12
Friday, April 16, 1976
University Dally Kansan
Bannister's 3:59.4 in 1954 a race beyond the known
EDITOR'S NOTE: There is nothing like a four-minute mile to stir the blood and excite the juices of a fan of track and field. Despite the fact that nearly 700 sub-fours have been run since Roger Bannister first burst the barrier in 1954, the time still works it magic.
The following story, written on the 20th anniversary of Bannister's record two years ago, is being published for the first time. It's out of date. Since 1974, both Jerry and John Walker have shattered Jim Ryan's world record of 3:51.1 set in 1967.
In 22 years the mile record has dropped exactly 10 seconds to—the 349.4 mark of Walker on August 12, 1975. But the meaning and significance of Rannister's 3:59.4 hasn't changed much since then. The runner prevailed. This story explores that meaning in a context not usually seen.
By KEN STONE
Associate Sports Editor
The 20th anniversary of Roger Bannier's record shattering 3:59.4 mile run, the world's first under the magic four-minute barrier, is being celebrated this
Veteran track fans boast that they were in Oxford, England, on May 6, 1954, to witness the tall British student's race toward destiny.
Trivia nails tell how it took the public address announcer 63 words to report the result of Bannister's race, the time that he lost. It would be easy to fact that the crowd drowned out the rest.
CONNOISSEURS OF THE event will tick off the lap in timesmasters in run: 57.5, 60.5, 62.7 and 58.7. As asked them to the two "Chris's" who paired Bamister to their performance, and theyll answer "Chris Braster and Chris Chataway."
Magazines specializing in sports nostalgia have seized on the running of the first four-minute mile with a relish. Kenny Moore, who ran several sub-four minute miles at the University of Oregon, wrote Sports Illustrated's anniversary story.
TRACK AND FIELD THE SPORT, the self-polished "Bible of the Sport" filled its pages with a new focus on the field.
Written by managing editor Jon Hendershott, the article begins with some words from Bammer's autobiography. "The Four Winds," the title of the actual race throughout the narrative.
It achieved the effect of reminding the reader how it might have felt to run the first test.
Out of the 25,000 people who subscribe to Track and Field News, many are athletes,
WHEN THEY READ, "Those last few seconds seemed never-ending. The faint line of the finishing tape stood ahead as a haven of peace after the struggle," some may have wondered aloud, "Who is this guy? Some frustrated poet?"
As Bannister continued his description of the last yards in his epoch-making race, some class milers, unacquainted with the aura of amazement surrounding the first four-minute mile, might have smiled and shaken their heads when they read:
"The arms of the world were waiting to
receive me if only I reached the tape without slackening my speed. If I faltered there would have been no绳 to hold on, and I might be adding the knitting place, because I had been so close."
BANNISTER HAS BEEN criticized for the romanticized portrayal of his famous race. The wording was too "gorgeous" some said, and at all like it.
An athlete might have had trouble keeping himself from laughing at the point he hit the ball.
Harry Wilson, the British national distance running coach, told Sports Illustrated "I think it's bloody silly to put a man on grave of the four-minute rule. new wlf."
like a man taking his last spring to save
from that chasse that threatens to
take him.
It's very true the four minute mile is merely a time nowadays, especially after a run.
ECHONG THAT SENTIMENT was 17-year-old British running prodigy Steve Ovett, who added, "I think the idea of four minutes as a barrier has held people back. Bannister was a romance about it, but it's broken." Ovett, himself, has broken four minutes.
Jim Ryan still holds the world record in the event with a time of 3:51.1, set in 1976. However, coaching authorities and track buffs predict Ryan's mark will fall in a matter of years, certainly before the end of this decade.
AND IF YOU USED the formula Track and Field News has used for determining the speed of a person, then the present world record, which is held by Bilfert Bayi, of 3.2:22 for the 1,500 meter run (about 120 yards short of one mile), was faster than ten seconds faster than Bannister.
Indeed, the four-minute mile is almost commonplace in major—and even minor—track meets now. Last year, 22 Americans broke four minutes.
KU rack炼 Bob Timmons was asked, "Will Jim Ryun's rallie record at KU ever be better?" With 25 years, 3.50 milers will be only average, and a 3:50 miler will have a difficult time winning. Champions will run under 3:40, so Ryun's record should go like all records
THE QUANTITY of sub-fours is skyrocketing. At the latest count, more than 500 had been run, both indoors and outdoors, by more than 170 runners. An average of 40 sub-four-minute miles is clocked every year now.
To put together a string of 64-second quarters is no longer a dream to most runners. They are no longer intimidated by high school applications. As Ovett said, "I'll just a lot."
Vet, to many people, the magic reamins. The four-mile mile is sued by track
IT PUZZLES THE sophisticated track fanatic to see a four-minute mile route a crowd to its feet when comparatively better performances, such as a seven-foot high jump, 17-foot pole vault or a 66-foot shot put barely drawn a yawns of interest.
fans like it once was sought by the world's greatest runners: Wes Santee of Kansas, John Landy of Australia and Roger Bannister of Great Britain.
Twenty years ago, when Bannister crushed the four-minute barrier on a cold day, he was 17.4 years old. 4:01:4. The great Swedish guler Munger Hieegg had set the record eight years
DURING THAT EIGHT-year period the taste of a four-minute mile was so close the pain became too intense. As many tried—and failed to run four minutes for four hours—writers and seers of various biaries asked us there is a limit to man's athletic ability?"
Some speculated that Haegg had come as close as anyone would. Others placed the date on the wrecking of the record in the far future. Before 1800? Possibly.
But when Bannister collapsed into the arms of his coach on that Thursday afternoon 20 years ago, all such speculation ceased. The dream had become a reality
Although the time is almost commonplace today, and many think, as Timmes does, that it will be typical and lackluster in the forseable future, the running of the four-minute mile in 1854 had a profound impact on sports scene. It meant a number of things:
FIRST. A MAN WAS physiologically capable of running eight e220s in less than an average of 30 seconds each. Many had said they were not fit to compete. A point won by the positive thinkers.
Second, if this barrier could fall, why couldn't others?
As sports fans soon realized, the breaking of the four-minute mile was just the first of a series of "incredible feats": the first seven-foot high jump in 1956 by an American—Charlie Dumas. Parry and Randy Matson's stellar 70-foot put were performances in the nether world of the imagination just 10 years previous.
WITH ADVANCES IN technology, training methods, coaching techniques and motivation psychology, athletes since Bannister have created records in the sport of track and field that would have been unimaginable in the 1950s.
Twenty years ago, the thought of a nine second 100-yard dash would have been laughable. Jesse Owens held the record then with a time of 9.3. The 18-5-pole vault fan took a trick-break fan to break into fits of hysterical laughter. Back then, the record was around 15-6.
A person who have risked expulsion from the ranks of the sane for suggesting in him a human was capable of long jumping 240 feet. Beanon set in winning his Mexico Olympics gold medal, a mark, by the way, that present-day authorities say will stay with him.
ANOTHER POSSIBLE meaning of the four-minute mile is the one suggesting that
Heroes weren't uncommon back then, but some were flawed by a pride that required constant exposure, or a haughtiness that declared superiority.
But Hamster was neighbor overly proud or baughty. He was just a young man who wanted to do exceptionally well in his given place, unplauged by the world for accomplishing it.
Roger Bannister served to satiate a need
He became a true and genuine hero.
Last, a possible explanation for the emergence of the Bannister feat as a milestone in athletic history was the nature of the distance itself.
TO RUN A FOUR-MINUTE mile, all one needs to do is travel four times around a standard quarter-mile track in 60 seconds each. It's conveniently easy.
However, the mystical and mythological quality of that effort dazed so many people for so long that when it finally happened, feelings of awe and amazement were projected upon the man who fulfilled those dreams.
And, as a dream that has never really died, the four-minute mile continues to draw attention to itself whenever it is accomplished.
ONE SPORTS PERSONALITY thought the reason the four-minute mile stood out while either, more impressive marks were overlooked was this: The average Joe couldn't identify with any other race as he after. After all, who hasn't run or walked a mile?
But who has tried the hammer throw.
★ ★ ★
OUTSTANDING PERFORMERS
1948-Harrison Dillard, Baldwin-Wallace
1949-Bob Walters, Texas
1950-Bill Carroll, Oklahoma
1951-Don Donley, Nebraska
1952-Wes Santee, Kansas
1953-Darw Hooper, Texas A&M
1954-Wes Santee, Kansas
1956-Dean Smith, Texas
1957-Billy Tidwell, Kansas
1958-Eddie Southern, Texas
1959-Charie Tidwell, Kansas
1960-Cliff Cusman, Kansas
1961-Jim Miller, Kansas
1962-Ray Saddler, Texas Southern
1963-Jim Miller, Colorado
1964-Robin Lingle, Missouri
1965-Clarence Robinson, New Mexico
1966-Jim Ryun, Kansas freshman
1967-Jim Ryun, Kansas
1968-Jim Murphy, Air Force
1969-Jim Ryun, Kansas
1970-Larbli Oukada, Fort Hays
1971-Jim Ryun, Kansas
1972-Oklahoma State
1973-Mike Boil, Eastern New Mexico
1974-Phillip Mdoo, Eastern New Mexico
1975-Charton Ehlinzle, Illinois
taken a triple jump or raced the 50,000- meter walk?
Perhaps what New York Times columnist Arthur Daley said on the day after Bannister ran his 3:59.4 still has some meaning today, 20 years later:
"IT FINALLY HAPPENED. The 4-minute mile is no longer an inexpensive barrier. Barron Bannister of England burst through it with his electrifying 3:59.4 yesterday under conditions that would seem impossible, his acceptance as a world record a formally.
"From an athletic standpoint this is as historic as the breaking of the sound barrier, but its importance to the sport is a tenet of most rank Bannadors exploit as the most important sports achievement of this century. Yet it may still hold that stature after sober and profound training."
Daley's point has been well regarded. Daley's point and foresight have been remarkably accurate.
"TO FOOT RACERS," Daley concluded, "the 4-minute mile was what Mount Everest was to mountain climbers, a defiant peak that could not successfully be assailed.
"But someone finally reached the top of Everest. And someone also has scaled the peak of the 4-minute mile. There will be many miles henceforth under 4 minutes. The impossible is no longer out of reach. The minister's record will be broken someday.
Ernst returns for eighth time
"But never will it be forbidden that he was the first to reach into the realms of fantasy."
This is the eighth year that Dirk Ernst of the Kaiser-Wilhelm Foundation has been head starter for the Kansai Army.
BEAT THE RUSH!
Other events Erasm has started include the Michigan State Relays, Western Michigan Relays, Huron (Michigan) Relays, Minnesota (Minnesota) Relays, and Central College Conference.
A graduate of Michigan State, where he participated in the track and football programs, Ernst is well known at Midwestern track carnivals. He regularly plays indoor basketball, and his brother, Dave, joins him as starter for the Drake Relays.
Also a qualified mechanic to check your car, whether American or foreign
843. 2060
LAWRENCE, KANSAB 68044
INTIMATE? Wanting to share a special evening in a perfect setting? The Eldridge House Dining Room
What Mood Are You In?
expertly prepared food and excellent service.
RELAXED? Just want to sit and talk some place quiet?
The Eldridge House Club
where you can get a light bite to eat enjoy your favorite beverage and take life easy.
READY FOR FUN? Ready for a big night out? disc enjoy dancing to our D.J.'s, have a special house beverage, and sophisticated atmosphere.
DISCO
8:00-10:00 a.m.
Monday-Thursday
8:00-3:00 a.m.
Friday-Saturday
Sunday Brunch
10:30-2:30
ELDRIDGE HOUSE CLUB AND DINING ROOM
7th & Mass.
841-4666
DINING ROOM
Lunch 11:12-30 Mon.-Fri.
Dinner 5:00-9:30 Sun.-Thurs.
5:00-10:30 Trots.-Sat.
CLUB
11:00-11:00 Mon.-Thurs.
11:00-12:00 Fri.-Sat.