Mile Under Four Minutes Becomes American Pastime

On a day when only only 10 runners had previously broken four minutes for the mile run, an American finally joined the list.

Miles run under four minutes had been an exclusive club to which only Europeans and Australians belonged. England’s Roger Bannister had done it first, in 1954, and by the summer of 1957, Australian John Landy had done it six times.

Forty-two years ago today, Cal junior Don Bowden, 20, was an entrant in the mile at a night AAU track meet at College of the Pacific in Stockton.

Running the hard way, by himself, Bowden ran 3:58.7. The second-place runner was far back at 4:13.4.

Bowden narrowly missed Landy’s world record, 3:58. He also narrowly made it to the starting line on time.

He had finished a difficult economics final exam at Cal at 4:30 that afternoon and, driving his car to Stockton, arrived just in time.

His performance broke Wes Santee’s American record of 4:00.5.

“I didn’t feel especially good after my economics final, I was kind of let down and I was debating whether to even run or not,” Bowden said.

“But once the race started, I felt fine. I planned to run a four-minute pace as long as I could. I felt great after three laps [in 3:00.6] and just pushed it.”

Bowden’s previous best in a mile race had been 4:09.9 that year but he had run a 4:01.6 leg in a distance medley relay three weeks before the Stockton meet.

Bowden, now 62, lives in Saratoga, Calif., where he exports materials for all-weather tennis courts.

Also on this date: In 1975, with his fourth no-hitter, the Angels’ Nolan Ryan notched his 100th major league victory at Anaheim Stadium with a 1-0 win over Baltimore. . . . In 1946, Assault made it a Triple Crown sweep by winning the Belmont Stakes by three lengths. . . . In 1925, Lou Gehrig, 21, pinch hit for Paul Wanninger in the eighth inning and replaced Wally Pipp at first base, starting a consecutive-games-played streak that would reach 2,130 by 1939. . . . In 1941, the Giants’ Mel Ott, 32, hit his 400th home run and drove in his 1,500th run in a 3-2 victory over Cincinnati.