Vol. 3 No. 80 George Dales Western Michigan University

Paul O'Shea sent the following article from  Cross Country Journal  telling something about Coach George Dales of Western Michigan University.   Coach Dales , now in his 90's was the youngest Chief Petty Officer in the Navy in WWII.  In the links below you will find out more about the NCAA Champion Cross Country Teams he coached in 1964-65.    Men's track and field is gone from WMU, but Coach Dales is still going  strong.  One of the following links is from the website of Bring Back Track that tried so hard to give new life to the program, but finally had to throw in the towel.  The Broncos under coach Dales never threw in any towels when they were a team.  The second link below talks about the university hall of fame induction of their national champion Cross Country team.   Thanks Paul O'Shea and Thomas Coyne for sending this article about Coach Dales. 

 

Coach George Dales member of US Track and Field Coaches Hall of Fame

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.bringbacktrack.com/history/Mach-Westerns_Heyday.asp

 

Dale Story(Oregon St.) John Bork (WMU)  Jerry McFadden (Missouri)
at the Drake Relays 4x 1 mile in which WMU set the American
Record and Bork was outstanding performer.   See story in link above.
Photo was contributed by Jerry McFadden

http://www.mlive.com/broncos/index.ssf/2009/09/1964_65_cross_country_teams_ge.html#comments

From: Bill Schnier University of Cincinnati

I have come to know George quite well over the years and everything you said about him was true.

   I am passing on a  story I once heard about George Dales and Don Canham when George was at WMU and Don was at the University of Michigan.  The U of M went to Kalamazoo once for a T&F dual meet.  The Broncos won and Coach Canham demanded that his athletes get on the bus at once, even if it meant leaving their equipment on the field.  Those two went on the establish the NCAA Indoor Championships in Detroit, a well-attended meet of great excitement, much more than today's version.  George is truly one of the giants in T&F and XC and I consider the award given in his honor to be the finest award at the USTFCCCA Convention.

Vol. 3 No. 67 More Timeless Photos from the Banks of the Seine and a Story about Franjo Mihalic and the Sao Sylvestre race in Brazil

Two more photos, rarely seen,  from Jerry McFadden

George,

Here are more of the old photos I promised you last week

Photo 1. shows Gordon Pirie (1) leading in the March, 1953, "Cross Des Nations" (precursor to the modern International XC Champs) at Vincennes, France, in front of Thys (15) and Van Wattyene (16). The Englishman Pirie was the favorite but faded to 6th. Mihalic from Yugoslavia won. Pirie set 5 world records in his prime, including 5K in 13:36.8 and 3K in 7:52.7 in 1956. He also took a silver medal in the 5K in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.  Mihalic took the silver in the marathon at Melbourne and won Boston in 1958.

Photo 2. shows the XC hurdles in the middle of the same race. Mihalic (135) eventually won, Surprisingly, the final distance was not listed in newspaper article, although the winning time was 47:53.1. 

Jerry

A clear view of Mihalic the winner is not evident in these pictures

but his head is partially seen behind Gordon Pirie's head.

 

Note the close distance between these barriers

Click to see enlarged copy of meet results

 

More about  Franjo Mihalic (Yougoslavia) the winner of Cross des Nations  1953

 

Who was Mihalic?  Probably you have forgotten that Franjo Mihalic won the Boston Marathon in 1958 and a silver medal in the marathon in 1956 behind Alain Mimoun in the Melbourne Olympics. 

 

A brief youtube clip can be seen at  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyU9VtZi_D0

Longer and rather bizarrely edited clips also show up on youtube if you type in Mihalic's name.  What is remarkable is that the man was such a good international runner for a long period of time.  Born in 1920, he would have spent his best years surviving Nazi occupation during WWII and probably not being able to do much training.  A twenty years old healthy male most likely spent a lot of time in the military.  If you speak Serb or Croatian,  you  may be able to learn more about him on the youtube clips, some of which are over 20 minutes long.   At 93 years of age he is still alive today.   An interesting thing that came up in googling his name is that he ran in the Sao Sylvestre New Year's Eve run with Zatopek in Brazil in the 1950's.   A picture of him on the podium with Zatopek can be seen at the following website, and more interestingly you will have a history of that famous race.  It has been computer translated from Portugese to English, so there are some glaring translation mistakes, but you can still get this gist of the story.

 

http://www.microsofttranslator.com/BV.aspx?ref=IE8Activity&a=http%3A%2F%2Fhistoriacontemporanea-mlopomo.blogspot.ca%2F2010%2F12%2Fcorrida-de-sao-silvestre.html

 

Mihalic in Europe

Mihalic and some of his hardware

Mihalic counseling  French singer and actor Charles Azanevour who played a Czech marathoner (Zatopek?)
in the film "The Games". 

With Veikko Karvonen, and Alain Mimoun in Melbourne after the Marathon

Vol. 3 No. 63 Photos from the Banks of the Seine

Our friend and connaisseur  Jerry McFadden has done the archeology bit at the booksellers along the Seine in Paris and come up with these old photos.   Merci beaucoup, Jerry.

George,

I thought I would send these along to you. I have some more in the same vein but I will send those along next week. 

1. Roger Bannister beating John Landy in the famous Commonwealth Mile in Vancouver in 1954: 3:58.8 vs 3:59.6, which was considered an amazing race at that time. Bannister was the first to break four minutes earlier in May in 3:59.4. Despite losing, Landy still held on to his world record of 3:58.0 set in Turku, Finland, in July of that year. 

2. Bruce Tulloh leading M. Bogy in the 5K during the France vs England match 1960 (?) and then winning in 14:08.1. Note Tulloh's bare feet. The French press, from where this photo was taken, was amazed that someone would run bare feet at this level of competition. 

Hope all is well,

Jerry

p.s. You've given me a new hobby when I am in Paris: Scrounging through those book stalls along the Seine to find old running magazines. 

Photos

Jerry notes that Landy still held the mile record set in Turku, Finland ,  even though Bannister ran him down in the stretch in this race.  This was one of the great mile duals of all time when it happened in Vancouver in 1954.   Bannister retired shortly after this race and devoted his time to medical school and his work.  Landy went on to run in the Melbourne Olympics in 1956 and win a bronze medal in the 1500, behind Ron Delany of Ireland and Walter Richtezen of Germany. 

I thought nothing ever happened in Turku, Finland after Landy's record,  but scrounging the files last year I came upon this assassination attempt on the Finnish prime minister.  So fifty five year cycles in Turku must be heeded.

October 22, 2012 
A MAN WIELDING a knife tried to attack Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen in the south-western town of Turku on Monday, but was swiftly arrested by police, the prime minister’s office said in a statement.
“Prime Minister Katainen’s security men have apprehended a person who had brought a sharp weapon to Prime Minister Katainen’s electoral meeting in Turku,” said the statement.
“The Prime Minister was not injured and the programme will continue as planned.”
Security guards quickly swooped in to protect Katainen, 41, and removed him from the scene. He returned shortly afterwards to resume campaigning.
A young “dishevelled”-looking man had approached the prime minister to shake his hand, saying he was in a difficult situation and needed help, newspaper Hufvudstadsbladet reported.
“Then the man went down on his knees, pulled out a knife and said something about killing,” photographer Robert Seger, who witnessed the event, told the paper.
Katainen had been discussing taxes on diesel and the taxes paid by the elderly before the incident.
Do you think PM Katainen discussed this event at dinner tonight? GB

Vol 2 No. 59 Jim Bailey and the first 4 minute mile on US cinders

From the Seattle Times   April 30, 2006.  by Blaine Newnham

 This article was written to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Australian Jim Bailey's 4 minute mile in the L.A. Colesium.   

He remains the answer to one of the real good sports trivia questions.

Who ran the first sub-4-minute mile in the United States?

"Nobody but a few track historians knows or really cares," said Jim Bailey last week from his home in Bellingham.

This week — Saturday to be exact — will mark the 50th anniversary of Bailey's epic run, one that was so surprising and at the same time so unwelcome that it made him an enemy in his native country of Australia.

And, really, has kept him from going home.

"Your country has been kinder to me than mine," he said.

Bailey, then a 26-year-old Aussie, was the fifth man to break history's greatest sports barrier, and the first to do it on U.S. cinders.

                                                      Bill Dellinger and Jim Bailey  1955
                                                                (U.of Oregon Library)

And it wouldn't be until a year later, 1957, that a lanky University of California runner, Don Bowden, would become the first American to break the barrier, in the solitude of Stockton, Calif., another good track trivia question.

It surprised me that Bailey, 76, found it painful to discuss his feat, the come-from-behind, inexplicable conquest of countryman John Landy, the world-record holder in the mile.

"I knew I was in the race to make it competitive, but with the understanding it was John Landy's to win," said Bailey. "I never thought about breaking 4 minutes."  Or winning.

The year was 1956, two years after Brit Roger Bannister first broke the barrier. The Olympics were scheduled in Melbourne, and a race to promote the Games was run at the Los Angeles Coliseum as part of the USC-UCLA dual meet.

Ah, those were the days: 40,000 people in the Coliseum to watch a dual track meet.

"And 40 million to watch the race later on television," Bailey said. The coverage immediately followed the finish of the Kentucky Derby. The world was ready to see Landy run under 4 minutes in the United States.

(Univ. of Oregon Library)

Bailey was the Australian half-mile champion who, after scratching because of an injury from the famed Commonwealth Games showdown between Bannister and Landy in Vancouver, B.C., in 1954, was drawn to Oregon to run for Bill Bowerman.

In 1955, Bailey won the NCAA mile, just ahead of his Oregon teammate, Bill Dellinger. The two helped put Eugene and distance running on the map, starting the long line that Jim Grelle, Dyrol Burleson, Steve Prefontaine and Alberto Salazar would take up.

Bailey wonders if he had run in Vancouver if he might have been able to protect Landy from the fast-closing Bannister. In Los Angeles, Bailey was able to hang with Landy through three laps, following his directive to make the race competitive.

"I was a half-miler with a bad knee," he said. "I had no chance to win."

Nonetheless, Bailey moved near Landy on the final lap.

"All of a sudden, I had the feeling that I could blow by him," said Bailey. "At the same time I knew my place."

As Bailey pulled alongside, he reached back and patted Landy on the butt and said, "Let's go, John."

Landy, caught by surprise, made a move but couldn't catch Bailey.

"Once I was level with him, I forgot about all the obligation," said Bailey. " ... You know, let the better man win."

Bailey won in 3 minutes, 58.6 seconds. He gained international fame when all he wanted was to get an invitation to the Australian Olympic trials later that year.

                                           Dellinger, Bailey, and Bowerman Checking Train
                                             Schedules to Travel to Sugar Bowl Meet 1955
                                                                 (U. of Oregon Library)

Bailey admits now that he didn't handle the victory well

Upon returning to Australia, he announced he was in better shape than he had been when he beat Landy, and he'd beat him by an even wider margin the next time they met.

"They would have excused me if I had been more apologetic about beating Landy and not said the things I did," he said. "Landy was so popular, the way swimmer Ian Thorpe is now. I got death threats for what I'd done, and I was booed at the trials."

Bailey, a former pro rugby player, was cast as the roughneck from Sydney. Landy, the former record holder, was cast as the gentleman from Melbourne. Bailey admits the characterizations were closer to the truth than not.

Bailey made the Australian Olympic team in both the 800 and 1,500 meters, but didn't get out of the semifinals in the 800 and never ran the 1,500.

"I wasn't right, mentally or physically," he said.

To this day, Bailey says failing in the Olympics, in front of his countrymen, left more of an impression on his life than beating Landy and running the first sub-4 in America.

"I was completely overwhelmed by what happened in Melbourne and never recovered from it," he said.

Bailey with Peter Snell and Dave Wottle

Bailey worked as a manufacture's rep in the sportswear business, and lived for a while in Kirkland before settling in Bellingham, where he sold real estate at nearby Semiahmoo Resort. He described times of his life as that of a "misfit living on the edge."

Perhaps it wasn't defeat that affected his life as much as victory. The day he beat John Landy, when he wasn't supposed to.

George,

 I never knew or remembered any of this. I remembered Jim  Bailey as a great runner but did not know how his running career finished. That was truly sad. My Moroccan runners often called T&F to be the "sport of heartbreak' and this has often proved correct.

Jerry McFadden

Vol. 2 No. 55 Meeting John Bork

Below is a series of emails exchanged between John Bork, George Brose, and Jerry McFadden.


Dear George:

Ernie Cunliffe, who I had the pleasure of rooming with during our January 1962 trip to New Zealand, turned me on to your web site!

That picture of me on your web site at Franklin Field-Philadelphia which the caption underneath saying " Penn Relays" is actually the finish of the 1961 NCAA 880Yd. Championship. My time was 1:48.3. At that time was a  new stadium record.

                                                                        CORRECTION

             John Bork Winning 1961  NCAA Meet in Franklin Field Philadelphia

My mistake calling it Penn Relays earlier

 

                           

John,

Wow, what a surprise to get an email from one of my boyhood heros.   We never shared a starting line but growing up in southwest Ohio I did get to see you run in the MAC championships in 60  when they were at Bowling Green.  Western Michigan was really a powerhouse in those days with you and Jared Ashmore, Dick  Pond, and a few others I can't remember.  I occasionally see a guy named Barry Binkley who ran at Bowling Green and pr'd in that meet in the mile.  He may have gotten second.  But to whom I don't recall.  I'm pretty sure you took the 880 that day.  I graduated from HS in 1961, so I was a bit behind you.  I went to Oklahoma and ran 4:09 and 1:51 but never went to any big meets other than the relays.   Did you ever run that AAU meet that was held annually in Ft. Wayne, Indiana?  That meet used to draw a lot of the big names in the Midwest, and I think a number of your teammates and perhaps you may have been there.

 My good friend Steve Price (coached the Kettering Striders and then the women's coach at Bowling Green) I think knew you .

George Brose

 Dear George:

Boy do we have some paths crossing along the way.

I grew up in Monroe, Michigan.    Monroe is just 17 miles from Toledo and about 40 miles from Detroit.

What town did you grow up in?

I met Steve Price at Miami of Ohio in 1962 when I started my graduate work there.

I was Steve's freshman cross country and track coach as assistant to Bob Epskamp
Steve interested me to Blues music. We went to a local college hangout together that featured 

a great rythym and blues band "Maurice and the Rockets. (CORRECTION from Steve,  It was Maurice and the Mystics)   Bob Epskamp had first been myHigh school Coach at Monroe H.S. and then our assistant coach at Western Michigan to George Dales.  So, I followed him down to Miami of Ohio. I had the honor of coaching Jack Bacheler, Andy Schramm, Dave Bartell when they were freshman at Miami. in 1963.

I ran cross country for four years at WMU so I was in races with Barry Binkley. At that time we had tremendous depth at WMU and Bowling Green did not so, I think we kind of overwhelmed Barry. He was quite talented

At the1961  MAC Meet which you witnessed  at Bowling Green we swept the 880 Rich Mach 3rd. Dick Greene 2nd. My winning time of 1:50.8 was a MAC and Track record at the time. A couple of weeks later at the Central Collegiate Conference meet I ran under 1:50 for the first time with a1:49.0. Bob Teague had graduated from Kansas but, his teammate Kirk Hagan was 2nd in the race. Charlie Durant of Drake was 3rd.

Yes, I ran in the Ft. Wayne Invitational/AAU Meet in 1961. I won the 880 in about 1:50.0, nipping George Kerr of Jamaica/U of Ill. and Jim Dupree.. I was third to Jim Dupree later that  year at the Nat. AAU Championships,  1:48.5 to 1:48.8 Jerry Siebert nipped me at the tape to keep me off the USA Team.  Coming down the home straight, Geroge Kerr ran me out into the 3rd. lane and hammered me with three big elbows which really  took the sting out of my kick. After I finally got around him I set out after Dupree and was rgaining ground but about 10 yards from the tape, Jerry Siebert blew by me and I had no time to respond. Kerr was fourth and our friend Ernie Cunliffe was fifth. Good Company.

But, I must tell you how Mt. SAC JC Champion and 880 record holder, Ray VanAsten, helped me make the finals. I was tired at the AAU meet on Randalls Island NY after running 3  races at the NCAA Meet. But, luckily the heats were slower at the AAU than at the NCAA's.

In the semi's as we neared the 440 mark I was in the middle of the pack with Wayne Farlow of USC on my inside and Ray Van Asten outside me. Suddenly Farlow decided to make a move, cutting directly in front

on both me and VanAsten. In order to keep from tripping over Farlow, I pushed him forward with both hands

which also pushed me backwards, tired and disheartened I was about to step off the track. But, as Farlow cut in front of Ray VanAsten, Ray, yelled "Farlow, you Fucker!". This caused a ripple of laughter in the crowd and cracked me up too, so, I gained back my desire and finished about fourth to make the final.

2 nights ago, I made contact with Ray Van Asten and told him the story and, thanked him for helping me make the final. Ray was a little taken back by my telling of the words he blurted out. He remembered the incident but not his actual words. That was the only time that Ray and I were in a race together. He went on to U of Oregon after Mt. SAC but, told me his career ended in 1964 with a back injury sustained the season before.

So, finding Ray Van Asten after these 51 years to thank him; gave me courage to try and locate

my New Zealand teammate, Ernie Cunliffe and....... then Ernie introduced me to your web site.

Cool!

More later.

John Bork

John,

That's a great story about Wayne Farlow.  I'll include it in the blog maybe as an 'expletive deleted' if Van Asten doesn't mind.   (Like hell, I will.)

  

George  

George:

PS, I see that I goofed... Wayne and Warrren Farlow were twins. I slipped

It was in the semi final race with Warren Farlow, not Wayne., oops.

I don't think I ever ran against Wayne. I'm not sure if he was there at NY but, in another heat.

My. brother Dave coached Track and Cross Country at Monroe High School for many years 

70's thru 90's and was Mid West XC National Coach of the year back when.

His most notable runner was Olympian Todd Williams. Dave had about 9 state champions

and one of his team set a state record for the lowest score ever in the Class A XC Championships

of about 19 points, with Todd the winner, Tim Pitcher (Later of U. Tenn.) and Dave's Son Derek

in the top 10. Derek went on to Stanford and now is a corporate Attorney in Cleveland, Ohio.

It is interesting that you ask if I've written a book. which is funny because last week, my friend Tom Trumpler here in Camarillo commented in an em-mail; that I should write my "obituary" or a book. I told Tom yesterday that I'm not sure, I will because only 4 people would probably read it.  I may do it for my kids. Tom is an ardent track nut, who was meet director for the Camarillo H.S. Relay Meet which featured Jordan Hasay as a high schooler.

Back in the day when Max Truex, Bob Schul; and Ernie Cunliffe were stationed at the Oxnard AFB

they used to come over to Camarillo and use the  old. track.

I had a son and twin daughters who ran on the Camarilo H.S. track teams. Kevin was County 100M and 200M Champion one year. 10.88, 22.1 and 48.5 

Got to go.

John Bork

George,

This is the photo of John Bork I was talking about. The front runner is Dale Story of Oregon State, followed by Bork, then myself, during the 4x1 mile relay at Drake in April, 1961.

Western Michigan came into the event totally unheralded, with Oregon State, Missouri, and Iowa considered the favorites. Jerry Bashaw led off for WMU with a 4:19.8, followed by Jerry Ashmore in 4:10, then Bork blew us all away with a 4:07, with Dick Pond anchoring in 4:13.6 - for an American record of 16:50.4. The previous American record was set in 16:52.4 by an American "All Star' team in London in 1952.

Oregon State took 2nd in 17:04.4 with Missouri in 3rd at 17:08.0.  Sorry the photo is a bit overexposed.

Jerry McFadden

John,   just got this from Jerry McFadden,  the third guy in the picture.

George Brose

                                                        Drake Relays April , 1961
                                                          3rd Leg  4x 1 mile  relay
                    Dale Story (Oregon St.), John Bork (Western Michigan)  Jerry McFadden (Missouri)

Dear Jerry and George:

What a wonderful birthday gift you guys have sent me. And, on my actual birthday.  I had no idea that this photo existed..... for over 51 years.   Did a teammate take this photo, Jerry? Or, is it a press photo?

Thanks so much!

John Bork

John,

It was taken by a teammate. We were hoping that that we were going to have a good day as we had ran 17:05 the previous week at the Kansas Relays and thought we could handle the other teams (only Houston had ran faster at that point) but you guys ruined our party! But it has been fun to say we were there when you guys took the American record.    Glad you enjoyed the photo and that it arrived on your birthday. Nicely done, George.

Jerry  McFadden

Thanks Jerry,   that gives it a unique flavor.   Didn't you tell me Rawson (your roommate) got killed in Viet Nam.  I remember Pelster had a had a strange toes out stride but it didn't seem to slow him down at all.  There's a good picture of Rawson in the Drake Relays archive.  I'll see if I can locate it.

Bill Rawson

George

George,

You have a great memory. Bill was killed in Vietnam as a Marine 2nd Lt. a few months after he graduated from MU. His name is on the Wall in D.C. 

Jerry

It's nice to be remembered some 51 years later.

Just when I was groveling in the realization that I had become an  * askerisk to track and field lore just as

the " Paavo Nurmi's of another day" were to us back in the 1950's and 1960's. - 

So, thanks for making me feel "remembered"..

John Bork

Vol. 1 No. 60 Long live the Past

We've all been enjoying reading Roy Mason's reviews of old T&FN issues, and he in turn has enjoyed reading your comments. I try to post those comments on the blog as well. If there are things you want to add, just write to me at irathermediate@gmail.com   . I'll copy and paste them as they come in. I think when reading these entries they might well serve as a platform from which any of you may wish to add your comments and memories of certain events. A recent addition to our list of readers is Dixon Farmer who many of you will remember as 1963 NCAA 440 hurdles champion, a US team member, coach at Michigan and Washington, and an AD at Occidental. Welcome aboard.

Jerry McFadden whose picture appears with Bob Schul and myself ran at U. of Missouri, graduating in 1963. Jerry and I competed against each other in a triangular meet in Norman, OK and then in the Big 8 Meet where he placed second in the mile with a PR 4:05. He went on to serve in the Peace Corps in Morocco and coached a number of up and coming runners in that country. He also wrote a series of articles in a new running journal Runner's World back in the early 70's. After my graduation from Oklahoma, I too went into the Peace Corps and served in Tanzania. Jerry and I both met and married French women whom we met overseas. So we have a number of common threads in our backgrounds.

Several of Jerry's Moroccan athletes emigrated to Canada where I was living in the mid 70's, and I met them in coaching circles in Montreal. They always asked me if I knew Jerry McFadden, and I could only say , that I had run against him a long time ago. About two years ago, one of them, Jose Sant, now a national coach in Canada, repeated his request for me to find Jerry. That happened this Spring, and Jerry and I began a correspondence that led to our getting together last week in Dayton, OH. I invited Bob Schul to come over and meet Jerry as well and we shared a lot of stories about the good old days. An interesting and little known bit of track trivia is that Bob also was in the Peace Corps. How many Olympians ever served in the Peace Corps? He was in Maylasia as their national coach in 1973. He and Jerry compared notes on running the Hash House in Maylasia. George

Vol. 1 No. 48 Elliot , Cerutty, Portsea

All,
I was a junior in high school when Herb Elliot burst on to running scene in 1957-60. As a wannabe miler, I was enamored by the mystique of Elliot, Percy Cerutty, and the whole Australian gang running up and down the dunes and through the surf. We didn't have a lot of dunes and surf in southern Illinois.


A few years ago, I went to Melbourne on business. I took the weekend to do the pilgrimage to Portsea (about 1 & 1/2 miles south of Melbourne) to see the famous dunes. The landscape is similar to Marin County in Calif. But the dunes, the beaches, and the ocean are awesome. Portsea is still a sleepy small village now noted for it snorkeling and diving. And the dunes are now environmentally protected, with repeat runs up and down them frowned upon.


Their training camp is long gone but the grass oval where they did intervals is still there - but basically just a wide open grass field with park benches on the perimeter. There is a plaque to Percy Cerutty on the side, put there by his runners on his death. Ironically, someone mispelled his name on the plaque and no one ever changed it.


Portsea is a great weekend holiday out of Melbourne by itself. But if you are a running history nut, you will enjoy it even more.


P.S. I still have an autographed poster of Herb on my office wall!


Jerry McFadden