During his senior year of high school, Kenny Wallace finished 36th at the Ohio High School Athletics Association Division 3 State Meet, something that without the help of his former social studies teacher — Jeff Parent — wouldn’t have happened.
Wallace graduated from Matthews High School in Vienna, Ohio, where there was no cross-country team. So, he started his own.
“My favorite teacher named Parent, he said he’d be my quote-on-quote ‘coach,’” Wallace said. “He knew nothing about running, but he would sign the paper work, he’d drive me to the meets. I actually revived cross-country.”
During high school, Wallace was a one-man team, according to Parent.