by Larry Eder
Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service (wmurphy25@aol.com)
Used with permission.
This Day in Track & Field–January 25
1936–Virtually pushed into the tape by Joe Mangan of the New York A.C., Glenn Cunningham raced to victory in the K. of C. mile at the Boston Garden.
Some 10,000 spectators changed the Boston Garden into something resembling a madhouse as the pair stormed across the line in as thrilling a mile race finish as had ever been witnessed here.
Cunningham was booed by some fans, who thought he had fouled Mangan, but he expressed surprise when asked about it after returning to Iowa City, where he was attending graduate school at the University of Iowa.
“The first I heard about any foul was when I got back here and people began asking me questions”, said Cunningham. “Mangan came up unnoticed, and as I went out wide, Mangan’s head touched my shoulder. From then on to the finish, it was nip and tuck.”(From AP)
1956–Australia’s Dave Stephens, running in the stadium that would be the site of the Melbourne Olympics later in the year, won the 6-mile in 27:54.0 to break Emil Zátopek’s previous World Record of 27:59.2. http://tinyurl.com/DaveStephens-6m
1963—Dave Tork set a World Indoor Record of 16-2 ¼ (4.93+) in the Pole Vault in Toronto
1968—Jumping before a Madison Square Garden crowd of more than 14,000 fans at the Millrose Games, Bob Seagren raised the World Indoor Record in the pole vault to 17-4 ¼(5.29). Seagren, who would win gold at the Mexico City Olympics later in the year, first fulfilled a promise to Millrose Director Fred Schmertz by giving the meet its first 17-foot vault (17-1/4/5.19)
Villanova sophomore Larry James won the 500y in a quick 56.1 and contributed a 47.8 3rd leg split on the Wildcats’ winning mile relay (3:18.0). Teammate Dave Patrick finished 2nd to Preston Davis in a tactical Wanamaker Mile (4:03.9-4:04.4).
In a battle of past and future Olympic medalists, Australia’s Ralph Doubell beat Canada’s Bill Crothers handily to win the ½-mile in 1:53.2. Doubell would win gold in the 800-meters in Mexico City later in the year, while Crothers was the silver medalist in Tokyo in 1964.
Other winners included Martin McGrady (600y/1:10.1), John Thomas (High Jump/6-10), Byron Dyce (1000y/2:10.1), and George Young (3-miles/13:31.8).
This was the first of five major indoor meets held over the weekend (Oakland, Boston, Albuquerque, Portland) and would be the last Millrose Games held at the “old” Madison Square Garden, which was located in Manhattan at 50th Street and 8th Avenue.
(From T&F News) Sports Illustrated: https://vault.si.com/vault/1968/02/05/track-has-a-high-old-weekend
(For subscribers): https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1968/01/26/77166774.html?pageNumber=33
1969—A year to the day after setting the previous mark of 17-4 1.4 (5.29), Bob Seagren raised the World Indoor Record in the Pole Vault to 17-5 ¾ (5.33) in Albuquerque, the site of two of his other World Records!
1968 Olympic gold medalist (800m) Ralph Doubell set a World Indoor Record of 1:47.9 for 880-yards.
1969-Tennessee’s Hardee McAlhaney ran 1:08.1 for 600-yards, the fastest time ever run in the event, on the biggest track ever used for an indoor meet (banked/5-laps to the mile!) at Houston’s Astrodome. Read more in SI’s coverage:
https://vault.si.com/vault/1969/02/03/the-meet-of-the-future-is-now
1974–North Carolina’s Tony Waldrop made long-time Millrose director Fred Schmertz very happy by running 3:59.7 to become the first man to break 4-minutes in the fabled Wanamaker Mile.
Marty Liquori appeared to be on the way to his 15th straight win at Madison Square Garden as he led going into the final lap, but Waldrop, admittedly still learning how to run the mile, raced into the lead on the backstretch and continued on for the win. Liquori (4:00.8) slipped to 3rd behind Len Hilton (4:00.7), with Byron Dyce finishing 4th (4:02.0).
Reflecting on the race years later, Waldrop said, “Actually that race was one in which I have many fond memories about. Not so much because I was the one who did it, but because the meet promoter at the time was a man named Howard Schmertz if I remember correctly, and his father (the previous Millrose director) was quite elderly at the time. He was worried that his father would not live long enough to see a sub-4 minute Mile. I remember Howard, the son, actually came down on the track and ran with me for a bit of it, for the victory lap, because he was so excited for his father.”
Ethiopia’s Miruts Yifter, who would go on to win the 5000-10,000 double at the 1980 Olympics, ran his first race ever on a banked-board track and won the 2-mile race in 8:28.0.
Making her Millrose debut was 15-year old Mary Decker (2:27.4), who fought off a challenge by another 15-year old, Robin Campbell (2:29.5), to win the Women’s 1000-yards. Decker (later Slaney), who would become a fan favorite at Millrose, went on to win the 1500-meters in 1980 and the Mile in 1982, 1983, and 1985. She was Howard Schmertz’s all-time favorite Millrose athlete.
The first boys high school mile was held, with Mark Belger winning in 4:18.2. The story goes that one of the daughters of Howard Schmertz, who would succeed his dad as Meet Director the following year, had a crush on Belger (they both attended Mepham H.S. on Long Island) and suggested the addition of the race to her father as a means of getting to know him better! Finishing a close 2nd to Belger was Gene McCarthy (All Hollows,NY), who would go on to become one of the leading executive in the running shoe industry!
Among the notable winners of the race over the years are Kevin Byrne (2-time winner set a meet record of 4:08.0 in 1978 that lasted until 2017, when Noah Affolder won in 4:07.24), Mike Stahr (1982,1983), George Kersh (1987), Bob Kennedy (1988), Seneca Lassiter (1995), Michael Stember (1996), Jonathon Riley (1997), Andy Powell (1998), Kyle Merber (2008), Robby Andrews (2009), Chad Noelle (2011), Josh Hoey (2018).
In a move welcomed by athletes (and others), fans at Madison Square Garden were asked (by PA Announcer Bob Hersh) to refrain from smoking during the meet!
From Liquori: “Here’s how I remember it. At the Mama Leone ‘s Track Writers luncheon before the games I was getting asked why there had not been a four minute mile in the Millrose Games. I said one of the reasons was by 10 o’clock at night, the place was filled with smoke. So Bob Hersh got up and said, ’ I will announce for people to not smoke and to go under the stands if they have to.’ Which he did. When I came out at 10 o’clock the place was clean as a mountain air-that’s one of the reasons I felt that I had to change my tactic and make sure we broke the four minute mile. As you know, that strategy caused me to lose the race. I had no idea who Tony Waldrop was, and to hear him tell it in his post-race interview he had no idea who I was. So I consider this one of my greatest accomplishments in the sport! (This from a Hall-of Famer!)
Sports Illustrated Vault (Waldrop feature): https://vault.si.com/vault/1974/03/04/hed-prefer-a-good-book
Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vodukVXjafw
A Family Album (The Schmertz’s) https://www.nytimes.com/1984/01/22/sports/a-millrose-games-family-album.html
1985–It was another memorable Millrose Games, one witnessed by 18,328 fans at Madison Square Garden. Ireland’s Eamonn Coghlan won his 6th Wanamaker Mile to tie Glenn Cunningham as the event’s biggest winner. Coghlan, always a Garden favorite, ran 3:53.82 to beat Ray Flynn (3:54.70), John Walker (3:55.14), and Sydney Maree (3:55.15).
Coghlan’s choice as the winner of the meet’s coveted Outstanding Performer Award (Waterford Crystal) had as much to do with timing as with his performance. More than an hour after the final running event was completed, Jimmy Howard cleared 7-8 (2.34) in the High Jump (before 300 hardy fans) to break the previous American Record of 7-7 ¾ (2.33), set by Jeff Woodard in 1981. Howard’s record actually took place on the 26th, since the event didn’t end until after midnight!.
Another American Record fell in the Women’s 400, as Diane Dixon ran down 1984 double Olympic gold medalist Valerie Brisco to win in 53.07. Other highlights included Mary Slaney’s win in the Women’s Mile (4:22.01), and Carl Lewis’s win in the Men’s Long Jump 27-10 ¾ (8.50).
Sports Illustrated Vault: http://www.si.com/vault/1985/02/04/627674/he-threw-a-high-hard-one
1986–For the 10th time in his career, Billy Olson raised the Indoor World Record in the Pole Vault, jumping 19-3 ¾ (5.89) in Albuquerque. At the same meet, Jim Howard, his teammate on the Pacific Coast Club, raised his own American Record in the High Jump to 7-8 ¾ (2.36m). Olson and fellow pole vaulter Brad Pursley currently work as bail-bondsmen in Abilene,Texas.
http://www.billyolsonbailbond.com/
1986—Germany’s Heike Drechsler set a World Indoor Record of 23-11 (7.29) in the Long Jump in Berlin
Wiki Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heike_Drechsler
1998–-Ethiopia’s Haile Gebrselassie, competing on what would become one of his favorite tracks, ran 7:26.15 for 3000-meters in Karlsruhe, Germany, to break his own World Indoor Record of 7:30.72, which was set in Stuttgart in 1996. Four of the eight fastest times in history (at the time) were run by Geb on the Karlsruhe track. He only had 12 days to enjoy his latest record, since Daniel Komen ran 7:24.90 on February 6.
Current All-Time Indoor List—Men’s 3000
(From T&F News)
7:23.81 Lamecha Girma (Ethiopia) 2/15/23
7:24.68 Mohamed Katir (Spain) 2/15/23
7:24.90 Daniel Komen (Kenya) 2/06/98
7:24.98 Getnet Wale (Ethiopia) 2/09/21
7:25.82 Selemon Barega (Ethiopia) 2/06/24
7:26.10 ————Barega 2/09/21
7:26.15 Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia) 1/25/98
7:26.20 Berihu Aregawi (Ethiopia) 1/28/22
7:26.73 ————Wale 2/06/24
7:26.80 ————Gebrselassie 1/24/99
**10 performances by 7 performers**
7:27.80 Yenew Alamirew (Ethiopia) 2/05/11
7:28.00 Augustine Choge (Kenya) 2/05/11
7:28.23 Yared Nuguse (US) 1/27/23
2003—Junior Natasha Hastings (A.P.Randolph H.S.,NY) set a U.S. High School Record of 1:11.84 for 500-meters at the New Balance Games at NY’s Armory. (Since broken, still #9 All-Time)
Hastings would become one of America’s best 400-meter runners for more than a decade (2006-2017)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natasha_Hastings
https://www.worldathletics.org/athletes/united-states/natasha-hastings-187649
2013—Penn State set the current Collegiate Record of 1:24.70 in the Men’ 4×200 relay on their home track.
Emunael Mpanduki’, Matt Gilmore, Brandon Bennett-Green, Aaron Nadolsky)
2014—Galen Rupp ran 8:07.41 for 2-miles at the Terrier Classic at Boston University to regain the American Record
from Bernard Lagat, who had run 8:09.49 the year before.
http://www.letsrun.com/news/2014/01/galen-rupp-breaks-american-two-mile-record-runs-807-41-boston/
Significant Birthdays
Born On This Day*
Christian Olsson—Sweden 45 (1980) Gold medalist in the Triple Jump at the 2003 World Championships and 2004
Olympics; 2-time World Indoor Champion (2003, 2004—equalled the World Indoor Record of 58-6 [17.83]);
Silver medalist at the 2001 World Championships, 6th in 2011
2-time European Champion—2002, 2006
2002 European Indoor Champion
PB: 58-4 ½ (17.79/2004)
Wiki Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Olsson
https://worldathletics.org/athletes/sweden/christian-olsson-14227931
https://www.facebook.com/EuropeanAthletics/videos/642858080042444/
Gabe Jennings 46 (1979) 2000 NCAA Indoor (Mile) and Outdoor (1500/2nd-2001) Champion-Stanford;
2000 Olympian (1500m/semi-finalist); competed in the first round of the 1500 at the 2001 World
Championships
2000 U.S. Champion-1500 (Olympic Trials)
2-time NCAA Indoor Champion-Distance Medley-2000 (lead-off 1200), 2001 (anchor)
2-time winner of the High School 1500 at the Penn Relays (1997,1998); Graduated from Oregon Law
School in 2012
One of the great “Free Spirits” of the sport.
Born into the hippie culture. Some quotes from a pre-NCAA interview with CBS:
“My parents were my teachers”
“I expect to run with integrity. That means listening to my inner self”
“God, you’ve hit the nail on the head” (after it was suggested he views racing as a celebration)
“I try to hear the rhythm of the wind, the ocean”
Compares the mile to jazz-“Got to bend notes sometimes”
Often played bongos in the stands with others while teammates were competing in other events
In 2003, he embarked on a four-month, 6,000-mile solo bike trek to Brazil, where he
contracted hepatitis A and almost starved to death. Read more at:
https://vault.si.com/vault/2003/06/02/almost-his-last-mile
Inducted into the Stanford Hall of Fame in 2018 (Interview)
PBs:1:46.83 (2001), 2:18.33 (2006), 3:35.21 (2000), 3:58.54i (2001), 7:58.40i (2001), 13:44.60 (2000
2000 Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChoWROC984c
2000 O.T. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zg-mKEyfI10
Sports Illustrated Vault: http://tinyurl.com/SIV-Jennings
2005: http://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/A-lost-drummer-regains-his-beat-Runner-back-2637901.php
The Performance Artist: http://tinyurl.com/zsry2ub
2012: http://www.runnersworld.com/newswire/olympian-then-and-now-gabe-jennings
Wiki Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabe_Jennings
http://www.olympedia.org/athletes/89139
David Monti 65 (1960) Publisher of Race Results Weekly, THE publication for coverage of distance running in the U.S. and
around the world.
David and I (and his wife Jane) worked together on many Olympics and World Championships as part of NBC’s
support crew.
He explains how he got started in the sport in this 2023 interview with Anna Lagnani, the former Deputy Director
of Communications for World Athletics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KZ_LVPM-28
http://www.raceresultsweekly.com
Robin Campbell-Bennett 66 (1959) 2-time Olympian-800m (1980/boycott, 1984/semi-finalist); 5th in the 800 at the
inaugural World Championships in Helsinki (1983); PB: 1:59.00 (1983)
Coached by Brooks Johnson, she was a teenage prodigy…won the Mile (4:50.7) at the 1974 U.S.
Indoor Championships at the age of 15, won the 440y(!) title the following year. Ran 2:02.40 for
800-meters in 1974. Also ran 2:06.7 indoors that year.
Nat’l Records
440 54.2 2-23-75
600y 1:19.3 2-15-74 (still stands) Toronto. Had just turned 15.
600m 1:30.1 3-2-74 for 1st place in Soviet dual meet, Moscow, WR, lasted 27 years as HSR
1000y 2:30.7 Student at Hines JHS, age 14, 2nd at the Maple Leaf Games 2-2-73
1500 4:26.4 5th at the Olympic Inv at the Garden, 2-8-74
Wiki Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Campbell_(athlete)
http://www.olympedia.org/athletes/77783
Podcast (2022): https://www.startingline1928.com/pioneerstories/robin-campbell-bennett
Jürgen Hingsen—Germany 67 (1958) Silver medalist in the Decathlon at the 1983 World Championships and 1984
Olympics (2nd to Great Britain’s Daley Thompson on both occasions); 6’-6 ¾” (2.00), 225 (102kg)
Traded World Records with Thompson:
(with adjusted points)
8704 (8732)- Thompson-May 23, 1982
8723 (8741)- Hingsen-August 15, 1982
8743 (8774)- Thompson-September 8, 1982
8779 (8825)- Hingsen-June 5, 1983
8798 (8823)- Hingsen-May 9, 1984
8847 (new tables)-Thompson August 9, 1984
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jürgen_Hingsen
WR Progression: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decathlon_world_record_progression
https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/70290
World Rankings: https://trackandfieldnews.com/index.php/rankings
Rivals Reunited(2012):
Deceased
Steve “Pre” Prefontaine 24 (1951-May 30, 1975) The Legend
4-time NCAA Champion on the track: Oregon/3-miles (5k in ’72) 1971-1974
3-time NCAA X-Country Champion (1970,1971,1973)
2-time U.S. Champion-3 miles (1971, 1973)
Set American Records at distances from 2000-meters to 10,000-meters
Previous H.S. Record holder at 3000-meters and 2-miles (outdoors) (Marshfield H.S.-Coos Bay,OR)
4th in the 5000-meters at the 1972 Olympics.
Advocate for athletes’ rights
PBs: 3:38.1h (1973), 3:54.6 (‘73), 5:01.4h/2k (‘75), 7:42.6h (‘74), 8:18.29 (‘74), 13:21.87 (‘74), 27:43.6h
(’74)
https://bringbackthemile.com/news/detail/40_years_of_prefontaine
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Prefontaine
Runner’s World Articles: https://www.runnersworld.com/steve-prefontaine
http://grantland.com/features/steve-prefontaine-death/
https://www.amazon.com/Pre-Americas-Greatest-Running-Prefontaine/dp/0875964575
SI Vault/Kenny Moore(2004): http://tinyurl.com/SI-PreClassic
Tribute Site:
http://myhero.com/myhero/hero.asp?hero=Prefontaine_Fredricksberg_Academy_03
“Without Limits”-Behind the Scenes:
http://without-limits.warnerbros.com/cmp/realaudio/main.html
Videos:
1972 OG: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iKt8_pkHgY
Feature: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xesXzetlrE
“Fire on the Track”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7O5tGsBZrA
What It Takes To Be Great: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58JSUuE_-MA
1973 L.A. Times Mile: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IA3nFaaptKo
Google Steve Prefontaine for much more
