Washington State distance legend Henry Rono passes away...

In a press release sent out by Athletics Kenya Thursday afternoon, the organization announced the passing of Washington State University track and field legend Henry Rono (photo courtesy Washington State University Athletics).

The 72-year old Rono, who had been hospitalized for the past ten days with an undisclosed illness, is best remembered for setting four World, Collegiate, Pac-10 and WSU records in 81 days in 1978.

He ran the 5000m in a time of 13 minutes, 8.4 seconds (April 8) in Berkeley, the 3000m steeplechase in a time of 8:05.4 (May 13) at the Northwest Relays at Husky Stadium in front of 200 people, the 10,000m in a time of 27:22.47 (June 11) in Vienna, and the 3000m in a time of 7:32.1 (June 27) in Oslo. His steeplechase and 5000m times are still the best in collegiate records through 2016 season. He won four Pac-10 titles - steeplechase in 1977, 5k and 10k in 1978, and 5k in 1979. 

In that unforgettable 1978 season, Rono went undefeated in 31 races until an epic two-mile tussle with Steve Ovett in the end-of-season IAC-Coca Cola meeting at Crystal Palace, the Briton’s formidable kick taking him to victory in a world outdoor best of 8:13.5.

Rono won six NCAA titles, including the 1978 and 1979 steeplechase. In 1978, he was named Track and Field News' World Track & Field Athlete of the Year, Sport Magazine Track Athlete-of-the-Year, AP European Sportswriters Sportsman of the Year and was the North American winner of the Helms Athletic Foundation World Trophy. 

Rono, who missed the 1976 Olympics due to the African boycott, was a member of Kenya's 1980 Olympic team but did not compete due to a political boycott.

In 1981, he started with a beer belly, but finished it with another 5000m world record. In fact, he started the day of 13 September with a hangover, having got drunk the night before a 12-and-a-half lap race in Knarvik, Norway, sweating off the effects with an hour run in the morning. In the afternoon, he ran 13:06.20, breaking his Berkeley time by 2.2.

His life and running took a turn for the worse, despite having a pro contract with Nike, as he endured periods of homelessness, was arrested for drunk-driving and undertook a string of menial jobs in places like Portland, Oregon, Salt Lake City, Utah, and Albuquerque, New Mexico.

In the late 1990s, Rono went back to school in New Mexico, learned English properly, became a teacher, and started coaching.

In an interview with the New York Times published in 2022, Rono said that enrolling in a community college and mastering English, his third language, was his proudest moment, even more so than the four world records in 81 days.

In 2008, he self-published a book, "Olympic Dream" where he talks about the 1978 season, and his downward spiral into alcoholism, fueled by the discouragement and corruption he encountered by agents, corrupt officials in Kenya, and estrangement from his own family.

“I’ve been to the top of the highest mountain and then came down to the bottom of the world,” Rono reflected when receiving the 2008 Inspiration Award at the World Athletics Gala in Monte Carlo. “Looking back now, I can remember what happened in 1978, but then the next eight years are more or less a blank.”

I was one of the witnesses to Rono's world record run in the steeplechase on May 13, 1978 at Husky Stadium as a student manager on the UW track and field team. Rono and I engaged in small talk while he was warming up in the the tunnel leading out to the stadium track. 

If there's one thing I can distinctly remember, it was the pair of red and white Nike Americas he was wearing, which at the time was Nike's sprint spike. The shoe had only four spikes on the plate, and did not have a heel wedge, unlike the Vainqueur or the Pre-Montreal spikes Nike produced for middle and long distance runners.

After the race, University of Washington alum Jim Johnson, who finished second in 8:36.1, ventured to suggest: “If Rono had any hurdles technique, he’d have broken eight minutes today. His hurdling form is ragged but he has a lot of horsepower and uses it. There’s certainly nothing lacking in his speed between the hurdles.”

Rono was named the Pac-12 Men's Track & Field Athlete of the Century in 2016, and was inducted into the inaugural USTFCCCA Collegiate Athlete Hall of Fame class in 2022.

Here is the video produced by the USTFCCCA celebrating his induction into its initial Hall of Fame class: 

NOTE: World Athletics, the Pac-12 Conference, Athletics Kenya and the sports information office of Washington State University contributed to this report.

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