Walt Murphy is one of the finest track geeks that I know. Walt does #ThisDayinTrack&FieldHistory, an excellent daily service that provides true geek stories about our sport. You can check out the service for FREE with a free one-month trial subscription! (email: WaltMurphy44@gmail.com ) for the entire daily service. We will post a few historic moments each day, beginning February 1, 2024.
by Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service (wmurphy25@aol.com), used with permission
This Day in Track & Field–January 14
1915—Ted Meredith, the 1912 Olympic Champion at 800-Meters, won the 600y at the Millrose Games before a record crowd of 10,00 fans in NY’s Madison Square Garden. His time of 1:13.6 just missed the World Record of 1:13.4 that was set the year before by Tom Halpin, who finished 2nd here, 3 yards behind Meredith.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1915/01/15/104639708.html?pageNumber=9
1961–New Zealand’s Murray Halberg, who won the 5000-Meters at the previous year’s Olympics in Rome, smashed the Indoor World Record for 2-miles when he ran 8:34.3 in Portland, Oregon. Australian Al Lawrence set the previous mark of 8:46.0 the year before in Los Angeles.
Racing Past Profile: http://www.racingpast.ca/john_contents.php?id=128
1961—Three years before a young Gerry Lindgren took the track world by storm, 17-year old Canadian Bruce Kidd lit up the Boston Garden by winning the 2-mile at the Knights of Columbus meet. Screaming fans were on their feet as the youngster held off a late charge by veteran Pete McArdle (8:49.6). Kidd’s time of 8:49.1 stood as the record for 17-year olds until Lindgren ran 8:46.0 early in the 1964 indoor season.
Kidd excelled in the classroom as well as on the track and was the Vice President and Principal at the University of Toronto-Scarborough before retiring in 2018
Sports Illustrated Vault:
https://vault.si.com/vault/1961/01/23/how-young-kidd-made-good
Wiki Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Kidd
2013 Interview: http://athleticsillustrated.com/interviews/bruce-kidd/
https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/66118
1972––Reynaldo Brown set an American Indoor Record of 7-4 (2.23+) to win the High Jump at the CYO Invitational in College Park,Md. Brown, who made the 1968 U.S. Olympic team before entering his senior year at Compton H.S.(Ca), just missed making his 2nd Olympic team,…
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