Paul Cummings, an Olympic distance runner and national champion miler for BYU, died Monday afternoon in a boating accident at Strawberry Reservoir.
Cummings, 48, was fishing with his long-time friend and running partner, Jay Woods, when high winds and choppy water tipped their canoe, plunging the two men into the cold water. When the wind blew the canoe out of their reach, they were forced to swim to shore.
"They were weighed down by their clothes and boots," says Ed Eyestone, the BYU track coach who visited with Woods shortly after the accident. "Jay saw Paul struggling and tried to pull him along. Jay barely made it to shore himself."
According to John Rogers of Wasatch County Search and Rescue, the men were only about 120 feet from shore when they fell into the reservoir. Rogers said the temperature of the water (68 degrees on the surface) and windy conditions made it too difficult to swim that far.
Cummings, who lived in Lehi, is survived by a wife and four children.
Cummings, whose BYU school record in the mile (3:56.4) has survived for 27 years, is best remembered for winning the mile at the 1974 NCAA championships. In the years ahead, he was beset with allergies and his performances suffered, although indoors, where he was protected from pollen, he continued to shine. In 1978, he set an indoor American record for 1,500 meters and a year later he and Olympic champion John Walker both broke the world record in the 1,500, with Cummings placing second in a photo finish.
A couple of years later, his allergies seemed to abate with the help of medication, and Cummings resurrected his career by running longer races, mostly on the road-racing circuit. He won the 10,000-meter run at the 1984 U.S. Olympic Trials in Los Angeles. But illness — mostly allergy related — waylaid him at the Olympic Games and he failed to make the finals.
"Had he been healthy for the '84 Olympics, he would have medaled," says Eyestone, a two-time Olympic marathoner. "He had that type of big-gun kick that could've gotten the gold."
Cummings was renowned not only for his talent but his work ethic. He often trained by running several miles to and from eight-hour shifts at Geneva Steel Mill, where he performed back-breaking work with a six-foot crowbar in the stifling heat that radiated from open-hearth furnaces. He ran as many as 200 miles in a single week.
Cummings, a quiet, intense man with a dry sense of humor, "was a gentleman, a true gentleman," said Ed Murrell, a long-time high school track coach.
"He would do anything for you, and did," said Eyestone. "It's hard to imagine that he won't be around."
E-MAIL: drob@desnews.com