page_title: Gil Dodds
section_title: Biography
hierarchical_section_title: Gil Dodds / Biography
caption_attribution_description: 1944 Press Photo Gilbert Dodds &amp; Rev James H O'Brien two mile run trophy
context_page_description: Gilbert Lothair Dodds, called "The Flying Parson", was an American middle-distance runner. In the 1940s, he held the American and world records for the mile run. He was awarded the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States in 1943.
context_section_description: Gilbert Lothair Dodds was born in Norcatur, Kansas, one of five children and the son of Rev. and Mrs. J. G. Dodds. His minister father was half English and half Irish; his mother was of German ancestry.
  The family moved to Falls City, Nebraska when Rev. Dodds became the minister at Falls City Brethren Church. Gil Dodds attended Falls City High School, where he became a distance runner, coached by Lloyd Hahn, a runner in the 1924 Summer Olympics who lived nearby. Dodds never lost a race in high school. In 1935, he entered two events at a track meet in Peru, Nebraska and won both, setting state records in the mile (4:49.6) and half-mile (2:09.5), breaking the old records by 13.4 and 4.5 seconds, respectively. He was the state champion in the mile race in 1935, 1936 and 1937 and held the state record at 4:28.1 when he graduated in 1937. As a junior in high school, he developed a hernia while playing tennis; for the rest of his running career, he wore a truss while running to protect himself.
  He attended Ashland University (class of 1941), Gordon Divinity School and Wheaton College and had a winning steak of 39 races. On November 25, 1940, Dodds took his first national championship when he won the NCAA Men's Cross Country Championship in East Lansing, Michigan. Dodds was the AAU indoor mile champion in 1942, 1944, and 1947. Outdoors he set the American mile record of 4:06.5 in 1943 in Boston, finishing second to Sweden's Gunder Hägg.
  On March 11, 1944, Dodds broke the world indoor record for the mile run at the annual Knights of Columbus track meet in Madison Square Garden, New York City. His time of 4:07.2 broke the old record by 0.1 second, which was jointly held by Glenn Cunningham, Charles Fenske and Leslie MacMitchell.  One week later, Dodds lowered his own world indoor mile record to 4:06.4 at Chicago Stadium on March 18, 1944.
  Known as "The Flying Parson", he graduated from seminary in 1945 and retired from running to be a full-time minister.
  In 1947, he resumed running with the goal of making the
  1948 Olympic team. In January 1948, he won his third Wanamaker Mile in 4:05.3, a career best time  and the third time he had broken the world indoor record for the mile.  One week before the Olympic Trials, he caught the mumps and injured his Achilles tendon and could not run the qualifying meet. He went on to work with the new "Youth for Christ" youth organization and became the track and cross country coach at Wheaton College (1945–1959).
caption: Dodds in 1944
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