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By Kent Larsen
LDS Olympian Drowns in Fishing Accident
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- Former Olympic runner and member of BYU's
Athletic Hall of Fame Paul Cummings drowned Monday in a fishing
accident on Strawberry Reservoir near Salt Lake City. Cummings was a
versatile runner, a five-time All-American track star who competed in
the 1984 Olympics and set records in the 15 kilometer and indoor
1,500 meter races. He was 48.
According to police reports, Cummings was fishing with a friend about
120 feet from shore when their canoe tiped over in the choppy
69-degree water. The friend was able to swim to shore, but Cummings
didn't make it. Police recovered his body from about 62 feet of water
Monday night.
Cummings was born September 5, 1953 in Tempe, Arizona, but was raised
in Santa Monica, California where, as a youth, he played junior high
school basketball, but failed to make the high school team. But when
he came in first in the mile in his P.E. class, the coach asked him
to join the track team. By the time he graduated from high school,
Cummings was second in California in the mile and was seventh in the
nation.
He went on to attend BYU, where he was All-American in cross country
in five consecutive years. In 1974 he won the NCAA championship in
the mile with a time of 4:01.2. He eventually became the 66th person
to run the mile in less than 4 minutes, and, showing his versatility,
became one of perhaps 30 runners to run both a sub-4-minute mile and
run a marathon under 2 hours and 12 minutes.
He trained for the 1980 Olympics, but was one of those disappointed
when the US declined to participate in the Moscow games. He then
competed in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, running in the 10,000
meters, but he didn't qualify for the finals.
Cummings married the former Debra Gaye Anhder in the Oakland
California Temple, and was a resident of Lehi, Utah where he worked
as a pipe inspector for Geneva Steel. He was also a director of the
Wolf Creek Running Camp for elite high school distance runners.
BYU track coach Doug Padilla said Cummings had great form, "It's sad.
We're going to miss him. We did so many things together. He was
absolutely a piture-perfect runner with perfect form." Retired BYU
track coach Willard Hirschi called him an "exceptional athlete," and
added that Cummings was also a wonderful person, "He was very, very
quiet. Paul was not much for conversation, but he was always and
exceptional person. He was one who led by example, and was always
taciturn . . . He was one of BYU's greats."
Sources:
Former Olympian Dies at 48
Salt Lake Tribune 19Sep01 P2
By Michael C. Lewis: Salt Lake Tribune
Paul Cummings
Salt Lake Tribune 19Sep01 P2
Paul R. Cummings
Cougar Club Hall of Fame
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