- Larry Beale: [just before he is about to time Louis in track] Donnie Stevens' kid brother - I might as well use an hour glass.
- Louis Stevens: Better yet, a calendar.
- Louis Stevens: So, the next thing I know, they're putting me on the track team.
- Steve Stevens: The only time I've seen you run fast is to the dinner table.
- Louis Stevens: That was a food fight.
- Larry Beale: We had lunch together. How did I miss it?
- Louis Stevens: It was fast food.
- Coach Tugnut: I have bad news for you, boys. Spike Jurgens is off the track team. His GPA dropped below a C.
- Louis Stevens: [to Twitty] He's the only guy who needed a tutor for Wood Shop and still failed.
- Coach Tugnut: You may not take this seriously, boy, but we all owe a debt of gratitude to your brother, the great Donnie Stevens. The boy... no... the man who still holds the state record for the hundred yard dash...
- Louis Stevens: And the record in our house for the longest time spent in front of the mirror.
- [Louis and Twitty laugh]
- Coach Tugnut: Now that he's gone to high school, there's a huge void in our sports program.
- Larry Beale: [to himself] Donnie Stevens is over. It's my turn now.
- Coach Tugnut: We need to find a man among you boys. A man who is willing to be all that he can be, who can step up to the plate and carry on the winning tradition Donnie Stevens started here at Lawrence. If that man is out there... Coach Tugnut wants you.
- [Louis and Twitty laugh again]
- Coach Tugnut: And right face! Bow your heads. All of you!
- [Tugnut takes off his hat in emotional tribute]
- Coach Tugnut: [with emotion] Okay, everybody, out on the track. Go!
- [on the wall of the gym is a big banner of Donnie, in various sports poses. It says, "I Play Because I can."]
- Ren Stevens: Hi, Mr. Walsh. I was just handing in my most recent article. This one makes my piece on the dangers of chalk dust look like child's play.
- Mr. Walsh: Great, 'cause I want you to cover something else for me.
- Ren Stevens: Who, what, where, when, why?
- Mr. Walsh: Good. 'Cause you can ask those questions on Friday at the big track meet.
- Ren Stevens: Sports? Me?
- Mr. Walsh: Ren, this assignment is an honor. Sports writing is a dignified aspect of journalism.
- Ren Stevens: Nobody else wanted to do it?
- Mr. Walsh: Exactly.
- Coach Tugnut: Spike will be back on the team when he brings his grades up.
- Louis Stevens: [whispering to himself] That means never.
- Coach Tugnut: The good news is, one of you lucky seventh-graders has a chance to fill in for the big meet against Rockport.
- Alan Twitty: [to Louis] What's he tryin' to tell us, Lou?
- Louis Stevens: Oh, that they need somebody to carry the smelly track shoes.