Former Hog O’Neal Keeps Track Close To Heart
By Harold McIlvain II
Lemke Ledger Staff
The opportunity to run for the Arkansas track team almost didn’t come to journalism major Chandun O’Neal.
With full rides to run track at other schools, O’Neal wasn’t sure if he would be a Razorback.
But after running from 1999-2001, O’Neal looks back and says he made the right decision.
“I really thank God that I came up here,” O’Neal said. “I wasn’t supposed to come up here. But my uncle talked me into coming here. From the first day I stepped on campus, the atmosphere of being up here was a championship mentality.”
And that mentality was evident to O’Neal when the team did a routine medical exam in the fall during his freshman year. After the usual tests, he was sized for a championship ring before the season started.
“They pretty much knew we were going to win before we even competed,” O’Neal said. “You can‘t say that for a lot of other sports.”
With the Texas native now graduating in the fall, O’Neal said the most influential advice he received was the difference between being a champion and a winner.
“I think there is a difference,” O’Neal said. “That’s a quote I go by. That is the foundation I got out of here.”
Because of financial and academic problems, O’Neal sat out of school for six years.
“Every year I cried because I wasn’t in school,” O’Neal said. “I wanted to be in school. I prayed about it and talked to coach John McDonnell in the fall of 2006. He showed me who to talk to and the doors opened up.”
Now in his third season as the assistant track coach at Fayetteville High, O’Neal said he eventually lost his passion to go through the grind of competing.
But, O’Neal said, he still has the passion to teach and share the knowledge he gained at Arkansas.
“I can do this for the rest of my life,” O’Neal said. “I love working with kids. I love making students better and (pushing) them in the right direction.”
With track being a big part of life for O’Neal, he said coaching high school was a great interest to him.
“Track is a passion,” O’Neal said. “High school track is pure. There are no scholarships and you don’t have pressure. You come out and run for free because you like to run. At the college level, they are sometimes paying you to run for them. You are on their time and money.”
But O’Neal’s track involvement doesn’t end there.
In the summer, he works with an AAU team, helping give back the same opportunity he was given by training athletes for college.
“The AAU program is a little better than high school when it comes to getting an opportunity to go to the next level,” O’Neal said. “Coaches can track you from when you are 10 years old and see the progress.”
But regardless of where he coaches, O'Neal said, helping athletes gain the means to go to college.
“I couldn't care less how they do on the track,” O’Neal said. “My biggest goal is scholarships. High school is great. But there is nothing like getting a college degree.”