My brother, on what would have been his 70th birthday
Don L Truex
November 2005

Who was the frequent visitor to Santa Barbara who broke the national high school mile run record, was on two Olympic teams, held many of the American records from two miles to 10,000 meters, and was called by Track and Field News "the outstanding American distance runner of the last 50 years"

Len Thornton, Max Truex, and Gordon McClenathen, circa 1954. Future Olympian Max had just won a 4-mile n 18:13; Gordon was second. (News-Press photo, courtesy Merna McClenathen.)

Max Truex was born and schooled in the small town of Warsaw, Indiana, which is now known as the world orthopedic center because it has three of the major manufacturers based there (Depuy, Zimmer and Biomet). His five foot six inch stature perhaps gave him more drive to be competitive. In spite of his size, he was a three letterman in basketball, a four letterman in track, and earned two letters on the new cross country team and a state championship. His first real national recognition come in the Indiana State Mile championship when he broke Luis Zamperini' (Torrance, Ca) twenty year old American High school record with a 4:20.4. (Zamperini went on to USC, was on the 1936 Olympic team in Berlin, was on a bomber shot down over the pacific, spent 40 days at sea on a raft, and was then captured and spent time in a POW camp in Japan. He has been a speaker here in Santa Barbara for track groups and has a book, Devil at My Heels, about his running, WWII experiences, and his life.)

Max was widely recruited but decided to go to USC because of the quality of the track team and the better weather than we were accustomed to running in during the spring in Indiana. He trained hard by himself through the summer and had an impressive freshman cross country season as he won most of the dual meet and even set some new course records.

As a sophomore, he won the 10,000-meter Olympic trials for the l956 Melbourne games but was injured several weeks before the race and did not finish. Max had an outstanding running career at USC including several NCAA championships and records. He broke the NCAA cross-country record when the race was held each year at Michigan State by 20 seconds. The sports writers especially in the LA area loved writing about "little Max Truex" and " the mighty mite from Warsaw, In". He was a very popular figure on the campus and in the sports world.

Max was in the Air Force ROTC while at USC and went on active duty at Oxnard AFB after graduating. The air force track team was based there and had a number of well known athletes including world 400 record holder Eddie Southern and Olympic 5000 champion Bob Schul. He continued to have great success in the indoor meets and on the AAU teams on the European summer tour.

In 1960, Max won the 10,000 Olympic trials and was the first person again to make the track team, as it was the first final held. In Rome, he ran an outstanding race at 28:50, which was the eighth fastest in the world at that time, but unfortunately it was 6th place in a very fast race. It was the best American finish since 1912, as I remember.

After getting a two inch blood blister on his foot in the USA-USSR Meet in Palo Alto and not being able to get it to heal for many months or perhaps over a year, he retired from his running career and went back to USC and spent 3 years getting his law degree.

Max was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease while an attorney at the Los Angeles county council when he was about 40 and had three small children. Even though he fought the disease with all his competitive abilities he had a rather rapid deterioration in the quality of life. He even went to China with His neuro surgeon for a fetal brain transplant, which seemed to improve his functional abilities. After a 15-year struggle with the disease, he died at 55.

I want to remember a fun loving, generous, mischievous, bright, studious, outdoor oriented and very competitive brother on what would have been his 70th birthday.

AMEERICAN RECORDS set by Max

3000 meters
8:03.6    16 Sept 1960   Cologne, GER

5000 
14:22.8    20 0ct 1956    Ontario, Ca
14:14.5    11 May 1957    Fresno, Ca
14:04.2    31 May 1957    Compton .Ca
14:03.6    06 May 1960    Sunnyvale, Ca
13:49.6    02 June 1962   Compton, Ca

10000
28:50.34   08 Sept 1960   Rome Ita (old AR Edelen 06 May 1960 29:58.9)

Indoor 2 Mile
8:47.1    07 Mar 1959    New York, NY
8:46.2    01 Feb 1963    New York, NY