Lester Lyles - father of UMBC star guard Jairus Lyles- was the national age group champ in mile run before his NFL career

At the first annual national age-group championships, held simultaneously at Falls Church, Va. and Bakersfield, Calif., 7-year-old Mike Assumma of Rialto, Calif. proved he would have no trouble with the Army's desired six-minute mile for basic trainees. He covered the distance in 5:42.1. Gene Mirkin, an 8-year-old from Washington, D.C., did 5:40.8. Mike Assumma's older brother, Chuck, set a record for 10-year-olds of 5:07.3. Kevin Knox (SI, May 3) of Wasco, Calif., who two years ago established a record for 9-year-olds, this time took more than 13 seconds off the previous record for 11-year-olds by running the mile in 5:00.3.

At the same age, Paavo Nurmi of Finland ran 1,500 meters (.93 mile) in 5:03.

https://www.si.com/vault/1971/07/05/611629/scorecard

Wow, I also agree with. Your conclusion , OP

I think this is proof positive there are a lot of talented runners who never end up doing it as they are better at other sports.

Yeah, track is sort of a sport of "last resort" unless you're from Kenya.

It could also show that almost anyone (male) can run a 5-minute mile by teenage years if they are trained from youth (like Polgars in chess). And assuming natural progressions, likely 4 minutes by young adulthood. Humans are largely not exploiting all their potential, running-wise.

More facts. wrote:

7-year-old Mike Assumma of Rialto, Calif. proved he would have no trouble with the Army's desired six-minute mile for basic trainees.

Wow, the US Military had like actual standards back then.

When Meb ran 5:18 in 7th grade his gym coach Jim Lord told him he was good enough to go to the Olympics. 5:03 for 11 years old is a better performance.

I had coach Lord at Roosevelt High and ran 5:04 in 8th grade along with a 1:34 660y and coach Lord didn't say a word to me.

Roosevelt JR. High, that is.

Probably knew you wouldn't respond to the PEDs.

Modern coaching wisdom wrote:

Probably knew you wouldn't respond to the PEDs.

I think coach Lord didn't like me because in wrestling class one day I very abruptly started beating the cr*p out of a bigger kid who had been bullying me quietly for several days, whispering into my ear how he was going to kill me and other crazy stuff. Coach Lord was in the middle of explaining something when it happened and he had to stop and take us both to the office. Hey, at least it happened during the wrestling part of the semester so it kind of fit into the program. The kid I beat up got expelled from school. Nothing happened to me. That creep had a history of bullying people. I did the school a service by giving the Principal a reason to get rid of him.

Modern coaching wisdom wrote:

Probably knew you wouldn't respond to the PEDs.

Strange you should say that, because coach Lord played wide receiver briefly for the San Diego Chargers. The Chargers back then made the news when it was revealed there was a huge glass jar full of dianabol at Chargers workouts and the players ate the stuff like candy. Not sure if coach played for them while that was happening but it was right around that time (early to mid 70s).

More facts. wrote:

At the first annual national age-group championships, held simultaneously at Falls Church, Va. and Bakersfield, Calif., 7-year-old Mike Assumma of Rialto, Calif. proved he would have no trouble with the Army's desired six-minute mile for basic trainees. He covered the distance in 5:42.1. Gene Mirkin, an 8-year-old from Washington, D.C., did 5:40.8. Mike Assumma's older brother, Chuck, set a record for 10-year-olds of 5:07.3. Kevin Knox (SI, May 3) of Wasco, Calif., who two years ago established a record for 9-year-olds, this time took more than 13 seconds off the previous record for 11-year-olds by running the mile in 5:00.3.

At the same age, Paavo Nurmi of Finland ran 1,500 meters (.93 mile) in 5:03.

Frank Assuma went on to run a bunch of sub-4:00 miles; His older brother Chuck, Gene Mirkin and Lester Lyles did not.

We are slow wrote:

I think this is proof positive there are a lot of talented runners who never end up doing it as they are better at other sports.

Yeah, track is sort of a sport of "last resort" unless you're from Kenya.

It could also show that almost anyone (male) can run a 5-minute mile by teenage years if they are trained from youth (like Polgars in chess). And assuming natural progressions, likely 4 minutes by young adulthood. Humans are largely not exploiting all their potential, running-wise.

If you mean any “average” NFL caliber athlete or age group star.

We are slow wrote:

It could also show that almost anyone (male) can run a 5-minute mile by teenage years if they are trained from youth (like Polgars in chess). And assuming natural progressions, likely 4 minutes by young adulthood. Humans are largely not exploiting all their potential, running-wise.

How is that your takeaway? He was the national champion. By definition that's t he pretty much the opposite of average.

I DO NOT think the average US male can run a 5 minute mile. Even if they trained it might be hard. It would be like saying I could bench press 300 pounds.

NFL safeties and cornerbacks, especially cornerbacks, tend to be pretty speedy and limber. Usually tall with longer limbs since that helps with batting away the ball and outreaching the receivers. I'd be more surprised if he had ended up as a lineman instead. But cornerbacks run with the wide receivers so they need a good bit of stamina and speed.

rojo wrote:

Being Baltimore proud, I've been reading every article I can find about UMBC. Tonight, I was reading about how Jairus Lyles dad played at UVA before his 6 year NFL career. As I did research on his UVA career, I was stunned to find this.

[quote]the Washingon Post wrote in 1984:

"When Lyles was 11, he was the natinal age-group champion for the mile run. His time was 5 minutes 3 seconds.

"It could also show that almost anyone (male) can run a 5-minute mile by teenage years if they are trained from youth (like Polgars in chess). And assuming natural progressions, likely 4 minutes by young adulthood."

Uh yeah, it doesn't show that at all...

@We are slow wrote:

"It could also show that almost anyone (male) can run a 5-minute mile by teenage years if they are trained from youth (like Polgars in chess). And assuming natural progressions, likely 4 minutes by young adulthood."

Uh yeah, it doesn't show that at all...

If they had qualified it with "any reasonably athletic person" then maybe I'd agree with them. But athletic is very broad since that encompasses shot putters and linemen as well. They're all considered athletes...Even sumo wrestlers.

@We are slow wrote:

"It could also show that almost anyone (male) can run a 5-minute mile by teenage years if they are trained from youth (like Polgars in chess). And assuming natural progressions, likely 4 minutes by young adulthood."

Uh yeah, it doesn't show that at all...

I was never involved in any organized sports or training. I did ride my bicycle a lot from the age of 10 onward. Likewise, Meb probably wasn't involved in any childhood training while growing up in Eritrea but like myself was likely physically active in other ways but not involved in any organized, prolonged training program. So Meb's 5:18 and my 5:24 in 7th grade indicators of our raw talent. I'm a lot more fast twitch than Meb, as indicated by 1:34 660y in 8th grade untrained and 11.8 100m in my early 20s while training with marathoners and running 70-80 miles per week.

Age group runners like the Assumas often dominate in high school then tend to fizzle out in college and rarely progress beyond college level. Recent studies have shown age group athletes who specialize early rarely make it to the top levels of any sport. A study of elite soccer players also shows that the ones who questioned their training and were branded "head cases" for doing so, are the ones most likely to ascend to an elite level. Name any of the top California distance studs who did anything of note beyond high school, never mind world class level. The only one who comes to mind is Thom Hunt, but he knew how to train intelligently and didn't burn himself out.

Mark Davis, Matt Giusto and David Torrence just came to mind. I think David Torrence was clean, lots of respect for him and RIP. Pretty much all of the high mileage animals of the 70s up to mid-80s were clean (and insane).

Mary, Decker, Steve Scott, Ryan Hall