USATF mourns loss of Olympians Dick Buerkle, Jim Grelle

Indianapolis -- Two-time Olympian Dick Buerkle died Monday morning, June 22 at the age of 72 and Olympian Jim Grelle passed away June 13 at the age of 83.
 
Buerkle, a 1976 and 1980 Olympian in the 5,000m, broke the world indoor mile record in 1978 while being ranked among the top-10 Americans in the 5,000m seven times and was the top ranked American in 1974 and fourth in the world. He won the 5,000m at the AAU Championships in 1974 and 1976 as well as at the Olympic Trials in 1976.
 
Buerkle was born September 3, 1947 in Rochester, New York. He attended Aquinas Institute high school, graduating in 1966 with personal best times of 4:28 for the mile and 10:01 for two miles. He attended Villanova University where he initially had no scholarship but earned one his junior year after breaking the nine-minute mark in the two mile. He graduated from Villanova in 1970 with a degree in Spanish studies.
 
The apex of Buerkle’s career came in 1978. On January 14th of that year, at the CYO Invitational in College Park, Maryland, Buerkle broke the world indoor record in the mile with a time of 3:54.93. Only a few weeks later, he won the Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games. He was rewarded with, among other things, an appearance on the cover of the February issue of Sports Illustrated, the headline of which read “New Master of the Mile.” 
 
Buerkle retired from competition in 1981, and then began teaching Spanish at a high school outside of Atlanta. He is survived by his wife, Jenn, one son, Gabe, and two daughters, Lily and Tera.


Oregon Mile Legend Jim Grelle Passes Away - Contributed by Peter John L. Thompson

The world of Track and Field Athletics is deeply saddened by the news that Olympian, James Edward (Jim) Grelle, the fourth American to run under 4 minutes for the mile and a true running pioneer, passed peacefully on 13 June at the age of 83. He had been under home hospice care for some months and was surrounded by close family.

During his illustrious career, Jim Grelle set US Records in the mile with a time of 3:55.4 in 1965, the indoor mile with 4:03.6 in 1961 and in the 2-mile, a distance that he rarely ran, but in 1966 tied with Jim Ryun to record a time of 8:25.2. He was one of the first track and field athletes to have a 'running career' after college and benefited from being coached by two world-renowned and innovative running coaches, Bill Bowerman and Mihály Iglói.

In 1962, Grelle ran his first sub-4 minute mile and by 1967 had broken the 4 minute barrier on 21 occasions, the most "sub-4s" of any athlete in the world at that time. He was part of a golden era for American miling when, in 1962, six of the top ten milers in the world were Americans.

Jim Grelle was born in Portland, Oregon on September 30, 1936.  He is survived by his wife, Jean and their two children, Jim and Leslie and two grandchildren. A Celebration of Life will be scheduled at a later date.
He was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1981, the only Lincoln High School track athlete to achieve this honor. He was also inducted into the Mt. SAC Relays Hall of Fame in 1991 and to the University of Oregon Hall of Fame in 1994.