Do you think Nate Robison, BYU's emerging middle-distance runner, feels any pressure to perform?
His grandfather is the tall, white-haired gentleman standing by the track, Clarence Robison, the former Olympic distance runner and coaching legend.
His head coach is Mark Robison, who also happens to be his father.
One of his teammates is Aaron Robison, his little (6-foot-6) brother.
(Even his top rival is a Robison — Grant, an All-American from Stanford whom some believe might be somehow related to the Provo clan — he's also a Mormon).
Oh, yes, and the Cougars compete in the annual Robison Invitational track meet, named after Nate's grandfather.
"I'm sure it puts a little pressure on him," says Clarence. "But I think he enjoys it." Carrying the name Robison onto the track at BYU is like being a Rockne on the Notre Dame football team. Clarence Robison is to track what LaVell Edwards is to football. They didn't name the track stadium after him, but they should have. For four decades Robison ran a national-class track and field program at BYU. A few years after he retired, BYU gave the job to Clarence's son, Mark.
The best thing Mark did for himself was recruit the kid down the hallway in the family home. Nate, a long-striding 6-foot-2 sophomore, has broken into the national-class ranks this year. He ran a sub four-minute mile indoors. He placed 10th in the NCAA national indoor championships in a race that was so close and tightly packed at the finish that less than two seconds separated first place from 10th. Last weekend, Robison used his trademark finishing kick to rally to a third-place finish in the 1,500 at the Stanford Invitational with a time of 3:43.90 — roughly a 4:00 mile — losing by one second to Olympian Michael Stember and Grant Robison.
"I'm really proud of what he has done," says Clarence. "He's a good one. He certainly has a shot at being a national champion. He looks very promising."
In other words, as BYU's distance coach, Ed Eyestone, puts it, "He's a chip off the block."
At Provo High School, Nate ran a 4:09 mile, the fastest ever by a Utah prep at the time. After serving a two-year church mission, he resumed training last year and had his break-through race while winning the 1,500 in the Robison Invitational. Clarence Robison was standing at the finish line with Mark, choking back tears.
"I guess he's got some good genes," distance coach Ed Eyestone told them.
Clarence competed in the 1948 London Olympic Games, where he lost to a legend-in-the-making named Emil Zatopek in the 5,000-meter run. After touring Europe with the U.S. national team, he returned to Provo and became the head coach at BYU, where he produced a long line of Olympic distance runners — Eyestone, Henry Marsh, Paul Cummings, Doug Padilla, Jason Pyrah.
One of his middle-distance runners was Mark Robison, the school record holder at Provo High who became a solid miler for his dad at BYU before becoming one of his assistant coaches. Nate didn't take up running until the ninth grade, but it seemed inevitable. After all, he grew up in a family that once turned a family reunion into a track and field meet at the BYU stadium, complete with age divisions.
His mother, Jaye Lynn, calls herself a track widow in the spring. Nate spent a good part of his childhood hanging out at the BYU track meet while his father and grandfather coached. So, did he learn by watching Eyestone, Marsh and company?
"I got dragged to a lot of track meets," he says, "but to tell you the truth I spent most of my time playing under the stands."
He didn't even realize his grandfather was an Olympian until he was about 10 years old, but since then he has learned almost everything about BYU track lore. He has watched videos of past BYU runners in action and listened to his grandfather tell stories about the greats he coached. Now he hopes to become one of them.
"My biggest goal is to make the Olympic team," he says. "I don't know if that's this Olympics or next, but I'd love to do that."
Beyond that, Robison, an English major, plans to teach — and possibly coach? "I've thought a little about that," he says. "I don't know. I think I'd like it."
And it seems inevitable.
E-mail: drob@desnews.com