Whatever happened to BRUCE KIDD, Canadian Phenom in the early '60s? A pre-PRE!?

"In 1970, he joined the University of Toronto as a lecturer. He was appointed an Assistant Professor in 1973 and an Associate Professor in 1979. In 1991, he was appointed a Professor. He was the Director of the School of Physical and Health Education and Acting Director of the Department of Athletics and Recreation. He is currently the Dean of the Faculty of Physical Education and Health."

Dr. Kidd remains active in the sport. "In 1994, he was inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame as a builder. (He is the only person to have been twice elected to this hall of fame)."

PS--Google is your friend.

thanks for the update. Yes, google is my friend, but I was looking for some perhaps anecdotal information on the specifics of his brilliant but brief track career. I am very glad that he certainly found a great, worthwhile "life" after track!!

Kidd was da Man!

More info on another thread:

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?board=1&thread=1516266&id=1516604

He was our Lindgren... except normal. He was in Tokyo and Lydiard made the prediction that he would not do well after seeing him do 20x400 in 60.

His 5k was right there with Lindgren's high school record but I believe he was a year older due to the 13th grade Canadian thing.

He wrote a nice little book about Tom Longboat as well.

I regularly run on his old stomping grounds.

Log- a- Rhythm wrote:

He wrote a nice little book about Tom Longboat as well.

.

You wouldn't happen to know the name of that book, would you?

Sorry nevermind. Found it. "Tom Longboat" (duh!). Should have googled before posting (double duh!)

One anecdote that I remember is from the Olympics. Kidd was doing some monster repeat 400s (lots of low-60s? or even better). He was out-doing everyone. However, come competition, he had left too much on the practice track before the real races began. I would guess this is a telling from someone like Kenny Moore, but it might be the 'half-generation' before him.

That's a story that Lydiard used to love to tell.

Kidd did run a marathon some years after his track career was over. I think he did something like 2:20 in maybe 1973.

I had heard that story about Lydiard, but did not know it was Kidd he was referring to. I think Arthur would tell his athletes things like that to bolster their confidence. That was one of his greatest attributes; to make a runner he was coaching feel invincible when looking at very formidable opponents. I heard that he made the comment, paraphrasing somehat: "Looks like he just put the last nail in HIS coffin!" Didn't know it was Kidd he was talking about. It seems Bowerman did the same with Pre at Munich v. Viren, at least if we believe the movies!!

It would seem with that type of workout could have come from Igloi, large doses of fast, short interval. Was Kidd coached,or at least influenced, by Igloi, as so many greats were in the early 1960s? (Beatty, Schul, Truex...) If not, who coached him or was he self-coached? Thanks

I'm guessing it's just a matter of time until Orville Atkins finds this thread and straightens everything out. But I'm almost certain that Kidd was coached by Fred Foote, or Foot, I'm not sure of the spelling, as was Bill Crothers.

yes, probably a good comparison would be to Lindgren who was closer in age. BTW, Gerry would probably like to be considered NOT normal...(sort of cultivated that image, didn't he? It seems to have worked for him with running, and he still sounds NOT normal!)We Americans are proud of Lindgren and Pre's running exploits, but Kidd probably could be compared favorably with either of them. I grew up in Minnesota and heard of Kidd, when I was about 14 and beginning to run; however it was Lindgren,Schul, Mills and Ryun who inspired me. Kidd seemed to disappear by '63; he apparently was dealing with injuries prior to Tokyo, but it would have been fun to see him at his peak in the 5,000m against Schul, Norpoth, Dellinger et al. Out of curiosity, did Kidd and Lindgren ever race or meet one another? That would be interesting: the two uber (young!) stars of Canada and the U.S.!!

bump

HRE wrote:

But I'm almost certain that Kidd was coached by Fred Foote, or Foot, I'm not sure of the spelling, as was Bill Crothers.

East York Track Club. Fred Foote, and he did also coach Crothers.

HRE wrote:

That's a story that Lydiard used to love to tell.

Kidd did run a marathon some years after his track career was over. I think he did something like 2:20 in maybe 1973.

According to Orville in the thread linked above, Kidd ran 2:12:37 in 1974--not bad for a comeback after ten years away from the sport.

I have been off line all week . Computer problems.

Bruce Kidd never ran 2:12. He ran 2:20.18 in Atlanta in 1974.

Bruce and I were both members of The East York Track Club. I was there for 5 years and ran most workouts with Bruce often from the fall of 59 through 1961. After that we did many of our long runs together. The coach was Fred Foot who put at least one club member on every Canadian Olympic Team from 1948 to 1984. We were not associated with Igloi or any of his clubs in any way. I will try and post more later.

Bruce kidd won the US Cross Country Championshiip at age 18 in 1962. He won the US Championship again in 1963.

During the first week of June in 1962, 18 year old Bruce Kidd upset Olympic Champion Murray Halberg at 5k in 13:43.8 giving him the US open record, the World Junior record and the North American record.

Also, in 1962 Bruce won the Empire (now Commonwealth) Games 6 mile and was 3rd in the 6 mile.

June 5, 1964: Compton 5K:

First Bob Schul 13:38.0 with a 56 second last lap--just 3 seconds from the world record--He became the 4th fastest at 5K ever

Second--Bill Baillie-13:40.0--(NZ)--7th fastest runner ever

Third-- Ron Larrieu--13.43--11 fastest runner ever

4th Gerry Lindgren--13:44.0 age 18

5th Dan Murphy--(US)--13:49.2

6th Bruce Kidd--13:58.8

Bruce went on to a more illustrious career after running. He earned his Ph.D. and Bruce is now the Dean of the Faculty of Physical Education and Health at the University of Toronto. He has recently been awarded the Order of Canada for his career after he left the track. His father, Roby, had recieved the Order of Canada many years ago.

I thought Lindgrens' 13:44 in the second race was a World Junior record at the time.

Where was Bruce Kidd from? I want to say Ontario region mainly because of Toronto, and the book he wrote on Tom Longboat. Was he an Indian? (native American)