Glenn Cunningham, Star Runner of ‘30s, Dies at 78

CONWAY, Ark. —  Glenn Cunningham, who overcame a life-threatening injury as a child to become one of the world’s greatest middle-distance runners, died Thursday, apparently of a heart attack. He was 78.

Conway County Coroner Robert Mitchell said Cunningham was found dead in his pickup truck near his farm for exotic animals at Menifee, Ark. Mitchell said he apparently had been feeding the animals at the time of his death.

Cunningham, who won a silver medal in the 1,500 meters at the 1936 Olympics, was a five-time American champion in the 1,500 meters and one of the first great indoor runners. He set numerous world records in the ‘30s, highlighted by a 4-minute 06.7-second outdoor mile in 1938 at Princeton, N.J.

In his day, he was the best, gaining the Sullivan Award as America’s top amateur athlete in 1933 and winning the Wanamaker Mile at New York’s Millrose Games six times.

In 1979, he was named the best athlete in the 100-year history of Madison Square Garden, and he was brought back to run a leg in a commemorative event at the Millrose Games there last month.

But Cunningham’s boyhood hardly prepared him for those glories. At age 7, he was burned in an explosion and fire at the small school he attended in Elkhart, Kan. A brother was killed in the explosion, and he was burned so badly his life was in danger and it was thought he would never walk again.

Moreover, as he recalled several years ago, his family was opposed to sports.

“The first track meet I saw was the first one I ran in, and the first football and basketball games I saw were the ones I played in,” he said. “Up until I ran my last race, my family thought I was foolish.”

Cunningham was a good high school miler, but he became a star only after he entered the University of Kansas.

After his competitive career, Cunningham served in the Navy during World War II, then opened a wild animal farm near Wichita in 1947. He later opened the farm for exotic animals in Arkansas.