Mike Szostak
The Providence Journal
May 6, 2000

SOUTH KINGSTOWN - The day that would become one of the most significant in track history dawned dank and dreary. Typical English May weather.

"It was extremely cold and raining, and there was high wind," Roger Bannister said.

The miler who felt he "let down the whole of British people" because he did not win a gold medal in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, Bannister was considering an attempt at the 4-minute mile, the barrier Australian John Landy compared to a brick wall.

It was May 6, 1954. Forty-six years ago today.

Everything was in place. Bannister's Amateur Athletic Association teammates Chris Brasher and Chris Chataway were going to set the pace in a meet at the Iffley Road track in Oxford. A sufficient number of timers, watches checked, were ready. If only the weather would improve.

"I spent the early part of the day debating if it would be possible," Bannister said.

A medical student, he made his rounds at St. Mary's Hospital in London, took the train to Oxford and had lunch with his teammates. Conditions were hardly ideal, and he expressed reservations about trying for the record.

Franz Stampfl, Brasher's coach, urged him to go for it, saying he would never forgive himself if he didn't try. Bannister knew that Landy had run a 4:02 three times, and would eventually break four minutes. Finns were also knocking on the door, and Landy was going to Finland to train.

Still, he wasn't sure. There was the wind, blowing the flag of St. George straight out from the steeple of St. John the Evangelist church.

But 20 minutes before the 6:10 p.m. start of the mile, Bannister observed that the flag was drooping some. He decided to run for the record.

"I was able to do this most explosive race without making up my mind until 20 minutes before the race," he said.

It was a different time in 1954. No coaches analyzing miles of videotape. No sports psychologists rambling on about imaging. No ESPN. No Nike swoosh. Bannister's training consisted of running 30 minutes a day, five days a week. He prepared for his record assault by going climbing in Wales.

"Luckily, I didn't fall and break something," he said with a laugh.

Six runners answered the starter's gun. Brasher took the early lead, but Chataway was in front at the start of the bell lap. Bannister caught him in the backstretch and moved ahead. He crossed the finish line first, his time 3:59.4.

The crowd of about 1,000 spectators went wild.

"If the number of people who have come up to me and said they were there were there, we would not have fit them into Wembley Stadium," Bannister said.

Sir Roger Bannister Queen Elizabeth II knighted him in 1975 is 70 now, a retired athlete, neurologist, researcher, sports crusader and school master. A delightful conversationalist with an array of interests, he spent two hours yesterday with a half-dozen journalists at The Institute for International Sport.

Tonight, Bannister will be inducted into the International Scholar- Athlete Hall of Fame. He is a member of the 1999 inaugural class, but could not attend last summer's ceremony because of medical problems. Yesterday, he looked fit and trim in blue suit, pinstriped shirt and a multicolored tie decorated with runners.

Dr. Tenley Albright, Olympic figure-skating gold medalist in 1956; Joan Benoit Samuelson, Olympic marathon gold medalist in 1984; and the late Paul Robeson, football All-American at Rutgers, singer, actor and activist, will also be inducted tonight. They, too, are members of the Class of 1999.

Also, nine individuals will be inducted into the Rhode Island Scholar-Athlete Hall of Fame. They are basketball and football coach Frank Keaney, baseball and softball star Wilma Briggs, swimmer Billie Ann Burrill, ice hockey All-American and tennis star Joe Cavanagh, International Tennis Hall of Fame founder James Van Alen, CCRI basketball coach Vin Cullen, PC basketball coach and Big East Conference founder Dave Gavitt, Rhode Island Speaker of the House and baseball and hockey star John B. Harwood, and track and field athlete Robert P. "Sparks" Sorlien.

Bannister quit competitive track the same year he broke the 4- minute barrier. In his last mile, he beat Landy while running a 3:58.8.

Bannister pursued his medical career and also became a writer. His autobiography generated enough royalties for him to build a track in his boyhood home. He served as a correspondent for the Times of London and covered several Olympics for Sports Illustrated.

Bannister chaired a national sports council from 1965 to 1974, and was instrumental in developing sports centers throughout the country. He considers that, not the 4-minute mile, his legacy.

After a near-fatal head-on car crash in 1975, Bannister turned to medical research. Three years earlier, he had developed a urine test to detect anabolic steroid use. He remains intensely interested in the subject of performance-enhancing drugs and totally opposed to their use. He will speak on the issue tonight.

"I wish to go on trying, because there's something noble at the very top that should be respected. Those are the people who inspire the people still in school," he said.

Bannister ran for enjoyment until his accident.

"My idea of sport is running through the countryside, hearing the birds, looking at the trees, feeling the wind in my face," he said, his blue eyes twinkling.

He remains close friends with Brasher and Chataway, is proud that Brasher, the least talented of the trio, won an Olympic gold medal in the steeplechase in Melbourne in 1956, and seems genuinely happy that they can still run together.

Bannister and his wife Moyra have four children, three of whom married Americans, and 12 grandchildren. Their granddaughter, Anthea Townsend, plays field hockey and is a scholar. Her proud grandfather, an original International Scholar-Athlete Hall of Famer, seemed tickled by the possibility of her participating in the 2001 International Scholar-Athlete Games at URI.