Former NCAA Track Star Gerry Lindgren Surfaces in Honolulu, Seven Years Later

SPOKANE, Wash. — Gerry Lindgren, who won 11 NCAA track titles, has been located after dropping out of sight nearly seven years ago.

The former Washington State University runner lives in Honolulu and said he goes by the name Gale Young.

He finished 17th in a field of 3,300 runners last month in Honolulu’s Diet Pepsi 10K race. Approached afterward, he admitted that he was Gerry Lindgren, and later granted an interview to a Honolulu Advertiser reporter.

The Spokane Spokesman-Review detailed portions of last week’s interview in a copyright story in Sunday’s editions.

Lindgren, 40, abandoned his wife and three children in Tacoma in January, 1980.

Lindgren said he owns a home in Houston, where he spends eight months a year working as an advertising and promotional consultant for various companies.

Lindgren burst onto the national scene just out of high school in 1964 when he beat two veteran Soviets in the 10,000 meters in a dual meet in Los Angeles.