Wes Santee This is Me

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1. 1. Rocky Mountain News: Sports

   www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn - [Cached]

   Published on: 5/1/2004   Last Visited: 5/1/2004

   50 years ago, Wes Santee gave Roger Bannister a run at history
   ...
   So simple and so difficult and so much a part of Wes Santee's life that, even now, as Santee enjoys his seventh decade on earth, people still ask him about chasing the 4-minute mile.
   
   "These days, I just run for fun," said Santee, 71, who lives in the southwest Kansas town of Ashland.
   ...
   As a student at the University of Kansas in the 1950s, Santee was one of best milers in the world. No one ever had broken the 4-minute mark for that distance, but three men were devoting their lives to the quest.
   
   Roger Bannister in England, John Landy in Australia and Santee were training and racing, training and racing in an attempt to run a sub-4-minute mile first.
   ...
   As a college runner, Santee ran whenever his team needed him.
   
   In dual meets, with Colorado and the rest of what was then the Big Seven Conference, Santee ran the mile, the quarter-
   
   mile, the half-mile and even the two-mile race. He anchored the mile- and four-
   
   mile relays and, if his coach had asked, he would have run the 100-meter hurdles, too. He was that kind of guy.
   ...
   Except Santee. He not only knew it was possible, he knew he was the runner to do it.
   ...
   And, possibly, even probably, if Santee hadn't run four races a weekend for KU, or if he hadn't been hounded by the Amateur Athletic Union or joined the Marines, he would have broken the 4-minute barrier first.
   
   Maybe, just maybe, if any one thing had gone Santee's way, it would be Santee's anniversary that would be celebrated Thursday.
   
   "There's a lot of 'What ifs?' in my story," Santee said.
   ...
   And in the States, Santee was the runner of note. Just 19 years old and fresh off his father's farm, he was the best miler in America.
   
   At the 1952 Drake Relays, Santee anchored the Kansas four-
   
   mile relay team. He took the baton 40 or 50 yards behind a runner from Georgetown and fired forth as if from a gun. He caught the Hoyas runner, passed him and won the race by completing a 4-minute, 6-second mile.
   
   Chances are, if Santee had focused solely on the mile as Bannister and Landy did, he would have shaved his time into the threes first. But that wasn't an option.
   
   "If I didn't anchor the relays, we didn't win," Santee said. "I'm not bragging, that's just the fact."
   
   Throughout his college career, Santee was such a consistent relay winner that his coach would shuffle the teams to give as many guys as possible an opportunity to race and win. Santee always was the common denominator.
   
   "He was the best miler," said Neal Bascomb, whose recently released book, The Perfect Mile, chronicles the race to 4 minutes among Bannister, Landy and Santee.
   ...
   In 1952, Santee qualified for the Olympic trials in the 1,500- and 5,000-meter races. At the trials, staged in the Los Angeles Coliseum, the 5K was contested the day before the 1,500. Santee and his coach decided he would run the longer race to make sure he made the Olympic team. Then, if he qualified in the 1,500, he would drop out of the 5,000.
   
   As planned, he ran a solid 5,000 and, before entering his best event, was assured a spot in the Helsinki Olympics.
   
   "You gotta understand," he said. "I'm 19, I just made the Olympic team, I'm on Cloud 9."
   
   Santee lined up for the 1,500 race feeling invincible. As a college freshman, he had beaten every runner in his class, plus the sophomores, juniors and seniors. And those were the guys in the Olympic trials.
   
   On the track, Santee took off his warm-ups and readied to race when an AAU official came running out and pulled him off by his elbow.
   
   Although the rule book said nothing about dropping out of races, the official said Santee wasn't strong enough to run the 1,500 and 5,000 races in Helsinki, and he was not allowed to drop one. As Santee, his coach and the official stood in the chute arguing, the gun went off and the racers left without him.
   
   Santee's depression about not running the mile equivalent turned to devastation at the Summer Games.
   
   "At the Olympics, I'm totally outclassed in the 5,000, don't even make the finals," he said.
   ...
   "And I always beat Bobby McMillan," Santee said.
   ...
   And, as it happened that day, with Santee watching from the sideline, McMillan beat Bannister and Landy.
   ...
   Santee returned to Lawrence, Kan.
   ...
   If Santee ever thought about having pacers help his quest, he quickly discarded the idea. First off, he needed men who could run three-quarters of a mile in 3:00, and there weren't any at Kansas. If they existed at other schools, they weren't interested in helping Santee.
   
   "A runner from the University of Colorado is not going to go out and set the pace for a runner from the University of Kansas," Santee said. "There was competitiveness between our schools, and our schools competed every weekend. The Europeans ran together all the time. They got together and said, 'If we're going to be the first country to break the 4-minute mile, we've got to get together and help Bannister out.' "
   
   Even if Santee had found willing and able runners, the AAU would have put the kibosh on his plan. He knew they were watching him, and he had to be perfect.
   ...
   While Santee was bouncing around the country, winning meets for the Jayhawks and drawing huge crowds at track meets, Bannister was drawing a bead on the 4-minute race.
   ...
   Twenty-three days later, Santee ran a 4:01.3 in Kansas City, Mo. Less than a week after that, 4:00.6 - painfully, agonizingly close, but not quite.
   ...
   Santee never broke the 4-
   
   minute mark, and he missed the race Bascomb calls "the perfect mile," contested at the Empire Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, later in summer 1954.
   ...
   Santee couldn't enter because of his commitment to the Marines. After four years as a reservist in college, he was called to active duty, and no amount of pleas from him or his coach could change the date.
   
   Santee knows, though, that if he had been in Vancouver, things might have been different.
   ...
   Landy still would have tired, and Bannister's kick might not have been enough to edge Santee.
   ...
   Still, Santee has no regrets.
   
   He reported for active duty, enjoyed it and spent 20 years in the reserves, retiring as "a full-bird colonel." Along the way, he founded, built and sold an insurance company, married, had children and grandchildren and befriended powerful people.
   
   "Eisenhower was a Kansan, you know," Santee said. "He was a big fan of the Marine Corps and a sports fan. He invited me over to the White House."
   
   When Santee thinks about the 4-minute mile and all the obstacles that stood between him and that perfect time, he thinks about all the fun he had and all the places his quest took him.
   
   "I'm just a farm boy from Kansas," he says. "It's been a good life."

2. 2. Rocky Mountain News: Sports

   www.insidedenver.com/drmn/spor - [Cached]

   Published on: 5/1/2004   Last Visited: 5/1/2004

   50 years ago, Wes Santee gave Roger Bannister a run at history
   ...
   So simple and so difficult and so much a part of Wes Santee's life that, even now, as Santee enjoys his seventh decade on earth, people still ask him about chasing the 4-minute mile.
   
   "These days, I just run for fun," said Santee, 71, who lives in the southwest Kansas town of Ashland.
   ...
   As a student at the University of Kansas in the 1950s, Santee was one of best milers in the world. No one ever had broken the 4-minute mark for that distance, but three men were devoting their lives to the quest.
   
   Roger Bannister in England, John Landy in Australia and Santee were training and racing, training and racing in an attempt to run a sub-4-minute mile first.
   ...
   As a college runner, Santee ran whenever his team needed him.
   
   In dual meets, with Colorado and the rest of what was then the Big Seven Conference, Santee ran the mile, the quarter-
   
   mile, the half-mile and even the two-mile race. He anchored the mile- and four-
   
   mile relays and, if his coach had asked, he would have run the 100-meter hurdles, too. He was that kind of guy.
   ...
   Except Santee. He not only knew it was possible, he knew he was the runner to do it.
   ...
   And, possibly, even probably, if Santee hadn't run four races a weekend for KU, or if he hadn't been hounded by the Amateur Athletic Union or joined the Marines, he would have broken the 4-minute barrier first.
   
   Maybe, just maybe, if any one thing had gone Santee's way, it would be Santee's anniversary that would be celebrated Thursday.
   
   "There's a lot of 'What ifs?' in my story," Santee said.
   ...
   And in the States, Santee was the runner of note. Just 19 years old and fresh off his father's farm, he was the best miler in America.
   
   At the 1952 Drake Relays, Santee anchored the Kansas four-
   
   mile relay team. He took the baton 40 or 50 yards behind a runner from Georgetown and fired forth as if from a gun. He caught the Hoyas runner, passed him and won the race by completing a 4-minute, 6-second mile.
   
   Chances are, if Santee had focused solely on the mile as Bannister and Landy did, he would have shaved his time into the threes first. But that wasn't an option.
   
   "If I didn't anchor the relays, we didn't win," Santee said. "I'm not bragging, that's just the fact."
   
   Throughout his college career, Santee was such a consistent relay winner that his coach would shuffle the teams to give as many guys as possible an opportunity to race and win. Santee always was the common denominator.
   
   "He was the best miler," said Neal Bascomb, whose recently released book, The Perfect Mile, chronicles the race to 4 minutes among Bannister, Landy and Santee.
   ...
   In 1952, Santee qualified for the Olympic trials in the 1,500- and 5,000-meter races. At the trials, staged in the Los Angeles Coliseum, the 5K was contested the day before the 1,500. Santee and his coach decided he would run the longer race to make sure he made the Olympic team. Then, if he qualified in the 1,500, he would drop out of the 5,000.
   
   As planned, he ran a solid 5,000 and, before entering his best event, was assured a spot in the Helsinki Olympics.
   
   "You gotta understand," he said. "I'm 19, I just made the Olympic team, I'm on Cloud 9."
   
   Santee lined up for the 1,500 race feeling invincible. As a college freshman, he had beaten every runner in his class, plus the sophomores, juniors and seniors. And those were the guys in the Olympic trials.
   
   On the track, Santee took off his warm-ups and readied to race when an AAU official came running out and pulled him off by his elbow.
   
   Although the rule book said nothing about dropping out of races, the official said Santee wasn't strong enough to run the 1,500 and 5,000 races in Helsinki, and he was not allowed to drop one. As Santee, his coach and the official stood in the chute arguing, the gun went off and the racers left without him.
   
   Santee's depression about not running the mile equivalent turned to devastation at the Summer Games.
   
   "At the Olympics, I'm totally outclassed in the 5,000, don't even make the finals," he said.
   ...
   "And I always beat Bobby McMillan," Santee said.
   ...
   And, as it happened that day, with Santee watching from the sideline, McMillan beat Bannister and Landy.
   ...
   Santee returned to Lawrence, Kan.
   ...
   If Santee ever thought about having pacers help his quest, he quickly discarded the idea. First off, he needed men who could run three-quarters of a mile in 3:00, and there weren't any at Kansas. If they existed at other schools, they weren't interested in helping Santee.
   
   "A runner from the University of Colorado is not going to go out and set the pace for a runner from the University of Kansas," Santee said. "There was competitiveness between our schools, and our schools competed every weekend. The Europeans ran together all the time. They got together and said, 'If we're going to be the first country to break the 4-minute mile, we've got to get together and help Bannister out.' "
   
   Even if Santee had found willing and able runners, the AAU would have put the kibosh on his plan. He knew they were watching him, and he had to be perfect.
   ...
   While Santee was bouncing around the country, winning meets for the Jayhawks and drawing huge crowds at track meets, Bannister was drawing a bead on the 4-minute race.
   ...
   Twenty-three days later, Santee ran a 4:01.3 in Kansas City, Mo. Less than a week after that, 4:00.6 - painfully, agonizingly close, but not quite.
   ...
   Santee never broke the 4-
   
   minute mark, and he missed the race Bascomb calls "the perfect mile," contested at the Empire Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, later in summer 1954.
   ...
   Santee couldn't enter because of his commitment to the Marines. After four years as a reservist in college, he was called to active duty, and no amount of pleas from him or his coach could change the date.
   
   Santee knows, though, that if he had been in Vancouver, things might have been different.
   ...
   Landy still would have tired, and Bannister's kick might not have been enough to edge Santee.
   ...
   Still, Santee has no regrets.
   
   He reported for active duty, enjoyed it and spent 20 years in the reserves, retiring as "a full-bird colonel." Along the way, he founded, built and sold an insurance company, married, had children and grandchildren and befriended powerful people.
   
   "Eisenhower was a Kansan, you know," Santee said. "He was a big fan of the Marine Corps and a sports fan. He invited me over to the White House."
   
   When Santee thinks about the 4-minute mile and all the obstacles that stood between him and that perfect time, he thinks about all the fun he had and all the places his quest took him.
   
   "I'm just a farm boy from Kansas," he says. "It's been a good life."

3. 3. Wichita Eagle | 05/28/2006 | Full slate of Memorial Day activities

   www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news - [Cached]

   Published on: 5/28/2006   Last Visited: 5/28/2006

   Wes Santee, a retired Marine colonel, will speak on the history of flag folding at a service in east Wichita.