Thomas Joseph Byers, Jr. (born May 12, 1955) is a former professional distance runner and current businessman. In 1981, when running as a designated

pacemaker An artificial cardiac pacemaker (or artificial pacemaker, so as not to be confused with the natural cardiac pacemaker) or pacemaker is a medical device that generates electrical impulses delivered by electrodes to the chambers of the heart eith ...

or 'rabbit' in the high-profile 1500 meters race at the

Bislett Games The Bislett Games is an annual track and field meeting at the Bislett Stadium in Oslo, Norway. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it is now part of the Diamond League. History The first international athletics meeting at Bislet ...

in Oslo, he won against a field including Olympic champion and world record holder

Steve Ovett Stephen Michael James Ovett, (; born 9 October 1955) is a retired British track athlete. A middle-distance runner, he was the gold medalist in the 800 metres at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, and set 5 world records for 1500 metres and the ...

, after the rest of the field refused to follow his early pacesetting.

Career

Byers was a runner at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

in the 1970s and still holds the outdoor OSU distance record in the 1500m (3.37.5). He held the mile record (4:00.10.) until Jeff See broke it on June 2, 2007. 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. Byers temporarily retired from competitive running for several years to join the corporate world, but returned to professional running in the 1980s. One thing for which Byers was noteworthy was his hair. Unlike most middle and long distance runners, who wore their hair short, Byers chose to wear his long. His 3:50.84 mile ranks 11th fastest by a United States runner, while his 2:16.1 in the 1000 meters is the third fastest by a US runner.

Oslo, 1981

Byers took a dramatic victory in the 1500m race of the 1981

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. The world record holder Steve Ovett was a strong favourite to win the race, and Byers had only been called in at the last minute to act as a pacemaker. But Ovett and the pack did not follow his pace, and Byers did not step off the track. He was leading by almost ten seconds going into the final lap. Ovett ran the last lap almost nine seconds quicker than Byers but finished second by 0.53s.

Pacemaker for world record miles

That same year, 1981, Byers went on to pace

Sebastian Coe Sebastian Newbold Coe, Baron Coe, (born 29 September 1956), often referred to as Seb Coe, is a British politician and former track and field athlete. As a middle-distance runner, Coe won four Olympic medals, including 1500 metres gold medal ...

to two world records in the mile, on 19 August at the

Weltklasse Zürich Weltklasse Zürich ( en, World Class Zurich) is an annual, invitation-only, world-class track and field meeting at the Letzigrund in Zürich, Switzerland, generally held at the end of August or beginning of September. Previously one of the IAAF G ...

in Switzerland, and on 28 August at the

Memorial Van Damme The Memorial Van Damme is an annual athletics event at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, Belgium, that takes place in late August or early September. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it is now the final event of the Diamond L ...

meeting in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, Belgium.

Personal life

He had two sons. One of his sons, Thomas Joseph Byers III (1985–2005), was a distance runner for Coffman High School in

Dublin, Ohio Dublin is a city in Franklin, Delaware and Union counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. The population was 49,328 in the 2020 census with a census estimate of 49,037 in 2019. Dublin is a suburb of Columbus. The city of Dublin hosts the yearly Mem ...

(where he graduated in the same class as fellow student-athlete

Brady Quinn Brayden Tyler "Brady" Quinn (born October 27, 1984) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons. He played college football at Notre Dame, where he won the Maxwell Award, and w ...

), and went on to run at the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...

and the

University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi (byname Ole Miss) is a public research university that is located adjacent to Oxford, Mississippi, and has a medical center in Jackson. It is Mississippi's oldest public university and its largest by enrollment. ...

. He died when he was struck by a train before his junior year at Kentucky.

External links

The Story of Tom Byers: The Pacemaker That Beat the Best - Biography on Youtube

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Byers, Tom Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Olympics Living people Olympic track and field athletes of the United States American male middle-distance runners Ohio State Buckeyes men's track and field athletes 1955 births People from Dublin, Ohio American masters athletes Pacemakers