Photo courtesy of Kansas Athletics
Cal Athletics: Ten Alltime Memories Forged by Golden Bear Guests - Part 3
The greatest middle-distance runner in American history wrote a significant chapter of his legacy on the Cal campus in the summer of 1966.
The greatest player in college basketball history played his final game at Berkeley in 1969, and barely escaped Harmon Gym with a victory.
Part 3 of our series recounting great moments provided by visitors to Cal shines a spotlight on American sports legends Jim Ryun and Lew Alcindor, who would become Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
July 17, 1966: The best day of Jim Ryun’s life
Jim Ryun was only 19 years, two months and 18 days old when he became the youngest man to break the world record in the mile in a meet at Edwards Stadium. And he crushed it.
Ryun already was a sensation, having qualified for the Olympics when he was a high school junior. Now at Kansas, Ryun took 2.3 seconds off the world record held by Frenchman Michel Jazy, running 3:51.3. America owned the world record in the mile for the first time since 1937.
The Oakland Tribune's coverage of Jim Ryun's record run.
Ryun took the lead for good when he passed Wade Bell with one lap to go. “I felt real good when I took over...I kind of woke up mentally,” Ryun said.
Track and Field News wrote: “Today (Ryun) let us glimpse one concentrated jet of flame as it incinerated the world mile record and scorched the very soul of Michel Jazy.”
In a 2006 interview with Runner’s World, Ryun reflected on what his race in Berkeley meant to milers in America.
“I had run well up until then but that was pretty much the moment that established Americans as milers and that we were going to do something. And we did, we had a great group of milers during the ‘60s,” he said. “It was a wonderful time for track and field during the United States.”
A year later, Ryun ran 3:51.1 at Bakersfield to set a new world record that would stand eight years.
The big day in Berkeley was just beginning for Ryun, who was Sports Illustrated’s Athlete of the Year in 1966. After completing interviews and returning to the warmup area to find someone had swiped his belongings, Ryun was walking back across the infield when he was approached by a couple fans.
“Up runs this beautiful girl and her brother and she says, `I go to Kansas State and I’d love to have your autograph,’ “ Ryun recalled in an interview in 2003. “I told them it had been a long day and said, `How about later?’ “
Six months later, Ryun rang the doorbell for a blind date, and the girl who answered was the same one he’d politely blown off at Berkeley. He signed autographs for the entire family that day, and two years later they married. More than a half-century later, the former U.S. congressman and three-time Olympian still lives with his wife Anne in Lawrence, Kansas.
Lew Alcindor releases his sky hook over a Cal defender.
Photo courtesy of UCLA Athletics
March 1, 1969: Alcindor survives Bears’ overtime upset bid
Center Lew Alcindor was the biggest thing in college basketball, and later became the NBA’s all-time leading scorer as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Alcindor and top-ranked UCLA came to town in 1969 riding a 39-game win streak, with 84 victories in their previous 85 games.
Barely a month earlier, UCLA overpowered Cal 109-74 in Los Angeles. Could the rematch be any different?
A day after National Guard troops used tear gas to disperse anti-war protests in Sproul Plaza, Cal center Bob Presley helped limit Alcindor to a career-low 11 shot attempts and 17 points, nearly 10 points under his college career average.
The Bears led by eight points with 14 1/2 minutes left, and the Harmon capacity crowd of 7,200 was rocking.
“It was packed and loud,” the three-time national college player of the year said later. “The fans there were very high-energy people. They weren’t complacent.”
Jackie Ridgle scored 28 points for the Bears and Charles Johnson had 25, but UCLA rallied, forced overtime and escaped with an 84-77 victory, its 41st straight win over the Bears.
The Bruins went 88-2 and won three NCAA titles during Alcindor’s three varsity seasons. Coach John Wooden called the Bruins’ win at Cal in 1969 their toughest game over those three years.
(Click here for a story of the other two famous big men who came to Berkeley.)
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo
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