V 11 N. 66 Oklahoma State U.'s (1965-66) Secret or What To Do With Those 880 Runners During the Cross Country Season

I've been sitting on this story for several years.  Don't know why.  I think because  my friend Bill Blewett is going to include some of it in a book he's been working on for awhile.  I just decided it's time.  You get that feeling in this 'business' some days.  This post is a tribute to the Oklahoma State University Cowboys and their World Record 2 mile relay team of 1965.  I owe a special thanks to

John Perry a member of that team who shared documents, photos, and provided incredible commentary about those times.  

Some of you oldtimers may recall that back in the mid 1960's the Oklahoma State Cowboys had a fair to middlin' middle distance crew who ended up setting that World Record in the 4x880 relay out in Fresno, California.  On that team were two brothers, John and Dave Perry, two 49 second quarter milers (HS) along with James Metcalf a pretty decent high school half miler, and a 4:30 miler out of Montana who would become a finalist in the 1500m at Mexico City,  Tom Von Ruden.

 

 How those guys got to be so good has until a couple of years ago been a mystery to me.  But fortunately one of those incidents that happens occasionally like a pre-ordained mystical occurrence came about when one of the Perry brothers got hold of all the workouts prescribed by their coach Ralph Higgins as it was about to be tossed into the great beyond of a landfill in Stillwater, OK.

  We got to talking by email  via this blog, and John confided to me the story of finding the workouts and what they contained.  He even scanned years of those workouts that were posted each day on a bulletin board, along with Higgins' comments.    Higgins' formula seemed almost too simple to believe.  This was a time when Arthur Lydiard was coming on the scene with his long distance prep work for Peter Snell, Bill Bowerman was prescribing rest days for the Ducks, and   Joe Henderson was preaching Long Slow Distance.    LSD was not just as  a Haight Ashbury fruit cocktail, and the rest of us were killing ourselves with horrendous 4-5days a week interval training schedules.

Higgins made things click for his about-to-become half milers by dosing them with repeat 220s on grass throughout the cross country season.  Some days they did other distances on those intervals, but the 220 was the core distance, the thing that put spring(s) in the legs of those runners.   On Friday's they did a mile relay intrasquad time trial.  The cross country runners lived a different life, but we're not here to talk about them on this posting.   I've always felt that if a good 800 guy goes to universty and finds himself having to fill a void on the cross country team, there might be something wrong with that school's distance program.

                                 The Coach-  Ralph Higgins

Those first days of doing the 220's they did them slooowww.  Thirty-seven seconds is slow.  But they gradually began increasing, til those guys were more than ready for the indoor and outdoor seasons.  And by passing on  cross country, they had one less peaking experience to endure in a school year.  I distinctly remember going to the first ever indoor meet at Albequerque in late January of 1964 and lining up with the Cowboys and Long Beach State, and us Sooners, and by the end of the first leg we knew we were in a race, and then they just blew everyone away, with Von Ruden's anchor leg (1:51.6) as noted in one of the articles below,  and we were dumbfounded.  Where did they come from?

                    Pre meet publicity for that Albequerque Meet in 1964

Look at those steep high banks at Albequerque

Ted Oliver, George Brose, Mike Hewitt (my roomie and a hurdler), Walt Mizell

and Phil Oviatt.  We were about to get our butts dusted by the Cowboys.

The box score from that Albequerque Meet Jan. 25, 1964

So here's some of the story as John Perry has recounted it.  These are mainly culled from a series of emails going back and forth between us.

John sent me this first email recently and it tells something about what he did after running. I had asked him to tell me about some of his post running career.

George,

It’s the “butterfly effect”!

 One event can affect the entire future. Just happened to me last week. Was driving with my daughter from my house to the golf course about 1/2 mile away when she accidentally spilled her water cup. I stopped the car for just a couple of seconds to get the cup in the holder and then continued to drive. Then a young girl came dashing out between two parked cars directly in front of me but and I had time to stop! If I hadn’t stopped over the spilled drink, it’s a real close call!

We can’t second guess our decisions that we made 60 years ago! We had our reasons and they probably were valid. For example, I joined the Marine PLC program because I didn’t want to spend a bunch of time drilling with the ROTC during track season. Went to a couple of Marine Summer Camps and then got to be a civilian during the school year. Didn’t worry about active duty in the Marine Corps because I thought the war would be over by 1967!  

Anyway, didn’t work out that way. Bill Rawson, the very good 880 runner from Missouri was KIA in June 1967.  I went on active duty in June 1967 and because of the efforts of Jay Tier, OSU hurdler/sprinter, I went directly to the Marine Corps Track Team and won the Interservice Track Meet over Tommy Farrell and Morgan Groth. 

I have a photo of the finish. I killed them on a really hot day! 

This was a life changing event. I met Lew Hoyt (former NCAA Champion High Jumper) who was on temporary duty from Pensacola flight training and he recruited me for flight school.  

Since I had never taking the flight aptitude tests, I still had to go to Quantico TBS for the basic infantry platoon commander indoctrination. Mainly because I was the fastest and strongest person in the class of 250, I was pressured to go O-3 (Platoon Commander). I took my tests and told them that I was going aviation. 

Nobody can pressure a track guy! We are really not team players! A good example of that is everybody in my college fraternity and Marine Squadrons smoked cigarettes but not me! The Marine pilots also grew mustaches but not me! 

You can’t go back and say “what ifs” . In January 1968 (corrected from  original text of 1972), I came down with mono and didn’t work out at all for 2 1/2 months. Couldn’t run a lick until late May. It was a lot of pressure. Farrell beat me in the Interservice but I ran an AAU qualifying time. Pretty tough race, I was second, John Tillman was third and Von Ruden was fourth! 

Ran a 1:46.6 for 800 at the AAU for third American (Dyce and Winzinreid ran 1:46.5). This was in the old days, prelims and semis on Friday night and finals on Saturday afternoon so the amateur runners could compete and go to work on Monday! 

Anyway, end of long story. Got fifth in final trials, went to flight school, eventually became a MOS 7501 (Marine Jet  Attack Pilot ). Used to work out by myself at various Air Stations and placed fourth in the AAU in 1969 and 1970. Made the finals in 1971 and pulled an achilles in 1972. 

Then I was sent to Vietnam in 1972. 

All the American ground forces had pulled out and the North Vietnamese were invading South Vietnam. 

As incredible as it sounds, The USA sent in two Marine A-4 Skyhawks squadrons 

to protect Saigon. I was in VMA 311 and our sister squadron was VMA 211. That was it, we were the only tactical aircraft in Vietnam. We had about 40 pilots and 24 aircraft. We flew close air support support for the ARVN and government forces in Cambodia. I flew one or two missions a day (164 total) until the cease fire in January 1973. 

When we flew out, the fighting was still going on. We could see the VNAF A-37’s bombing right next to Bien Hoa ! 

Unlike Afghanistan, we left thousands of contractors behind to support South Vietnam, but it still didn’t work out! 

Took two years for that emergency “exit” from Vietnam! 

John 

(Correction by John)

 George,

 Realized that I said 1972 instead of 1968 in telling my mono story! That’s another of those “what if” stories. I was in flight school two weeks after the final trials at Tahoe. What if I had been 100 percent and made the team? 

Tom may have not run the 1500 and made the Olympic Team if he hadn’t got fourth in the 800 at the 1968 Interservice! 

I’m sure everybody has a lot of “what if” stories. 

That first attempt at pro track, the ITA, was a bust and everybody got banned for life! 

John 

 

George

First, here are the individual accomplishments of those four runners:

Summary of accomplishments of the four runners on the World Record team: Jim Metcalf, John Perry, Dave Perry and Tom Von Ruden

 

Official World, American and NCAA Record: Two mile relay, 1965 (all four)

Indoor two mile relay World Record 1965 (unofficial) (all four)

NCAA Champion: Indoor 880 yard run, 1965 (Von Ruden)

NCAA Champion: Indoor two mile relay, 1965 (all four)

NCAA Champion: Indoor two mile relay, 1966 (Metcalf, J. Perry and Von Ruden)

All America: Outdoor Track: 1 mile run, 1966 (Von Ruden)

All America: Outdoor Track:  880 run, 1966 (John Perry)

All America: Indoor Track: 880 yard run, 1965 (Von Ruden)

All America: Indoor Track: two mile relay, 1965 (all four)

All America: Indoor Track: two mile relay, 1966 (Metcalf, J. Perry and Von Ruden) Big 8 Record Holder: Outdoor 880, 1966 (John Perry)

Big 8 Champion: Outdoor 880 run, 1965, 1966 (John Perry)

Big 8 Champion: Indoor 1000 yard run, 1966 (Von Ruden)

Big 8 Champion: Indoor 880 run, 1966 (Jim Metcalf)

United States National Team 1966 (John Perry and Tom Von Ruden)

18 major relay titles in the one mile relay, sprint medley and two mile relay:  (two, three or all four of these runners were members of every winning team)

Major meet individual championship: 1 mile run, Drake Relays, 1966 (Von Ruden)

Major meet individual championship: 880 run, Compton-Coliseum 1966 (J Perry)

Olympic Trials 800M finalists (Dave Perry 1964 and John Perry 1968)

Olympic Team member 1500 Meters 1968 (Tom Von Ruden)

OSU outstanding track athlete award: 1965 Dave Perry

OSU outstanding track athlete award: 1966 John Perry 

 

OSU School records:

Von Ruden:  Outdoor Track:  One mile run, one mile relay, two mile relay, distance medley and four mile relay, Indoor Track: 880 run, 1000 run, one mile run, two mile relay and distance medley relay.

Dave Perry:  Outdoor Track: 880 run, one mile relay and two mile relay, Indoor Track: 600 run, and two mile relay

John Perry:  Outdoor Track: 880 run, one mile relay, two mile relay, sprint medley and distance medley, Indoor Track: two mile relay

Jim Metcalf: Outdoor track: one mile relay, two mile relay, sprint medley and distance medley, Indoor Track: two mile relay and distance medley relay.

  

 

Notes: Best official 880 times while at OSU:

 

Dave Perry: 1:47.7  Houston USTFF 1965

John Perry: 1:47.7 Big Eight Championships, Columbia, Missouri  1966 

Jim Metcalf:147.8  Big Eight Championships, Columbia, Missouri  1966

Tom Von Ruden: 147.9 USTFF Championships, Terre Haute, IND 1966 

John,

I'd love to publish these letters (conversations)  about your career, but only with your permission.   For years I've wanted to do something on Higgins' fall workouts with you guys but never got around to it.  Weren't you an airline pilot after VN?  George

John and Tommy Farrell 1,2 at CISM championships

                      John Perry winning a one mile race in Finland  4;04

                             

John Perry Taking a US military meet over Tommy Farrell in 1:48.3

                      John leading Jim Kemp in Finland

                                1969 Interservice Meet

                   John beating his old teammate Tom Von Ruden

George,

I failed to mention that Wade Bell won that AAU race in 1968 with a 1:45.5 meet record. Bell was very good and always made a big move on the backstretch that nobody could match at sea level! He broke our race open, and the rest of us were racing for second. Wade got sick at Mexico City and didn’t have that kick at altitude at Lake Tahoe either.

I worked in an office for three years after getting out of the Marines and was attending graduate school at Cal State Long Beach (MBA night classes) when I was hired by Continental Airlines. I was an airline pilot for 32 years and retired as a B767 Captain.

It was my “dream job” and I really enjoyed my career.

You can publish our back and forth e mails.

Re: OSU training. Don’t know if Bill Blewett mentioned it to you but he thinks all of those 220’s that we did in the Fall strengthened our “springs”. (Feet, arches, calf, achilles plus quads). We used to run 24 X 220 almost everyday with warmup/cool down runs and striders.  Counting the jog, 24x220 is 6 miles.  Not counting the jog, the workout was probably 6-7 miles of good running. We would do interval 220’s three days in a row and then take an easy run (3-4 miles). My longest continuous run at OSU was 6 miles! So, we were running somewhere around 40-50 miles a week in the Fall.

  I started trying to run the 880 in the Fall of 1963 after a mediocre freshman year as a 440 guy.  in September, we ran 37 second repeats. That’s  just fast enough to get up and forefoot strike. Later on they got faster (around 30). Then when we got under 30 seconds,  the workout was usually 12 repeats. I finally broke 2:00 (1:58.7) in a November time trial. Von Ruden and brother Dave ran 1:54 and there were 6 of us around 1:59. I was very fortunate in that I responded well to Higgins workouts and got fast enough to win a time trial with John Winingham to become the fourth man on the mile relay which won the Big 8 indoor and the Texas Relays. I didn’t run the individual 880 indoors in 1964, only the 600 and mile relay. I ran on a couple of two mile relays but didn’t run very fast except  at the K State Indoor when Higgins had my split under 1:55 for the first time.

I ran my first outdoor 880 in a 1964 dual meet with Nebraska and beat Gil Gebo with a 1:51.4 (meet record).  My adrenalin must have been off the chart because I remember the race well. I was running second on the back stretch and Gebo started passing everybody but I felt good enough to fight him off and I kept him on my shoulder the whole last turn.  He finally faded in the homestretch and I beat him by several yards.

I ran 1:50.3 two weeks later but Bill Rawson nipped me with the same time!  This race was entirely different. Rawson was a front runner who never slowed down. He ran a very strong third 220 after a 54 first 440. I was really working to hang on but I almost got him at the finish. I really learned a lot from that race and a fast third 220 became my main weapon in future races.

 I have no explanation on how I could improve my 880 time by 10 seconds in 8 months except all of those 220’s made 27 second race pace feel reasonably comfortable. Cardio improved a lot too. In the Fall, I would see stars and get tunnel vision after 600 yards or so and that was at 60 second 440 pace.

John Perry

ed. note:   I looked through the many pages of workouts from 1963 to 1965, and occasionally Dave Perry and Tom Von Ruden did run in a XC meet but not very often.

(the following from Bill Blewett)

Interesting.  I see the same perception among high school coaches and runners.  The misconception that distance (typically meaning LSD: long slow distance) has universal benefits in track and field is pervasive.  The culture that has developed since the start of the running boom four decades ago is very slow to change.  The science, relatively obscure, indicates that to run faster at any distance, you have to train gradually faster -- not longer.  You have to develop both ends of the cardiovascular system.  This can be done only at a faster pace -- developing aerobic capacity into white muscle fibers, which are not engaged at slower running speeds, and strengthening the cardiac muscle and increasing the stroke volume of the heart (particularly the left ventricle).  The stimuli for these changes to the heart appear to occur most strongly with the flow rate and pressure changes that occur in the starting and stopping of fast paced interval training with repetitions lasting about 30 seconds.  Bill Blewett

editor's note:   Bill Blewett walked on at Oklahoma U. in the Fall of 1965.  Never broke 5 minutes in high school until he did it three times at his first cross country practice.  Eventually ran a 4:02 mile and sub 14:00  3 mile.  His first book "The Science of the Fast Ball" was inspired by his son's minor league pitching career and two Tommy John surgeries aafter which he was still able to throw 97mph.   He's currently working on a book about the sscience of middle distance running.  I've been waiting patiently to see the final result.

(the following from a 2015 email)

George,

Even the guys that asked me to help them out and tell them how to break 1:50 for 800m are hesitant to do the repeat 200's and instead seem to want to do a bunch of distance. Then they can't figure out why they are not improving in the 800. One guy can't figure out why he has no spring and is afraid forefoot striking will make his calfs get tired. 

Once I had spent a Fall doing all of those 220's and developing my stride, I didn't do that many in the subsequent fall workouts. Worked in more 330'3, 440's and repeat 880's under five minute mile pace and I was strong enough to maintain form on the longer repeats. After I got out of college, one of my Fall workouts was 6 repeat 880's in 2:10 at completely even pace. That  would have been a waste of time in 1963, I would have fallen apart and become a heel striking "shuffler".

I think the whole point of doing the 220's was to get the ability to forefoot strike and run with a lot of drive and like Bill said, a 200m is short enough to concentrate, keep your form and build your "springs".

I noticed that Hig didn't have us do 220's almost everyday in Fall 1964  and 1965. That meant the new runners didn't get to do what We had done and not one of them ran close to 1:50, not even Dennis Hill who ran 1:53.5 State Record in high school. 

On today's college track meets, specifically the big Midwest/Southwest  relays

George,

/

I’m very disappointed in what happened to the three most exciting events of our college careers. The other events that really stuck in my memory (which means that it was a big deal) are the Big 8 Championships and the OU Dual. Drake was my favorite, the announcer knew everybody and gave a play by play during the races. Kansas is terrible now, Kansas is the only major university competing at the Kansas Relays. The college relay times are really slow. 

Texas Relays is really boring, each event has 10 sections or so and it takes forever to get the meet over. Saturday used to be a 2 hour competition packed event with college relay followed by University and the colleges were outstan

ding, Southern, Texas Southern and Grambling put on a show. 

Tom, Jimmy, David and I would talk about the two mile relay and our goals everyday for months before we finally got the conditions and competition for our World Record at Fresno. 

Drake times were always faster than Penn but it was because the Penn Track was terrible. We ran at Penn in 1964 and Hig tried to talk us into going back in 1966 to get revenge on Villanova but we told him “no”. 

John 

John's advice to a young runner

Higgin's runners don't go hard workout then easy workout.  Usually workout hard three days in a row (this came in real handy for championship meets where you run hard everyday).

Then an easy running day which consists of an easy 1 and 1/2 mile jog 4 to 8 100m striders on the grass and 1 1/2 mile jog cool down. 

Then more interval workouts and then  one long run per week. The long run should be about 6 miles for you and not fast. 

Sometimes, you may have to modify and just do the easy workout if you are too tired for 24x 200m. Always do something, even if it's jogging a mile, stretching and doing a few striders. 

Keep a daily log which includes resting heartbeat, heartbeat immediately after completing a set of intervals. Weather, what's sore, how you feel etc. how many, how fast and what kind of rest.

Hopefully, you can find a workout partner. However, the 200m workouts are fairly easy to do by yourself. Time trials are not that easy without competition.

This should give you about 40 miles a week in the Fall. If you do 5 interval workouts a week, you will have about 16 miles of quality running counting the 100m striders before and after the workout.

In season, you will very seldom run more than 12 200's a workout but much faster and will probably run 20-30 miles a week.

John

Going way back in History,   John refers to some of HIggins' workouts in 1947 to 1956. 

George,

I have the Fall workouts from 1947 and 1956.

No repeat 220's in 1947. Mostly just running time trials and races. Looks like it was super low mileage. They were running about 10 minutes for two mile races.

In 1956, Higgin's had started the interval training. 20x220, and also 330's and 440's. Looked like he was doing them on the track because he tells them to run 1/2 way around the track, or 3/4's or 1 time. 

 

     John Perry on his 77th birthday workout with his daughter

George,

This is a stop action of a 100m strider in July. I’m actually getting in better shape than I’ve been in years with no joint or muscle problems. I’m trying to run with range of motion and will work on turnover later. When I started track workouts over a year ago, I pulled or strained almost every muscle in my legs. Haven’t twinged in months but still have to watch out and not push too hard. I don’t usually time. We were running just under 5 minute mile pace in that photo. John Perry

ed. note:  Don't you folks wish you could do this when you're 77?

The following are some short comments from the press and PR people about John Perry and Dave Perry.

Jay Simon, Sports Editor, Daily Oklahoman

 

Texas Relays 1965

“Sizzling times and stirring finishes popped up all along the line and Oklahoma State captured one of the most exciting races when Dave Perry outlasted Missouri’s Robin Lingle in a grim-anchored duel.”

 

 

Coach Ralph  Higgins 

 

Discussion of  Senior John Perry’s anchorman role.

 

When John Perry was a Sophomore and Junior “We used him to kill off the other team’s weak link, we’d run him in that second spot and he’d win by five or six seconds”.  Perry ran in second  spot when the Pokes set the World Record  for the two mile relay of 7:18.3. He had the team’s best time of 1:47.7.

 

Discussion of two mile relay team (J. Perry, D. Perry, Von Ruden and Metcalf.)

 

“they’ll hang up all-time marks before the season ends…they are the hardest working track men in the Big 8, those four.

 

 

Jay Simon, Sports Editor, Daily Oklahoman

Big 8 Meet 1966

 

“…The 880 and mile were just as thrilling and produced records of similar magnitude. John Perry of O-State ran the fastest 880 in the World this year to whip teammate Jimmy Metcalf in a near photo finish.”

 

 

Jay Simon, Sports Editor, Daily Oklahoman

Big 8 Meet 1965

 

“Oklahoma State hit the biggest scoring lick in any event when John and Dave Perry finished one-two in the 880 in identical times of 1:49.6…… 880 best race….The 880 was the most stirring race undoubtedly would have resulted in a winning time under the record of 1:49 except for the wind.”

Otis Wile, OSU Sports Publicist

 

“Were they OSU’S Greatest?” “It would have to be called the finest achievement in OSU Track the day this finely-trained two mile relay team shattered the existing world record”

 

 

 

Jay Simon, Sports Editor,  The Daily Oklahoman

 

“John Perry, the backbone of Oklahoma States’s rampant relay teams is Oklahoma’s Sportsman of the month for May. …..

 

During the past three campaigns Coach Ralph Higgin’s Cowpokes have not won a major relay race without John Perry in the lineup. ….

 

Perry has been a member of five national championship relay teams.. …

 

You have to go back more than a decade to the heyday of J. W. Mashburn to find a runner who shared in more major relay honors than Perry

Running at age 77 is a “new frontier” . I don’t run 24x220 anymore but I do run intervals on a soft track. Usually 8 or 10 repeats of 70 or 100 meters with a 100 meter walk. Warmup is only a mile and a few easy100 jogs, Running “striders” is a lot more fun than jogging and your heart rate goes way up above 150.

I try to run all my “sprints” with a forefoot strike, drive and lift. Kind of like we did 50 years ago. I don’t have any joint problems. The main problem when you first start the program is pulled hamstrings. When your hips are locked and hip flexors aren’t strong, you will pull a hamstring. No hamstring pulls was one of the results of OSU’s 24x220 training. None of us ever pulled a hamstring even when Coach would make us race 100’s and 220’s in the Fall. When I started my track training a couple of years ago, I had lost some of my I Joint/lower back flexibility and pulled everything including both hamstrings. I’m ok now but still listen to my body. Don’t forget your upper body, I usually do a set of 30 pushups everyday and also do a few pull-ups and chin-ups.

John Perry

Comments

From James Metcalf 

George:

I did no run the 880 in high school except at the end of the meet just for the points.  I would lag in the back and then blow people off the track the last 330.  never tried for time.

I was a miler in high school,  Won the state championship 3 times and had the then state record on the 2 mile 9:52

I won the Fr. Worth Recreational in the mile my senior year.  It had about 100 entrants and we ran prelims on Friday.  I blew them off the track the last 220.

I ran 4:25 my junior year and my senior year,   after the Ft. Worth meet ran a 4:22 in the rain on a muddy track in april.  Did not get a good day until the meet of champions and just sat on the leaders, Ray Smith (state Record holder) and Richard Cable.  I won but about 20 yards in the last 220 in 4:21.  I had a devastating kick.  Never ran a 440 and my best 880 was 1:58....but ran a sprint medley  relay 1:50.2 my freshman year.  Came from about 30 yards behind.  I would out run my 440 and both 220 men.

I ran on the cross country team and ran 15:05 my soph year.  My longest run was 18 miles.  we ran 10-15 miles every Sunday afternoon on the back roads around stilwater I got 20th in the Big 8 Cross country that year.   I was a miler/880 runner training wise  in the spring and ran the mile once in the spring against Robin Lingle and Tom Von Ruden.  it was 20 mph wind and I went with Lingle and died and Tom caught me the last 5 yards.  I ran 4:13.

The next year I became an 880/440 runner and never ran the mile again.  Hig put me anchor in the mile relay and I ran 46.9 with Don Payne, national indoor champion, .

Hig once told me that he was at the State Track Meet my soph year when I stepped into the second lane and sprinted 330 yards and blew the competition away.  He turned to his friend and said  "there is the kid who is going to anchor my mile Relay"....I ran 46.1 my  junior year.  so you can see why I had such a kick in high school.

I never did train to the max my senior year as I was trying to get into med school, and I  was into studying and having graduate level research projects and was in the lab all day.  I worked out many days by myself carrying a watch.  I did get into med school and have never regretted it.  I did workouts that were easy enough to let me study 3 hours every night.

My senior year, I ran 1:48 as a PR  and made the finals of the AAU 880 when we ran prelims and semis in 2 hours the night before.  i ran the last of 4 heats and the first of the 2 semi heats so I ran 1:50 + twice in less than 2 hours.  I had a posterior cruciate knee knee strain and could hardly walk the next day but the AAU trainers loosened me up for the final.  That was the last race I ever ran. I got 8th.  Wade Bell ran 1:46.   The week before at NCAA I ran an easy 1:51 with Wade bell the first day and 1:53 the second, due to my knee injury.  The week before I got 3rd in the 880 at the Federation Meet behind Ryun and Ray Arrington , the national champ in 1000 at the NCAA indoor . And got 4th in the open 440 the next night.  That is when   hurt my knee. We ran prelims in the 440 and then finals that night.   I could not jog for 3 days.

My spring training was about 15 miles a week.  I jogged a mile or 2 to warm up and would run 9x220 in 23+.  I really did 440 workouts my senior year,  and ran the 880 on my back ground.    I ran 16:42 for the 3 miles in cross country the  previous fall.

So I had a interesting , to me, career that covered different distances and circumstances.

As an aside, at OSU David, John, Tom and I have 7 of the top 880 times in OSU history.

But as John said, Hig was a master at training the 880 runners in the fall.  to break the monotony of cross country he would take a day off and have a track meet  on the track and we ran some decent 880's then, as well as mile and 3 mile and 440 and then we ran mile relays. 

And most important, Hig never let us get broken down.  In the spring,  Dave, John, and I rand some killer workouts, but by Wed, if we were running 9 x 200 and by 5 we were struggling he would stop the workout and have use do a couple of miles of easy warm down jogging at warm up pace.

Hig was a great Man.  He taught us a lot besides track.  How to order in a restaurant in NYC, how to treat  waitress, Tip etc etc.  and be gentlemen on the road.

I  came from a track family.  My dad won state 880 twice in ' 35 and '36.  2:02 and his workout was to run a mile and sprint the last 440.

My uncle James ran at OSU and ran a 9.5 100 in 1946.

Uncle Harold ran a 49 440

My brother Kent ran 1:55 at OSU. 1958  and my brother Dan was All America in cross country and a 4:11 mile. 1960 He got a photo finish  second at the 10K at the Kansas Relays and would have be a great 5k and 10 K runner. that was the only time he ran a 10K and only time over 4 miles in cross country.

He sent me my workouts on a post card every day, so I was doing OSU workouts on a golf course my junior and senior year. worked out with a friend and never worked out on a track or with a track team.  Altus did not have a track except for a road graded 330 dirt track that was made every spring..

So I was hanging around the OSU locker room and Hig from the 6th grade. We corresponded by letter my senior year.   The NCAA would have stepped in today.  

Dan's son Joe was All America in cross country in 1983

 from DarrylTaylor

   George-that story has a familiar ring to it. Of course the Long Beach State 2-Mile relay was not in the same class as the Perry's and Von Ruden but we did have a hard working group that was just good enough to make the starting list in all of the great West Coast meets of the 1960s. I went over those photos 3-4 times and truly enjoyed seeing images of both Perry's and Von Ruden who I was honored to team up with as members of the newly formed 49er Track Club. Throw in Preston Davis of Texas and Harry McCalla of Stanford and I was living a dream with some of the world's finest middle distance runners. One very frightening experience I had with this group was on that very RED Albuquerque indoor track in 1967, three years after graduation from Long Beach State. The year started off in January with a 2nd place 2-Mile Relay in Oakland when Oregon's Jerry Van Dyke nipped me at the tape for a 7:46.6 to 7:46.8 victory. Team mates for that one were Harry McCalla, Dave Perry and Dave Mellady. Tom Jennings' experiment with me as anchor ended right there and rightly so. Even so, my 1:55.1 anchor was the fastest split according to Jennings. Things were about to get much faster.

    Just two weeks later I took a flight from Los Angeles to Albuquerque to meet up with my 49er TC team mates.  Coming down the stairs from the DC-7 United Airlines flight my eyes nearly popped out of my head as I saw McCalla, Von Ruden and Preston Davis standing on the Tarmac looking me right in the eye. As I joined them on a walk into the terminal their message to me was, "Taylor, we are going for the World Record tonight in the 2-Mile Relay!" I can tell you that the words "WORLD and RECORD" had never been uttered in a reference to me before this very moment and I had little time to think about it before heading for Tingley Stadium in downtown Albuquerque. Being in the presence of greatness truly had an effect on me as we warmed up and decided who would run where.  McCalla retained his place on leadoff, I would run second, Von Ruden would carry third and Preston Davis would anchor. I always did my best running from behind and Harry obliged by giving me the baton 6-7 yards behind Texas's lead-off man. Harry's leadoff 1:53.1 got us off to a good start. I tucked in behind a fast starting Texas boy and the 5-1/2 laps on that red track just flew by.  Jennings was on the infield calling splits and as we passed he called out 52-53, certainly the fastest ever opening indoor split of my career. With 2 laps to go, I felt Texas' pace slacken and feeling good I passed him and ran hard to the waiting Von Ruden. From there it was all over. Now, some 50+ years later I can look back and say that my split of 1:51.2 was a full .5 tenths faster than I had ever run before or since. What Tom did was nothing short of amazing. Running solo, he ran 1:49.2 on the third leg as the announcer said it was the fastest ever 880 run indoors. I never checked on the accuracy of that statement but it was a blazing time either way. Preston Davis had an easy chore of anchoring in 1:52.1 for a team time of 7:25.6 and the World Record was ours. For me this was the World Series, Super-bowl and NBA Finals all rolled into one. 

   Two weeks later we got our revenge on the Oregon Ducks. A flight to New York's Madison Square Garden for the NYAC Games pitted us against Oregon and Fordam University.  McCalla matched his Albuquerque time and again gave me a 5 yard deficit to make up. I immediately closed up on Arne Klevalheim and we passed off even after a 1:53 split.  Perry matched that with a 1:53 of his own before Preston Davis made gave us the victory with a sizzling 1:50.3 anchor for a 5 yard victory over the Ducks. 

Let me thank you once again for this wonderful forum that sheds a light of what was for me the finest year of indoor racing in my career. I just had to share this memory with you!  

Darryl Taylor

LBSC 1961-1964

49er TC/Pacific Coast Track Club 1964-1970

Darryl,

Thank you so much for your truly insightful and "inside ful" comments which I've added to the article.  I guess this is how

historians do their jobs,  they go to the source.  I'm truly glad we connected through this blog.  That Albequerque track was 

amazing.  In your experience did you run on better ones.   I heard that the Louisville, KY board track was really fast but of course

it was 220 yards.  Do you remember Adolph Plummer coming off the track as he was going into the turn too fast for his legs to support

him and then sliding across the concrete infield, still on his feet, and sparks flying out from under him,  because his spikes were dragging

on that concrete?   George

George- 

 I never cease to be amazed at how runners can train so differently yet still run similar times.  The secret seems to be hard work, not necessarily in one day but over a period of time.  In my only season of cross country I was 9th of 11 men and usually did not make the traveling squad.  We did cross country workouts which helped my endurance but hampered my speed.  It also defeated my confidence since I was in my second year of running training and got the impression I was no good.  I believe I would have thrived under Higgin's 24 x 220 training, first slow, then fast.  During the season my 880 training was centered around 10 x 220 (30).  Mostly a good idea, but never building into it over time.  I loved the challenge of training and loved my coach and teammates.  It was a life-changing experience and certainly one of the highlights of my life.

   Looking at John Perry at 77 makes me reconsider what I do today.  I am still not a good long distance runner and am much more suited for basketball, yet I still go out on long distance runs probably because that has been my tradition.  Clearly I should be doing sets of 200s.   Bill Schnier,  U. of Cincinnati track and cross country coach, ret'd.

George, Great job on the post about John Perry and the OSU 4x880 team!  Bill Blewett

Hi George,

   When I saw this email, I went to the WR Progression book to check the date for OSU's race, and look at which team is credited with running the 7:18.4! 

(The photo is attached in case it doesn't appear here) 

  

I've already contacted the book's editor about the mistake.

Loved the story.

Walt Murphy

Wow!!!  That's a terrible mistake that most Oklahoman's would note right away.  George

Sant José	8:45 AM (8 minutes ago)
to me

Article trés interessant , de l'athlétisme pur ... Merci George pour ces articles .  Bonne journée .

V 11 N. 65 from THE NEW YORKER "Why Were So Many Running World Records Broken During the Pandemic?"

Today our Western Michigan correspondent, Richard Mach responds to the following article which appeared in this week's New Yorker  magazine (Sept. 7, 2021) by Jacob Sweet.  You can open the article, with a bit of effort, in the link below.  I would strongly urge you to first write down your own ideas, then read the article, then compare your ideas to Mr. Mach's.       George

 Why Were So Many Running World Records Broken During the Pandemic?

The shutdown led to unusual circumstances that helped runners excel like never before.

Read in The New Yorker: https://apple.news/AchjlWn16R6egrtPPr4s8nw

Richard Mach's interpretation.

     What the article seems to tell me is we're looking at a contextually significant difference, namely that without the subsequent every week to 10 days big race to prepare for, one could instead race the clock to get beneath the OLY standard while racing with his or her equally talented mates.  

      Because  I have not at all followed distance training techniques methods and protocols across the past 30 yrs or so, I am unsure if whether there is an underlying method in all that possible madness; such as you training within an inch of your life, then tapering before the more important or challenging competitions.    And you usually point for one or two races within that season throughout the year that has the most meaning for your career or future and so develop your training plan around that,  so that you peak in terms of racing fitness at -- hopefully -- just the right time.  

     However there are truly so many variables. both known and unknown, to keep track of, that it is difficult to imagine being less than outright lucky to modulate the entire ensemble right down to the nth degree and arrive bright and shiny on that race day and knock out a big one. 

     Perhaps it is a kind of prematurely inborn talent few have who not only listen to but hear their very souls talking to them that manage to extract the very last drop out of their training. We do know one thing :  Much of the demand on the competitor was clearly reduced despite the uncertainty.  One could cease racing because there were so few first rate contests last year.    And delve more safely into what his or her true limits were.  The kid who grew up  just down the road enunciated something like that in the article: Grant Fisher.  

     And for giving it your all,  you were not penalized in the next few races because you hadn't recovered,  because there were no new races.  So, it could well have been a time of experimentation.  And actually getting more rest, especially psychologically, because travel was way down and the myriad of travel-based adjustments to food and time zones and promoter demands simply weren't playing. 

     So, most of all, in order to achieve not only world class times, but to achieve them consistently; and not only world class but world record times, the magical ingredient is actually not hammer 'til you die, but hammer selectively and get plenty of rest and as we learned this year -- stay racing fit by racing.  Hard.  Every time out.  And rest in between.  Scary and tricky?  Yes, because it is not often done.  

     Most of all I'd like to talk to another guy down the street, the one living in Ann Arbor or as we say it here A Squared, namely Nick Willis, the Kiwi and perennial world class 1500 m guy now 38.4 yrs old and ask him as an assistant coach at Michigan U what he makes of this article and what things in his long and illustrious career he can reflect on around what he has come to and used himself.  

Gentlemen:

Have you forgotten the term "tactical races"?

Take care,

Tom Coyne

George,

This is an interesting article but it greatly disappoints me because - except for the briefest of mentions, with no suggestion of its significance - it ignores the DECISIVE factor in all the new records. SHOES. Which is really unfortunate since it was published in The New Yorker - most of whose readers are unaware of revolutionary upgrade in running shoes.

I am not saying that the pandemic uncertainty and the well-orchestrated time trials made no difference, but for many years well-paced time trial races have been commonplace in professional running, including marathons. The big jump in record breaking started a few years ago with Nokr's breakthrough shoes. With Adidas and the others joining the competition, the technology has improved further. 

Estimates vary, and may, to some extent, depend on the individual runner, but the benefit seems to be roughly 4%. Which for a 2:05 marathon would be 5 minutes. And for a 30 minute 10K 1:12. And for a 3:49 1500 - which would be an excellent time for a high school junior like Hobbs Kessler - it would be 15".  Which pretty accurately predicts the new records.

Geoff Pietsch