Fireman on the Track

Eleven competitors lined up for the race, but the 17,000 foot-racing fans, sizzling in the stands at New York's Triborough Stadium, had eyes for only two. One was chunky, pony-gaited Gregory Rice, taking time off from his duties as chief petty officer at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, L.I. to defend the championship he had won for five successive years. The other: gaunt, gazelle-gaited Gunder Hagg (pronounced Hegg), the touted Swedish fireman who was making his U.S. debut in the national 5,000-meter run.

On form, things looked none too good for Greg Rice. "Gunder the Wunder," a self-coached runner, had smashed seven world's records ranging from 1,500 to 5,000 meters in 90 days last year. His time for 5,000 meters (3 miles, 188 yards, 2 inches) was 13 min. 58.2 sec. The fastest 5,000 Rice had ever run was 14:33.4.

The Race. Rice seldom sets the pace. Neither does Hagg. But after the first lap of the big race, lean Gunder decided to take the lead. A youngster named Wilt spurted past Hagg once, passed him again. But Hagg refused to be annoyed. With effortless ease he glided over the cinders, his fringe of long hair flapping, his voluminous shorts billowing like a spinnaker.

Now & again he turned his head to see how he was doing. Rice, pumping along with his peculiar heel-pounding gait, fell farther & farther back.

At the mile he was 6 yards behind. At two miles there were 60 yards between them. Gunder Hagg could not be caught. His time (14:48.5) was not for the record books. But his racing stride was something never to be forgotten.

The Winner. Ever since Gunder Hagg arrived in the U.S. two weeks ago he has confounded U.S. sportswriters. He speaks only a few English words, but at his first press interview, he gave the sportswriters knuckle raps aplenty.

When one asked how he happened to become a runner, Hagg looked quizzical for a moment, then snapped to his interpreter: "Ask him how he happened to become a sportswriter." Another asked: "What are your duties as a fireman?" Replied tart Gunder Hagg: "I put out fires." He calmly announced that he expected to break no records while in the U.S. because he was past his peak (at 24)--"and that's the time to become a sportswriter, when you're past your peak."

At Hanover, N.H., where he retired so that he could lope through its wooded hills, he put a "Private" sign on his door in the Dartmouth College Field House. He ate such unorthodox foods as fried scallops before going out for a two-mile jaunt. He made friends with a local Swedish-speaking minister, told a visiting newshawk that he liked the minister "because he can't put what I say into the Bible."

After last week's race, the men in the press box were ready to forgive Hagg all this puckery humor. In awed silence, they watched him take off his shoes and patter barefoot over the scorching concrete of the stadium to the broadcasting booth. There, impassive as a totem pole, he stood before a microphone, said hello to his countrymen back home.

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