Post your favorite Bob Kennedy memories here

His last race on the track in the 2004 Olympic Trials. Bob is running with a torn achillies, in which is saw him do the workout at Butler University that caused the injury. He was doing a set of Mile repeats on the track and pushed too hard on one and his achillies started throbing. Notice the tape on his left ankle if you look closely.

So, those are my favorite Bob Kennedy moments. In my eyes, Kennedy was one of the top 3 american distance runners ever.

During the time, Alan and Bob exchanged some nasty words.

And then they made up.

I have relatives who live in Indianapolis so one time when I was there with my family, we decided to go to Kennedy's running store just to check it out. I was just enjoying looking at all the displays of medals, pictures and jerseys and we decide to pick up a couple shirts and leave. We are at the register and the door opens and there is this guy carrying two paint cans . . . Bob Kennedy. We had mentioned to the guy in the store that we were from Iowa and he had Bob come over and talk to us for a few minutes. He had just come in to do some touch up work on the store (it was still fairly new at the time). Really a nice guy and class act. Second would be going back to Indy to watch him run at the USA CC championships in 2004.

I had the good fortune of running track and cross country at Purdue University during the same time Bob was at Indiana University. Given that we were both in Big Ten schools, I had the opportunity to run behind him many times. I used to joke with my freinds and family that I probably would not recognize Bob from the front, but I could pick him from out of a crowd if I saw him from behind. My favorite moment was at the 1990 Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Championships. Bob dominated all the distance events. He won all 3 distance events easily. He ran the mile in 4:11.34, then followed it up by winning the 3000m in 8:06.30 and then topped it all off with a win in 5,000m in 14:11.05. In the 5K, they had a rule if you got lapped (it was a 200m track), you had to drop out of the race. I can't remember how many actually finished the race due to the rule, but I do remember there were not enough finishers to award points to all of the top 8 finishers for scoring the event.

We invited Bob to speak at our annual runners award banquet in Evansville, IN. The morning after the banquet some of us local runners meet with him at USI for a morning run. I picked him up at his B&B and we got to talk a bit. It was cold with snow and ice on the roads, so when several of us were running with him and going down some hills we all would move away from him, so we would not trip him. It was three weeks before the world X-C meet and none of us wanted to be the person who took Bob out before the big race.

After the workout my girlfriend then was out running with a few others when they didn't return when they should have. I told Bob I would take him back to his B&B so he can get on his way back to Indy. He would have none of that, he went with me to look for the other runners. He is a class act 100%.

Early on I watched him on numerous occasions dig down for wins that you weren't convinced he could pull off.

The 1988 IPI meet in Illinois I saw him lead the entire race until Steve Holman passed him in the final stretch, gather himself, and repass Holman for the win. That was the first time I saw Kennedy race and was quite impressed by his competitiveness.

I was back in the pack for his freshman NCAA win but have the video. Kennedy was dropped with about 600 to go and could have easily been content with a 3'rd or 4th as a freshman but stuck with it and gunned down the leaders in the last 200.

He stayed with the 1500 his first 3 years, didn't qualify for the meet as a freshman, and was up against some fast finishers with better kicks, but utilized an all-out drive from 500 meters out to win the race at Duke.

You could see his will to win and mental toughness was every bit as great or greater than even his prodigious aerobic talent, and lets not kid ourselves, anyone who can win the NCAA cross race as a freshman with his limited training background is an out-of-ordinary talent.

Does anyone remember the NCAA Indoor mile in 1991. Kennedy was up against the defending Olympic champ in Peter ROno along with his teammate Cheryouiot( a 3:33 runner). I didn't think there was any way Kennedy would hold off those guys but he maintained his lead the whole last lap. Watching that race convinced me that he was going to be one of the best Americans ever.

I was among the many in the stands at Atlanta when he took the lead to say I had tears in my eyes, that moment will probably always be my favorite from this sport. To see and American against the Africans going for it and being a factor in the race outcome rather than just a qualifier in the back of the pack was very emotional. The noise in the stadium was incredible.

Not a story involving myself (the only time I "raced" Kennedy was at the 2004 USATF 12K Champs, 35:03 to 37:44), but my little brother "raced" Kennedy at the 2003 Penn Relays 5000 Olympic Development Race. Well, it was my little brother's first big race 5K, and, after crashing a bit as almost everyone does at Penn their first time, the leaders lap my little brother with one lap to go with Kennedy chasing hard to the line to finish. My brother still has one more lap to go, but not wanting to be lapped by Kennedy, starts kicking from 500m out, driving furiously towards the finish line, where he manages to hold off Kennedy in a sprint! And then he had to run another lap to finish in about 14:50 to Kennedy's 13:43. Heck, but it was great.

Kennedy, in my opinion, was America's first true professional distance runner, and the best in my lifetime so far.

Actually, this meet was in 1991 at Purdue. And Bob lost the 5000m to Brad Barquist of Michigan (who was fresh) who set the Big Ten Indoor record of 14:00.51. What was remarkable about that meet was that there were three future Olympians (Kennedy, Mark Croghan, Barquist) and a sub 4:00 miler (Len Sitko). Croghan, who got 4th in the 3k in around 8:12, went on to run his 8:10.56 steeple pr later that summer. I was amazed he could run faster over the barriers than he could in the flat 3k just a few months apart.

The mile went out in 2:14 and came back in 1:57.

I would have to say that the 2001 race, and the '96 Olympic final's are probably my two favorte racing moments of Bob.

I think what is far greater than his legacy as a runner, is his legacy as a person. Bob is the epitomy of a stand-up guy. It is very few, and far between that you will ever hear anyone with anything bad to say about him. No matter who you are, he always treats you like you are sombody.

During my internship at USATF I watched the raw footage of Bob's 96 final it Atlanta. There is no sound on the tapes other than crowd noise. When Bob went for it with 800m to go it sounded like an airplane taking off. When he was passed the noise level almost immediately quieted and the cheering continued to diminish even as the gold medal was claimed by another. Everyone in the stadium was in Bob's corner that night. Thinking of that race still raises the hairs on the back of my neck brings a tear to my eyes.

Attended the Stockholm meet where he went sub 13 - as the first non african ever. Not much attention from crowd, but the smile upon his face afterwards, the celebration in a close circle of friends - that was awesome.

I remember listening to Vic Holchek, back in the days of 1-800-TRACK, reporting BK going sub 13 for the first time (at the meet you mentioned). That was pretty exciting for a young punk like myself at the time.

I know it's been said a couple of times, but I have to agree with the '96 moment when he took the lead. Yes, the logical person in me knew he probably wouldn't win or even medal, but for just a little while it seemed like it might be possible.

Thanks for all the great races.

In 1998, I was 16, hanging out at the mall, where I saw Bob Kennedy window shopping w/ some friends. Bob was in town to compete in the Goodwill Games. I wanted to ask for his autograph, but I had nothing on me except for a receipt, so I went up to Bob w/ the receipt and asked him to sign it, told him he was a great runner. He seemed quite taken aback that a young girl like myself would recognize him at a shopping mall, but he autographed my receipt and we chatted for a bit, then I walked away. About an hour later, I saw him leaving the mall w/ a Sbarro pizza box and all I remember thinking the rest of the day was, "Wow, Bob Kennedy eats PIZZA!" (haha, remember folks, I was 16.) I still have his autograph, along w/ about 50 others I acquired throughout the Goodwill Games. I even got Morceli's! That was an incredible week.

I was in the stadium during the 96 Atlanta 5K. When Bob went to the front with 800 meters to go it is without a doubt one of the great moments for me in this sport. The stadium moved and the pride I felt for him and what we was trying to accomplish can't be put into words.

I got to hear him speak at a running store in Austin Texas back in December of 98. I wound up with the Nike promotional banner with his autograph on it......it hangs behind me as I am writing this. To say that he was gracious and approachable is to put it mildly. A CLASS DUDE all the way around!

THANKS BOB for the memories and for the example you have set. You have shown that you can be one of the BEST and still be a CLASS ACT!

At the tender age of 21 (me, not BK), I ran in a road roace with him. This was in 1988 and he would have been about 18. Rompin' Ron's 10K. He won in 31:something. I still have the age group division winner mug, but I'm not sure if I got that because BK won the overall race or if he and I were actually in different age groups. Anyway, even at age 18, we all knew who he was, and we all knew we had no chance to win the race that day. I don't even think he pushed it.

NO way BK would have won the bronze over Hissou in the Atlanta OG 10000m. Hissou went on to set the WR later that year in Brussels.

I agree. Geb and Tergat ran their second 5000 faster than Bob ran in the 5000 final. Hissou's second 5000 was in the 13;20s. Hell, Bob only ran 13;12.