Page 4
University Daily Kansan
Friday, April 22, 1955
Cunningham Mile Honors KU Great
By LARRY HEIL
Attention will focus on the mile at the KU Relays this year as fans again will be hoping to witness the breaking of the magic four-minute mile. And the mile that will be run is named for the first man who was predominantly mentioned as a possible four-minute miller, the "Elkhart Express," Glenn Cunningham.
The stories of his early tragedy do not agree, as to detail. According to Willard Mayberry, Elkhard publisher, the accident occurred when Glenw was 9 years old. He and a sister accompanied an older brother, Floyd, to a Stevens county school house early one winter morning. Floyd's duty was to arrive early and start the fire.
A careless delivery man had left a can of gasoline instead of kerosene at the school, and when Floyd emptied the can on the fire an explosion resulted. Floyd was killed. Glenn escaped, then ran back into the building to carry out his younger sister. He saved her life but was severely burned on both legs.
Despite burns on his legs which caused doctors to say that he would never walk again, Cunningham became one of the all-time great middle distance runners. While earning international fame as an athlete, he also became honor man of his class at KU, earned a doctor's degree, and gained national recognition as a lecturer and campaigner for temperance.
But the scarred legs carried Cunningham to smash world records. He did have to take special care of his legs, and he always warmed up very slowly. Later, his long colorful warm-ups became one of his trademarks.
Other stories of the fire omit the part about the sister and place Glenn's age between 7 and 9. In any case, he was in critical condition for six weeks and was not expected to live. When he pulled through, he was not expected to walk.
He also exercised his arms, for he said they got tired before his legs when running. He could walk for as long as 20 minutes on his hands and sometimes amazed his Jayhawk colleagues by climbing the steps of Memorial stadium in this inverted position.
Glenn never smoked or drank. He was once approached by a cigarette company which said he could name his own price for the use of his name in advertisements.
He said, "Your organization does not have enough money to get my name on your product. If I can keep one boy from smoking, it will be worth more to me than all the money your firm could afford to pay."
In 1949, he campaigned with the United Dry forces "Temperance Tornado" opposing the sale of liquor in Kansas. His home town, Elkhart, went dry on a local option ballot this month.
Cunningham's fastest mile was a 4:04.4 run indoors at Dartmouth in 1938. The record was not recognized as official because it was paced. His fastest official record was 4:06.7 at Princeton in 1934.
He participated in two Olympic meets, Los Angeles in 1932 and Berlin in 1936, in the 1500-meter run. He won six consecutive Big Six titles, three indoors and three outdoors, in 1932, 1933, and 1934. In 1933 and 1934 he did what no other Midlands runner has ever approached, he won the 880 and two-mile runs in the same afternoon.
Cunningham holds a total of 10 NAAU titles, and his record in the KU relay 1500 meter-3:53.3 set in 1933-is still good.
Glenn was born Aug. 4, 1909, about 25 miles east of Elkart. He was honor man of his graduating class at KU in 1934. He received a master's degree from the State University of
Seven sophomores contributed 224 points in six events in Kansas' recent victory in the Big Seven Indoor track and field championships. And the Jayhawk mile relay team, three-fourths sophomoric, added three more of KU's 571 tallies.
Dick Blair's .66.2 victory in the Big Seven Indoor 60 enabled the Osborne junior to tie a school record of 20 years standing. Ed Hall established the original mark in 1934, winning the old Big Six dash title at Columbia.
Iowa in 1936 and a doctorate from the University of New York in 1938. In 1935 Fresidentth Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed him to a membership on the National Youth advisory committee. He returned to KU to take a position on the Extension bureau staff in 1938, and became a member of the Cornell faculty in 1940.
He now lives with his family on a ranch near Cedar Point, Kans.
GLENN CUNNINGHAM
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