I had the honor of meeting Wes Santee at the Olympic Trials in 2008. He was speaking with a group called "Distance Ledgends". Bob Schul, Jim Beatty, Wes Santee, and others.
Funny story, Wes sat at our table and visited with me and my kids, he was great fun. He also kept eating our french fries! Haha We love you Wes. You will be missed.
In 1955, in an era of supposedly strict amateurism, the A.A.U. determined that he had taken at least $1,200 in excessive expense money and suspended him permanently as an amateur athlete. (There was no professional track then.) Easton, still his coach, said the meet’s promoters, most of them officials of the union, had offered the money.
The suspension was overturned, but a year later, Santee was suspended again. After a bitter court battle, the New York State Supreme Court found that for a total of seven meets in 1955, he had accepted at least $1,500 in expenses beyond the allowable $15 a day and travel expenses. He was then suspended for life.
He said he was not bitter and would do it again. In 1956, he wrote in Life magazine:
“The A.A.U. says it is possible to get by on the expense allowances permitted by their rules. My answer to that is, ‘Yes, if you want to become an athletic bum.’ ”
Santee was the Curt Flood of running. Flood fought the Reserve Clause in baseball. Santee fought the AAU. When I showed up on the running scene the AAU dominated but runners fought back and threw out the AAU and formed the TAC now called the USATF.
One year I was running a race and another runner and I decided to tie (we were leading the race). As we crossed the finish line some guy in a green AAU jacket yells out, "NO INTENTIAL TIE!" Then he pointed to me and named me the winner.
I went over to the race director and said that this was nonsense. I was not an AAU runner and would not be governed by their laws. He said that he thought the run had to be AAU certified to be considered a valid race. This was not true. Not in our part of the country plus this was not a championship race or anything approaching it. I told him that I would simply not accept the trophy and if need be would be glad to withdraw from the field.
The race director, who was a nice guy, agreed to call the race a tie and the other runner and I agreed to share the trophy. He kept it part of the year and I kept it the rest. Eventually I told him he could keep it.
The last I saw of the green jacket he was mumbling to himself.
Wes was timed at 3:59 during a race and the Los Angeles Times actually ran with a front page headline. But in those days, multiple timers were used and the average of the times was considered the official time of the race. While one timer recorded the 3:59 time, the average of the timers didn't come in under the 4:00 mark. I hope that clears it up.