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-December 23
1960—Some familiar names competed at Ted Haydon’s 8th annual Holiday meet in Chicago (named after the legendary coach).
Willie May, the silver medalist in the 110m-hurdles at the Rome Olympics earlier in the year, set a Meet Record of 7.3 in the 60y-hurdles, but was beaten by Don Styron in the 60y-low hurdles. Styron’s twin brother Dave won the 60y-dash in 6.3 over Brooks Johnson.
Jim Dupree, a close 4th in the 800m at the U.S. Olympic Trials in July, won the 880y in 1:54.5, with 17-year old Tom Sullivan finishing 2nd in 1:55.0, a U.S. High School Record at the time. That was just one of many prep records that he would set during his senior year at St.George H.S. (Evanston,Illinois), topped by the 4:03.5 he ran outdoors for the Mile.
The winner of the Mile here with a modest time of 4:18.0 was 18-year old Tom O’Hara, a freshman at Loyola University, who would go on to set two World Indoor Records in the Mile in 1964 (3:56.6, 3:56.4).
https://math.uchicago.edu/~ed/haydon.html
https://www.nytimes.com/1985/05/05/sports/edward-ted-haydon-dies-ex-us-olympic-track-coach.html
Significant birthdays
Born On This Day*
Lisa Dobriskey-Great Britain 40 (1983) Silver medalist in the 1500-meters at the 2009 World Championships
2-time Olympic finalist: 2008 (4th), 2012 (5th)
2006 Commonwealth Games Champion
Olympic Despair—originally finished 10th at the 2012 Olympics, but 5 of the runners who finished ahead of her
have been subscequently disqualified for doping violations!
PBs:2:00.14 (2010), 3:59.50 (2009), 4:20.35 (2008), 8:47.25i (2007)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_Dobriskey
CLICK HERE to Read the Full Original Article at runblogrun…