Mr. Dodds Goes to Town

The 14,000 track fans who crammed into Manhattan's Madison Square Garden last week for the National A.A.U. championships saw Leslie MacMitchell (TIME, Dec. 1) lose his first mile in 20 starts. The man who outran him, bespectacled, 23-year-old Gilbert Dodds of Falls City, Neb., had never run a big-time mile before.

But Mr. Dodds was no stranger to Garden fans. They remembered his first appearance in the Millrose Games three years ago, when he was a sophomore at Ashland College (Ohio). Because little Ashland had no track team, Dodds had learned the ABCs of foot racing by correspondence with Lloyd Hahn, onetime mile champion who lived in his home town.

Entered in the two-mile race, Dodds did everything a runner shouldn't do: he started out pumping like a six-day bike rider, zigzagged all over the track like a halfback, and finally--a full lap behind on the gun lap and staggering like a punch-drunk fighter--tripped Don Lash just a few yards from the tape.

Mr. Dodds was not invited back to the Garden until three weeks ago. Then, to the amazement of everyone except cagey Jack Ryder, Boston College coach who had been giving him lessons this winter, Mr. Dodds ran so fast he forced Greg Rice to chalk up the second fastest two miles (8:52.8) in the history of foot racing.

Last week, matching strides with Miler MacMitchell, Mr. Dodds proved that he had learned a lot since his correspondence-schooling. Taking the lead on the third lap, he pulled farther & farther away from the field. At the halfway mark he was twelve yards in front. With only three laps to go, he had stretched the gap to 15 yards. Trying desperately to overtake him, MacMitchell ran the final quarter in 60.3 sec., but it was not fast enough. Mr. Dodds beat him by two yards. His time: 4:08.9. World's indoor record: 4:07.4.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.