Background
Burrell grew up in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, and attended Penn Wood High School, where he single-handedly won the state championship by winning the 100 m, 200 m, long jump, and triple jump.
Burrell grew up in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, and attended Penn Wood High School, where he single-handedly won the state championship by winning the 100 m, 200 m, long jump, and triple jump.
He studied at the University of Houston, where he was a successful participant in its track program
This was broken by Carl Lewis in September at the World Track and Field Championships. In that race, Burrell came in second, yet he beat his own record. Burrell set the record for a second time when he ran 9.85 sec in July 1994, a record that stood until the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, when Donovan Bailey ran 9.84 secretary
Suffering from poor eyesight accentuated by a childhood eye injury, he was poor at other sports, but excelled on the track from an early age.
In 1985-1986, Burrell broke Houston"s freshman long jump record that was held by Carl Lewis, when he leaped 26 feet 9 inches at a dual meet against University of California, Los Angeles in 1986. Later that season, he faced one of the most challenging moments of his track career.
After jumping 26" 7.25" (811 m) in the preliminaries of the 1986 Southwest Conference Outdoor Championships, Burrell jumped almost 27 feet (823 m) before landing awkwardly on his third jump. He tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.
He finished second at the meet, but many people feared the injury could be career-ending.
In 1988, he returned to the SWC Championships, where he finished second in the 100 m and third in the long jump. At the National Collegiate Athletic Association Championships, Burrell earned All-America honors with a fifth-place finish in the 100 m and a seventh-place showing in the long jump. At the National Collegiate Athletic Association outdoor meet, he set the National Collegiate Athletic Association outdoor meet record with a personal best jump of 27" 5.50" (837 m).
Burrell was plagued by injuries and bad luck throughout his career, particularly around major championships.
Since his retirement in 1998, Burrell has replaced his old college mentor, Tom Tellez, as coach of the University of Houston"s track team Burrell has led UH to 14 men’s Conference United States of America titles (nine indoor, five outdoor) and nine women's titles (four indoor, five outdoor).
On 19 May 1990, Burrell ran a wind-assisted 200 m at College Station in a time of 19.61 seconds. The wind speed was +4.0 m per second.
This was the fastest time for the 200 m for over six years until the 1996 Olympic final in Atlanta, where Michael Johnson ran 19.32 seconds.
Ironically, Johnson was second in the 1990 College Station race, in a time of 19.91 seconds.