Who is the fastest person who is famous for something else?

Kofi Annan still holds the 100-yard sprint record at Macalester College in Minnesota. Of course...that's mainly because they switched to meters

George Smith Patton Jr. (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945) was a leading U.S. Army general in World War II. In his 36-year Army career, he was Cadet Adjutant at West Point, finished in Fifth Place in the Modern Pentathlon at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm, Sweden

Drew Eckmann wrote:

armdog wrote:

Dr. Delano Meriweather, noted hematologist, ran 9.0 for 100 yards in early 1970s.

While a good runner (mostly indoors) Meriweather's P.R. was 9.3 at best.

A quick google search shows that Meriweather ran 9.0 wind aided and 9.22 legit, and he ran 100m in 10.2, so you underestimated him.

Herschel Walker was pretty fast.

i think it's most impressive when the runner is famous for something not athletic. a fast sprinter who became famous in football is essentially the same thing.

someone who is a neurosurgeon and a great runner is more impressive.

DMR wrote:

i think it's most impressive when the runner is famous for something not athletic. a fast sprinter who became famous in football is essentially the same thing.

someone who is a neurosurgeon and a great runner is more impressive.

Good point - I agree completely. Another point - there really are very few, if any, famous neurosurgeons. Roger Bannister, for example, is famous purely for his running. None of us would have ever heard of him from his medical exploits alone.

The examples of famous runners who went on to success in another area don't really apply to this thread, in my opinion. To a man, they were famous for running, not being a politician or whatever they parlayed their success into.

the question is: who is the fastest person who is also famous for something else.

so far, there have been some great comments, but they have not answered the question.

the quest needs to be to find the person who is fastest first and foremost, that's the qualifier; then also famous for something else.

steve scott is the fastest american miler. period. he had a tremendous amount of speed in his time and still holds the record today. he is also famous for golf, and has told me personally that more people ask him about his golf record than his mile record.

while a 2:48 marathon is a great time in 1948, it was not a world leading time. alan tuning did not lead any portion of an olyimpic race like scott did in '84. alice cooper while a great musician was not very fast--a 4:30 mile is good, but not as good as scott's 3:47.

you can read about scott's golf here:

http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2005/08/also_known_as_t.html

and here:

http://www.keepersofthegame.org/html/fall00.html

Santa Claus - The distance he covers in just one night (counting only up and down in chimneys - the rest is reindeer-aassisted) is unbelievable!

Flagpole Willy wrote:

Gabe Jennings...the running thing and then getting attacked by monkeys in Brazil or wherever it was. If that doesn't suit him to a tee, I don't know what does. Seriously, if there had been a poll question before this happened about which famous runner would be most likely to get attacked by monkeys, it would have been Gabe.

If by monkies, you mean hot brazilian sex babes then Gabe is the man.

Didn't we all run 4:30 in high school?

so cal cross country wrote:

steve scott is the fastest american miler. period. he had a tremendous amount of speed in his time and still holds the record today. he is also famous for golf

I'm afraid you're full of shit, son. He is not at all famous for golf. He is merely very good at it, and even then only in a running context.

Ask even golf aficionados (sp) if they've ever heard of him. Then ask John Q. Public. The man is known only for his running except by niche observers such as yourself.

Luke Wilson is known t0 99.9% of people for his acting, but ran 1:54 in high school (for the 800 not the half-marathon). People are sick of the celebs angle, but it;s true that most well-known people happen to be actors or athletes.

aged one wrote:

Didn't we all run 4:30 in high school?

Not me. Ran 4:32 for 1600 in high school, but I did run 4:30 in a 6400 relay once, but I don't count that.

Flagpole Willy wrote:

aged one wrote:

Didn't we all run 4:30 in high school?

Not me. Ran 4:32 for 1600 in high school, but I did run 4:30 in a 6400 relay once, but I don't count that.

Oh yeah, regarding that 6400 relay, I was the anchor leg and I was in second place when I got the baton about 150 meters behind the first place guy. That team decided to stack their best runners on the first three legs in hopes of building an insurmountable lead. (Now back to the part about me and my accomplishments) I took off after this guy and caught him at the start of the third lap when his teammates said, "He can't keep up that pace". Apparently they didn't read the newspapers often as it was clear I could keep that pace. I did keep up that pace of course, and when I finished with a resounding victory (helping set a meet record for the 6400 relay in the process), I heard one of his teammates say, "Well, I guess he can".

Damn straight brother!

Flagpole Willy wrote:

Not me. Ran 4:32 for 1600 in high school, but I did run 4:30 in a 6400 relay once, but I don't count that.

Well Flagpole's post answers the question of "Who is the fastest person who is famous for making every thread about himself."

You left out the most important part. "aged one" said, "didn't we all run 4:30 in high school?". I simply answered him. I'm giving in that way.Peace and Love brother.

TE wrote:

Flagpole Willy wrote:

Not me. Ran 4:32 for 1600 in high school, but I did run 4:30 in a 6400 relay once, but I don't count that.

Well Flagpole's post answers the question of "Who is the fastest person who is famous for making every thread about himself."

Flagpole Willy wrote:

You left out the most important part. "aged one" said, "didn't we all run 4:30 in high school?". I simply answered him. I'm giving in that way.

And I think that everyone is missing the most important part: "aged one" was merely paraphrasing Frank Shorter. It was a joke, it was a rhetorical question. There was no need to answer it.

Josh Cox. Someone might have already said this, but I don't want to read the whole thread.

shamil wrote:

Jim Ryun

Sebastian Coe

Very fast runners, yet they are also well-known politicians.

However, I don't think their political careers would have been successful had they not already been famous for their running accomplishments.

Why did you post this? These guys were famous for their running not as politicians. Thank you for contributing nothing to the thread.

I believe Robin Williams was a very fast 800 meter runner in HS. He ran around 1:52 if I remember. He's very famous and thats very fast...HS or not.