Buddy Edelen

We met Buddy after moving here to KC in the early '90's. It was the visit that inspired Frank to write the book on Buddy. Even then, he still had the sciatic pain, coupled by a car injury, maybe? Anyhow, he was so self-deprecating in his accomplishments. He was a fine man to meet, and someone I feel the richer for having met, he died MUCH too young from cancer, sadly. He seems almost bigger than life to me now. Wish we had a video on him.

Having grown up in the 70's, I was completely unaware of Edelen until Ryan Grote recommended Murphy's book to me. Clearly the guy was a monster on the roads and is grossly underrecognized for his accomplishments. He's also the guy who snapped Johnny Kelley (the younger)'s USA Marathon Championship streak at 8! It's a shame he didn't get to race much here in the US, as I think that would have made him much more recognized.

i read it. a pig for 5 min training miles. lots of miles hard in the cold. not nice stuff

Orville, did you really mean Ron Clarke?

I know Ron Hill ran Tokyo, but if Clarke really ran it then it is a complete surprise to me as I had no idea he ever ran a marathon.

I also have always felt that the Yonkers race was probably his undoing plus it was one of the greatest marathon efforts of all time.

He took the lead at the 10 mile mark and if you do the math, he expanded his lead over the field by about 23 sec. per quarter mile over the last 16 miles. Truely unbelievable. Running any quality race in that heat was also remarkable.

Ron Hill wore #9 in the 1964 Olympic Marathon Final but he did not make the top 20. R. W. Clarke (Aus) wearing number 2, after being disappointed in his track events earlier in the games, was the early leader of the marathon in 15:06 (5K), 30:14 (10K) and 45:35 (15K). Jim Hogan and Bikila had stayed close and passed Clarke before the half. From then on, Clarke dropped back throughout the race finishing in 9th spot in 2:20.27.

Abebe Bikila won by over 4 minutes in a world record 2.12.12.

(One of my memories of those games is that after the 10,000 meters, Ron Clarke came to the Track and Field News banquet and spoke to us stating that, to win the 5K, he must take charge and force a fast pace. Clarke did lead much of that 5K final but his pace was "relatively slow". There were 9 runners in the lead pack when Dellinger surged with 600 yards to go. Clarke then tried again in the marathon)

30:14 through 10k is 2:07:36 pace. That's quite a fast start.

Another interesting tidbit from the book was Buddy liked an evening Guinness and while there for the Olympics had two cases sent to his room. The officials were completely against this unless Buddy drank it in their office, which he did.

Too bad he never got the chance to run Boston...on his $150. a month salary, he couldn't afford to travel to the race and Jock Semple couldn't afford to bring him over, which he wanted to do.

Steve

I'll say. That's a modern era marathon pace.

Of course, Clarke really only knew how to run at one speed!

Unfortunately, he folded up badly according to the posted splits- finishing at 3:30/k pace!

Thanks Mr. Atkins- a really nice piece of history you have shared, although I have two sources here which say Hill finished 19th in 2:25:34.4

http://www.sporting-heroes.net/athletics-heroes/displayhero.asp?HeroID=296

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1964_Summer_Olympics_-_Men's_marathon]

It was fast for those days! The world record before that race was 2:13:55.0 by Basil Heatley. Heatley was second in Tokyo in 2:16.20.

I took the time from my program. I wrote some times in while the race was in progress. I confirmed the times with the Track and Field News accounting of the race that I have.

Other information in my program: R. Hill 5K in 15:14 (I have no other time for Hill)

B. Abebe--30:14, 45:35, 1:00:58, 25K in 1:16:40 (half way in 1:04.28)

J. Hogan--30:14, 45:35, 1:01:03, 25K in 1:16:50 (half way in 1:04:30) Hogan was second less than 7K from the finish but dropped out.

Clarke was 1:18:02 at 25 K.

58 runners finished, all in less than three hours.

I apologize for my error. Did I make any others?

If I remember this right (I think I read Buddy's book 30 years ago if that's possible), Buddy ran 6 marathons in his first year as a marathoner ('62-'63). Also, I believe his coach (Fred Wilt??) kept trying to reign him in with an easy day from time to time, but Buddy always objected. I would think that this is probably what led to his eventual downfall.

Bob Wildes wrote:

I did see the Bud Greenspan DVD of the Tokyo Olympics. Abibe did look amazingly fresh.

Do you mean the Ichikawa one? "Tokyo Olympiad". Because if anyone hasn't seen that, they should. Full color, wide screen. Probably 20 minutes of marathon footage. Awesome.

Tsubaraya committed suicide after

Meant to finish that thought. He committed suicide after he injured himself so badly he could not longer train.

I recently acquired a copy of "A Cold Clear Day" and enjoyed it as much as any running book in my library. Not just for the inspiring bio of a long-unappreciated great in Buddy, but for a fascinating overview of distance running in England during that era.

As long as Abebe Bikila is mentioned, I'm wondering if his recent bio "Barefoot Runner" by Paul Rambali, is available in the US. I found a copy on a trip to London in December and enjoyed it very much. I'd have liked to see more about Bikila's training and there are some inaccuracies with some of the facts, but it's a great read on someone who was arguably the first of the great African distance runners.

Was Edelen the first American of great note for whom training at altitude was standard? Also, when I was a boy I cut out a picture of Edelen (maybe from SI, but I don't remember), running in the best Adidas shoes at the time, at altitude, in cold weather, with a gray sweatshirt on. That picture used to inspire me to go out on the worst of days.

jtupper wrote:

I still have a very nice picture of him with Ryun and a few other subjects.

I was one of those subjects and have fond memories of my running mates who were not as fortunate.

Montesquieu wrote:Was Edelen the first American of great note for whom training at altitude was standard? Also, when I was a boy I cut out a picture of Edelen (maybe from SI, but I don't remember), running in the best Adidas shoes at the time, at altitude, in cold weather, with a gray sweatshirt on. That picture used to inspire me to go out on the worst of days.

I still have that picture and it has inspired me also. Because of it I never wore sweatpants when running, no matter what the weather. Even at zero degrees and wind, I was out there in shorts but lots of sweat shirts. This was 35 years ago and very dumb in retrospect BUT it shows what an influence Bud Edelen had on the American running community.

Steve P.: I enjoyed hearing so much about Buddy that I dug out my old copy of "A Cold Clear Day" and finished it in one sitting....not hard to do. I received the copy from Buddy in Oct.,1992, at a get- together honoring Ron Daws, who passed away suddenly in July,1992. It was my first meeting with this legend, and I came away with a feeling that I had known this gentleman my whole life. He demonstrated a warmth, sense of humor, charisma that one seldom sees. (Ron always told "Buddy stories" during our long runs, and they got us through some tough 25-milers!)It was obvious that Buddy took Ron's death very personally, as these two distance icons had tremendous respect for each other. Sadly, my next meeting with Buddy was at the first Minnesota Track and Field "Hall of Fame" induction ceremony in October, 1996. Ron, Buddy and 5 others were being inducted. When I sat down at a table with Pat Lanin, I could tell Pat was pretty "shaken" about something. (He is usually very funny, but he looked quite upset that evening.) Finally, Pat nodded over at Buddy's table, and I knew right away what was bothering Pat. Buddy had terminal cancer and weighed probably less than 100 lbs. He looked like a little old man, although he still had that Buddy gleam in his eye. Pat and I both mustered up the courage to go over to say hello; we had a nice chat. When we got back to our table, both Pat and I sat with wet eyes for the entire induction ceremony. In Feb.1997, Buddy passed away. Incredibly, Ron Daws and Buddy Edelen were gone within about 5 years of each other; Ron died at age 55, Buddy at 59. Our heroes were gone.

30+ yr rnr wrote:

Buddy should not be forgotten!

Steve P. (NM)