Found out about Joe Falcon today

Also, maybe some people fail to realize that in Joe Falcon's time, only one person in history had broken 13:00 and the 10000m WR was 27:13.

When Falcon ran 13:20, during some of those years the fastest time in the world would be 13:08 and 13:12 was a typical winning time in a meet like Oslo or Berlin.

But 3:49 was a very legit time for the mile then too, so naturally he'd stay with the mile because it's the premier event. I always thought he should have been a 5000m guy but what do I know?

Would have been interesting to see him in the steeple.

I do not have to put words in your mouth. You said you have no doubt Joe could have run 27:20. Apparently you don’t understand what the US records were at the time.

showboat

pretty boy

Joe ran

3:49

won the NCAA XC

ran :53 off a 13:20

he would have run sub 13

Absolutely zero doubt Falcon had the potential for <27:20. Big difference between that and “holding all the us records between 1500 and 10k”. Cmon, man.

How many people from the 70,80and 90s do you think any college kids can name? How many runners can you name from before you were born.....

It is the same. Joe Falcon was a 3:49 miler. If a 3:49 miler like Joe can run 27:20 he will hold all the US records between 1500 and 10000 in the early 1990s. This is elementary stuff.

Was the final lap a 53? The announcers said 54. I am not sure.

Al Michaels commentated brilliantly on the Dream Mile play-by-play that afternoon.

I thought it was sub-53 actually, but I’m just going off memory. I am younger than Joe, but I was lucky enough to see him run a few times, including the NCAA cross country championships in AZ in 1986. He was an absolute beast, with speed and strength. Pretty sure he could almost bench press 300 lbs too. He would’ve broken 13:00 had he really focused on it. In the pre-super shoe era. Falcon was likely a 12:55 guy. That 3:49 Oslo mile was incredible. Especially since he didn’t seem like a “miler.”

Paul, that you?

The American records 1500/3k/5k were held by a 3:48/13:00 guy. The mile was a 3:47. It isn't remotely clear he would be holding more than the 10k record. Possible but he would have needed really good days...

And yeah him having one more year like 1990 would have been fun. Instead he is one of a half dozen guys where you go what if...

Falcon was never going to run 27:20. The point is if Falcon could run 27:20 he was going to own the US record book at that time. Falcon had an acceleration that was unusual but he never showed anything close to 27:20 ability. It is astounding how people credit Joe with ability that he didn’t show. Nenow ran 27:20 but he was probably a 3:58 miler at best. People have no idea what it would have been like to have 27:20 ability with 3:49. Back then that meant you might have an Olympic gold medal.

Careful with the thread titles! You had me thinking Joe Falcon had died or something.

You do know that Joe Falcon won the NCAA XC and 10,000m track titles BEFORE he ran 3:49? The guy was just getting started when his track career basically ended before he was 27 in 1993 (that same year he won the Mt. Sac 10k and won the US indoor 3000m before his final injury). People can say what they want, but the guy had mega talent and there is no doubt that had he stayed healthy and put in a few more seasons then he would've had a legit shot at some of the US records at the time for 3k, 5k and 10k. He had the physical tools and more raw speed than Bob Kennedy who had a heckuva career and became the guy who did break the 3k / 5k records. Falcon basically had the tools of Todd Williams and Bob Kennedy combined with the 1500m speed of Steve Holman. You can ask people from that era and they would say that when Falcon was at the top of his game and his confidence was high then he could compete with anyone.

Not sure if anyone has mentioned it but allegedly Joe was capable of easily bench pressing over 400 pounds, despite his diminutive stature.

Everyone seems to think it was somehow automatic that Falcon woulda coulda shoulda run under 13 and 27:20 but his lifetime bests speaks for themselves. He never got under 28:20 nor under 13:20 so people are assuming really drastic improvement. That's wishful thinking because on your road to that improvement things tend to happen to derail you.

There are two things I'd love to see letsrun add:

1. A history section- stories, videos, etc I just remember the 1970's with some awesome stories about the Black Socks Brits and others.

2. A section devoted to links to races- road races, track meets, cross-country. They do a great job of providing viewing information for major races but I'm sure there's some 5k-1/2 marathons happening with world class runners most weekends.

And, yes, I remember Falcon- he really was a great runners and tough and I heard a story about him benching something that we as much or more than many on the Arkansas football team.

Thank you, this really was a great read.