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 16
1925–Showing no signs of fatigue after his long train ride from New York, the amazing Paavo Nurmi lowered his day-old World Record for 1-3/4 miles to 7:55.4 at the Illinois A.C. Handicap meet at the Chicago Coliseum. Finishing a distant 2nd was Joie Ray, whose records at 1-1/4 and 1-1/2 miles survived Nurmi’s attack in this race. Nurmi might have gotten those additional records, but meet officials had changed the configuration of the track from 10-laps to the mile to 12-laps. Nurmi had planned his splits based on the original proposed layout and was so upset after the race that he threatened to cut short his U.S. your. Thankfully, he had a change of heart.
After spending only three hours in the Windy City, Nurmi hopped back on a train for another grueling trip back to NY City to run again the following night. (From the NY Times Archives)
1937—Leslie MacMitchell (George Washington H.S.,NY) ran 4:28.6 at the Stuyvesant Games at NY’s Armory to set a National U.S. High School Indoor Record in the Mile.
He would become one of the best milers in the U.S. while attending NYU, winning IC4A (1940-1942), NCAA (1941), and U.S. (1941/1500m) titles. He also won the Wanamaker Mile at the 1942 Millrose Games and equalled the World Indoor Record of 4:07.4 in 1941.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_MacMitchell
1954—Tom Murphy (my cousin-WM), a senior at St.Augustine (Brooklyn,NY), ran 1:14.1 at the Cardinal Hayes Games to set a National flat-floor H.S. Record for 600-yards. He would lower the record to 1:14.0 two weeks later at the NYU Interscholastic meet. (Both at NY’s Armory)
Murphy continued to compete at the Armory during his collegiate career at Manhattan College and for two years as a member of the NYAC. He won the 800-meters at the 1960 U.S. Olympic Trials (semi-finalist in Rome) and was a member of a U.S. team that set a World Record in the…
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