I have something a little different for you today.
After reading Julie’s rieview of “A Cold Clear Day” I ordered a used copy of the book on Amazon. Cheapskate. This book is about Buddy Edelen, who was the World’s fastest marathoner in 1963.
My copy cost a mere $1.50 because it had “writing on the flyleaf”. I skipped right past that red-penned dedication, settled down to read it, and loved it. As an English person living in the USA, I feel a sort of mirror-image affinity with Buddy, an American living and training in England.
Only when I was nearly finished did I chance to read the flyleaf, and nearly dropped the book in amazement.
Here it is.
On page 181, Hal Higdon’s afterword describes how Buddy used to joke about his own obscurity – “Buddy who?” and how he would always sign himself “Buddy” in quotes.
It’s possible that this book was signed by some other Buddy, but I’m convinced it was Buddy Edelen. According to Wikipedia, he died in 1997, just a year after the date on this inscription.
And now it is mine.
And “Dean”? Karnazes, maybe?
So much fun. All that at a buck fifty.
Looks more like “Deen”, but a nice thought.
Oh My God. That is just the coolest thing ever.
I just stumbled across this back-and-forth four years after the fact while googling for info on “Buddy” Edelen. I am writing a book titled “An Olympian Feast,” a chapter on each of 30 Olympiads, and the 1964 chapter will repeat an article I wrote about Buddy for The Runner in 1982. The “Buddy Who?” anecdote is from the first paragraph of that article. And, yes, he always signed his letters with “Buddy” in quotes. We exchanged letters frequently when he was training in England. Along with our mutual coach Fred Wilt, I was one of his anchors to back home. It’s interesting to speculate whether the running boom would have started earlier had Buddy won the gold medal 8 years before Frank Shorter.
Wow, a comment from Hal Higdon! I did not know that Fred Wilt was also your coach. Yes, it is interesting to think about what might have been.
Hi, I recently did a Google search for Buddy Edelen and came across your comments. The reason I was searching was because I was curious about what happened to him. Why? Well, when he lived in the UK he rented the top half of my grandmothers house in Westcliff on sea. I met him a few times and occasionally saw him out running. I have a photograph of the house if you are interested. I also seem to think there may have been another American living there at the same time but I can’t remember is name (Bill ??)
Anyway please contact me if you want some more info or a copy of the photograph.