Trump to honor Wichita running legend and former U.S. congressman
One of Wichita’s greatest all-time athletes is set to receive the nation’s highest civilian honor on Friday.
Jim Ryun, the Wichita native who was the first high school runner to break 4 minutes in the mile in 1964 and later served 10 years as a member of Congress, will be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Trump at the White House on July 24, according to a tweet from Ryun’s son, Ned.
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is awarded for “exceptional contributions to the security or national interests of America, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors,” according to the White House.
Ryun told WIBW 13 in Topeka that he was honored to be chosen as a recipient of the medal after a running career that produced world records and even a silver medal in the Olympics. Not bad for someone who was cut from all athletic teams in junior high growing up in Wichita.
“I think you can learn a lot about patience, and while you really like to see results, sometimes those results take time to materialize,” Ryun told the TV station. “That’s often hard to hang onto because everybody is so into the instant impact of it. The thing to remember is failure can be a temporary detour to success.
“If you don’t see exactly what you want in that moment, give it some time, pray, keep working, and see where you can go. I never would have imagined my career would become what it was and that on July 24, 2020, I will be receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom.”
After his successful running career, which included three trips to the Olympics and a silver medal in the 1500 meters at the 1968 Mexico City Games, Ryun served in the United States House of Representatives from 1996 to 2006, representing the 2nd District in Kansas for the Republican Party.
During his time in Congress, Ryun mostly sponsored bills focused on commerce and foreign trade and international finance. Most notably, Ryun was the primary sponsor of a bill introduced in 2001 that established a commission for the purpose of encouraging and providing for the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, a landmark decision that established racial segregation in public schools to be unconstitutional.
However, the graduate of Wichita East High School and the University of Kansas is best-known for his running accomplishments.
In 1964, at the age of 17, he became the first high school runner to break the 4-minute barrier in the mile with his time of 3 minutes, 59 seconds at the Compton Relays in California — a national record that lasted nearly 36 years. Ryun still owns the most sub-4 minute miles for a high schooler (five) and the only one ever to be recorded at the Kansas high school state track and field meet (3:58.3 at the 1965 state meet).
“When I broke 4 minutes, that changed my paradigm of thinking,” Ryun told WIBW. “That night I couldn’t really sleep. I had adopted it as a goal, but the actual time goal was coach (Bob) Timmons’ goal. I started thinking, ‘I wonder what could happen if I started taking more ownership.’”
With the help of Timmons, who was his coach at East and later at KU, Ryun became a five-time United States champion, including three titles in the mile. In a two-year span, from 1966 to 1967, Ryun set the outdoor world records in the 800, 1500 and mile races. He also broke the indoor mile world record and remains to this day one of just four men to hold the indoor and outdoor mile world records at the same time. He is the last American to hold the world record in the mile.
But an Olympic gold medal escaped him. Ryun first qualified for the Olympics, in the 1964 Tokyo Games, as a high school junior at East. He finished with a silver medal at the 1968 Games in Mexico City and was the heavy favorite entering the 1972 Munich Games, but Ryun was tripped in the opening qualifying round and his petition to be reinstated was denied, ending his chances of pursuing gold.
It was difficult to accept for Ryun, but he said that experience helped spur on the second phase of his life. He has since written three books, hosted his own running camp, and given motivational speeches at thousands of conferences, workshops, clinics and churches.
Ryun said the latest honor has made him reflect back on his career. In 1966, he was named Sports Illustrated’s “Sportsman of the Year.” In 2003, ESPN.com picked Ryun over LeBron James and Tiger Woods as the best high school athlete of the century. In 2018, he was one of 30 athletes in the inaugural class inducted into the National High School Track & Field Hall of Fame.
And now, in 2020, Ryun is receiving perhaps his greatest honor yet.
This story was originally published July 20, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
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