Tracy Evans Smith (born March 15, 1945, in Altadena, California) is a former American distance runner. He was a member of the 1968 U.S. Olympic Track and Field Team, competing in the 10,000 meters. He was ranked multiple times by Track & Field News as the No. 1 U.S. 5,000- and 10,000-meter runner in the mid- to late 1960s, and was a six-time AAU National Champion from 1966 to 1973, winning outdoors in the 3-mile, 6-mile and 10,000 meters, and three times in the indoor 3-mile. He was a three-time world record holder in the indoor 3-mile.
High school and college
Smith was a champion miler in high school, winning the California State Meet at Edwards Stadium, Berkeley, June 1, 1963, in 4:14.4 for Arcadia High. He was also the nation's fastest prep two-miler that year, ahead of Jim Ryun, with a national-prep-record time of 9:11.6, and was the fourth-fastest miler, nationally, in 1963, with a time of 4:12.6.
On July 4, 1963, University of Oregon track coach Bill Bowerman hosted an all-star high school mile race at Hayward Field, Eugene, OR, that was intended to pit Tracy Smith, the California state champion miler, against Dave Wilborn, Oregon’s state champion miler. But the race evolved into a wild duel between Smith and a then relatively unknown 17-year-old miler from Spokane, WA, Gerry Lindgren. Over the final half mile, Smith would repeatedly surge into the lead only to be countered by Lindgren each time. In a sprint to the finish, Smith made a desperate dive, while Lindgren leaned at the tape for a narrow win in 4:12.9. That race marked the beginning of a decade-long duel between two men who would become the best distance runners of their era.
Smith graduated from Arcadia High in 1963 and attended Oregon State University, finishing sixth in the 3-mile at the 1965 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The following season, he finished second to rival Lindgren, now of Washington State University, over a six-mile course in 29:11, at the 1966 NCAA Cross Country Championships, at Lawrence, KS, Nov. 21, 1966. He would withdraw from Oregon St. after the fall cross-country season because he found the coaches’ training regimen stifling. He would later earn his degree in 1973 from Long Beach State University, where he briefly coached the men’s cross-country team.
Smith burst onto the international running scene March 20, 1966, becoming the first American to ever medal in the International Cross Country Championships, finishing third that year on the 7.5-mile course at Rabat, Morocco, with a time of 36:32.2, behind gold medalist Ben Assou El Ghazi of Morocco and silver medalist Derek Graham of Ireland.
World records and AAU Championships
Smith was a three-time world record holder in the indoor 3-mile, first breaking the mark at the AAU Indoor Championships March 4, 1967, Oakland, CA, with a time of 13:16.2. He bettered his own indoor 3-mile world record, turning in a time of 13:15, March 1, 1968, at the Maple Leaf Games, Toronto. On Feb. 24, 1973, Smith, having come back from what many thought was a career-ending Achilles injury, and what he has often described as the highlight of his running career, thrilled a crowd of over 15,000 to once again break the world indoor 3-mile record at the AAU Indoor Championships at New York's Madison Square Garden in a time of 13:07.2.
Smith was the AAU Indoor Track and Field Champion in the 3-mile in 1966, 1967 and 1973. He was the AAU Outdoor Track and Field Champion in the 6-mile in 1966, the 10,000-meters in 1968, and the 3-mile in 1969. He was the Track & Field News No. 1-ranked U.S. 5,000-meter runner in 1969, and its No.1-ranked U.S. 10,000-meter runner in 1966 and 1968.