V 7 N. 58 Dick Gregory, Comedian and Southern Illinois Saluki 880 Runner R.I.P.

Dick Gregory's passing was announced today.  We will have more on him at a later date.  His brother Ron was also an outstanding half miler at Notre Dame.  He will be more remembered for his Civil Rights activism and humor, but we also choose to remember his roots on the track.

Great trip , Dick.

Dick Gregory

Dick Gregory at SIU

Dick Gregory receiving the Henry Hinckley Award as outstanding athlete of the year at SIU

Another comedian, Jerry Lewis also died today.  Both men took different journeys, but they devoted their lives to making the world better for others.

"I ran an 880  with him and beat him when he was out of shape in  May 1958. Tom Sullivan who was 14 beat us both and broke 2 minutes. Ted Wheeler  won in about 1:54.  He was a funny guy.

On Stagg Field"

  Ned Price

    I raced Dick over 880 yards in a Ted Haydon All Comers meet in the summer of 1957. He quipped lets go "my beer is getting warm"                                                                                                Jerry Ashmore

"I ran against Ron in the Ozark AAU 2 mile in St. Louis in '59.  He was decked out in his Notre Dame uni.  I believe he had run around 9:00 previously.  Whatever, he was way out of my league.  I remember he got beat by a guy from Missouri, Hanneken (sp?) maybe, at about 9:15.  I was in arrears by a full minute.  Wonder when my name comes up in conversation, if he says, "I remember him.  We raced once."  Roy

Research has shown us that both Gregory brothers won the Missouri state HS cross country championships running for Sumner HS in St. Louis.  Ron won it three times.

George,

Ref. Dick Gregory - His younger brother (I do not remember his first name) (Ron ed.) was an outstanding miler for Notre Dame U. in the late late 50's. I remember running against him in a 1958/59 AAU meet in St.Louis when he ran 4:10 solo with a lack of competition (I was a junior in high school & stood next to him briefly at the start!). I  have no idea if you any way to look him up  Jerry McFadden

Note to readers:  Jerry McFadden and I ran against each other several times in the Big 8 Conference back in the early 1960s.  Roy and I have been writing this blog for the last 7 years.  
Jerry and I reconnected about 6 years ago, because I knew some of his athletes he coached in Morocco when he was in the Peace Corps in that country.  I had served in the Peace Corps in Tanzania.  When I lived in Quebec, I met those former athletes.  These guys asked me to find Jerry, and that is where the search began.  Found him in White Pages.  Jerry stopped to visit us in Dayton, and we were able to have a meeting with Bob Schul during that visit.  This week Jerry was able to find the reference to Roy's running against Ron Gregory in St. Louis in 1959.   You will see 'Roy Swett' as fifth in the two mile behind Gregory.   Also of note is international decathlete Phil Mulkey won two events and scored in six others in this meet.  The power of the internet for good.  George

You & Roy made me work on this one! I consulted on my old high school yearbook, which I haven't looked at in 57 years. Pls see the attached photo & clipping. 

Year - 1959 - Ozark AAu

Mile - Ron Gregory in 4:11.9, winning by 30 yards. Another HS student was 2nd, my older brother 3rd, & me 4th

Two Mile - Bob Hanneken (Mizzou) 1st in 9:26, Gregory 2nd, Don Gabbert (Mizzou) 3rd, Mat Schoeder (Mizzou) 4th, Roy Swatt 5th.

880 - Morris Patterson (Mizzou) in 1:55, Terry McKee 2nd, Gerald White 3rd, Bud Krogh 4th.

The article says Gregory's best mile of that year so far was 4:10 (that's the point I remembered).

Jerry

(That was a trip through memory land!)

Here is some more about Ron Gregory 
taken from T&FN forum threads
Did Ron Gregory ever hold the Indoor World Record for 880 yards?

This Day in African American Running History:
Ron Gregory – The brother of comedian/civil rights activist Dick Gregory.

11-17-58 Crawford Kennedy-MSU beats Ron Gregory-Notre Dame in the IC4A Cross Country Championship in 24:21.4 at Van Cortlandt Park.

Ron Gregory Career Highlights:
One of the best distance runners to ever come out of the St. Louis area.
Three time 1954, 1955, and 1956 Missouri State High School Cross-Country Champion.
Set a High School mile record on May 25, 1956 with a time of 4:19.2.
Earned All-American honors in cross-country and track at Notre Dame.
Held Notre Dame school records in 13 different categories.
Held the world indoor record for 880 yards.

Ron Gregory did not hold the world indoor record for 880 yards. As far as I can tell, the reference is to a race on February 19, 1960 at a dual meet between Notre Dame and Pittsburgh, won by Gregory in 1:50.5; it was reported at the time that this was a world best for 880 yards on a 220-yard indoor dirt track, which was probably true, but it was not an outright world indoor record.

Ron held the NFHS Mile Record for one week in 1956 before it was broken by Richard Bowers.

What does NFHS stand for?

National Federation of State High School Associations. These are records that a set in sanctioned high school only competitions, unlike Track and Field News marks that can be set anywhere and anytime.

of course, T&FN quit following the NFHS lead 60-odd years ago because the federation, among other things, wouldn't recognize marks from non-members, which as far as I know, meant all the segregated schools in the south, among other things.

Much less than one week. On the afternoon of Friday, May 25, 1956, Ron Gregory (Sumner HS, St. Louis, Mo) won the St. Louis public schools championships in 4:19.2. Gregory broke the NFHS record of 4:19.5 set the year before by Tom Skutka of New Jersey.

That evening, Jim Bowers (De Kalb HS, Il) ran 4:16.1 in the North Central Illinois Track Conference meet. Bowers did not know of Gregory's performance at the time of the race.

The week before, Bowers had won the Illinois state champs in 4:20.7.

1. 
   

   
2.