It seems as people get older the interest in history becomes increasingly important. Whether it is a family history and ancestry or past events that they recall. It seems as the senior citizens of today talk to the younger generations there is a lack of knowledge of individuals that made a change in history or even some of the major events that took place. I taught an introduction class to physical education to incoming freshmen to give them a basic understanding about what opportunities majoring in physical education can provide. I also had an emphasis on the history of sports and how athletics affected, and was affected, by society in the past. Some of it was not ancient history but happened within the last 50 years. We met in the Jowers and Strahan buildings that are named after past individuals that were associated with Texas State. Most of the students had no idea who these gentlemen were. At one time, our Women’s Athletic Director was the vice-president of the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) and how the NCAA strong-armed the universities to make the women join the NCAA. It made a big change.
I had two interesting books that I referred to about the top performers in sports. One was by Bert Randolph Sugar titled, “The Sports 100 Greatest Athletes of All Time”. The second book was by Brad Herzog and titled, “The Sports 100: The One Hundred Most Important People in American Sports History”. Both books mentioned that trying to list the top 100 athletes and their impact on sports today make for good arguments between sports enthusiasts. I thought it would be interesting to compare the two books with regard to athletes that made a difference in running.
Herzog mentioned athletes that excelled in track and field such as Jim Thorpe, Jesse Owens, Wilma Rudolph, Harry Edwards, and Eleanora Sears. Sugar had a few of the same choices in his list that included Jim Thorpe, Jesse Owens, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Paavo Nurmi, Emil Zatopek, Edwin Moses, Sebastian Coe, Daley Thompson, Rafer Johnson, Wilma Rudolph, Al Oerter, Fanny Blankers-Koen, and Abebe Bikila. Almost all of the selections were from Track and Field and often from Olympic fame. For a person into sports history, most of the names are familiar ones. Those in recent athletics will probably recognize very few other than Jim Thorpe and Jesse Owens and maybe Wilma Rudolph, even though all of them were famous during their peak in sports. As you look over the names of famous individuals in track and field, you might see how many of the names you recognize and what they were famous for.
When I look over the list of names, I would add a few that I think should have been included. For instance, Kathryn Switzer. Kathryn is considered to be the first woman to run in the Boston Marathon and is credited with adding long distance running events to women’s track and field. Before her influence, the longest distance for women as 800 meters. She was instrumental in getting the marathon distance for women into the Olympics. And Joan Benoit Samuelson was the first women’s Olympic marathon winner. Billy Mills was a long shot at winning the Olympic 10,000-meter race. He came from behind and won the race that left the announcers screaming about his efforts. I note his name as he trained in Flagstaff, Arizona when I taught there and I had several opportunities to meet him and talk with him. I would include Greta Waitz, the marathon runner from Norway that dominated the marathon distance for many years. And how could you not include Bill Rogers and Frank Shorter in the famous marathon races? Bill Rogers dominated the Boston Marathon and Frank Shorter was an Olympic champion in the marathon. I remember watching them run in the Houston Marathon one year when it was a double loop around the park. I was in my first loop and caught a glimpse of them halfway through their second loop. I don’t think either touched the ground as they seemed to float along the surface of the pavement.
The 100 greatest athlete list has to include the sports of football, basketball, baseball, golf, tennis, boxing, race car drivers, and hockey, as well as coaches, sports writers, managers, etc. But, for this article, I limited the athletes that had some recognitions to the sport of running.
