Remembering Browning
Friday, August 22, 2008
Link: www.runnersgazette.com
BY JACK HEATH
Browning Ross is known as the “Father of Long-Distance Running” in America. He was one of the best runners in the country for close to two decades. Browning was a two-time Olympian and a Pan Am gold-medal winner in the 1500 meters.
Browning Ross started the Road Runners Club of America in 1958, and he also founded the first national long-distance running magazine, the Long Distance Log. He coached hundreds of runners in high school (Gloucester Catholic and Woodrow Wilson High Schools) and college (Rutgers) and managed the first US World Cross-Country teams. He influenced thousands of other runners.
Browning was a long-time track official, and of course he put on thousands of road races and track meets in his career. But more importantly, to those who knew and loved him best he was just “Dad” or Browning or Coach Ross. His passing in 1998 left a void in the lives of those who knew him that can never be filled.