He beat Pre in an indoor 2M in '74, made the Olympic team in the 5,000 in 1976, set a world indoor mile record of 3:54.9 in '78.
He was notable for being bald when it wasn't common like it is now.
He beat Pre in an indoor 2M in '74, made the Olympic team in the 5,000 in 1976, set a world indoor mile record of 3:54.9 in '78.
He was notable for being bald when it wasn't common like it is now.
yes
He was actually bald because of a condition, not by choice. I remember him telling me he was more liberal than most guys during his time, but people thought he was the skinhead/ultraconservative type because of his haircut (or lack therefore of). Either way, I've met him once through a very distant family connection. He was one of the nicest guys I've ever met and took probably an hour out of his night after he elected to a local running hall of fame to talk to me and my brother. He's a great guy and a great runner. I think he's one of the most overlooked runners in the US...he had a world record and no one knows who the guy is!
i know who he is. any student of the sport would.
Buerkle was on the 1980 boycott team as well, also at 5000 meters. Here is a link to a blog post about Buerkle:
http://villanovarunning.blogspot.com/2010/01/unexpected-world-record-holder.html
I remember reading in Sports Illustrated (back when they covered track) that prior to his world record he had to train on a highway because a snowstorm had closed all the local roads. Seems primitive compared to Alter-Gs and underwater treadmills the pros use today but very inspirational to an average runner like me.
i was there once... wrote:
i know who he is. any student of the sport would.
Agreed.
It made for an interesting and popular story at the time because it was tied in with the CB radio craze. Buerkle had one and got on it during the snowstorm to see if anyone could tell him of a bare patch of highway where he could do some 400m repeats. A little older now, I think about that and wonder about the logistics: did he run intervals, jogging back along the open stretch of road for his rest? Was it even remotely safe? I guess so. I remember the word around the track circuit at the time was that he was a heck of a nice guy. I don't remember him being on the '76 team though.
Gelindo wrote:
I remember reading in Sports Illustrated (back when they covered track) that prior to his world record he had to train on a highway because a snowstorm had closed all the local roads. Seems primitive compared to Alter-Gs and underwater treadmills the pros use today but very inspirational to an average runner like me.
He is interviewed in the documentary "Fire On The Track." He seemed like a great, great guy.
Check out this link from 1974 CYO. The video quality is not good, but amazing to see this snippet. Pretty fun soundtrack too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IGSQdl4iRI
Bill Huntington wrote:
He beat Pre in an indoor 2M in '74, made the Olympic team in the 5,000 in 1976, set a world indoor mile record of 3:54.9 in '78.
He was notable for being bald when it wasn't common like it is now.
Actually, his hair has grown back now, or so i'm told.
He yelled at me for cutting in front of him at Peachtree one year as we were coming down hill towards the Beer Mug.
Imagine beating Prefontaine by 7-seconds over 2 miles. Amazing. Great guy. Had dinner with him and then immediately after dinner we went for a run as he talked a good bit about biomechanics.
My favorite runner when I was in HS. He was a teammate of my HS coach at Villanova. The best college walk-on ever, in my opinion. I have three autographs in my life, Tug McGraw, Frank Shorter, and Mr Buekle signed a dollar bill for me at Penn one year. One of the funniest guys I have ever met.
I seem to remember that his last name is pronounced (Berkley). Vill. grad.?
vincew wrote:
I seem to remember that his last name is pronounced (Berkley). Vill. grad.?
So, you must think Jerry Rice went to Rice?
vincew wrote:
I seem to remember that his last name is pronounced (Berkley). Vill. grad.?
He signed my water filtration device!
Fire On The Track: "Everybody was talking about Prefontaine's "Aura". I was more concerned about my own aura...sticking it to his aura (smile)"
I found it interesting that he couldn't grow hair on top but at one point had a perfectly full mustache.
The CYO meet at U. of Maryland was a very nice meet to open the what was then the East indoor invitational season. The track was a very fast 160y circuit that was the scene of several world and American records, including the 3:54.9 that Buerkle ran a few years later to set the WR.
Buerkle was a teammate of Marty Liquori and likely used the coaching he got from Jumbo Elliott to improve post grad. I was a college classmate of Buerkle's younger brother though I never met Dick.
Ditto. He was a good one but very under-rated now.