Published: August 26, 2008 05:35 pm         

RANDOM THOUGHTS: The story of Bob's 1964 gold medal

When the 1964 summer Olympics was held in Tokyo, Japan, television coverage was far from the spectacular show it became over the years. But on a rainy afternoon in that Asian city the cameras brought viewers one of the closing events – a most exciting 5000 meter race. An American won the gold and as of the 2008 Olympics he is still the only American to hold the gold in the 5000. In addition on that 1964 day, he became one of only five Americans to have a gold medal in a distance race in Olympic history.

Gold medalist Bob Schul was born and raised in the small southwestern Ohio town of West Milton. Both "Sports Illustrated" and "Track and Field News" had favored him to win because of his excellent record of five American and one world record in the 5000 meters. Schul said those early predictions put more pressure on him, as did the weather on the day of the race.

Running on a cinder track in heavy rain Schul stepped up his speed in the final lap and ran that section in 54.8 seconds. He ran the complete 5000 meters in 13:48.8. All these years later that run is shown on video to aspiring runners I learned when I googled Schul’s name and found he is remembered.

Following that victory he returned to continue working on his degree at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. I lived near that town and I arranged an interview with this "thin-clad" speedster. Schul, a slim, 6-foot, 27-year-old man, told me in his quiet voice, “True, I won a gold medal but I can’t really call myself the world champion – not on that one performance. There are too many other runners who are just about equal to me. I believe there are four or five trackmen in the world who can call themselves the elite at a given distance. You just don’t win a race on one day and call yourself a champion.”

The Schul family lived on a farm about three miles out of West Milton and Bob often ran to school or rode his bike. During his childhood he came near death several times from asthmatic attacks. He described himself as a “painfully shy seventh-grader” who went out for track because he was too uncomfortable associating with others to take part in team sports. It was when he ran cross-country as a freshman that he began thinking seriously of a track career.

He worked for a year after graduating from high school to earn enough to enroll at Miami University in 1956. He ran cross-country there and he remembers it was the spring of 1957 that he had thoughts of the Olympics. He said, “I confided in a friend that I thought some day I could run in the Olympics. Another friend heard about it and he told me I shouldn’t set my goals so high.”

Schul ran out of money after two years at Miami and he went into the army. During his last 18 months of his four years he ran with the track team. He said, “By this time running was in my blood and I had to keep training.” He won a place on the U.S. track team and toured overseas with them. His times were getting more and more impressive and he was listed as a member of the Pan American Games Team in 1963.

Between 1962 and '63 he spent a six-week period in the hospital for mononucleosis but still he made it to Tokyo. He said, “I was smiling as I broke the tape but it wasn’t a smile of exaltation. First, the tension was over and second, I knew I had outsmarted them. For four days prior to the race I had an inflamed Achilles plus a pain in my side that has bothered me since my bout with mono. The pain kept flaring up during the training but none of the runners knew about it. If the pace had been fast I would have been done for but it remained a dull ache.”

Today he coaches track in Dayton, Ohio and in 1991 was inducted into the Track and Field Hall of Fame. During our 1964 interview he smiled as he told about the friend who thought he set his goals too high, He said, “After the Olympics I spoke to a club group and that man came up to me. He is now a coach and he has recounted that story to his students many times. He now believes you can never set your goals too high.”

Dorothy Copus Brush is a Fairfield Glade resident and Crossville Chronicle staffwriter whose column is published each Wednesday. She may be reached at dcb1@frontiernet.net.