Beau Burroughs calls attention to himself with his offbeat behavior, but he's all focus on the field.
By EMILY NIPPS
Published April 22, 2004
TAMPA - In the world of high school athletics, the track and field kids tend to be the oddballs. In track and field, the throwers are arguably the weirdest.
Among throwers, Jesuit's Beau Burroughs is in his own category. Even other area high school throwers might agree that they've never met anyone quite like him.
The lanky 6-foot-2, 250-pound senior lives, eats and breathes to throw, and you don't even need to talk to him to know this. Classmates have caught him spinning in the halls, visualizing the conditions at his next meet.
"I have him in some classes, and I can't get him to be serious," Jesuit track coach and social studies teacher Andy Mathews said. "But then I get him out at track practice, and I can't get him to crack a smile or goof around."
Burroughs looks funny wearing ultra-short track shorts with his socks pulled up to his knees, but he likes it that way. "I like to go retro," he deadpanned. "I like my legs."
He also likes everything in twos, all things in balance. If he touches a handrail, he must touch it a second time. If he does something on one side, he must do it on another. Just this year, he got used to having a watch on one wrist.
"This," he said, pushing down one of his socks, "would drive me insane."
With all his peculiarities, he'd better be darn good at what he does. And he is. Other kids can tease his quirks and mannerisms all they want, but the way he hurls a shot or discus is no joke.
Burroughs has thrown the shot as far as 64 feet in warmups, which is about a foot-and-a-half shy of the state record of 65 feet, 4 inches set by Dock Luckie in 1977. His personal best qualifying throw is 61 feet, 9 inches, which was longer than anyone threw at the state tournament last year.
His longest discus throw this season was 170 feet, 9 inches. No one in Hillsborough County came within 25 feet of that.
Burroughs doesn't obsess over numbers. As the Tigers head into the Class 2A regional meet at North Port today, he'll be more concerned with his personal performance and how his throws feel.
Breaking a state record would be nice, but he's more fascinated with the sport in and of itself. He's a walking encyclopedia of track and field information, can recite historical names and statistics of track and field athletes around the world and simply loves to compete.
He never questions a measurement, never argues a foul, never likes to see an opponent do poorly. He'll even take the time to help a fellow freshman adjust his form.
"It's almost like losing a coach (next year)," Mathews said. "He even helps athletes from other schools. He just loves other competition."
Burroughs knows there are other Florida throwers out there who have their eyes on him. He has read their comments on Internet message boards, and he gets a kick out of them.
He doesn't get into that. He's more focused on his final meets of his high school career.
Burroughs doesn't care if his his teammates and opponents remember him as a record-holder.
