The top young track and field athletes in the state of Missouri convened in Jefferson City last weekend to compete in the state high school championships at Lincoln University.
While most of the area track fans were following the exploits of current stars such as Alishea Usery of McCluer South-Berkeley and Paul Chaney of Saint Louis University High, there were a group of people back here in St. Louis celebrating the past greatness of another area track superstar.
Last weekend marked the 50th anniversary of Ron Gregory’s history mile run in St. Louis. On May 25, 1956, “Running Ron,” the younger brother of famous comedian and civil rights activist Dick Gregory, won the mile at the Public High School Championships in a time of 4 minutes 19.2 seconds.
Gregory’s winning time set a new United States national record, breaking the existing record of 4:19.5, held by Tom Skutka of West Plains, N.J. For a short period of time, Ron Gregory had become the top high school miler in the history of the United States. Gregory went on to enjoy an excellent collegiate career at the University of Notre Dame, where he broke several school records.
Now, 50 years later, many family and friends gathered at Sprull’s International Catering last weekend to celebrate Gregory’s historic run into the record books.
