NOTABLE DEATH ..... ROGER BANNISTER

by Bob Walsh

Roger Bannister died Saturday in Oxford, U.K. at age 88. He was the first human being to break the 4-minute mile, running at Oxford in 1954. He went on to a notable career in the medical field, among other things having helped to develop two different pacemakers. He also developed the first test of anabolic steroids.

Bannister's record lasted for 46 days. The prior record lasted for nine years. Bannister took it back again less than two months later at the Commonwealth Games in Vancouver, B.C. in August of 1954, at 3.58.8. He became the first Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year in that year.