Ken Popejoy Returns to MSU
4/11/2012 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
April 11, 2012
By Bernie Rosendahl, MSU Athletic Communications Contact for Track & Field and Cross Country
EAST LANSING, MICH. - It was 40 years in the making. Following last Saturday's Spartan Invitational meet, twenty-one members of the men's 1972 Triple Crown Track and Field squad made their way back to campus for a celebration of the team's accomplishments at the annual Michigan State Track and Field Awards Banquet.
The reunion, which was held at the Kellogg Center on the campus of Michigan State, was largely orchestrated by Ken Popejoy, a former All-American in the mile who felt it was the right time to honor the 1972 squad that achieved what no other team has done in the history of the program: A Triple Crown.
The squad won the Big Ten Indoor Championships, the Big Ten Outdoor Championships, and was just one point shy of USC in the NCAA Indoor Championships held at Cobo Arena in Detroit.
"This triple crown team that we're honoring tonight - there are twenty-nine members and I was able to find twenty-one of them. Three have passed away and a couple I still couldn't find. But all twenty one that I found, every one of them contributed in some manner to cross country, indoor, and outdoor by scoring in the Big Ten Championships. 1972 was our glory year," Popejoy said.
"The big reason for this (reunion) though, is that our distance Coach (Jim) Gibbard passed away this past year. Jim Bibbs in the only one left and (Fran) Dittrich was our head coach and he passed away 15 years ago. I just kind of said, "It's been 40 years. We can't wait for 50 years," because who knows what will happen. Eighteen of the twenty one, we have not seen each other for 40 years."
The `72 team was loaded with unmatched talent.
Sprinter Herb Washington was a four-time All-American and an NCAA champion in 60-yard dash. He also had seven Big Ten titles to his credit and was a world record holder in the 50 and 60-yard dash. For four consecutive years, he placed in the NCAA Indoor Championships. Washington later went on to play Major League Baseball for the Oakland Athletics.
Fellow Sprinter Marshall Dill was a three-time All-American and eleven-time Big Ten champion
He was a 1973 NCAA outdoor champion in 220-yard dash and set a world record in 300-yard dash.
Mid-distance specialist Bob Casselman has nineteen Big Ten medals to his credit, eight individual championships, and five relay championships. He was also a three-time All-American.
As for Popejoy, his accomplishments are just as impressive.
In 1972, Popejoy was the NCAA Indoor champion in the mile with a time of 4:02.9. He was also an Indoor All-American and won Big Ten titles in the outdoor and indoor mile.
However, his most noteworthy achievement is that he was the first Spartan to run a sub-4 minute mile.
"Junior year was the first time I broke the four-minute mile," Popejoy said. "I ran 3:59.5 at the Von's Coliseum Classic and when I lined up for that race and I was standing right next to Jim Ryun (note: Ryun was the first high school runner to break four minutes in mile) and I had never met Jim Ryun before. I had a five-inch scrapbook of Jim Ryun."
"At the start of the race I'm standing next to him and I'm thinking "Oh my god...that's Jim Ryun". He reached out, slapped me on my butt, and said "Good luck, Popejoy".
"And I was like, "God, he knows my name." I could have gone and sat in the stands. I was done. But we ran the race - he won, I got second. At the finish, he says "That's your first sub-4 isn't it?" And I'm like "Oh my god, yeah!" And he said "Great, you and me, we're going out to dinner tonight in Los Angeles and it's on me."
Popejoy hit a bit of a rut the following year. He developed shin splints during cross country and his mind drifted towards attending law school during the outdoor track season.
"I just thought I was done. There was a Notre Dame dual meet and I wasn't even registered to run it. I showed up for the meet and said "Well, I'll just try to hit a good one to see what I've got."
Popejoy added, "I'd run Drake Relays the week before and had two one-miles in 4:20 and I was just ready to give up. So the race starts and I had John Mock, who was an 800-meter runner for us, give me splits at the 200 meter mark. I went through in the first lap in 59 seconds, the third lap was 2:59, and I hit 3:29 with 200 meters to go and Mock is yelling at me "If you do a 30 (seconds) it's sub-4! Go! Go!" and I ended up running 3:57-flat."
Popejoy was officially back on track and thus began his streak of five sub-4 miles.
In the next four weeks he won the Martin Luther King Games in 3:57.3, the Von's Coliseum Classic in 3:58, and the Big Ten Championships in 3:59.2, establishing a meet record.
In 1973, Popejoy competed in the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Baton Rouge and was defeated by Bowling Green's Dave Wottle who went on to take first in 3:57.1, an NCAA record that still stands today. Popejoy went to earn fifth with a time of 3:58.5.
Popejoy recounts, "I had a 20-yard lead with 200 meters to go and I developed blisters on the bottom of my feet, across the metatarsal arch. Around the turn they just popped. It was like fire water. Down the home stretch the bottom of my feet just peeled back. There's a picture in Track & Field News where I'm running on the side of my shoes, I couldn't lay them flat. I was so bummed because I had beaten Wottle and (Marty) Liquori the week before."
After the race in Baton Rouge, he took a year off for law school in Chicago and started training again, this time for the University of Chicago Track Club. In 1975, Popejoy ran his all-time best 3:55 mile in the 1975 National AAU Championships.
In the history of Michigan State Track and Field, only one other miler has come close to touching Popejoy's speed on the track. In 2009, Shane Knoll broke Popejoy's indoor mile record running a time of 3:57.36. Popejoy had held the school indoor record since 1972 when he was timed at 4:01.14.
He sent Knoll a note soon after his record-breaking race.
The message?
"It's about time."
Popejoy is currently an Illinois Circuit Court Judge and has fond memories of his days at Michigan State.
"It's just a thrill," he said. "Michigan State touched all of us in so many ways."
He also came back to Michigan State with an objective.
"I came here a couple of years ago to one of the meets and I spoke at this banquet and I'm looking all over for the NCAA Trophy and I find out it's at the (Spartan) Hall of Fame Sport Bar (Café) off campus. When we got that trophy for the NCAA Indoor Championships at Cobo Arena we were so angry that we had lost to USC by a point that we refused to take a picture. So tonight, for the first time, we are going to take a picture. We had 14 NCAA qualifiers from that meet. We are going to take a team picture with the trophy."
Popejoy also had a few words to say about the Director of Track & Field, Walt Drenth, who has lead the women's Cross Country team to back-to-back Big Ten Championships and has helped several individual athletes earn their place amongst the best in the NCAA on the track.
"He's such a knowledgeable guy of track and field. He walked into a tough situation here and he's had to work from scratch and what he has done with the women's program is just astonishing. It's a spectacular program and those girls are just amazing. The team is like what we had. My sophomore and junior year we were back-to-back Big Ten Cross Country champions and we had that same type of camaraderie."
He also added, "Walt's got a big job ahead of him but I think Walt Drenth is the man to do it because he's humble, he'd proud of Michigan State, and he's proud of the tradition. We're excited about the future."
Players Mentioned
