Lonnie Spurrier
Personal information | |||||||||||||||
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Full name | Lonnie Vernon Spurrier | ||||||||||||||
Born | May 27, 1932 Cass Township, Missouri, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
Died | June 23, 2015 (aged 83) San Pablo, California, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
Alma mater | UC Berkeley | ||||||||||||||
Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) | ||||||||||||||
Weight | 72 kg (159 lb) | ||||||||||||||
Sport | |||||||||||||||
Sport | Athletics | ||||||||||||||
Event | 400–Mile | ||||||||||||||
Club | San Francisco Olympic Club | ||||||||||||||
Achievements and titles | |||||||||||||||
Personal best(s) | 440y – 47.2 (1955) 880y – 1:47.5 (1955) Mile – 4:08.4 (1955)[1] | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Lonnie Vernon "Lon" Spurrier (May 27, 1932 – June 23, 2015) was an American former middle-distance runner who competed in the 1956 Summer Olympics[2] and set the world's record in the half-mile in 1955.
Spurrier was born on May 27, 1932, in the rural farming community of
It was at the
On March 26, 1955, on the clay and cinder track at UC Berkeley's Edwards Stadium, Spurrier set the world's record in the half-mile with a time of 1:47.5. Just two weeks earlier, on March 12, 1955, he had won a silver medal in the 800 at the Pan American Games in Mexico City, and ran on the gold medal-winning 4×400 relay team (see Athletics at the 1955 Pan American Games). His coach, Brutus Hamilton, felt that if he could run 1:50.5 at altitude in Mexico City, that Spurrier might be able to break 1:48 at sea level in Berkeley. His hunch proved correct when Spurrier finished at 1:47.5 in Berkeley later that month, breaking the world's record. In 1956, he ran on two world's record setting USA relay teams: the 4 x 440 yard (mile relay), and he anchored the 4 x 880 yard (two-mile relay) record setting team.[3] And, in the 1956 Olympics, Spurrier finished 6th in the 800 meters while also one of six members of the US 1,600 meter relay team that won the gold medal. He was inducted into the Cal Athletic Hall of Fame in 1998.
After graduating from UC Berkeley, he joined the US Air Force, where he earned his wings as a jet pilot and the rank of captain. He attended Harvard Business School, and moved to Manhattan where he began his career in financial management on Wall Street, before returning to the San Francisco Bay Area and making his home in the East Bay.
References
- ^ [1]. sports-reference.com
- ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Lonnie Spurrier". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
- ^ "Sports Reference". sports-reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 9 July 2015.