Vol. 3 No. 37 December , 1963

DECEMBER 1963

Last month we gave you the results of the IC4A and NCAA meets. This month we have the USTFF, AAU and NAIA meets, so sit back and enjoy the magic carpet ride back to a simpler time, nearly 50 years ago

Bruce Kidd is 20, but his third decade has not been as kind to him as the second. This year's track season was a disappointment because of a bone inflammation in his left heel which was caused by an accumulation of scar tissue.

He finally raced a bit in Europe at the end of the season with less than satisfying results. As he lines up for the AAU meet in Van Cortlandt Park, there is a question as to his fitness. Last year's winner, Pete McArdle, sees his chance of winning lies in a fast pace. He quickly separates himself from the field. By the 2 ½ mile mark of the 10K race he has 70 yards on Kidd. At 4 miles Kidd hasn't closed the gap and it appears that the handwriting is on the wall. But Kidd isn't done. At cemetery hill he makes his move and within a half mile closes the gap to 10 yards. Gradually he moves to within a yard of the 35 year old leader. In the last mile of hills Kidd repeatedly attempts to pass McArdle, but the game Irish born veteran fights him off until, with 400 yards left, Kidd opens up a three yard lead. McArdle is flat out, but the margin remains the same at the tape.

Kidd may have the championship trophy, but McArdle doesn't go away empty handled. As the first American finisher, his reward is the trip to Brazil for the midnight run through the streets of Sao Paulo, a journey he made last year after winning this race. Billy Mills, competing for the US Marines, takes third, 25 seconds back, his best finish in this race since 1959 when he was also third. Twenty two seconds behind him is Ron Larrieu in fourth, the first finisher for the victorious LATC.

 

Obituary for Pete McArdle

By The Associated Press

Published: June 27, 1985

Pete McArdle, a member of the 1964 United States Olympic marathon team and a familiar competitor in New York-area distance and cross-country races, collapsed and died Monday night during a cross-country practice run at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. He was 56 years old.

Born in Ireland, Mr. McArdle came to the United States in 1956. He became a United States citizen in 1962 and worked as a mechanic for a New York bus company. He competed for the New York Athletic Club in the 1960's, establishing himself as one of the nation's top distance runners.

He finished 20th in the marathon in the 1964 Summer Games in Tokyo. In the 1963 Pan American Games at Sao Paulo, Brazil, he won the 10,000 meters and finished third in the marathon.

The USTTF meet is held in Chicago's Washington Park also at 10,000 meters. Local favorite Tom O'Hara of Loyola of Chicago won the NCAA championship last year but was ineligible (not explained) this year. It is only his fourth cross country race of the season, but no rust is showing. Polish born John Macy of the Houston TC leads through three miles, but teammate Jim McClatchie from Scotland, another of Johnny Morris' foreign contingent, takes over in the fourth mile.

At this point McClatchie, Macy, Jeff Fishback of the San Jose State national champions, HTC/Australians Geoff Walker and Laurie Elliot (yep, Herb's brother), USC's NCAA 5000 and 10,000 champion Julio Marin and O'Hara are the lead pack within four seconds of each other. But there is only one 3:56 miler in the group and with half a mile to go, it becomes apparent that it is O'Hara. He glides to victory in 30:12 with McClatchie five seconds back and Fishback another five seconds in arrears, eight seconds ahead of hard charging Doug Brown of Montana. San Jose State runs well, but their 34 points are trumped by the international contingent of the Houston TC that scores 25.

The NAIA meet is held in Omaha, Nebraska, but the team battle is between Kansas powerhouses defending champion Emporia State and Fort Hays State.

John Camien

Ireland Sloan

Last year Ireland Sloan of Emporia was the individual champ. This year he settles for second behind teammate John Camien who runs 20:23.7 to edge him by seven second on the tough four mile course. Emporia's 1-2 finish isn't enough to overcome the depth of the Fort Hays squad which takes its first national championship 53-63.

Obituary    Ireland Ulrick Sloan  June 28, 2010

Ireland Sloan passed away on this date in Roanoke VA, where he had retired after many years working in the life insurance business.  He had also been a teacher in the Roanoke area.  He still holds several track records at Emporia State.  He was the first Kansan under 9:00 minutes for 2 miles eventually having a personal best of 8:31.3.  He was an alternate on the US Olympic team in 1964 in the Steeplechase.

It Happens to Us All Department: Remember Vladimir Kuts, the running machine who destroyed the fields in the 1956 Olympic 5,000 and 10,000? Gabriel Korobkov, head Russian track coach says, “You ought to see Vladimir Kuts now. He is up to 198 pounds. Yuriy Lituyev, our former 400 meter hurdle champion, and Kuts had a race. Lituyev ran 400 meters in 52.0 while Kuts couldn't finish 350 meters. He fell down.”

The high school record has been transferred within the family, well, sort of. On December 6 the record belonged to Jim Ryun of Wichita, Kansas who ran 9:11.5 earlier this year. On December 7 in a special meet in Woodside, California, Mike Ryan of Wilcox High in Santa Clara runs 9:09.8 to write his name first in the record books. Perhaps more significant is the performance of second place finisher, Ralph Gamez, a 15 year old sophomore, who places second in 9:13.8 and now is fourth on the all time list behind Ryan, Ryun and Tracy Smith who ran 9:11.6 this summer.

Ralph Gamez  (Belmont HS , Berkeley CA)

On page 11 is a report on the college freshman two mile postal race won easily by San Jose State. That would be the same San Jose State that won the NCAA cross country championship. Don't look for a let down any time soon.

For more on a gathering of former California high school distance greats ,  see the following link from Track and Field News.
http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/asset/special/2009/California_Distance_Reunion/Golden_State_Distance_Reunion.html


In Dick Drake's “On Your Marks” column we learn that 1960 880 national champion Jim Cerveny is back in training.......The United Press has named Valeriy Brumel “Sportsman of the Year” (apparently this means track and field) for the third consecutive year.....Cliff Cushman's Air Force assignment is now in Washington where he is has been given sufficient time to workout after two years of pilot training......Two who should and one who shouldn't: Oregon's Mel Renfro and Ohio States' Paul Warfield have signed contracts to play professional football. We'll see how that turns out. Football, hey, that sounds like fun said Jim Keefe, Cenral Connecticut's fine distance man. Unfortunately for Jim, all he got out of an inter-fraternity touch football game was a dislocated shoulder. He will be out six weeks.

There are profiles on distance runners Pat Traynor and Bob Schul. Neither set the world on fire as high school kids. Traynor's best marks were 2:00 and 4:26. Schul ran 4:34.5 and 9:59. Both are a whole lot better now.

In the “Letters to the Editor” column is a epistle from Jerry Nason, the sports editor of the Boston Globe “in Boston, Massachusetts” (Oh, that Boston!) Remember the hypothetical 880 race created by Roberto Quercetani in last months issue? Well, apparently it rattled Mr. Nason's cage to the extent that he felt compelled to defend the chances of John Woodruff whom Quercetani had finishing fourth in the field of six. Nason doesn't question the final placing, instead he is concerned about where the former Pittsburgh star would be entering the backstretch on the first lap. Nason says Woodruff had sprinter's speed, citing a 21.1 220 relay split in the Penn Relays. Quercetani had Tom Courtney leading and Woodruff boxed on the first turn. “Rather than be hopelessly boxed, it is more likely that Woodruff would have come off the turn leading the race.” Jerry, you are the sports editor of the Boston Globe. You have bigger problems to worry about. The Red Sox just finished in seventh place, 28 games behind the Yankees and this is what has your panties in a bunch?

We have to remember that only in the last couple years has the broad jump become the long jump. And now in 1964 the hop-step-jump will join its horizontal cousin on the journey into the twentieth century becoming henceforth the triple jump. Not if concerned letter writer Pete Hopkins of Chatham, Virginia has a say about it. “It seems unfortunate that the term 'triple jump' has gained such widespread acceptance. The term is a complete misnomer and we should forget it. There is nothing wrong with calling it the 'hop-step-jump', which is what it really is and the abbreviation HSJ, surely belongs as much as BJ (Pete, we're guessing news travels slowly in Virginia), HJ and PV. 'Triple jump' is pure slang and distorts the picture.” OK, Pete, we'll go over this again, very slowly. Bigger things to worry about. For one, the Red Sox finished 28 games back of the Yankees.