Crohn’s disease can’t slow Lehman track coach

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Up until 15 months ago, Hugh Reid was leading a rather charmed life.

As track star in his native Barbados, Reid enjoyed a career that saw him become an eight-time Barbados National Champion, a four-time national silver medalist, and a two-time national bronze medalist. When he began running for America, the accolades kept coming: He was named the U.S. National Champion seven times, won three U.S. national silver medals, and two bronze medals.

That’s not to mention the track success he experienced at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst during his collegiate days, when all he did was become a two-time Atlantic 10 Conference champion, get selected to the Atlantic 10 Conference All-Academic Team a stunning 12 times, and be named the conference’s Men’s Outdoor Track & Field Student Athlete of the Year in 2001.

Reid later became a lawyer — he still practices in Brooklyn — but the lure of track was too much, and Reid soon found himself coaching college track. He has been doing that for the past six seasons, and helped build the City College of New York (CCNY) into a regional track powerhouse.

“We won 17 titles in six years and the men’s program won six consecutive indoor titles and six consecutive outdoor titles,” Reid said. “That’s a CUNY record.”

But in the spring of 2015, Reid’s charmed life took a decided dark turn.

“It was May of last year, and I was getting ready for World Championships when I started to get pains and started to feel sick,” said Reid, Lehman College’s new head track and field coach. “The next day I couldn’t move. So between May and August of last year I was in and out of the hospital. They finally figured out what it was. I’ve got Crohn’s disease. It’s one of those things that apparently I’ve always had but I didn’t get it all at the same time. I got it in spurts. When I was little I’d have stomach issues and then as I got more involved in athletics my knees would hurt and my back would hurt and things would just swell up randomly.”

Chronic inflammation

Crohn’s disease is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease that is characterized by inflammation of the digestive or gastrointestinal tract. Approximately 700,000 people in the United States are affected by Crohn’s disease, with most cases occurring between the ages of 15 and 35.

The disease has taken a toll on the former track champion, who is now unable to get around on his own for more than short distances.

But Reid says his situation is markedly better than it was a year ago. Doctors have told him that while there is no cure, many times Crohn’s patients experience remissions, and Reid — a glass-half-full guy if you ever met one — is convinced he will be in remission at some point. 

Out of work

But perhaps the side effect that was the hardest for Reid to deal with was the loss of his job at CCNY, which he attributes to his illness. The school let him go following the end of the past spring semester. CCNY said it dismissed him because the college wanted to take the program in a new direction. But after six straight men’s indoor and outdoor titles, Reid wonders what direction that is.

“It was surprising to me,” Reid said of his abrupt dismissal. “[City College athletic director Kevin Abdur Rahman] said he was looking to bring the program in a different direction despite all the successes we had there. They said they wanted to build a national caliber program and I was like, ‘What are you talking about? We are ranked nationally.’ Literally the only difference between this year that just passed and the years previously is the fact that I’m disabled. Absolutely nothing else has changed.”

It was quite a bitter pill for Reid — a 17-time City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) Coach of the Year — to swallow. But remember, he is a glass-half-full guy, and he quickly pivoted to the next challenge in his career — that of resurrecting the Lehman College track and field program.

‘Remain positive’

“You got to grow, and despite all the issues, I just think at the end of the day you always have to remain positive and move forward and do the best you can,” Reid said. “Taking the job at Lehman was obviously going to be a challenge in that I’m coming to a program that is like what City was six years ago. You have to build your program and I was lucky and fortunate enough to do that at City, and with the right people in place and the support of the school, we will be able to do that here.”

After so much success over the past six seasons, Reid laughed when asked if he was looking forward to the task of building similar success at Lehman beginning this fall.

“I wouldn’t call it liking the challenge,” Reid said. “I just have to accept what it is. I’m a competitor, so regardless of what I do, I go out to win. My aim is to do the best I can, but to also bring the best out in the athletes. So it may take a while here, because I’m getting used to them and they are getting used to me, but I don’t think it will take that long. For me, in order to be successful the student has to come first. The athlete has to be the main focus. That’s how I ran my program at City, that’s how I run my club program (The Musketeers Track Club) and that’s how I’ve handled all my athletes who have gone on to the national level and international levels.”

Reid knows that the kind of success he enjoyed at CCNY might not be coming at Lehman right away. But his unique one-on-one coaching style has a proven track record of success. Coupled with the support of the Lehman administration, this will turn the Lehman track and field program into a force to be reckoned with in the years to come, Reid said.

Supportive staff

“I like the support of the administration and the staff at Lehman,” Reid said. “That’s a big deal for the success of any program. Dr. Z [Lehman director of athletics Martin Zwiren] was very nice to me, very welcoming even with my disability. One thing I can say about Lehman, walking up and down the halls, there isn’t one picture of an individual like ‘I’m a star.’ There are pictures of different teams. It’s all about what the team did and it’s that environment that I found to be welcoming and that’s why I decided on Lehman instead of some of the other schools that I had an option for.”

“Of course I want to win, but in order for me to do that, each one of these athletes have to all get on board, and we all have to have the same mission and the same goal,” Reid said. “A lot of times, because Lehman is a commuter school, they participate because it’s just something fun to do. We’ll try to bring a family atmosphere and a competitive atmosphere, where you are going to have set goals and reach those goals and go after them, and we’ll encourage them not to set low standards and goals. I want them to set lofty goals with steps along the way, so they stay motivated and they keep pushing.”

While he still needs his cane and his walker to get around these days, Reid thinks that his disability will also serve as an inspiration for his new group of athletes at Lehman. When he shows up every day ready to work, he’ll expect his athletes to do the same.

“I’m a hands-on coach, and I’ll still get up and demonstrate things to my athletes,” Reid said. “If you’re not in the right position, I’m going to show you. If I’m in pain afterwards, I’ll take a pill.”

Building

Reid knows it will take time to build his next great program, but when he does, he is not looking to show CCNY it made a mistake by letting him go: “I’m not that petty,” Reid said. “I’ve moved on.”

Instead, he will find his satisfaction in building a sustainable program at Lehman that will have the Lightning poised to compete for CUNYAC titles each year, with an eye toward becoming a national power – like the program Reid crafted at CCNY.

And if you need any reminders of how Reid seems to have the Midas touch when it comes to all things track, just take a peek at all those trophies cramping his new office at Lehman, shiny brass testaments to his past accomplishments that create quite the resume.

“I’m very excited to get started. It’s going to be challenging,” Reid said. “But I’m one of those taskmasters who is about teaching technique and drills and how to fix things. That’s what we’re going to be doing here – getting back to basics, really applying all the fundamentals. My goal is to revamp the whole Lehman program.”

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