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Gene Venzke
	Venzke in 1934
Personal information
Born	June 27, 1908; Leaf Valley Township, Minnesota, U.S.
Died	February 14, 1992 (aged 83); Exeter Township, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Height	188 cm (6 ft 2 in)
Weight	70 kg (154 lb)
Sport
Sport	Athletics
Event	800 m – mile
Club	New York Athletic Club
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	800 m – 1:52.5 (1935); 1500 m – 3:49.7 (1940); Mile – 4:10.0 (1932)

Eugene George Venzke (June 27, 1908 – February 14, 1992) was an American middle-distance runner. Venzke qualified for the Olympic final at 1500 meters in 1936 and set indoor world records at both 1500 meters and the mile.

Career

Gene Venzke had a long career, placing in the top five at the national outdoor championships ten times between 1930 and 1940.^[1]^[3] His greatest successes, however, came indoors, as he was national champion in 1932, 1933 and 1936^[1]^[4] and also set a number of world records.

Venzke was in excellent shape during the 1932 indoor season.^[5] On February 6 he broke the indoor mile world record of Paavo Nurmi and Joie Ray with a clocking of 4:11.2 at the Millrose Games in New York.^[6] He improved to 4:10.0 eleven days later at the Baxter Mile, also in New York.^[7] On February 27 he broke the 1500 m world record with a time of 3:53.4.^[8] Despite his age he was still in high school at the time, having dropped out for several years.^[8]^[9]

On June 18 Venzke broke the American outdoor record at Cambridge, running 3:52.6.^[10] He was considered extremely likely to make the Olympic team.^[10] However, he had already lost his best shape,^[5] having pulled a muscle in training,^[9] and at the Olympic Trials he only placed 4th, missing out by one place;^[10] he was still among the leaders with a hundred yards to go, but was passed in the final straight by Norwood Hallowell, Frank Crowley and finally Glenn Cunningham.^[10]

At the 1933 indoor championships Venzke beat the Olympic fourth placer, Cunningham, in 3:55.4.^[11] But again he failed to maintain his best shape into the summer; at the outdoor championships he was only third and Cunningham broke his American record.^[3]^[12]

Venzke's main rivals in 1934 and 1935 were Cunningham and Princeton University's Bill Bonthron.^[13] At the 1934 NCAA championships Venzke, now a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania, placed third behind these two.^[14] At the national championships Venzke ran 1500 meters in 3:50.5; however, this was only good enough for third place as Bonthron broke the world record.^[3] At the 1935 championships he took second behind Cunningham.^[3]

Venzke regained his national indoor title in 1936, scoring a close win over Cunningham in a world record time of 3:49.9.^[15] At the outdoor championships he was again beaten to third behind Cunningham and Emporia State's Archie San Romani; however, he defeated Bonthron, who was fourth.^[3] At the Olympic Trials the following week^{[nb 1]} the same men took the four top spots in the same order, with Venzke in third making the Olympic team ahead of Bonthron.^[17] At the Olympics Venzke won his heat and placed 9th in the final.^[1]

After the Olympics, he was part of a United States relay team (with Chuck Hornbostel, San Romani and Cunningham) that set a new world record of 17:17.2 in the 4 x Mile relay.^[1]^[18] He stayed in good shape for many more years,^[19] running his personal mile best of 4:08.2 in 1940.^[9] Originally from a poor family, Venzke made money as an investor^[9] and opened a golf range in Reiffton, Pennsylvania after finally retiring from running.^[9]^[20]

Notes

^ In 1936, the national championships and the Olympic Trials were held separately for the first time since 1924. In 1992 they were merged into a single meet again.^[16]