R.I.P. Dick Buerkle, Former indoor mile wr holder

Sorry to hear that, and it was way too young. He was a good one, not afraid of Pre or anyone else. RIP.

Too bad, too young! I remember he used to wear bells tied in his shoelaces. He said when the bells sounded right, he knew his stride and footstrike were right. Not sure if he did it his whole career or not.

Why was Dick sitting at your grandmother's dinner table?

I still have my Sports Illustrated with Dick on the cover. Way too young. Bummer.

Sorry, should have provided clarity - Buerkle was a passionate Spanish teacher and my grandmother was a renowned translator and they were somehow connected for an immersion/mentorship.

I was there at Cole Field House at Maryland on that snowy night in Jan of '78 when Dick broke the indoor mile record. Wonderful run and a great person, who I had the pleasure to speak with several times at meets over the years. He inspired a 13 yr old kid that evening to pursue running. Rest in peace.

December 1975 Syracuse University Fieldhouse on the old 10-laps-to-a-mile banked board track, Dick towed me to my 2 mile PR. I wasn't close at the end, but at least did not get lapped. Thanks Dick. I was a fan before that race, and ever since.

"Dick never stopped pushing" nor should he.

The only YT video of Dick that I could find. I regret that it was apparently recorded with a potato.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IGSQdl4iRI

I'll always remember this Track & Field News cover after he beat Pre in an indoor two mile.

https://trackandfieldnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/1974_02.jpg

He beat Pre indoors in a 2-mile at a time when no American had beaten him for a few years on the track above a mile. It was inspiring. He didn't outkick him, he ran away from him!

Remarkable man and a very nice article about him.

Left too early and a very unfortunate and uncomfortable way to go, RIP.

So nice for everyone here that shared their experiences, thanks!

Wanted to share some thoughts and stories to remember Dick Buerkle. I had him as a coach and teacher for two years and became closer as my passion for running grew, as I recognized his greatness. Coach Buerkle was the nicest man that you could know. He truly wanted all of his students to learn Spanish, which he taught out of a trailer at a very large middle school. He taught for months with no mention of running, except for the verb correr, until we found out he was on the cover of SI and had once run a world record. Talk about being humble. Whenever he saw you in the halls, he would be genuinely happy to see you. Wanted to share 3 quick running related things that he taught me that maybe someone reading this might benefit from.

1) Exaggerated arm swings. Before a workout or race, he had us do strides and swing our arms as far forward and far back as they could go. He said it activated the arms and to really use them at the end of a race, and they will be there. He told a story when he was in Europe in 2nd on the home stretch behind the crowd favorite, and his arm swings caused the loud, erupting stadium to completely stop to which "you could hear a pin drop."

2) Visualization. Coach Buerkle used to literally call my teammate and I out of class via the loudspeaker to come to his trailer, in which he had us lay down and close our eyes before a race. He would then, not kidding, spend about 15 minutes talking through every aspect of the race. The warm-up, and every single lap, where we would be, what we would feel, and always concluded with us running a great time or winning. I think Coach Buerkle would agree with all those who say visualization is key.

3) Form. He always said, "imagine you are being pulled by a rope just bellow your belly button" and "always make sure that the spot between your eyebrows is completely relaxed" teaching us to keep our hips under us and keep our expression relaxed.

I will miss Coach Buerkle and will always be grateful for his wisdom.

He was also an All American in cross country in 1968. He placed 21 or 22. I finished 20 and in the chute Marty Liquori ran up to him and said they won. We (Stanford) were second. Their third straight without Liquori running. He was just back from Mexico City. We were very proud of our performance without a single scholarship athlete. Looking back with gratitude to have competed with a great athlete and better person.

kmaclam wrote:

I still have my Sports Illustrated with Dick on the cover. Way too young. Bummer.

I also have that Sports Illustrated issue. Sadly, not many distance runners on major sports magazine covers these days.

RIP

A few stories...

I can't remember the year, but it was in the late 70s, when not many XC teams in the east had Kenyans. Canisius College had an invitational at Delaware Park, and Allegheny was there with some Kenyans. Dick wanted to run the race and was allowed to. I was standing near the start and I heard the Allegheny coach say to his runners "See that bald guy over there? He is not in the race! He is not in the race! Pay no attention to what he does."

There was handicap 4 mile race in the Buffalo area, and he was the scratch runner. At that time, I could run around 5:30 pace for 4 miles. Obviously I started before he did. I was waiting to be passed, hoping it would be as late in the race as possible, listening for him. I heard absolutely nothing. Not a breath, not a shoe slap until there he was on my shoulder, crusing on by.

He trained for his indoor record in Buffalo, during the winter. His coach was the late Bob Ivory. If the weather was bad, Bob would get on his CB radio and ask truckers where they'd seen clear pavement, and direct Dick there to run.

Oh yeah, I remember the story about truckers on their CBs identifying trainable stretches of roads around Buffalo. I thought it was a great story when I heard it. Thanks for bringing it up and RIP to one of the great names from "my" era.

According to his obit, he won marathons both before and after he set the indoor mile WR. I wonder if any other mile record holder (indoor or outdoor) has even run marathons both before and after setting the record. Seems like some might move way up in distance after setting the record but not down and then up.

Dick Buerkle was a great runner and a better person. He had a tremendous sense of humor and was so generous and genuine to others. It's been fun to read all the stories this week to include the wonderful 'Nova article, a link I found to his own NYT tribute to Jumbo in '81, and those sharing here on LR. On top of everything, he and Jean raised a fantastic and loving family. RIP ODB!