Jim Ryun

This article is about the athlete and congressman from Kansas. For people with a similar name, see Jim Ryan.

Jim Ryun
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kansas's 2nd district
In office 1997–2007
Preceded by	Sam Brownback
Succeeded by	Nancy Boyda
Personal details
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Anne Ryun

Olympic medal record
Men's Athletics
	1968 Mexico City	1500 metres

James Ronald ("Jim") Ryun (born April 29, 1947) is an American former track athlete and politician, who was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1997 to 2007, representing the 2nd District in Kansas. In the 2006 election, Ryun was defeated by Democratic challenger Nancy Boyda.

Years prior to his political career Jim Ryun had an athletic career that saw him become one of the greatest runners of all time, and the last American to hold the world record in the mile run. His career is highlighted by his many record times, but he never won an Olympic gold medal in three tries.

Athletics

High School Athletic Career

Ryun became the first high school runner to break four minutes for the mile, running 3:59.0 as a junior in 1964. While in high school at Wichita East High School, where he garnered the nicknames "Running Ryun" and "The Kansas Comet," Ryun:

• Established the high school and U.S. open mile record 3:55.3 as a senior in 1965, a record that stood as the high school record for 36 years until broken by Alan Webb's 3:53.43 in 2001. It is also the last time an American male high school athlete broke an open American record in a major outdoor track and field event. In this record race he beat the reigning Olympic champion and former world record holder Peter Snell of New Zealand.
• His 3:58.3 to win the mile at the 1965 Kansas High School State Meet is still the record for the fastest time ever in a race that includes only high school competitors.
• Today he still holds five of the six fastest mile times in U.S. high school history (all sub-four minute), with Alan Webb’s record race holding the other spot.
• With five sub-four minute miles he is the only high school athlete in history with more than two such times. (Alan Webb has two, and Marty Liquori and Tim Danielson have one each.)
• He is the only athlete to run a four minute mile as a high school junior.
• After his junior year he qualified for the 1964 Olympics in the 1500. He made it to the semifinal round, where he was eliminated.
• As a high school senior he was voted the fourth best miler in the world by the experts at Track & Field News.

File:Runryun.jpg

Post High School Athletic Career

In 1966, at age nineteen, Ryun set the world record in both the mile and the half-mile runs, and received Sports Illustrated magazine's "Sportsman of the Year" award, as well as the James E. Sullivan Award as the nation's top amateur athlete, the ABC's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year, and was voted Track & Field New’s Athlete of the Year as the world’s best track & field athlete. Ironically, Ryun did all of this while not yet being permitted to run for the school he attended, Kansas University, since NCAA rules at the time did not allow freshmen to compete in NCAA competition. In 1967 Ryun ran a world record in the indoor half mile (1:48.3) and outdoors lowered his world-record time in the mile from 3:51.3 to 3:51.1, a record that stood for almost eight years. That same year he set the world record for the 1500 meters in 3:33.1, running his last lap in blazing 53.3 seconds and his final 1,200 meters in an amazing 2:46.6.

In NCAA competition Ryun was the 1967 NCAA outdoor mile champion. He was also the NCAA indoor mile champion in 1967, 1968, and 1969, and in 1968 doubled back to win the 1968 NCAA indoor 2 mile championship race (handing Gerry Lindgren his only NCAA championship loss). Ryun's 1969 win in the mile helped the Kansas Jayhawks win the NCAA indoor track championship that year. With his University of Kansas teammates he also anchored a world record in the sprint medley (3:15.2) and the distance medley relays (9:33.8 at the Drake Relays in 1967).

Today, over 40 years after he set them, Ryun still holds the American junior (19 and under) records in the 880 y (1:44.9), 800 m (1:44.3), 1,500 m (3:36.1), and two mile (8:25.1). In all, he broke the American record for the mile four times: once as a high school senior (3:55.3 on 27 June 1965), twice as a college freshman (3:53.7 on 4 June 1966 & 3:51.3 on 17 July 1966), and once as a college sophomore (3:51.1 on 23 June 1967).

Ryun participated in the 1964, 1968, and 1972 Summer Olympics, but the gold medal eluded him. Having completely recovered from mononucleosis in the spring of 1968, he won a silver medal in the 1500 meters that autumn in the high altitude of Mexico City, losing to Kip Keino from Kenya, whose remarkable race remained the Olympic 1,500 meter record for 16 years. (Before the race Ryun thought that a time of 3:39 would be good enough to win in the high altitude of Mexico City. He ended up running faster than that with a 3:37.8, but Keino's 3:34.9 was too tough to beat at that altitude. Years later, in 1981, he told Tex Maule in an interview for The Runner magazine, "We had thought that 3:39 would win and I ran under that. I considered it like winning a gold medal; I had done my very best and I still believe I would have won at sea level." Ryun was attacked by some writers who believed he had let his nation down. "Some even said I had let down the whole world. I didn't get any credit for running my best and no one seemed to realize that Keino had performed brilliantly.") In the 1972 Munich, Germany games, he was tripped and fell down during a 1500 meters qualifying heat. Although the International Olympic Committee (IOC) acknowledged that a foul had occurred and tapes from a German television station clearly demonstrated that Ryun was tripped, U.S. appeals to have Ryun reinstated in the competition were denied by the IOC. (32 years later, in the 2004 Olympics, U.S. 1,500 meter runner Grant Robison was also tripped in his heat, but unlike Ryun, Robison was reinstated and allowed to advance to the 1,500 meter semifinal.)

His 1500 m world record was remarkable because it was run with uneven splits, which is the most difficult way to run a fast time. He ran the initial 300 m in a pedestrian 46.5 & then accelerated to cover the last 1200 m in an astounding 2:46.6. It is speculated that if Ryun had run that race at an even pace from start to finish, he would have recorded a time somewhere in the vicinity of 3:30 or 3:31 — a time not achieved until the 1980s, when races were run on significantly faster synthetic tracks. Many observers feel his recorded 3:33.1 that day was a significant underachievement in light of the ability he demonstrated in that race. Underachievement or not, the time still stood as a world record for seven years.

Ryun's final season as an amateur in 1972 included the third best mile of his career (at the time, also the third fastest in history: a 3:52.8 at Toronto, Canada on July 29th), a 5,000 meter career best (13:38.2 at Bakersfield, CA on May 20th), and an inspiring win in the 1,500 meters at the U.S. Olympic Trials. He left amateur athletics after 1972 and for the next two years ran professionally on the International Track Association circuit. After this, he retired from track competition altogether. In 1980 he began running various road races for charity purposes, eventually achieving a 10K best of 31:36.

World Records

Distance	Time	Date	City
880 yards	1:44.9	October 6, 1966	Terre Haute, IN
1,500 meters	3:33.1	July 8, 1967	Los Angeles, CA
One Mile	3:51.3	July 17, 1966	Berkeley, CA
One Mile	3:51.1	June 23, 1967	Bakersfield, CA
One Mile (indoor)	3:56.4	February 19, 1971	San Diego, CA

Notes:

• Since 880 yards is longer than 800 meters the 1:44.9 was also converted into an en-route time at 800 m of 1:44.3, which equaled the existing world record, and remained the world and American record until broken by Rick Wohlhuter's 1.44.6y in 1973.
• The 3:33.1 1,500 m mark remained the world record for six years until broken by Tanzania’s Filbert Bayi's 3:32.2 in 1974.
• The 3:51.1 mile mark remained the world record for eight years until broken by Bayi's 3:51.0 in 1975.

Athletic Awards

Track & Field News Athlete of the Year award for both 1966 & 1967, the first athlete to win this prestigious award two years in a row.

The 1966 Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year award.

The 1966 James E. Sullivan Award, presented to the best amateur athlete in the U.S.

The 1966 ABC Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year award

Jim Ryun’s Track & Field News World Rankings:

800/880

• 1966 — 1

1500/Mile

• 1965 — 4
• 1966 — 1
• 1967 — 1
• 1968 — 2
• 1969 — 7
• 1971 — 6
• 1972 — 9

In 1980 Ryun was inducted into the USATF Hall of Fame and in 2003 he was inducted into the National Distance Running Hall of Fame.

Personal

Ryun was born in Wichita, Kansas. He now lives in Lawrence, though he was listed in the House roll as "R-Topeka." He also owns a farm in Jefferson County.

Ryun and his wife, Anne, who he married in 1969, have four children and six grandchildren. Ryun prohibited his daughters from dating. Ryun explained, "If a young man is interested in a young woman, he starts by praying about the relationship. With a go-ahead from the Lord and his parents, he then approaches the girls' parents. The parents pray and, if the young woman has a reciprocal interest in the young man, her father talks through courtship and its expectations with the fellow." Ryuns add that "this effectively means no courtship or dating during the high school years, and perhaps not until after college graduation." He and his sons, Ned and Drew, have co-authored two books, Heroes Among Us and The Courage to Run.

After graduating from the University of Kansas in 1970 with a degree in photojournalism, Ryun moved to Eugene, Oregon; looking for a good training situation to continue his track career. Six months later, he moved to Santa Barbara, California, where he and his family remained for nine years. He and his family moved back to Lawrence in 1981.

Raised in the Church of Christ, Ryun and his wife are members of Grace Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Lawrence. He spoke in tongues during a campaign rally in 1996, according to a report in the Wichita Eagle.

Career prior to election to Congress

Before being elected to the House of Representatives in 1996, Ryun had operated Jim Ryun Sports, a company that ran sports camps, and worked as a motivational speaker at meetings of corporations and Christian groups around the country. Among his projects, Ryun, who has a 50% hearing loss, helped the ReSound Hearing Aid Company develop a program called Sounds of Success, aimed at children with hearing loss. Since 1975, Ryun and his family have hosted running camps every summer for high school aged runners and continue to do so.

House of Representatives

Elections

Ryun was first elected in 1996 to fill a seat vacated by Republican Sam Brownback. He won the three-person Republican primary with 62 percent of the vote, defeating former Topeka mayor Doug Wright and Cheryl Brown Henderson, the daughter of the plaintiff in the historic Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka desegregation case. In the general campaign, Ryun was in tight race with Democrat John Frieden, a prominent Topeka trial attorney, who outspent Ryun $750,000 to $400,000. Ryun won with 52 percent of the vote.

He was re-elected in 1998, 2000 and 2002, receiving more than 60 percent of the vote each time. He served on the Armed Services, Budget and Financial Services committees.

Ryun's strongest challenge came in 2004 from Democrat Nancy Boyda, a former moderate Republican. She ran a well financed campaign, spending $1,105,838 (compared to Ryun's $1,136,464)., but Ryun still defeated her by a margin of 56% to 41%.

Boyda was again the Democratic nominee in the 2006 election. Ryun also faced Roger Tucker of the Reform Party USA. Initially expected to win, Ryun found his campaign faltering as internal polling by both Boyda and Republicans revealed a Democratic lead. In response, Ryun's campaign recruited both President Bush and Vice President Cheney to visit Topeka to campaign for Ryun. Ryun was defeated by Boyda, 51% to 47%, on November 7, 2006. On election night when he was defeated by Boyda, Ryun stood at his wife's side as she spoke of the campaign and her belief in Jesus Christ. Ryun made no concession statement as is customary when a candidate is defeated.

In March 2007 Ryun confirmed that he would run for his old seat[1]. However, he could potentially face a divisive Republican primary against State Treasurer Lynn Jenkins, who is perceived as being more moderate.

Political positions

The National Journal rated Ryun as the nation's most conservative member of Congress. He was a member of the Republican Study Committee, a caucus of conservative House Republicans. He is also a leading member of the Kansas Republican Party's social conservative wing.

Ryun generally supported Bush's legislative agenda, though he broke with the President over Medicare reform legislation that included a prescription drug benefit. In opposing the bill, Ryun said the bill didn't provide enough reform to keep future costs from soaring.

Ryun voted with fellow conservatives against the $373 billion end-of-session spending bill in 2003 because he considered it to be too costly and had come to Congress to support fiscal restraint.

Ryun voted with President Bush 89% of the time.

Ryun voted the GOP party line 98% of the time.

Controversies

ARMPAC campaign contributions

Ryun received $31,777 in campaign contributions from former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's political action committee, ARMPAC. DeLay has faced ethics charges. To date, Ryun has not offered to return the contributions, despite calls from Democrats to do so. Ryun has also contributed to DeLay's legal defense trust.

Townhouse purchase in 2000

On December 15, 2000, Ryun bought a townhouse in the District of Columbia from U.S. Family Network for $410,000,, in a private sale. That organization was controlled by Ed Buckham, DeLay's former chief of staff; funding of the organization came mostly from Jack Abramoff's lobbying clients. The townhouse had been purchased about two years earlier, for $429,000, to house Buckham's consulting firm Alexander Strategy Group and DeLay's ARMPAC.

When questions arose as to whether Ryun had paid full market value in 2000, his office released documents showing that another home on the same block was sold for $409,000 on the same day he bought his home. According to property records, the other home is on a land area about half the size of Ryun's, and was assessed in 2006 as worth $528,000, compared to $764,000 for Ryun's home.

Connection to Mark Foley

After Rep. Mark Foley resigned in October 2006, following revelations he had sent sexually explicit e-mails to teenage congressional pages, Ryun contended that he barely knew Foley, had never spent time with him, and was unaware that they lived directly across the street from each other in Washington, D.C. "I know that [we were neighbors] only because somebody has mentioned that, too, already," he told reporters at the time. However, it was later revealed that Ryun and Foley had hosted a joint fundraiser on their street on May 18, 2006, called the "D Street Block Party." An invitation to the fundraiser included side-by-side pictures of Ryun and Foley. Ryun's campaign manager later admitted that Ryun had always known he was Foley's neighbor.

Audio interview

• TheFinalSprint.com's interview with American hero Jim Ryun

External links

• Template:CongBio2
• Associated Press profile
• Ryun's official campaign website
• SourceWatch Congresspedia - Jim Ryun profile
• National Track & Field Hall of Fame entry
• Kansas Sports Hall of Fame entry