Sports Illustrated June 6 1960
By Tex Maule
“………..After an early morning workout-they were out (Beatty and Tabori) on the track sprinting up and the grass. Then they rested in the hotel in downtown Modesto, waiting for Igloi to tell them what to do.
“I don’t know how I’ ll run,” Beatty said. “Igloi hasn’t told me. I ‘ll run however he says.”
Igloi briefed his two runners only a couple hours before the race. His instructions were precise and detailed almost to the 10th of a second. The first quarter mile was to be run in 57 seconds, with Beatty setting the pace. The time at the half mile was to be between 1:57 and 1:58, with Tabori leading the way on the second lap. The first 150 yards of the third lap with both Tabori and Beatty leading and running hard but not dropping back, either. Then they were to run hard enough to finish the three-quarters in three minutes flat.
“The last lap was dog eat dog,” Beatty said later. “We were on our own.”…………
Ta the gun , Beatty, following Igloi’s orders, took the lead. He is a small man-5 feet 6 and 128 pounds-and he runs nearly straight up, with his chest out, churning away on muscular sprinter’s legs. He ran the first lap in 57.9 seconds, less than a second off Igloi’s timetable. Just as he finished the lap Tabori, on schedule , took over. Burleson following his plan , stayed in third place well off the pace.
Tabori hit the half mile in 1:58 right on Igloi’s timetable, with Beatty a stride behind and Burleson still following-as he had planned-10 yards behind. And at the three quarter-mile mark Tabori was in the lead at 2:59.7. Beatty, exactly on the 10th second, finished the third lap in three minutes flat, as Igloi had told him to do. Burleson had begun to close up by now , preparing for his strong finishing kick, and he was only a few strides behind Beatty.
In the last lap-the “dog eat dog” lap for Tabori nad Beatty-Igloi’s wisdom was quickly apparent. He had planned the race to destroy the finishing kicks of both Elliot and Burleson.(Elliot decided not to run about 10 minutes before the race began) Now Burleson ,worn down more than he realized by the killing early pace, tried to pass Tabori and Beatty, who had moved into the lead, on the backstretch. He got past Tabori, but Beatty, hearing his coming, began his own kick and held him off by half a yard apart. Then Beatty, running very strongly, drew away and left the laboring Burleson eight yards behind at the finish. His time was 3:58, Burleson’s 3:59.2, Tabori’s 4:00.0.
“This is the first time since I’ve been running that I didn’t have any kick at the end,” Burleson said after the race. “I made the last turn and said to myself, Where’s the kick? And it wasn’t there. They burned it out of me. That Beatty is America’s best miler. I’ll have to train hard to beat that guy.”