Kids In The Hall: Coach Doug Butler, Satellite FL

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

One of Florida's most successful distance coaches, Doug Butler, won 16 state cross country titles at Holy Trinity Episcopal in Melbourne, and now coaches at Satellite High near Cape Canaveral. 

Butler said that most of his best runners started out as modest to slow seventh graders and gradually worked their way up the ladder over time, through hard work and commitment. 

"I do, however, have one great story for you," Butler said. "I had a young man named Emon Nasajpour (at Holy Trinity), who was not a runner, but a soccer player that always talked about what a great runner he was."

Coach Butler and one of his top female runners, Ali Cobb, goaded Nasajpour to come out and see what he could run for two laps. 

Butler bet the student that he couldn't break 2:20 for the 800 meters. If he was wrong, he'd give Nasajpour a spot on the varsity cross country top seven. 

"A couple of teachers heard about it, so they took their classes to the track that day during school to watch," Butler recalled. "I was teaching Sports Psychology and had my class out there as well."

Nasajpour was pretty sure he was going to win the bet. 

He took off on the first lap and came through 400 meters in 65 seconds. 

"I'm thinking 'Oh, crap, he is going to actually make it,'" Butler said. "Then about 450 in, his wheels start to come off and he is tightening up down the backstretch. Then with 100 to go, he gets it back together for a kick and finishes in 2:21."

He wasn't the first soccer player to boast about having speed and endurance, only to bite off more than he could chew.

Nasajpour fell to his knees and threw up in the grass. Then got up and walked 50 yards, and threw up again. And then a third time. And a fourth. 

All of this suffering happened publicly, with dozens of students watching. Some laughing.

But the story takes a better turn. 

Nasajpour came out for the cross country team the following summer and he ran in the 17-minute range for 5,000 meters. In his senior year, he ran track and split 2-flat on the 4x800 relay team that placed second at the state meet (8:01.54 in 2012) and broke a school record. The team won the state title by one.

Nasajpour went on to the University of Florida and is in the process of becoming a doctor. He is the Director of Operations at Quality Health Care and Wellness Institute, in Melbourne.