Sunday May 1, 2016 Merv Lincoln left us with memories that even the toughest guys don't always win the big race. Merv was the epitome of a well disciplined gentlemen who put it all out on the fields of human performance. If it hadn't been for a guy named Herb Elliott who was equally as gifted and maybe even a tad more tenacious on the track, we might be remembering Merv as the greatest of his day. There were others as well in the early 1960s like John Landy, Brian Hewson, Derek Ibbotson, Ron Delany, and a host of others who might be considered the men of their times.
Merv was a disciple of the Franz Stampfl interval training school compared to Elliott's more unconventional mentor Percy Cerutty. Both systems were effective though Cerutty's school may have been less practical to the urban runner. There weren't sand dunes and weight rooms in every neighborhood in those days, but there were tracks and stopwatches just about everywhere that could be used as a measuring board for one's progress on the cinders.
Last month I was able to obtain some seldom seen photos of athletes in the 50s and 60s in the archives of Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. They come from files of the local newspaper The Dayton Daily News, and Wright State graciously allowed me to copy what I wanted. Photos appearing below are from those files. Primary sources where known are also cited.
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| Dayton Ohio National AAU Meet, June 23, 1957 overtaking Bob Seamon and Burr Grimm on last curve of mile run |
You can see the 100 , 110 HH, 880, PV, and Mile finish on this video.
if you look closely at the finish of the mile you will see Franz Stampfl come
out to greet Lincoln right after the finish.
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| Dayton, OH, hitting the tape in 4:06.1 |
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| Newspaper editor's notes on back of photo |
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| Lincoln and Franz Stampfl arriving in San Francisco for his US tour. |
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| Finish of unknown race, probably Australia All Photos are courstesy of Dayton Daily News Archive at Special Collections and Archives, Wright State University. (not for sale or commercial reproduction by this blog) |
Merv Lincoln , obit provided by Dennis Kavanaugh. Thanks Dennis.
the aussies ruled for a time then when their population was about what Ohio's is now. the Hungarians were coming. Richard Trace
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