Glenn Cunningham was outstanding athlete
Glenn Cunningham was born in 1909 and died in 1988. He became known in the 1930s by Kansans and the whole country as an outstanding middle distance runner.
His athleticism was especially praiseworthy because he overcame a childhood incident after which doctors said he would never walk again.
Glenn and his older brother Floyd attended a little country school near Elkhart in southwest Kansas. One winter, they had the job of starting a fire every morning in the schoolhouse stove.
When gasoline was inadvertently substituted for kerosene, the stove exploded, killing his brother and leaving him with severe burns to the lower half of his body.
Against all odds, the eight-year-old boy learned to walk again and found that running was less painful than walking.
"It hurt like thunder to walk, but it didn't hurt at all when I ran," he said later. "So for five or six years, about all I did was run."
With legs covered with scars, Cunningham became a miler in high school and set a new state record of 4:28.3 at the state meet in Manhattan. He also set a record of 4:24.7 in national competition.
Because of circulation problems, he needed nearly an hour to prepare for a race, massaging his legs and warming up.
He entered the University of Kansas in 1930 and gained a reputation as a strong runner, setting a record in the mile at Madison Square Gardens and competing in the Olympics.
He won many more state, national, and international races and became known around the world as the "Kansas Flyer" and the "Iron Horse of Kansas."
During his time at KU, he won 13 Big Six Conference Championships, two NCAA titles in the mile, the 1933 Sullivan Award as the nation's top amateur athlete, nine AAU championships, multiple world records, and an Olympic silver medal. He retired from running in 1940 at the age of 30.
When the Athletics Congress (now USA Track and Field) established its Hall of Fame, it inducted Cunningham in its inaugural class.
In 1978, a decade before his death, Madison Square Garden recognized him as the most outstanding track athlete to perform in the building over the course of its first 100 years.
Cunningham's memory lingers on at the University of Kansas. The KU track team presents an annual Glenn Cunningham Award to the track athlete who best exemplifies the triumph of an individual over personal adversity.
A metal silhouette of Cunningham as the "Kansas Flyer" is posted at the starting line at the KU track. The finish line bears his name as well.
Cunningham went on to obtain a master's degree from the University of Iowa and a doctorate from New York University. He was director of physical education at Cornell College in Iowa for four years. He also spent two years in the Navy.
After buying the ranch near Burns, named the CCC (Cunningham Chase County) Ranch, he raised a family and eventually opened the Glenn Cunningham Youth Ranch, helping to raise about 10,000 underprivileged children.
A lay preacher, Cunningham periodically went on lecture tours to raise money for the ranch.
(Source: hickoksports.com; kuconnection.org)
