Ray Heitmann

MAD DOGS AND ENGLISHMEN—the early years (1974-76)

Recollections by Ray Heitmann, April 2017

My first experience with Kansas running was in Lincoln, Nebraska, in June 1974. A group of mathematicians not including myself did a two-mile run. One of them, Jim Brewer, burst away from the group but stopped after a mile or a mile and a half. Jim just didn't have the patience to run two miles. That he would one day run 85 miles is still incomprehensible to me. I joined the KU faculty in August of that year and we ran regularly at noon. IIRC, we took Wednesdays off in the early days but later moved to five days a week. The distances also increased over time, mostly being five miles at first. I remember a group of eight of us that ran every day along with some others who joined us on some days or for part of the run. The core consisted of Phil Montgomery, Fred Van Vleck, John Bunce, Ed Rutter, Jim, Harold Yarger, Mike Ott, and myself. We were often joined by Bob Welch and/or TP Srinivasan (Sri). Jim Brewer got most excited when Grover Everett joined us as he was the only one faster than Jim and Mike. There were others, including Larry Brady, but I have forgotten too many names.

It felt like old home week when Harold, Bob, and myself were the top three in the [NCAA basketball] bracket pool. In those days, we mostly ran south and east, toward 23rd and Harper, occasionally north to about 7th. Is it still the same? Of course, we ran in Allen Fieldhouse when the weather did not cooperate. It took many laps to get in ten miles on that little track, but I ran my personal best ten-miler there, a record that held up until I accidentally and very unfortunately surpassed it at the start of a marathon a few years later.

I left in 1976 to come to the University of Texas, but I will always have fond memories of my runs in Lawrence. I ran my first marathon at the Kansas relays in 1978. I was surprised to come back a few years later and discover people still running a six-mile figure-eight loop and referring to it as the Heitmann 8. No doubt that is long forgotten. What is really amazing though is just how many years this wonderful group has endured.