, he's raising money for a spiritual retreat.

Despite differences in lifestyles and backgrounds, not to mention the Mule Relays controversy, Glosson and McVea remained friendly.

"I used to enjoy running against Mac," Glosson said. "He'd always play mind games with you. He'd bring out the best in you, too."

Forty years later, it turns out, Glosson has the same effect on McVea.

"He was twice the runner I was," McVea told the Express-News . "He was born to run."

For more information about Clyde Glosson's spiritual retreat, contact him at Emmanuel AME Church in San Antonio at 210-648-1217.

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