This Day in Track & Field , Jackson Scholz, Jim Beatty, and Earl "Tommy" Thompson, February 10, 2024, by Walt Murphy's News and Results Service

This Day in Track & Field-December 2, Frank Shorter wins Fukuoka Marathon for third time (1973), Born this Day: Mike Larrabee, two-time 1964 Olympic gold medalist (400m, 4x400m), written by Walt Murphy

This Day in Track & Field–December 1, Ron Delaney wins Melbourne Olympic 1,500 meters (1956), Did you know that he almost did not attend? Read the story! by Walt Murphy

This Day in Track & Field/X-Country–November 30, Milt Campbell wins his second Olympic medal, this time the gold in the decathlon (1956), written by Walt Murphy

Walt Murphy is one of the finest track geeks that I know. Walt does #ThisDayinTrack&FieldHistory, an excellent daily service providing the true geek’s stories about our sport. You can check out the service for FREE with a free one-month trial subscription! (email: [email protected] ) for the entire daily service. We will post a few historic moments each day, beginning February 1, 2024.

This Day in Track & Field–February 10

Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service ([email protected]), used with permission.

1920—Dartmouth’s Earl “Tommy” Thomson was a double winner at the Millrose Games, finishing first in the 70-yard High and Low Hurdles.

Missouri’s Jackson Scholz won the 70-yard dash over Loren Murchison and Charlie Paddock, while Joie Ray won the 4^th of his 7 Wanamaker 1-1/2 mile races (the precursor to the Wanamaker Mile).

Representing his native Canada, Thomson would win the gold medal in the 110-meter Hurdles at the Antwerp Olympics later in the year, with Murchison and Paddock winning gold in the 4×100 relay(Paddock also won silver in the 200).

Jackson Scholz was the first Olympian to compete in 3 games, 1920, 1924, and 1928. He went on to become a pulp fiction novel writer. photo: Public Domain

Scholz would go on to become a 3-time U.S. Olympian, winning gold in the 4×100 in 1920 and gold and silver, respectively, in the 200 and 100 in 1924. He was portrayed in the iconic movie Chariots of Fire.

(For Subscribers): https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1920/02/11/118260689.html?pageNumber=19

Scholz: https://www.nytimes.com/1986/10/30/obituaries/jackson-scholz-89-american-olympian-portrayed-in-movie.html

https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/79001

1962–Two world indoor records fell at the L.A. Times Invitational. Jim Beatty became the first man to run a sub-4 minute mile indoors when he ran 3:58.9 to break the previous mark of 4:01.4, which was set by Irishman Ron Delany in 1959. The second mark fell in the 1000 yards as Peter Snell ran 2:06.0 to smash Ernie Cunliffe’s previous mark of 2:07.9.

Given a heads-up by his coach, Mihály Iglói, that Beatty would be shooting for sub-4, ABC’s Wide World of Sports was on hand to cover the potentially historic race. Sadly, I could only hear the audio description of the race since my TV chose to go dark during the following day’s broadcast! (I had avoided reading any news accounts of the race).

January 1962 cover of Track & Field News, the Bible of the Sport, courtesy of TFN

Getting help from Los Angeles T.C. teammates László Tábori and Jim Grelle, Beatty took the lead for good with three laps to go, passing the 3/4-mile split in about 3:01.2 and then sprinting away to history.

https://trackandfieldnews.com/60-years-ago-today-the-first-indoor-sub-400/

SI Vault: http://www.si.com/vault/1962/02/19/591307/history-on-the-boards

From “Bring Back the Mile”

Beatty Looks Back

http://bringbackthemile.com/news/detail/jim_beatty_an_all_american_miler

Race Video(the audio is slightly ahead of the video):

http://www.runnerspace.com/video.php?video_id=36474

Mike Fanelli took a closer look at the 60th anniversary of Beatty’s historic race.

https://trackandfieldnews.com/60-years-ago-today-the-first-indoor-sub-400/