Gary Loe

Year Inducted: 2017

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Personal Records:

800 (1:54)

1500m (3:49)

Mile (4:06)

2 mile (8:53)

3000m (8:21)

5K (14:04)

10K (29:45).

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The road Gary traveled on his way to running success was not one normally taken.

 

High School

A graduate of Trotwood-Madison HS, (1975), Gary was a star middle distance athlete who excelled in both cross country and track. He placed in the Ohio HS State cross country Championship in both his junior and senior years, earning All-State honors as a senior. Gary’s performance helped his team finish 10th in the state meet. He continued to shine his senior year as track season brought Gary and his team a trip to the State Championship meet. He gained a top 10 finish in the two mile and his team finished 2nd in the State meet.

 

Gary set a number of Trotwood-Madison school records. Three of which were: Cross country - 2 mile (9:24), Track - 2 mile (9:25), and 1 mile (4:23).

 

Bob Schul Racing Team

Although Gary was heavily recruited to run in college, he made a decision no one saw coming and one not commonly seen. He sat out a year to get stronger and faster. Gary accomplished this by training under the guidance of Olympic Gold Medalist Bob Schul. During that year (1976), Gary did indeed get stronger and faster. He dropped his mile time down to 4:11 and his two mile time down to 9:09 setting the stage for even more college offers.

 

College

With a number of solid collegiate programs recruiting him, Gary had another interesting and difficult decision to make; should he continue under the guidance of Coach Schul who was now

the cross country coach at Wright State University or go to a new coach and test his talents there? Gary decided to stay with Schul and joined the WSU cross country team.

 

He ran for WSU from 1976-1978. During that time he excelled in both XC and track and was a key part of WSU placing 7th, 10th, and 13th respectfully in the NCAA Div II cross country national championships. Gary was the first WSU athlete to earn All-American status when he placed 3rd in the NCAA Div II 5000 meter championship (14:37). In 2005, Gary was elected into the Wright State University Athletic Hall of Fame. He still holds seven WSU school records … Track: 800m, 1500m, mile, 3000km, 3 miles; Cross Country: 5 miles, 6 miles. Gary’s running journey took another twist due to a number of events causing him to transfer to the University of Tennessee for his senior year. This meant another year of rules. Gary ran for the Knoxville Track Club (1979-1980) until he was eligible to run for UT. During that time, he ran

in the AAU XC 10K Championship and also dropped his two mile time (8:53). He also placed 6th at the Knoxville Expo 10k (29:45). Gary helped UT place 2nd at the SEC XC Championship (1980). He was 11th overall and 2nd man for Tennessee. In the SEC track Championship, Gary placed 4th Indoors (2 miles) and 8th Outdoors (5000m). Post College Gary was a sponsored runner for Brooks Racing Team from 1980-1985. He returned to Ohio and won the Vandalia Crossroads of America Classic State Championship in 1983. His last race was in 1986 at the Peachtree 10K (31:17) in Atlanta. A chronic calf injury ended his racing career.

 

From 1982-1999 Gary wrote over 75 articles for Track & Field News. He reported the first live radio/tv broadcast of UT track & field. He worked as a videographer for Marty Liquori’s TV show Running and Racing.

  

Gary lives in Knoxville, TN. He owns Gary Loe Productions.