Famous Athletes who ran track?

timothy mcveigh

Paula Abdul Jabbar ran 11.5 for the 100m at Houston High.

Trojan..you also left of Gale Sayers...tremendous running back with the bears and a 25ft+ long jumper at the University of Kansas. Not only was George Patton a gold medalist in the modern pentathlon (1912), but he also held the 100yH record at West Point until the 50s.

I think I've heard that Wayne Gretzky was into XC when he was young. Can anyone confirm or deny?[/quote]

Yes, The Great One (Wayne Gretzky for the non-hockey fan) did run track and was a decent 800m runner for his age group. X-C I am not sure. Growing up in Canada I read every Gretzky book available and remember many pointed out he was a decent mid-distance track guy at an early age. Obviously he stuck with his better sport and made out ok.

I also heard his wife is looking to place bets on what he could run the mile in right now. Of course he knows nothing about it.

he's not a famous athlete, but i read somewhere that luke wilson ran a 1:53 800m. This is a great thread, if anyone can post times, i'd really appreciate it.

I remember hearing on TV that Rip Hamilton ran a 4:30 in HS or something like that

Tiger Woods ran xc, but not track.

Oh God, here comes the Rip Hamilton debate again. I had a friend in college from Washington Crossing, PA (near Coatesville) who ran and said that Rip was good for about 5 flat.

IN an MTV interview Ashonti mentions she did the horizontal jumps in HS. she was pretty good, maybe state champ, i dont remember.

Garth Brooks threw javelin

Well I wasn't trying to start any crap about Rip. I dunno for sure about whether he was good or not. But apparently he did run track and thats the point.

No one mentioned Russ Francis or Terry Bradshaw.Both nationally ranked jav throwers(I think Francis was a former HS record holder). Also in the jav Michael Landon(Eugene {h}?Orwitz

I've also heard Hamilton was a 4:30 guy, and i heard he recently said he was in 4:30 shape too. Does anyone have times on the other guys we've been talking about? this is a cool thread.

For Boston Celtic "Bill Russell ranked as the world's No. 7 high jumper in Track and Field News rankings in 1956. Russell won titles in the West Coast Relays, Pacific AAU meet and Central California AAU meet in 1956. His winning mark of 6-9 1/4 in the West Coast Relays was the 11th-best mark recorded in the world in 1956."

http://sportsline.com/collegebasketball/mayhem/history/multitalented

what were OJ Simpson's PRs??

any hollywood celebs other than Luke Wilson and Dana Carvey run? how about musicians?

Earl Boykins of the Denver Nuggets ran x-c.

Herschel Walker did sprints and threw shot.

lmb wrote:

No one mentioned Russ Francis or Terry Bradshaw.Both nationally ranked jav throwers(I think Francis was a former HS record holder). Also in the jav Michael Landon(Eugene {h}?Orwitz

There's a photo of Russ Francis with Steve Prefontaine in Tom Jordan's book, "PRE."