This week, the fastest runners are racing at the Olympics in Paris. Ninety-two-year-old Thane Baker is watching with tears in his eyes. He's the oldest living Olympic runner from the U.
S. Inside his home in Bellevue, Nebraska, Baker has quite the collection of memorabilia, dating back 80 years. He was born in Elkhart, Kansas and grew up wanting to race, but he wasn't that good.
"I went to the state high school meet in Witchita, Kansas. I got last place in 100, last place in 220," said Baker. When he enrolled at Kansas State University, Baker asked permission to try out for the track team.
Three years later, he earned a spot to race on the biggest stage in the world. "I try to tell that story to youth because it takes a while to develop, it takes coaching, listening, discipline. It's a process.
It's a wonderful process." And it paid off. Baker showed sister station KETV his hardware.
He got silver in the 200 meters. And he ran the race — borrowing shoes from K-State. He said the spikes were heavy; the track was not smooth.
The races were decided by tenths of a second, not hundredths. "The javelin is different, pole vault is different, high jump is different style," he said. But Baker says what stays the same is the sacrifice, the dedication and determination.
"That discipline follows you the rest of your life," he said. Baker went on to train with the U.S.
Air Force and he competed in the 1956 Olympic Games in Australia. Baker added more medals to his collection, including the gold in his 4 by 100 relay. He still thinks of those teammates.
"You realize the sacrifices they have made to get what they've achieved and you can empathize, laugh with them and cry with them. I get so emotional about it. I'm not ashamed.
It was a beautiful part of my life." Baker kept track as part of his life, officiating meets for 55 years. He was able to coach, mentor and repeat his message for people, young and old.
A book about Thane Baker's journey and inspiration is now available on Amazon and at Barnes and Noble. It's titled "Running In Borrowed Shoes" and was written by his daughter, Catherine Nicholson..
