Dick Buerkle
![]() Buerkle setting world record for indoor mile (3:54.9) on January 13, 1978 | |
Personal information | |
---|---|
Nationality | American |
Born | Rochester, New York | September 3, 1947
Died | June 22, 2020 | (aged 72)
Height | 5 ft 7 in (170 cm) (1978)[1] |
Weight | 130 lb (59 kg) (1978)[1] |
Sport | |
Sport | Track |
Event(s) | 1500 meters, mile |
College team | Villanova |
Club | NYAC |
Coached by | Jumbo Elliott |
Achievements and titles | |
Personal best(s) | Mile: 3:54.93i[2]1 3000m: 7:53.2[2] 2-mile: 8:21.76[2] 5000m: 13:23.20[2] 10,000m: 28:25.0[2] |
Updated on September 26, 2015 |
Richard "Dick" Thomas Buerkle (/ˈbɜːrkliː/; September 3, 1947 – June 22, 2020)[3] was an Olympic athlete and a world record holder for the men's indoor mile. He is known as one of the most successful walk-ons in the history of American collegiate running, due to his athletic successes while at Villanova.
Running career
High school
Buerkle graduated from Aquinas Institute high school in 1965 with personal best times of 4:28 for the mile[4] and 10:01 for two miles.[1] He began running competitively only in his senior year of high school.
Collegiate
With no stand-out track credentials from high school, Buerkle enrolled at Villanova initially with no sports scholarship. At Villanova, he learned under the tutelage of head coach Jumbo Elliott and assistant coach Jim Tuppeny. He finally received a track scholarship in April of his junior year, after breaking the nine-minute barrier in the two-mile race, recording 8:57 at a dual meet in Knoxville.[5] Two weeks later, Buerkle lowered Villanova's two-mile record to 8:46.2.[6] He graduated from Villanova in 1970 with a degree in Spanish studies.[7]
Post-collegiate
After graduating from Villanova, Buerkle never ran as a professional. He began working for a distributor of contact lenses in Buffalo, New York, although Buerkle said that the company welcomed his running goals.[1] Buerkle qualified for the 1976 and 1980 Olympics. The 1976 Games in Montreal were a disappointment for Buerkle; in the 5000 meters, he was ninth in what was, at that point, the fastest 5000 m heat in history and did not qualify for the final. The U.S. team did not compete in 1980 because of the boycott enacted by President Jimmy Carter.
On January 13, 1978, at the CYO Invitational held at the Cole Field House, he broke the indoor mile world record with a time of 3:54.93, finishing ahead of Filbert Bayi and Paul Cummings.[8] He allegedly ate nine oreos and two peanut butter jelly sandwiches only a few hours before the race.[9] He then won the men's Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games in 3:58.4, beating Wilson Waigwa and Bayi for a second consecutive race on Madison Square Garden's track.[4] The Wanamaker victory put his image on the covers of Sports Illustrated[10] and Track & Field News.[11]
Personal life
At the time of Steve Prefontaine's death in 1975,[12] Buerkle was his chief American rival; he composed a tribute poem that was printed in the Eugene's Register-Guard the following day.[13]
Buerkle eventually grew tired of the winter weather in his native Rochester, New York, and relocated his family to Atlanta, Georgia, soon thereafter. Buerkle continued to live and work in the Atlanta area after retiring from world-class competition in 1981. Buerkle said that the decision was not difficult. By that point, he and his wife, Jean, whom he met at Villanova, had a son, Gabriel, and two daughters, Lily and Tera.
Buerkle tried careers in sales and teaching in tandem with his running career. In 1992, he began teaching Spanish at Dunwoody High School, where he also coached track and field and cross-country running. He finished his career at Henderson Middle School as a Spanish instructor while simultaneously training the boy's track team thus resulting in back to back county championships in 2011–2012. Buerkle retired in January 2014.
See also
Notes
^1 The "i" after a result indicates an indoor performance.
References
- ^ a b c d Neil Amdur (January 15, 1978). "Buerkle Defies the Stereotype of a Miler". The New York Times. p. 3.
- ^ a b c d e "Dick BUERKLE - Athlete Profile". IAAF.
- ^ "Aquinas grad and two-time U.S. Olympian Dick Buerkle dies at age 72". Retrieved June 22, 2020.
- ^ a b "Buerkle Steals TV Time Slot". UCR Center for Bibliographical Studies and Research. Desert Sun. February 3, 1978. p. B16.
- ^ "AN ATHLETE REMEMBERS HIS COACH, JUMBO ELLIOT". The New York Times. April 5, 1981.
- ^ Reif, Michael (2008-01-26). "Greater Rochester Track Club Hall of Fame" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-04-25. Retrieved 2010-08-22.
- ^ "Blast from the Past: Dick Buerkle". 1999-01-19. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2010-08-22.
- ^ "Two set world marks". Reading Eagle. (Pennsylvania). Associated Press. January 14, 1978. p. 8.
- ^ Kristin Green Morse (January 21, 2002). "DICK BUERKLE, MILER FEBRUARY 6, 1978". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved January 15, 2019.
- ^ Putnam, Pat (February 6, 1978). "The slop and hustle take over". Sports Illustrated. p. 16.
- ^ "Track and Field News: Archive: Past Issues: 1978". Archived from the original on 2010-01-02. Retrieved 2010-08-22.
- ^ Newnham, Blaine; Mack, Don (May 30, 1975). "Pre's death the end of an era". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). p. 1A.
- ^ Buerkle, Dick (May 31, 1975). "Ode to S. Roland". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). p. 1B.
- 1947 births
- 2020 deaths
- World record setters in athletics (track and field)
- American male middle-distance runners
- Villanova University alumni
- Villanova Wildcats men's track and field athletes
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Olympics
- Olympic track and field athletes of the United States
- Sportspeople from Rochester, New York