Talk:Houston McTear

message: I failed this as a GA because although it's loaded with references, it's not well written, there's no lead, and the references are formatted improperly (they must go after punctuation).--Wizardman 16:46, 14 April 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: GA Review

message: Written by Andrew Pilger and Randy Vennowitz, “9 Seconds” is the true story of Houston McTear, a one-in-a- billion athlete who rose from crushing poverty to worldwide fame… then descended into homelessness and drug addiction before rising again to find redemption.
 
Houston grew up in rural Florida, in a dilapidated shack across the train tracks from a sawmill. He spent his youth dodging raindrops from his leaky ceiling and racing the freight trains that charged past his home. It was there that Houston developed his gift: to run faster than any human who has ever lived.
 
In 1975, as a high school junior, he stunned the sports world when he tied the world record in the 100 yard dash with a time of 9 seconds flat. His rise to stardom was similarly fast – magazine covers, jet- setting around the world, hanging out with Muhammad Ali – all under the watchful eye of the charismatic promoter Harold Smith.
 
Then it all fell apart. Harold Smith was arrested for a massive bank embezzlement scheme; it turns out he was one of the most notorious con men of the 20th century. Houston was left with no friends, no money, and nowhere to run. He turned to drugs, and within two years, he was homeless on the beach in Santa Monica.
 
After nearly a decade of sleeping on the sand, he reconnected with an old track friend, Swedish star Linda Haglund . With her help, Houston cleaned up and began an amazing comeback.
 
It culminated in 1991, when, at age 34, he stunned the sports world for a second time by defeating track’s premier sprinters at the European World Championships.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Soverstreet (talk • contribs) 00:19, 6 March 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  New Film about Houston McTear, "9 Seconds" 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified 4 external links on Houston McTear. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20121024084501/http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/sports_highschool_varsity/2011/06/24/boones-marvin-bracy-runs-his-career-best-time-to-easily-win-semifinal-heat/ to http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/sports_highschool_varsity/2011/06/24/boones-marvin-bracy-runs-his-career-best-time-to-easily-win-semifinal-heat
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20061101162802/http://www.american-trackandfield.com/features/highschoololympians04summer.html to http://www.american-trackandfield.com/features/highschoololympians04summer.html
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20061213142446/http://www.newsherald.com/archive/sports99/sa031099.htm to http://www.newsherald.com/archive/sports99/sa031099.htm
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20120210025020/http://dynamic.si.cnn.com/si_online/covers/issues/1978/0306.html to http://dynamic.si.cnn.com/si_online/covers/issues/1978/0306.html
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Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 09:41, 7 November 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  External links modified