Jim Ryun first became well known while he was in high school as a star distance runner. He was the first high school runner to break four minutes in the one mile, and eventually went on to compete in three Olympics. Currently, Mr. Ryun lives and works in Washington D.C. with his wife Anne. He is a Kansas Representative of the Second District in Congress,.

I was born in Wichita and I grew up there also. My mother’s name was Wilma and my father’s name was Gerald. My mother worked part-time at Montgomery Ward and [Sears] Roebucks as a sales clerk, and my father was a parts inspector at Boeing Aircraft Company. I had an older brother, Jerry, who was five years older and a younger sister, Jeanett, who was five years younger. We all got along well, but sometimes it was hard to have shared interests because of the age difference.

My younger days were filled with experiences of a young boy, digging weeds in the yard during the summer, mowing grass, [and] going on vacation with the family in Colorado. All the typical things a young boy does. We went to Colorado during the summer due to both my parents being from Colorado Springs.

[Going to] Different sports events [were my memories of growing up]. There was a church baseball team, but I was cut from it. So, I tried playing for the junior high basketball team and was cut from it also. When I went out for junior high track, I wasn’t even that great.

When I started running my sophomore year, in the fall of 1962, I made the Cross Country team as the last man. I progressed very quickly. I started off running five to ten miles a day. God gave me an unusual body and system that responded well to hard work. At the end of the season, we qualified for state, and I came in there as the first man. We won the state meet by one point. At the end of my sophomore [year], I made the [track] team and won a letter jacket. A motivation for winning a letter jacket was I wanted to win a girlfriend. At this time I was also the school, state, and national record holder [in the mile].

In the spring of 1963 I lost a one mile race to the defending state champion, and never lost another high school mile again. Running with the team was a privilege and some of the relays became world records.

In 1964, while I was a junior in high school, I went to the Olympics in Tokyo. When I was a senior, I became the American record holder with 3:55 just after graduation. I had a lot of scholarship offers. I chose to follow Coach Timmons to the University of Kansas, and that was a good experience and a good decision.

Coach Timmons coached me for my first two years of high school and the training he prescribed for me was very good. I didn’t want to disrupt the program. I started off with an interest in physical education [in college] and then thought about business; but ended up graduating in photography with a photo-journalism major.

The hardships [of school] would have been the fact that you had to study. I did enjoy the studying, but with the level of training that we were at -- we were training at upward 110 to 120 miles a week, -- you were pretty tired. Yes, the training was very demanding physically. You have to sleep a lot. The struggle was really being alert in the classroom, and then doing the studies along the way. I was a good student and yet that was the hardest part. I belonged to a couple of societies based on my GPA.

In 1968, I was the world record holder and was expected to get the gold at the Mexico City Olympics, but I won a silver. In 1972, I was again the favorite to win at the Munich Olympics; but with 500 meters to go I was bumped by another runner and fell in the opening competition. I didn’t advance to the next round because the officials didn’t want to reinstate me. This was a bitter sweet memory because I had just become a Christian in May of 1972. Running didn’t give me the peace of mind that I had been in search of, [that is why I became a Christian]. Being a Christian helped me through this experience in Munich because I learned of forgiveness, and I forgave the official who could have easily reinstated me. I also learned to forgive myself because I could have kept thinking that if I would have ran the race a little different, maybe I would have advanced and gotten that gold medal.

Anne and I were married in January of 1969. I met her at a track meet where I had just run a 3:51.3. There was lots of media and attention and signing autographs. I went to my tent and found that my things were stolen. I jogged back to the dorm to meet with the U.S. team and up came an attractive girl with her brother and sister and they asked for my autograph. I told them it had been a long day and said, "How about later" and left. It turned out that we had a blind date on Thanksgiving of 1966. Anne’s a great supporter. She’s my best friend.

We have four kids. Our oldest is Heather, who is married to Daymen. They gave us our first grandson, Justus, and she is expecting again in February (2001). We have twin sons, Ned and Drew who graduated from KU this past May. Ned is working in Washington, and Drew is running and training on the West Coast. Katherine, our youngest, is nannying a family in San Diego. Our kids were home schooled for a period of time because I was traveling so much and to be a family we needed some time together. Anne graduated from KU with a major in education, so this was a viable option. They eventually went back to public schools.

[In] May 1996 [I decided to run for Congress]. That year the Olympic torch was being carried through Kansas, and I carried it in Kansas City and Wichita. During the closing ceremonies in Wichita, Congressman Todd Tehart challenged me to run for the Second District. I discussed with my family if I should run for the office. Another reason I wanted to run was I have always wanted to help other people. Through running and traveling to other foreign countries, I could see what a great system we have here and I wanted to represent the people in Kansas. I feel that this is a tremendous honor. Bob Timmons thought that I would one day run for Congress or an elected official because he had a bigger vision, thinking that I would have gained the experience and confidence of the Kansans. Along the way, Bob occasionally offered this thought.

[I'm a Republican because] I believe I’m on the right issues. A smaller federal government is not meant to solve all problems. The best government is where you have the most opportunity to be involved at a local level. I believe in lower taxes, and education being handled on a local level. I think making sure the constituents have all the information to make the decisions [is one of the most difficult things I do as a representative]. As a member of Congress, we have a lot of information given to us so we can study an issue. What I try to do in town hall meetings is to carry that information back to the district for people to have their questions answered, and make sure that they have an opportunity to understand why I’ve made a decision on a particular issue.

Smaller federal government, lowering taxes, there’s no particular one I can pin point [as a major achievement I would like to have]. There’s one right now that is really sad, that happens in our country, is we have a procedure called partial birth abortions. I would like to see that eliminated because there’s no medical justification for that at all.

I don’t know for sure [what my future plans after Congress are]. I’m at that point in my life where I’m enjoying what I’m doing, and not really looking beyond this particular arena. I [still] try and run in the mornings anywhere from four to five miles. I usually have to do it early because of the scheduling.

Home    People    Places    Site Info

Copyright ©2001    Pittsburg High School

All original graphics and the layout of this site is copyrighted 2003 © by Everwinter KHMP. If you wish to link to this site or to reproduce any content from this site, please contact Ben Pfeiffer at WebDesign@cmhccc.org

Do not reproduce any part of this site without permission.

Webmaster: Ben Pfeiffer