Browning Ross

In 1958 Ross founded the Middle Atlantic Road Runners Club, centered in Philadelphia, which a year later became the national Road Runners Club of America. The club today boasts of more than 180,000 members nationwide. On Jan 27, 1968 Browning Ross (43) ran a 4:45.0 Masters American indoor mile record at the Cornell Invitational.

With such passion for the sport he loved it was inevitable that Ross would continue to stay involved even after his heyday of running. In 1955 he recognized the need for distance running results to be published and widely distributed in order to increase the public’s awareness of the sport. In 1956 he created the Long Distance Log (after its inspiration, Distance Running Journal, created by Austin Scott in 1953) at the time the only publication devoted exclusively to long-distance running in the USA. The first issues were mimeographed on the backs of recycled high school history tests. The Log would become the major instrument to unite runners and address their concerns over the next 20 years. He was the first editor-in-chief of the magazine, which mailed monthly to about 1,000 subscribers throughout the country until 1975.

Ross, however, did not match the same success in the 1952 Olympics held in Helsinki, Finland. He qualified to compete but never reached the finals in any competition.

At the 1951 Pan American Games, Ross placed 1st in the 1500 meter run, shared 1st in the 3000 meter steeplechase, and finished 4th in the 5000 meter run. A controversy occurred in the 3000m steeplechase, where two Americans, Curt Stone and Ross, had pulled away from the field. Stone slowed down on the last straightaway and held Ross’s hand as they crossed the line together. Argentine officials debated for two hours whether their actions violated rules requiring athletes to make an effort to win before finally allowing the results to stand, ranking Stone as first after a close examination of the finish photo.

Ross competed in the 1948 London Olympics where he became the only American to compete in the steeplechase final, placing 7th overall with a 9:23.2 time. After the Olympics were over Ross decided to stay in Europe and postpone his return trip to the United States because he wanted to compete in road races held in Ireland. It was there that he discovered a vast resource of running talent, and when Ross returned home he promptly alerted “Jumbo” of his findings. Elliott heeded his advice, and thus began Villanova’s tradition with its long line of Irish runners.

Ross did not grow up possessing a love for running. In, fact it was not until he was cut from Woodbury High School’s baseball team that he took up running. It was not long before his second choice of sport was a true calling, as Ross blossomed into one of the greatest high school distance runners in the entire state of New Jersey. In the spring of 1943, his senior year, he was crowned the New Jersey State Mile Champion and National Interscholastic Indoor Mile Champion.

Ross was one of Elliott’s first magnificent runners at Villanova University during the late 1940s. In 1948, he won the NCAA steeplechase championship, which paved the way for his position on the USA team in the 1948 Summer Olympics.

Harris Browning ‘Brownie’ Ross (April 26, 1924 – April 27, 1998) is often referred to as the father of long-distance running in the United States.