Dick Buerkle
10,000m: 28:25.0[2] | |
Updated on September 26, 2015. |
Richard Thomas Buerkle (
Running career
High school
Buerkle graduated from
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
Post-collegiate
After graduating from Villanova, Buerkle began working for a distributor of contact lenses in Buffalo, New York, although Buerkle said that the company welcomed his running goals.
On January 13, 1978, at the CYO Invitational held at the
Personal life
Years before the look became popular, Buerkle's most noticeable physical characteristic was his bald head which was the result of alopecia areata by age 12. The taunts he heard at track meets helped fuel his determination to succeed.[3] He was later most thankful to Michael Jordan for shaving his head and ushering the style into the mainstream.[12]
At the time of Steve Prefontaine's death in 1975,[13] Buerkle was his chief American rival; he composed a tribute poem that was printed in the Eugene's Register-Guard the following day.[14]
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 boys' track team thus resulting in back to back county championships in 2011–2012. Buerkle retired in January 2014. He died on June 22, 2020, from multiple system atrophy.[3][12]
See also
- Four-minute mile
- World record progression for the mile run
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. The New York Times. p. 3.
- ^ IAAF.
- ^ a b c Sandomir, Richard (July 21, 2020). "Dick Buerkle, Master of the Indoor Mile, Dies at 72". The New York Times. Retrieved July 23, 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. 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.
- ^ a b "Aquinas grad and two-time U.S. Olympian Dick Buerkle dies at age 72". Retrieved June 22, 2020.
- ^ 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.