The movie Rudy....who are Rudy's in college running? any stories that are similar?

Me

Dick Buerkle. Walk on that became an Olympian.

http://villanovarunning.blogspot.com/2010/01/unexpected-world-record-holder.html

I believe that Dan Lincoln was a walk on at Arkansas. Went on to become NCAA champ and held American record in S.C. for a while.

RuKiddingMe!! wrote:

who would you like to Nominate?

Do you mean Rudy the character in the movie or the real life person Daniel "Rudy" Ruettiger?

If the latter, I would say Tim Montgomery. Both were charged with fraud although Ruettiger's was more of a bogus pump and dump scheme while Montgomery's was classic check fraud.

trent briney

Jack Foster. Didn't start running until his 30s. Became an Olympian for New Zealand and masters WR in marathon of 2:11.

Alan

Wasn't the whole point of the Rudy story that he worked hard even though he was never very good? How is a Olympian or a record holder analogous to that story?

seen the movie wrote:

Wasn't the whole point of the Rudy story that he worked hard even though he was never very good? How is a Olympian or a record holder analogous to that story?

Yeah, a Rudy type runner would be a guy who trained as seriously as an All American despite never running sub 2 in the 800. I guess the other posters watched a movie with an alternate ending where Rudy became a stud #1 draft pick.

Hmm.. In that case, I ran with a guy who trained hard for all of college without breaking 4:50 in the mile. He did manage to scare 16:00, which was pretty damn impressive. We never carried him around after a meet, though.

Jason Rahm. I think he may have allowed on the team at Vanderbilt or some other school. He is the guy that convinced his boss that he was an Olympic hopeful but never broke 2:45. I Googled him and he is evidently thinking about coming out of "retirement".

. . .

To date, the most impressive thing I have done occurred in late 2009. I struck a deal with the CEO of FoodServiceWarehouse.com that allowed me to focus on my running full-time. The agreement included working for FSW on a limited schedule but with full salary and benefits. My goal was to qualify for the 2012 Olympic Marathon Trials and leverage any fame I attained for marketing purposes.

Unfortunately, I failed to achieve my objective and suffered a severe case of burnout. As a result, I haven’t trained for or run a race since August of 2011. After nearly two years, my lack of motivation for running is waning. I have yet to decide if I want to give the Olympics one last shot in 2016, but, if I do, I doubt I’ll allow running to become an all-consuming addiction this time around.

During my time away from running, I realized that I have other desires and passions (writing and traveling), and I have set some new life goals accordingly.

Brian Sell, no?

My memory is that he was a 430 miler and 10 flat 2 miler in HS but worked so hard that he eventually made the olympic team.

Isn't he the origins of the lrc love for the blue collar runner? even if we wassn't literally blue collar, he had that appeal.

I'd nominate that kid that had the sub4 1500m thread awhile back. I was really pulling for the kid. It's rare to get positivity out of letsrun, but that sure was.

I'd say 80% of the people posting the condescending "I'm not a hobby jogger" type comments are pretty much Rudy themselves. They work hard and are pretty decent runners, but not good enough for anyone to have ever heard of them outside their small world (Conference meet at best). Certainly never been to an NCAA Championship as an individual or on a team as better than a distant 7th man. I knew a lot of these. I was one of them. Chances are, you are too. Nobody will remember you as a runner. Make a name for yourself elsewhere. You need to realize the primary difference between you and a hobby jogger is you work harder. The primary difference between you and an elite runner is Genetics that cannot be changed. You will then live a happier life and not be quite such an anonymous jerk on LR.

Who are Rudy's what in college running?

Ghroublin wrote:

Hmm.. In that case, I ran with a guy who trained hard for all of college without breaking 4:50 in the mile. He did manage to scare 16:00, which was pretty damn impressive. We never carried him around after a meet, though.

People actually run collegiately and never break 4:50 for a mile? Like, even DIII that seems crazy.

I think everyone who ran/runs in college can identify with the athlete that is on the team but just isn't that good. Usually practices consistently, has a good attitude, makes friends, and shows steady improvement. I'm not talking about that doofus that half asses it and spends a lot of time drinking at the frat parties either. My guess is they have a passion for the sport and are likely to coach it someday, possibly with great success. My own arrogance helps me remember guys on our team that I didn't think were that good but then I'm quickly reminded that I was never a national champion etc... I did have some great athletes on my team including an Olympic Champion and good coaches to learn from. As an adult and over 25 years later, I have had an abnormally large amount of success coaching high school kids in multiple states over the years. Many better than myself, went on to NCAA titles, Olympic Trials, to be successful high school and college coaches etc... I guess I'm the Rudy you were looking for. Just be careful about judging their ability beyond their own athletic peak.

Hard to top Dave Sime at Duke, in the HOF and silver medalist in the OG 1960 100. He never ran a track meet in his life until he came to Duke on a baseball scholarship.

Pat Porter.

Ran 4:29 for a mile in HS in Evergreen, CO.

Then he went to Denver CC I believe, and had no acclaim. Then on to Adams State where he won three NAIA titles.

He graduated in 1982 and in the Fall of 1981 he placed 18th in the TAC XC Nationals. The one where Royle upset Salazar, and there were about 25 National Champions and top runners (Rono, Rose, Ortiz, Hunt, Scott, Lindsay, Clary, Spivey, Gregorek, Padilla, Quax, Hulst, Scharsu).

Then he won a record eight consecutive USA Cross Country Championships from 1982 to 1989.

For those not familiar, his wiki page has a pretty good summary:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Porter

hogs wrote:

I believe that Dan Lincoln was a walk on at Arkansas. Went on to become NCAA champ and held American record in S.C. for a while.

Dan Lincoln was a walk-on only in that he was not on scholarship. He had been awarded a full-ride academic scholarship to Arkansas so he didn't need one.

Also, he was not a blue-collar runner who "worked his way up" to FOUR NCAA track titles. He was a four-time State Champion in High School with a 4:16 mile. Those were pretty solid stats for 1999, one of the worst years in the history of HS track.

He only ran track as a senior and he won the 1600, 3200 and 3200r at State Meet.