Sunday Conversation: Branch Brady recalls a milestone
Editor's Note: Branch Brady has an anniversary coming up this week. A running anniversary. On May 30, 1965, the Great Falls Tribune reported that Brady, a high school senior, ran a 4:15.3 mile to break the state record. Branch set state high-school records at 880 yards, one mile and two miles as a senior at Great Falls High that year, which also included a memorable race against the great Jim Ryun. Branch, who retired after a long career as a teacher and coach at C.M. Russell High but continues to help mentor Rustler runners, visited with Sports Columnist Scott Mansch this week for our Sunday Conversation.
Q: I've got the newspaper clipping here, Branch, with big headlines. It's nearly 50 years since you ran a 4:15.3 mile. Wow. What do you remember about that?
A: Oh, it was fun. It was in Billings and I was supposed to run against Doug Brown (Red Lodge native and Montana Grizzly legendary runner) that day. But for some reason he didn't and I ended up running against one of his teammates. Everything just clicked. I ran well. It was a great day for me.
Q: What kind of a meet was that?
A: It was a combination meet. High school kids and college kids. The week before the state meet was in Missoula. Shortly after that I went to the Golden West Invitational in Sacramento, and I ran against Jim Ryun. I got third in the two mile. Bob Hawke of Butte won both the shot and discus at that meet. He was a national champion.
Q: So you finished third?
A: Yes. Against Jim Ryun (of Wichita, Kansas) and another kid named Ryan, Mike Ryan (of Santa Clara, Calif.)
NOTE: Jim Ryun had earlier that year become the first high school runner to ever break the 4-minute barrier in the mile (3:55.3) and in 1967 set the world record in the outdoor mile (3:51.1). He went on to win a silver medal in the 1,500 at the 1968 Summer Olympics.
Q: I thought you guys were just milers?
A: It was the first time Jim Ryun and I had run the two mile. He ran 9:04 and I ran 9:10. (Mike Ryan was second in 9:08)
Q: What was the fastest mile you ever ran, Branch?
A: 4:15 in high school. Then I ran a 4:11 in college (at Wisconsin). Then I ran an 8:59 indoor two-mile. That was probably my best. My college career wasn't particularly spectacular. That two mile against Ryun was the fifth-fastest time in the nation that year and the sixth-fastest ever for a high school runner.
Q: That's amazing. Do you recall much of that race? Were you ever ahead?
A: I remember it real well. The two Ryans (actually Ryun and Ryan) took off and the rest of us were in a pack. I just ran with the pack and with a lap to go I had a ton left and took off. I was closing on Mike Ryan, but I needed a few more yards. It was a good day for not knowing what was going on in that race.
Q: Did you run against Jim Ryun when he was running at Kansas?
A: No, we were never in the same race again. His conference was different and I never made it to a national meet. Like I said, I didn't have a very good collegiate career. I had a couple of flickers, of what should have been, but I just didn't put it all together.
Q: That day in Billings 50 years ago was on a cinder track, right?
A: Oh yes. Everything was dirt. Even at the Golden West.
Q: How much does that slow a runner down?
A: I've never seen a study on it. It does slow you down a little. But some of those tracks were actually pretty well-prepared. I really don't know how much slower. I just know it seems easier to run faster on an all-weather surface.
Q: How old are you, Branch?
A: I'll be 68 on June 2.
Q: Have you been thinking much about this, that it was 50 years since you set that record in the mile?
A: Oh, I'm thinking about it. Yes. For 30 years, almost to the day, it was the fastest mile run by a Montanan. And I took Mike Feist to Eugene in June of 1995 and Mike ran 4:14.14. So the kid that I was coaching (at CMR) was the first high school person to run a faster mile than me. So it was kind of fun.
Q: Have you always been from Great Falls?
A: Actually I was born in Great Falls and grew up in Shelby. Then we moved back for my senior year. And after college I came back and have been here ever since.
Q: Was it in Shelby that you first developed your love of running?
A: Yes. My brother was a runner and I followed in his footsteps.
Q: You always loved the sport?
A: You know, when you're a scrawny little (guy) and can't do much else … Running has literally been if not the most important thing in my life certainly one of the most important things.
Q: What is there about running every day that sustains you and that people who don't run might not understand?
A: It's just the feeling of well-being. That's all there is to else. It's also a compulsion, I suppose. Anybody who has a personal record of doing something wants to continue to do it. But it does give you a sense of well-being.
Q: What is your personal record?
A: In September it will be 32 years without missing a day.
Q: Man. A mile or two or three?
A: For it to count for me, it has to be at least a mile. You can't walk it and it has to be continuous (laughs), but it can be pretty slow. A few things get in the way, like a broken big toe or knee surgery.
Q: You also had a great coaching career at CMR that continues to this day. Are you more proud of your running or coaching?
A: Truthfully, because I was so disappointed in my collegiate running, for whatever reason, it left me unsatisfied and actually helped me be a more successful coach. I never wanted kids to not feel fulfilled or fail to achieve their goals.
Q: Well, you've been in our town a long time helping our kids.
A: I love watching kids running. It's probably my favorite thing. Kids in motion, that's poetry for me.
Q: It must mean something to have had such a career in your hometown, too.
A: Absolutely. Great Falls is the best place and CMR is the best place IN the best place.
Q: It's amazing you ran against Jim Ryun, perhaps the top high school runner of all-time. Was he a decent guy? Did you get a chance to talk to him?
A: Yes. Very personable. Real nice kid. Almost a little shy. There was no elevated ego. He was a nice kid, he really was.
Q: Well, if you'd raced against him in the mile what would you have done? Out like a rabbit and take the lead?
A: I wish I would have known more about my ability in the two mile, because I would have hung onto him a little better. But I just didn't know what to expect.
Q: Who's the best kid you ever coached, Branch?
A: That's a tough one. Mike Feist was the fastest kid. Just a super hard worker. But I think if misfortune hadn't jumped on him, Woody Woods would have been the fastest miler in Montana. He had already run a 4:20 as a junior and was a state champion in cross country. There was no doubt in my mind he was going to be a 4:10 miler. But he loved to play pickup basketball and just before track was going to start (his senior year) he rolled his ankle so bad that he had blood down into his toes. He couldn't run anything until about mid-April and still ended up running 4:20 that year. Heidi Lane, of course, for girls. A double state champion and double state record-holder. She ran 4:55 and 10:44 at elevation, no less, in Butte.
Q: Well, we have the 1,600 and 3,200 now. But there's something more romantic about the mile, right Branch?
A: It's the best event, no doubt about it in my mind. The mile is THE premier track event, I think.
Q: How fast can you run it these days?
A: Oh, I don't know. For years I had a little game with myself. I wanted to see how long I could run it under five minutes. That was the primary goal and the secondary goal was to run my age. The last time I did it was when I was 53. I ran a 4:53. And then the next year I broke my big toe and that kinda ended it (laughs). I can still run, but I don't know how fast.
Q: Well, congratulations on the 50th anniversary of one of the best achievements in Montana athletics history.
A: Thanks, Scott. It's kind of a big deal to me and I appreciate it if it's important to other people, too.
Scott Mansch is Tribune Sports Columnist and has covered Treasure State sports for more than 30 years. His Sunday Conversations appear regularly in the Great Falls Tribune