JIM RYUN COLLECTION JOURNAL
My preparation for the 1964 Olympic final trials in Los Angeles was prodigious. I had moved during the summer of 1964 from Wichita, KS up to Lawrence, KS to train under Coach Timmons and to live with his wife and family of 4 children.
I had the privilege of training with then four minute miler Bill Dotson from the University of Kansas. His help was beneficial to me in that he shared the workload with me. I was not on my own. I was grateful for Coach Timmons’ insight and forethought in setting up this training arrangement.
Late July through the end of August we had to train late in the day due to the high heat and humidity in Kansas during the summer months.We usually started the day's workout in the evening just before the sun set giving us enough light to complete the day's work. A couple of times when it got to be late in the day, we had to set up car headlights to shine on the track straight away allowing us visibility.
Training with Bill Dotson gave me the maturity I needed. He had the strength and experience as a four minute miler to help carry some of the workload that Coach Timmons gave both of us. The summer was long. The workouts were long. The heat was unbearable.
After one workout session, Coach Timmons (who was then the University of Kansas track and field assistant coach) said, “I’ve a surprise for you. I’m going to open the gates and let you run a little outside.” He then proceeded to point up Campanile Hill, rising at a 25 degree angle for 230 yards from the stadium, with the instructions to run up there and back four times. Let's just say it was not my favorite workout!
I was not the most teachable guy and had my moments of complaining to Coach Timmons. He was always good-natured enough to listen to my complaints and then have me do the workout his way.
On one occasion, when we had finished the workout, or so I thought, Coach informed us that there were another couple of drills to do. The particular drills involved running one lap on the track and then working on sprinting up the steep Campanile Hill. In my immaturity, I told Coach Timmons I didn’t think I could do it. He smiled and made the following comment: "I wonder what kind of workouts Jim Grelle (who was my competitor, beating me in every race during the summer of 1964) might be doing." His motive was to keep me focused on the fact that IF I was going to make the 1964 Olympic team, I needed to do the workouts that were beyond my reach and level of reality. Coach Timmons was a visionary. I needed to grab ahold of his vision and do the work necessary which clearly meant surrendering to his coaching methods. He would later recollect that “Jim worked for six weeks to do one thing - to learn to sprint when he was tired.”
In mid-September it was time to head to Los Angeles for the 1964 Olympic Track and Field finals. What I was reminded of was that I had gone through preliminary races to arrive at this point: the National AAU Championships held in June 1964 at Rutgers University, New Brunswick,NJ followed by the first Olympic Trials held at Randalls Island, NY. I had placed fourth behind Jim Grelle in both appearances. While I had run well, qualified for the final Olympic Trials in LA, I still was only fourth. Only the top three finishers were going to the Tokyo Olympics.
Leading up to the Olympic Trials, Sports Illustrated photographer and personal friend, Rich Clarkson, had been given the assignment of photographing me for the cover of Sports Illustrated. In those days, camera film had to be developed in order to see if you had captured the actual image that was desired. Today we view digital photos immediately, on the spot.
Rich spent an hour and a half taking approximately 1200 photos of my running on the Kansas University track - doing the same thing back-and-forth again and again while Rich was using different lenses from different angles. He did capture the one photograph that would become the cover of Sports Illustrated in September 1964. Little did I know, until after I had qualified for the Olympic Team, that being on the cover of SI could jinx an individual’s performance. I’m certainly grateful I had not known about that supposed jinx prior to my race.
As Coach Timmons drove us to the LA Coliseum, we got lost. Coach Timmons noticed a flashing light in the rearview mirror. He had unknowingly run a stop sign. The police officer graciously wrote out a ticket for him and gave him directions to the Coliseum. Life was always an adventure with Timmie!
We arrived at the Coliseum in plenty of time as Coach adhered to the “old-school” principle of "always give yourself plenty of time." I ran through my warm-up of some light jogging and wind sprints to ready myself for the race.
The Coliseum track was one of the fastest in California. My goal for the race was a simple one - make the top 3!. To accomplish that, I began my race with a prayer and I must say several prayers throughout the race trying to keep focused, doing my best to be in the right position with one lap to go. There was a lot of jockeying going on. With about 200 yards to go, I found myself in fifth place. I was running hard and fast and not thinking the most positive thoughts. In fact, my thoughts at that point were that I had had a great summer and that I’d be 100% fit for the East High cross-country season, along with I’m probably going to finish fourth again.
But I learned a very valuable lesson that day. With 150 yards to go, I prayed, "Dear God, I need Your help. I don’t know what to do." I felt the Lord impress upon me that instead of gutting it out and tensing up, I needed to RELAX. I did...in the midst of a great deal of pain, I relaxed.
As I began to relax, I found myself moving faster. I went from fifth place to fourth place. My thought? Well, this is exactly where I’ve been all summer long. I stayed relaxed and gradually began to gain on Jim Grelle. I ran all the way through the finish line relaxed, finishing third by the tip of a nose. I was a member of the Team!!!
It was a life-changing moment for me. It was an answer to prayer and the result of training in the summer heat and humidity of Kansas under a former Marine who saw my potential and challenged me to use this running talent God had given me.
Little did I know just how transformational that race would be. When I crossed the finish line, I found myself in a new world. I was on my very first Olympic Team as a high school boy (at age 17 the youngest American TnF competitor ever to have run in the Olympics). The man I had nipped at the finish line, Jim Grelle along with his wife, Jean, became lifelong friends. Jim taught me a great deal about good sportsmanship. I never heard him complain about a skinny kid finishing ahead of him in the Olympic Trials nor bragging about his being more qualified as a runner (which he was).
To travel to Japan required preparation, the first was a plethora of shots. I also needed a new wardrobe. Coach took me out shopping. While I looked for clothes, Timmie was on the hunt for an alarm clock. Why an alarm clock? He wanted to be certain I awoke each morning for a run. It turned out the alarm clock was unnecessary as my roommate, Billy Mills, along with some of the other distance runners including Bob Schull,(5,000m), decathlon great Russ Hodge and I would do wind sprints in the morning before breakfast.
Coach Timmons was not only my coach on the track. He and his wife, Pat, were my life coaches always teaching me (and eventually my wife, Anne, and our 4 children) how to navigate this life which always included proper etiquette!!
