By TRACY RENCK  

Some athletes simply strike fear in their opposition with their stature.

  Towering height and bulging muscles were not part of the late J.J. Griffin's repertoire.

  Griffin was a skinny high school student who wore big glasses.

  "He looked like a bookworm," legendary Centennial cross country and track coach Larry Pickering said. "He didn't look like a runner at all."

  Griffin's appearance could not have been more deceiving because during his senior year — 1972-73 — at Centennial High School, he dominated the state in cross country and track en route to becoming one of the greatest runners in Pueblo history.

 Griffin's overall performance during his senior season was selected this year as one of Pueblo's great moments in sports by the Greater Pueblo Sports Association.