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This Day in Track & Field–January 15
1925–Paavo Nurmi, “The Flying Finn”, returned to NY’s Madison Square Garden for the 2nd stop on his U.S. tour and came away with three more world records, although they all came within one race.
After letting Ville “Willie” Ritola set the early pace, Nurmi, dubbed the Athlete of the Century by the press, delighted the crowd by lapping most of the field and setting records at 1-3/4 miles (7:55.6), 3000-meters (8:26.8), and 1-7/8 miles (8:29.0). Joie Ray was the previous record holder at all three distances. Shortly after the race, Nurmi hopped on a train for Chicago, where he was scheduled to compete the following night before immediately returning to NY for his 3rd meet in as many days.
1965—Irishman John McDonnell won a slow-paced mile in 4:22.5 at the Senior Metropolitan AAU Championships at NY’s 168th Street Armory. McDonnell, of course, went on to have a Hall-of-Fame career as coach at the University of Arkansas.
Other notable winners included Fordham’s Sam Perry in the 60y (6.4), and Oscar Moore,Jr in the 3-mile (14:29.0).
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1965/01/16/101522396.html?pageNumber=20
1977–It didn’t draw much attention at the time, but Steve Scott, a 20-year old junior at the University of California at Irvine, broke
4-minutes for the first time when he ran 3:59.7 to finish 3rd in the Mile at the Sunkist Invitational. Finishing ahead of Scott were Paul Cummings (3:59.2) and Wilson Waigwa (3:59.7).
Scott went on to become one of the greatest runners in history and ran a total of 136 sub-4 minute miles, the most ever, in a Hall of Fame career. He held the American Indoor Record from 1979-2005 and the Outdoor mark from 1982-2007. Scott retired in 2018 as the head coach at Cal-State San Marcos, which won three consecutive NAIA Women’s X-Country titles from 2009-2011.
Hall of Fame Bio: https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/steve-scott
Steve Scott-The Miler/Marc Bloom’s Biography
CSSM Bio: http://www.csusmcougars.com/coaches.aspx?rc=222&path=wcross
1978–Long Island University’s Lorna Forde, a 2-time Olympian (1972,1976) for her native Barbados, set a World Indoor Record of 1:10.5 for 500-meters at the Dartmouth Relays. Forde was a 2-time winner of the 440y at the U.S. Indoor Championships and is a member of the Penn Relays Wall of Fame.
Ran on a remarkable 21 winning teams for the Atoms T.C. at Penn from 1975 through 1983
https://pennrelays.com/honors/hall-of-fame/lorna-forde/58
1984–20-year old Sergey Bubka, who had first gained international fame when he upset the field to win the gold medal at the previous year’s World Championships in Helsinki, got his first World Record, indoors or outdoors, when he cleared 19-3/4 (5.81) in Vilnius. The previous mark of 19-1/4 (5.80m) was set by Billy Olson in 1983.
1986–Bubka sets another World Record, jumping 19-3 (5.87) in Osaka, Japan
1987–Bubka returned to Osaka to set another World Record–19-6 ½ (5.96). Two other world marks were set–Ben Johnson ran 6.44 in the 60-meters (later annulled), and Oleg Protsenko won the Triple Jump with a leap of 57-11 ¾ (17.67m).
WR Progression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men’s_pole_vault_indoor_world_record_progression
2015—Akron’s (and Canada’s) Shawn Barber joined the 6-meter (19-8 ¼) club at the Pole Vault Summit in Reno,NV. He would go on later in the year to win the NCAA Indoor (his 2nd) and Outdoor titles and he became the World Champion in Beijing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawnacy_Barber
2022—Florida’s Jacory Patterson ran 31.99 for 300-Meters at Clemson to break his own Collegiate Record of 32.38.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbtnUSW24MQ
2022—Senior Will Sumner (Woodstock,GA) ran 1:01.25 for 500-meters at the Virginia Showcase in Virginia Beach to break the U.S. High School Indoor Record of 1:01.68 that was set by Strymar Livingston (Columbus, Bronx, NY) in 2012. He would take down another of Livingston’s H.S. records (1:17:58) when he ran 1:15.58 for 600-meters a week later in Chicago.
The son of former Villanova All-American ½-milers Brad Sumner and Tosha Woodward, Sumner won the 2023 NCAA 800 title as a Georgia freshman before joining the professional ranks. He was injured in 2024, but ran 47.23 for 400-meters last weekend.
https://georgiadogs.com/sports/track-and-field/roster/Will-Sumner/7110
https://trackandfieldnews.com/2-national-records-for-high-schooler-will-sumner/
https://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=11088703
https://www.thestridereport.com/post/turning-pro-will-sumner-signs-with-adidas
2023—Emily Sisson finished 2nd to Ethiopia’s Hiwot Gebrekidan (1:06:28) at the Houston Half-Marathon and came away with a short-lived American Record of 1:06:52. (Keira D’Amato would run 1:06:39 in July). Sisson still holds the U.S. Record in the Marathon (2:18:29/2022).
Significant Birthdays
Born on This Day*
Dylan Armstrong-Canada 44 (1981) 2008 Olympic bronze medalist—Shot Put;
Didn’t receive his medal until 2015, after the original 3rd-placer was retroactively disqualified for a doping violation
2-time World Championships medalist (2011-Silver, 2013-Bronze)
All-American at Texas—NCAA: 2001 (Weight Throw-4th, Hammer Throw-5th)
Was coached by Anatoliy Bondarchuk, the 1972 Olympic Champion in the hammer throw
Delayed Olympic Medal: http://tinyurl.com/ArmstrongOlyMedal
https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/117036
2013 Article: https://spikes.worldathletics.org/post/a-shot-at-success
Super Coach: http://tinyurl.com/hwo5tce
Wiki Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dylan_Armstrong
Mark Carroll-Ireland 53 (1972) 1995 NCAA Indoor Champion—5000m (Providence/2nd Outdoors)
2000 European Indoor Champion—3000 meters; 2-time Olympian—5000m (1st round-2000,2004)
Finalist in the 5000 at the 1995 (12th) and 1999 (14th) World Championships.
6th at the 2002 NY City Marathon
Irish Record Holder—3000m (7:30.36), Former Record holder—5000m (13:03.93), 10,000m (27:46.82)
Other PBs: 3:34.91 (2000), 3:50.62 (2000), 3:54.50 (2001), 2:10:54 (2002)
Named the High Performance Coach of the Boston A.A. (B.A.A.) in December, 2019. Had previously coached at
Auburn and Drake
Coached by Jim Harvey throughout most of his career
https://www.baa.org/mark-carroll-announced-baa-high-performance-coach
https://www.baa.org/baa-coaches
https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/87045
2012 article: https://auburntigers.com/news/2012/7/20/Auburn_Olympic_Profile_Mark_Carroll
Wiki Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Carroll_(athlete)
Barbara Friedrich 76 (1949) 1968 U.S. Olympian—Javelin (9th)
1967 Pan-American Games Champion
1968 U.S. Champion
1971 AIAW Champion(Newrk State/Now Kean)
Set two High School and American Records in 1967 while at Manasquan(NJ) H.S.: 192-11 1/5(58.81), 198-8
(60.56)
Inducted into the National High School T&F Hall of Fame in 2019
http://www.olympedia.org/athletes/77834
HOF: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnrLnf7JlxQ
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Friedrich
Looking Back
https://twitter.com/njsiaa/status/1241712159232532481
Deceased
Dean Smith 91 (1932-February 24, 2023) 1952 Olympic gold medalist—4×100 (5th in the 100); went on to have a successful career as a
Hollywood stuntman. Appeared in 10 John Wayne movies.
All-American at Texas:NCAA-100y (1952-4th, 1954-4th, 1955-5th)
His memoir, “Cowboy Stuntman: From Olympic Gold to the Silver Screen”, was published in April, 2013.
Much More At: https://onceuponatimeinthevest.blogspot.com/2019/12/v9-n-52-dean-smith-american-gold.html
https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/79055
Smith & Gold Medalist Lindy Remigino Talk About the 1952 100.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_lPEPV8zcU
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Smith_(athlete)
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/31/us/cowboy-stuntman-dean-smith-writes-a-memoir.html?_r=1&
http://www.amazon.com/Cowboy-Stuntman-Olympic-Silver-Screen/dp/0896727890
http://deansmithcelebrityrodeo.com/index.html
Tom Burke 54 (1875-Feb.14,1929) First Olympic gold medalist in the 100 and 400 (1896); 3-time U.S. Champion
440y (1895- 1897); 1896 & 1897 IC4A Champion (Boston College)—440y,
1899 IC4A Champion—880y (Harvard grad student);
Hall of Fame Bio:
https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/tom-burke
Wiki Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Burke_(athlete)
https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/78175
Lou Jones (74/1932-Feb.3, 2006) 1952 Olympic gold medalist—4×400;
1955 Pan-American Games Champion-400m—set a World Record of 45.4 (Mexico City)…lowered the record to 45.2 at the 1956
U.S. Olympic Trials, but only finished 5th in the Olympic final in Melbourne in November.
Wiki Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Jones_(athlete)
https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/78628
WR Progression: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men%27s_400_metres_world_record_progression
Obituary:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/08/sports/othersports/08jones.1.html?pagewanted=print
Janusz Kusociński-Poland 33 (1907-June 21, 1940) 1932 Olympic gold medalist—10,000-Meters
Set two World Records in 1932 (3000-Meters, 4-Miles); PB: 30:11.42 (1932)
From Olympedia: During World War II, Kusociński volunteered for the Polish Army and was wounded twice.
Released because of his injuries he served in the Polish resistance during German occupation, and he
was arrested by the Gestapo on 26 March 1940 and was imprisoned in the Mokotów prison. He was
executed by the Germans three months later, in Palmiry, near Warsaw. In his honor, the best known
Polish athletics meet is called the Kusociński Memorial.
https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/74775
