3:59.8
June 2, 1966, Eugene
On the race: Between 6,000 and 8,000 people were at the Oregon Twilight Meet for the race. Bell doesn’t remember the other athletes, but he remembered that everyone was going for the milestone. The splits were 59, 1:59 and 2:59. Bell held the lead until the backstretch. Then everyone sprinted for the finish and had to wait because hand-timers had to figure out the results. Bell finished third. “I didn’t know whether I had made it or not when I came off the turn.”
On Bowerman: Bell’s goal, for years, had been to run a sub-4 mile. “Bill Bowerman had coached more sub-4 minute milers than any other individual in the state. I thought I had the best chance to run a sub-4 minute mile by coming to the University of Oregon and running in this environment with all these great milers that were here.”
On his life now: Bell still lives in Eugene, where he met his wife and raised his four children. He’s a partner at accounting firm Bell and Morgan LLC. He jogged regularly until two and a half years ago, when he changed his physical activity to biking because he had run for so many years. Then, he “almost froze to death,” so he went to a stationary bike. He found that very boring until his daughter bought him an MP3 player, and now he loves listening to books as he rides.
