Spotlight: Allex Austin's dream includes Olympic gold and NBA title

Allex Austin has a dream. He ideally would like to win an Olympic high jump gold medal in track and play for an NBA champion in basketball.

The standout senior from San Marcos (Texas) definitely has the credentials in track, but he will have to beat some stiff odds to duplicate the feat in basketball.

The 6-foot-6, 180-pound senior told MaxPreps that he wants to participate in both sports as a collegian and then, hopefully, as a professional. He said five major colleges are recruiting him for both sports. He carries a 3.72 GPA and wants to study mass communications.

San Marcos coach Skip Gilkerson noted, "He's a very bright student, which will really help him in his recruitment. I've told Allex that I want kids who compete against him to look up to him (no trash talking). The mental attitude is my contribution."

At San Marcos, he has been able to excel in both sports. He is the defending Class 5A state high jump champion and has a career-best effort of 7 feet, 2 inches. In basketball, he averaged an impressive 20 points and 12.6 rebounds while earning district MVP honors as a senior. He also starred last summer on the AAU basketball circuit.

Though he has not had his vertical jump measured, Austin has a 7-foot wingspan and was able to place a sticky note 12 feet, 6 inches high on a backboard.

However, at the college and professional level, two sports are tremendously demanding. Some believe he could hurt his Olympic hopes if he continues to play both sports.

Still, he insists, "I'm not taking away from my track potential."

His father/coach, Charles Austin, supports his son's hopes. He definitely knows what it takes in track because he won the Olympic high jump gold medal in 1996 at 7-10 and holds the American record at 7-10 1/2. He also believes that basketball will not keep his son from reaching his full high jump potential.

Over the years, Allex has played soccer (his first sport at age 5), football and basketball, but basketball always has been his first love. Despite his meteoric success in track, this is only his second year of high jumping. In the seventh and eighth grade, he only ran the hurdles. He went out for the hurdles in ninth grade, but quit before the first meet. As a junior, he told his father, "If you help me with it (high jumping), I'll do it. But I don't care."

He confessed, "I had no clue, but I kind of had an idea what I was doing. I didn't expect to be good at it."

Charles pointed out, "I didn't teach him very much that year. He picked up on it pretty fast. I taught him the basics and he just had fun."

Well, all he did was clear 6-4 in his first varsity meet. He had six meets during a seven-week spring and won all but one, finishing second at the Texas Relays with a jump of 6-8. He cleared a career-best 7-2 at the district meet and won the Class 5A state title at 6-10.

Two days before the state meet he strained two ligaments in his left foot, yet still won the championship. He said he was in great physical shape and definitely could have gone higher except for the injury.

"It was pretty surprising," he said."It didn't really change me that much. I'm still the same person."

Meanwhile, his famous father could not be prouder.



"He is a younger version of me," Charles said. "He's very competitive, very driven. It's like looking at myself."

The one major difference, however, is their size. Charles won the Olympics at a shade over 6 feet tall. In fact, he began high jumping as a 5-10, 125-pound senior at Van Vleck, Texas (a small Class 3A school). Like his son, he mainly focused on basketball as a two-year starting point guard. He had pretty good speed and was very athletic.

He also competed in junior high track, jumping 5-10 as a 5-foot-2 eighth grader. He tried high school track as a freshman, but quit after one day.

"I just didn't want to do it," he said.

Fast forward to his senior year and some friends were urging him to try track during his final weeks before graduation. Good friend Robert Blackmon asked coach David McKinney if Charles could join the track team and - recalling his quick exit as a freshman - he said no way.

"I turned around, walked out of the office and was going home," Charles recalled. "Robert was the star of the team and he asked the coach again. He said if I could jump 6 feet, he would let me on the team. I had jeans and basketball stuff on, took three steps and jumped right over it (6-0). They took off running to the coach and he said, 'Yeah, do it again.' I took three steps and went right over it and that was the end of that story."

It also was the beginning of a fabulous career which led him to Olympic gold and a fine professional career.

Charles cleared 6-4, 6-6, 6-8 and 6-11 in his first four meets as a senior. However, he jumped only 6-3 in the regional for third place and never reached the state meet. He learned a very valuable lesson that day because he let the elements (rain and cold weather) defeat him mentally.

"That played a major part in my career later on," he stressed.

Turning down a basketball scholarship from McNeese State, he eventually put unheralded Southwest Texas State (now just Texas State) on the map by winning the NCAA high jump crown in 1990 at 7-7 3/4. He had been second the year before with a 7-5 1/4 effort.

He joined the pro track circuit in 1990 and competed throughout the world. In 1991 he won the world championship in Tokyo by clearing 7-9 3/4 and set the American record of 7-10 1/2 in Tokyo. After placing eighth in the 1992 Olympics at 7-5 3/4, Charles was dead set on winning in 1996. He actually had to take 1993 off to silence the constant pain from a torn patella tendon during his final college season.

Four prominent doctors (two from Europe) had examined his knee and told him his career was over. However, he had surgery in 1993 and his rapid recovery shocked even the doctors.

His Olympic championship in Atlanta can be chalked up as much to sheer will power and courage as much as physical ability. He had missed twice at 7-9 1/4 and had just one jump remaining. Instead of taking his last jump at that height, he had the bar moved up to an Olympic-record 7-10 and he made it.

Despite his heroics, he admitted, "I was mad because my kids weren't there and because I didn't get the world record (8-1/2 inch). My ex-wife had moved to Hawaii and taken the kids with her."

Charles gained custody of his boys in 1999 and has greatly aided the rapid growth of Allex as a high jumper. He not only helps with fundamentals, but he owns the So High Sports & Fitness Center where Allex works out three hours a day.

"He never really pressured me - it was my choice," Allex said. "We've always had a good relationship. I look up to him more than anyone else. It think it's fun, because you don't depend on anybody else. The work I'm putting in - most kids out here aren't even close to it. The hardest part is gathering yourself mentally to jump no matter what the conditions are."

Drawing on his own personal experiences - good and bad - Charles has taught Allex to not let bad weather bother him and to handle the pressure.

Allex explained, "Really, what I get from it (listening to his father and watching him on film) is that when I jump my best, it's always on my last jump. I always think about dad's last jump in the Olympics."

Though still somewhat of a novice, Allex has improved this year in several areas.

Asked about his style, Charles laughed and said, "He didn't have a style. (This year) I've moved his approach back because he's stronger and faster. He's getting into the rhythm of a high jumper and attacking the bar well now. His main goal is to jump a lot higher than he did last year, make the Olympic Trials and see how far he can go."

Thus far this spring Allex has won the Texas Southern Relays and the Texas Relays, with a best jump of 7-1. He believes he must clear around 7-6 to make the Olympic team - his No. 1 goal.

Asked about his son's ceiling, Charles replied, "I really don't know. If he stays committed and passionate, I feel very confident that he will shatter my records."