Lazlo Tabori

Where is he coaching these days?

I know Laszlo. The last time I saw him was at the May 2011 memorials for Tom Sturak.

In the early 1960s, we both ran in at least one invitation race at Toronto's Varsity Stadium although I did not meet him until I moved to Los Angeles in 1964.

He was one of Coach Mihaly Igloi's great Hungarian runners of the mid 1950s. In addition to being the third runner to break four minutes (in a race in which he beat Chris Chataway and Brian Hewson), He tied the world record for 1500 meters.

Even though his country was at war and he was about to defect he placed 4th in the 1500 and 6th in the 5,000 meters in the 1956 Olympics. He did not get another chance in the 1960 Olympics because he was not yet a United States citizen. Laszlo continued to remain in world class shape and train under coach Igloi until he, Tabori, retired from running in 1962 and had a running store which he may still have. He coached Jacqueline Hansen, who ran two world marathon records and Micki Gorman who won Boston twice. Laszlo Tabori trained many other very successful runners the Igloi way and the last I heard he was coaching the USC cross country team.

He was coaching the San Fernando Valley Track Club years ago, don't know if its still in existance. I met him several times, very nice, humble guy.

In the late 80s the rep was if you ran with the s.f.v.c. You would end up injured.

truly a legend, and as pointed out, he owned a running store in the san fernando valley where in the fall of 1981 this callow north hollywood high school sophomore/1st year runner bought his first running shoes, a pair of brooks. i remember going with some teammates and they pointed out the picture on the wall of lazlo breaking 4 for the first time, and it was the first time i dreamed what i thought was an impossible dream...

there was a general rumor that if you trained with lazlo AND survived the high intensity igloi workouts you'd be good--to be honest, though, i'd always wondered if it was urban legend as far as the athletes who DIDN'T survive, because i never actually met any of them. however, i was fearful of the rumor as were many; the irony is post-collegiately that is exactly how i trained, and experienced my best years of running...

i'd see lazlo periodically over the years--he'd generally sneak up on me and hit me on the back of my legs and with cane, and his thick accent would reprimand me for being on my toes too much.

he was helping the distance squad at usc, but as far as i'd heard he was let go with the rest of their coaches when they brought in a new head coach...

Orville Atkins wrote:

In addition to being the third runner to break four minutes (in a race in which he beat Chris Chataway and Brian Hewson)....

He didn't just beat them; he also led them under four minutes, so that the third, fourth, and fifth sub-four milers came in the same race:

(starts at 0:27)

Many years ago at the Las Vegas Marathon I walked up to Mr. Tabori and introducted myself.

He was amazed that anyone would recognoze him.

A very humble man and a great athlete.

A few months ago I heard he was coaching masters athletes at Beverly Hill High in the morning.

bobby saa wrote:

Where is he coaching these days?

Google:

Laszlo Tabori

and find out all you want to know.

Note the 's' in Laszlo.

That clip of the third mile under 4 minutes shows what Coach Igloi and Laszlo Tabori's training can do.

In Los Angeles, It was all intervals and often fast and all on a flat grass field. Each day was built on the day before.

However I ran slightly better marathons before and after my time with the Coach Igloi and the Los Angeles Track Club. My main problem is I have an abundance of slow twitch muscles. My legs were usually dead including going into races. It may be that I did not allow enough time (only 20 months) but I found it harder than I was able to train. I was working at least 40 hours a week.

Also I was a road runner. The training all on grass did not prepare my legs for the roads even though there were two leg actions involved.

The high interval mileage did improve what Coach Igloi termed the "worst technique" he ever saw.

In only a few years, Coach Igloi improved Norm Higgins from 19th and 2:47 in Boston in 1961 to 5th in 2:18 in 1966 and a National Marathon Championship a few weeks later.

48 wrote:

Met Lazlo Tabori for the first time yesterday. What an amazing gentleman. Third man ever to break four minutes in the mile. Has lived an intersting life defecting from Hungary after the Melbourne Olympics. Still coaching!

BBTM salutes the third man sub-4! Fellow Hungarian and billionaire George Soros was inspired by Tabori.

I did Google and his website did include training venues or times/days. It looked like he coaches via email.

Masters wrote:

bobby saa wrote:

Where is he coaching these days?

Google:

Laszlo Tabori

and find out all you want to know.

Note the 's' in Laszlo.