Buddy Edelen

Leonard Graves "Buddy" Edelen (September 22, 1937 – February 19, 1997) was an American marathoner. Based in England for most of his prime competitive years, in 1963 Edelen became the first man to run a marathon faster than 2 hours and 15 minutes when he set a world record of 2:14:28. Edelen also won the 1964 U.S. Olympic marathon trials at Yonkers and represented the U.S. in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.

Biography

While born in Kentucky, Edelen attended high school in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, before graduating from Washington High School in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in 1955. He then attended the University of Minnesota.

As a Golden Gopher, Edelen ran cross country and track. He finished top-10 in the NCAA Men's Division I Cross Country Championship twice: In 1956 he placed 9th in 20:33 ^[2] and in 1957 he placed 4th in 19:44.^[3] He set the national record for the four-mile race.^[4]

Edelen won the British AAA Championships title in the 10 miles event at the 1962 AAA Championships.^[5][6]

In 1997, Edelen died of cancer at age 59.^[7]

In 2001 was inducted into the Gopher Athletics Hall of Fame.^[4] In 2016, he was elected into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame.^[8]

Marathons

Edelen's promise in the marathon was evident early in his career. In 1962, he finished 4th at the Fukuoka Marathon in an American Record time of 2:18:57, making him the first American to run under 2:20 for the marathon. He was also the first American under 30:00 for the 10,000 m run.

On June 15, 1963, Edelen ran 2:14:28 at the Polytechnic Marathon (run from Windsor to Chiswick, England) to establish a new World Record. That record stood just two days short of a year, as England's Basil Heatley ran 2:13:55 at the 1964 Polytechnic Marathon (which was held on June 13). Edelen was the first American to hold the world record since 1925, and (excepting Alberto Salazar's 2:08:13 at the 1981 New York City Marathon, which later proved to be short) the last until naturalized American Khalid Khannouchi (originally from Morocco) broke his own World Record at the London Marathon in 2002.

After his record run 1963, Edelen also won the Košice Peace Marathon in Czechoslovakia (today Slovakia) in a course-record time of 2:15:09; that record would stand for fifteen years.^[7]

The following year, Edelen won the U.S. Olympic Trials marathon by nearly twenty minutes, and went on to finish 6th in the marathon at the Tokyo Olympic games.

In 2016, he was elected into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame.^[8]

Achievements

References

1. ^ "Buddy Edelen". Archived from the original on 2020-04-18.
2. ^ "NCAA DI Cross Country Championships". Mile Split USA. FloSports. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
3. ^ "NCAA DI Cross Country Championships". Mile Split USA. FloSports. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
4. ^ ""M" Club Hall of Fame: Leonard 'Buddy' Edelen". gophersports.com. University of Minnesota Athletics. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
5. ^ "AAA, WAAA and National Championships Medallists". National Union of Track Statisticians. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
6. ^ "AAA Championships (men)". GBR Athletics. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
7. ^ Robinson, Roger (9 November 2016). "Recognition at Last for an Overlooked American Marathoner". Conde Nast. Runner's World. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
8. ^ "USA Track & Field - Buddy Edelen". Legacy.usatf.org. Retrieved 2022-09-08.

• Sporting Heroes
• Sikorski, Don. "Buddy Who?". Mohegan Striders. Archived May 16, 2008 at the Wayback Machine.

Further reading

• Murphy, Frank (March 2000). A Cold Clear Day. ISBN 0-7351-0399-2. (An "athletic biography" of Edelen.)