Best Forgotten US Runners

He was forgotten.

Ken Swenson broke Jim Ryun's 880 record

Mike Durkin '72 Olympic Bronze

Earl Jones- Amazing talent, terrible car crash after 84 OLY

Margaret Groos (2:29:50, 15:34 (indoor wr at the time))

Alan Sharsu

Peter Schilling, Joe Jackson

Barry Brown

TrackBot can add some depth to this thread.

TrackBot! PRs Steve Scott

PRs for Steve Scott:

800 m (Outdoor): 1:45.05 on 4 Jul 1982

1000 m (Outdoor): 2:16.40 on 23 Aug 1981

1500 m (Outdoor): 3:31.76 on 16 Jul 1985

1500 m (Indoor): 3:36.0h on 20 Feb 1981

One Mile (Outdoor): 3:47.69 on 7 Jul 1982

One Mile (Indoor): 3:51.8h on 20 Feb 1981

2000 m (Outdoor): 4:54.71 on 31 Aug 1982

2000 m (Indoor): 4:58.6h on 7 Feb 1981

3000 m (Outdoor): 7:36.69 on 1 Sep 1981

3000 m (Indoor): 7:39.94 on 10 Feb 1989

5000 m (Outdoor): 13:30.39 on 6 Jun 1987

Franklyn Sanchez from the great city of Lynn Massachusetts! The city of firsts!

yeah, what happened to her!?

Wang wrote:

Sara Baxter

Tom VonRuden - '68 Olympic team at 1500, '67 Pan Am Champ

Bob Deines - multiple top 10 finishes at Boston, set AR for 50 miles

Amby Burfoot - '68 Boston Champ, Marathon PR of 2:14, close to the then AR

Oscar Moore - '64 5000 runner

Jack Bacheler - 68 and 72 Olympian who convinced Frank Shorter to move to Gainsville, where he blossomed.

Leonard Hilton - 72 Olympian at the 5.

TrackBot! PRs Galen Rupp

TrackBot! PRs matt centrowitz

TrackBot! PRs George Malley

Seriously pretty much everyone is forgotton about 20 years after they retire. Most of the names listed on this board are the very good but not all time legendary guys. And if you don't have a platform for you name coming up (i.e. Craig Virgin might have been a better runner than Bill Rodgers. But he gets no visibility today while Bill gets occasionaly press clips around Boston/NYC to commemorate his wins).

PRs for Galen Rupp:

800 m (Outdoor): 1:50.00 on 2 May 2009

800 m (Indoor): 1:49.87 OT on 28 Feb 2009

1500 m (Outdoor): 3:34.15 on 5 Sep 2014

1500 m (Indoor): 3:34.78+ on 26 Jan 2013

One Mile (Outdoor): 3:52.11 on 27 Jul 2013

One Mile (Indoor): 3:50.92 on 26 Jan 2013

3000 m (Outdoor): 7:43.24 on 13 Aug 2010

3000 m (Indoor): 7:30.16 AR on 21 Feb 2013

Two Miles (Indoor): 8:07.41 AR on 25 Jan 2014

5000 m (Outdoor): 12:58.90 on 2 Jun 2012

5000 m (Indoor): 13:01.26 AR on 16 Jan 2014

10000 m (Outdoor): 26:44.36 AR on 30 May 2014

5 km (Outdoor): 13:39 on 25 Nov 2010

Half Marathon (Outdoor): 60:30 on 20 Mar 2011

Marathon (Outdoor): 2:11:13 on 13 Feb 2016

4 x Mile (Outdoor): 16:03.24 on 9 May 2009

PRs for matt centrowitz:

1500 m (Outdoor): 3:36.70 on 27 Jun 1976

One Mile (Outdoor): 3:54.94 on 26 Jun 1982

3000 m (Outdoor): 7:48.20 on 6 May 1978

Two Miles (Outdoor): 8:26.82 on 23 Jun 1979

5000 m (Outdoor): 13:12.91 on 5 Jun 1982

5000 m (Indoor): 13:33.2h on 6 Feb 1981

10000 m (Outdoor): 28:32.7h on 15 Jul 1983

PRs for George Malley:

1500 m (Outdoor): 3:40.21 on 6 Jul 1978

One Mile (Outdoor): 4:00.5h on 6 Aug 1977

10000 m (Outdoor): 28:53.0h on 1 Jan 1981

Half Marathon (Outdoor): 61:43 on 19 Sep 1982

Marathon (Outdoor): 2:12:23 on 8 Dec 1985

3000 m steeple (Outdoor): 8:21.72 on 4 Jul 1978

How about

JOE

I would say at least 2/3 of the names on this thread (even being a few years old) are not "forgotten." Sure, a lot aren't in the daily conversation here, but they're far from forgotten. Most legit track fans on this site could name many of these runners if the context was brought up.

No one has forgotten Steve Scott

No one has forgotten Frank Shorter

No one has forgotten Dave Wottle

No one has forgotten Adam Goucher, Tim Broe, Krumm, Joe Falcon.

I think some of the early studs from the 40's, 50's and 60's are often forgotten, but lets not pretend that Lindgren, Burleson, or later Hulst/Chapa/Danielson have just slipped peoples minds.

TrackBot! Compare Tim Broe vs Adam Goucher

Head-to-head record between Tim Broe (left) and Adam Goucher (right):

NCAA Indianapolis IN 1997-03-08: 3000 m: 7:59.52 (4) VS 7:54.20 (1)

NC Stanford CA 2003-06-20: 5000 m: 13:35.23 (1) VS 13:35.67 (2)

adidas Carson CA 2005-05-22: 3000 m: 7:40.28 (3) VS 8:07.58 (9)

NC Carson CA 2005-06-24: 5000 m: 13:12.76 (1) VS 13:27.65 (8)

Tim Broe total wins: 3

Adam Goucher total wins: 1