April 29 Birthdays

1947

James Ronald "Jim" Ryun, United States, middle-distance runner. Historians looking for the roots of the American "running boom" of the 1970s and 1980s would do well to look at the inspirational effect of the athletic career of Jim Ryun. Ryun was the first American schoolboy to break 4:00 in the one-mile run, clocking 3:59.0 his junior year (1964) and 3:55.3 as a senior. He also ran 3:58.3 at the 1965 Kansas High School State Track & Field Championships, still the fastest time ever run in purely high school competition. Ryun later set world records in the mile of 3:51.3 (1966) and 3:51.1 (1967), in the half-mile of 1:44.9 (1966), in the 1,500m of 3:33.1 (1967), in the indoor half-mile of 1:48.3 (1967), and in the indoor mile of 3:56.4 (1971). Ryun was a three-time Olympian (1964, 1968, and 1972), winning the silver medal in the 1968 (Mexico City) Olympic 1,500m (3:37.8). After the 1972 (Munich) olympics, Ryun left amateur athletics and spent two years running on the openly professional International Track Association circuit. Later in life, Ryun moved into politics, serving as United States Representative of Kansas' second congressional district.