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Gil Dodds came to Wheaton in 1945 and led Wheaton to nine Illinois cross country titles, twelve CCIW track titles and six Midwest Indoor Relay Championships. Wheaton won seven consecutive CCIW titles between 1947 and 1953 and five more CCIW titles from 1955-59.
Dodds had an illustrious running career in his own right. Gil won the 1940 NCAA cross country championship while at Ashland College and the 1942 AAU outdoor 1,500 meter championship. Dodds was the AAU indoor mile champion in 1942, 1944, and 1947. Gil was the 1943 winner of the James E. Sullivan Award, which is granted by the AAU to the outstanding American amateur athlete who “by performance, example, and good influence did the most to advance the cause of good sportsmanship during the year.”
On March 11, 1944, Dodds broke the world indoor record for the mile run at the annual Knights of Columbus track meet in Madison Square Garden. His time of 4:07.2 broke the old record by 0.1 second, which was jointly held by Glenn Cunningham, Charles Fenske and Leslie MacMitchell. One week later, Dodds lowered his own world indoor mile record to 4:06.4 at Chicago Stadium on March 18, 1944. In January 1948, he won his third Wanamaker Mile in 4:05.3, a career best time and the third time he had broken the world indoor record for the mile.
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