Tom Byers (athlete)

Thomas Joseph Byers, Jr. (born 1955) was a professional distance runner and current businessman. He was an excellent runner at The Ohio State University in the 1970s and still holds the outdoor OSU distance record in the 1500m (3.37.5) and held the mile record (4:00.10.) until Jeff See broke it on on June 2, 2007. [cite | web title=OSU Outdoor Records | url=http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/fls/17300/pdf/mtrack/History.pdf?ATCLID=945283&SPSID=89220&SPID=10412&DB_OEM_ID=17300 | publisher = The Ohio State University | accessdate=2008-02-17 ] During his time at OSU, he also won the U.S. Junior 1500m title, finished second at the AAU outdoor championships, and participated in the '76 Olympic Trials. [cite web | title = Tom Byers Makes Mile Comeback | url=http://members.aol.com/track2ceo/byers.html | publisher = Masters Track & Field | accessdate=2007-04-23 ] He temporarily retired from competitive running for several years to join the corporate world, but came back to the pros in the 80s. His 3:50.84 mile is still 7th all-time among Americans, ahead of greats like Jim Ryun, and his 2:16.1 in the 1000 meters is 2nd all-time for Americans. [cite web | title = All Time Track Best Marks | url=http://www.fasterrunning.com/oldsite/alltimebest.htm | publisher = Faster Running | accessdate=2007-04-23 ]

He had two sons, one of whom is deceased (Thomas Joseph Byers III, 1985-2005, was an excellent distance runner for Coffman High School in Dublin, Ohio (where he graduated in the same class as fellow student-athlete Brady Quinn,) and went on to run for the University of Kentucky, he died when he was struck by a train before his junior year at UK.) [cite web | title = Student killed on tracks | url=http://media.www.kykernel.com/media/storage/paper305/news/2005/08/24/CampusNews/Student.Killed.On.Tracks-969246.shtml | publisher = Kentucky Kernel | accessdate=2007-04-23 ]

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