Glory Days

This hard-running athlete is none other than John Zant, our hard-working sports editor, back when he was a Golden Knight on St. Francis High School’s track-and-field team in La Canada. The fastest sprinter in his league, he was first to clear the tape in this 1964 shot as anchor on an 880-yard relay. In the fall, John was a running back on his football team and scored 12 touchdowns the year they won a CIF championship. He remembers dreading the start of a practice season because it took so much hard work to get into shape, “but it was a powerful feeling to be in shape, to run 70 yards for a touchdown or go full speed halfway around the track and not run out of breath.”