The San Quentin Punt, Pass, and Agility Competition found John “Dunnie” Windham dominating most of the events on that sunny day.
Windham took first place in the 60-yard dash and the distance throwing with a whopping 70-yard toss. He took second place in the speed and agility contest and the accuracy-passing event.
“I’m just glad to participate; my focus is a little off because I’m rehearsing my lines for an upcoming Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ play,” said Windham.
With brains and brawn, Windham showed he has more than athletic prowess.
D. Martinez took first place in the speed and agility contest with a time of 17:61.
The speed and agility consisted of a 20-yard dash zigzagging around four standing orange cones. The competitor sprints to the section of cones, shuffles left and right, high stepping through them. Then one of the officials pitched a football to the runner for the final yards.
Windham posted a time of 17:91, but the one who seemed to have the most fun was Miguel Galvan. He came in last at 20:14.
“I like the competition. I just tried to set the pace. Since I was the first to run, everyone knew what time to beat,” said Galvan.
“It feels great. I use to run track when I was younger,” added Martinez.
George Gonzalez took first place in the punting competition with a 55-yard boot.
Gonzalez showed good form in all his kicks.
“This is a great experience. I’ve been playing soccer. That gave me the experience on how to kick the ball,” said Gonzalez.
Nico Vargas came in second with a punt of 45 yards. “I’m only here because I have to be here,” Vargas joked, quoting Marshawn Lynch of the Seattle Seahawks, who is one of Vargas’ favorite players.
Charles “Pookie” Sylvester won the accuracy-passing contest with 185 points for both rounds.
The accuracy passing consisted of throwing six balls at four targets for points. Five points were given for short targets, 15 points for the middle of the field targets, 25 points for each sideline and a 40-point bonus for the deep-ball target.
Sylvester racked up his points by hitting both sidelines passes, one center field pass and two bonus passes.
The rest of the competition focused on the deep ball for the bonus, but mainly they over threw the target.
Windham came in second with 180 points, and Shaheed put up 160 points for third place. They both did well in the first round but could not hit their targets in the second.
“It shows my focus is getting right,” said Sylvester about his performance. “I thank everybody for letting me participate in this.”
Windham took the distance throwing with a 55-yard bomb from his knees.
“Is he really going to throw from his knees?” asked Gonzalez.
That was his first throw. Windham launched a 70-yarder standing.
Shaheed came in second place with a 55-yard throw.
The competition closed with the 60-yard dash with all competitors taking part.
Windham cruised to first place, so all eyes were on who would come in second and third.
Frank Hicks took second place even after getting tangled with another runner halfway through the race.
“I got caught up with Martinez. I could have run a little easier, but I did regroup,” said Hicks.
D. Zayd Nickolson, who came in third, added, “It was a blessing to see diverse participation. I hope to see more of that.”
As the events proceeded, a small group of about 20 inmates gathered to watch the competition.
There was a low turnout for the competition because March 27 was also Last Mile’s Demo Day.
“It was a fun day. Not many turned out, but we had new people show up, so it was a success,” said Madden Flag Football League coordinator Chris Markham. “I saw a lot of speed out there, in case they want to show up and tryout for All-Madden.”