When he was five years old, Jim Ryun contracted the measles, and that cost him half of his hearing. In junior highschool at Wichita, Kansas, he could not make the track and field team. But, that did not deter Ryun, who went on to become one of the greatest runners ever, and the last American to hold the world record in the mile run.

Ryun became the first highschool runner to break four minutes for the mile in 1964, clocked in 3:59 as a junior at East Highschool in Wichita. The next year, Jim set the highschool and U. S. open mile record of 3:55.3 as a senior, a mark that stood as the highschool mark for 36 years. Ryun defeated the reigning Olympic champion and onetime world record holder Peter Snell of New Zealand in that race.

Not only is the Kansas native the only athlete to run a four minute mile as a highschool junior, but today Jim still holds five of the six fastest mile times in American prep history—–all under four minutes. While in the 12th grade, Ryun was voted the fourth best miler in the world. ESPN.com has him ranked as the number 1 highschool athlete of all-time.

In 1966, as a 19-year-old college sophomore at the University of Kansas, Jim established his first world record of 3:51.3 in the mile, and also broke the world standard in the half mile. Ryun was selected as Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year, one of seven times he was featured on the magazine’s cover. That year, Ryun won the Sullivan Award as the country’s top amateur athlete.

© Rich Clarkson / Rich Clarkson & Associates

More than 40 years after he set them, Jim Ryun continues to have the U. S. junior ( 19 and under ) records for 880 yards, 800 meters, 1,500 meters and two miles.

At 20, Ryun eclipsed the world record in the indoor half mile at 1:48.3, lowered his outdoors world time in the mile to 3:51.1 which stood for nearly nine years, and shattered the world mark for the 1500 meters with an effort of 3:33.1. In the 1500, he overtook Kip Keino of Kenya, and the record was not broken for almost seven years.

A member of the U. S. Olympic team at 17 in 1964, Jim came closest to a gold medal at the 1968 Games in Mexico City, finishing second to Keino who achieved an Olympic record in the 1500 meters which lasted for 16 years. At the 1972 Olympics, Ryun was tripped and fell down. He was inducted into the U. S. Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1980.

Jim served 10 years as a Republican congressman from Kansas between 1997 and 2007. He underwent knee surgery last year, but now, one month shy of his 63rd birthday, is back running three to five miles a day in the Washington, D. C. area where he and his wife, Anne, live. They have four adult children and 10 grandchildren, most of whom live nearby.

Ryun has a public relations company, gives motivational speeches, and since 1973, has hosted running camps every summer for highschool runners. He is also a spokesman for a hearing aid firm.