April 16, 2008

By Jim Sumner
theACC.com

Former track and cross country coach Al Buehler saw a lot of great athletes during his 45-year career at Duke University. But he has no hesitation in naming Dave Sime "the greatest athlete in ACC history. He had enormous talent and intelligence and worked as hard as anyone."

Sime's career on the national stage lasted barely a half-decade but his accomplishments during that period were stunning.

Dave Sime was born July 25, 1936 in Paterson, New Jersey and grew up in nearby Fair Lawn in a working-class family. His father Charles reached Triple-A, the highest rung of baseball's minor leagues, and played professional basketball.

His mother emphasized academics, his father athletics. Sime's first competitive sport was speed skating. He won several significant events in the New York area in his early teens but gave up competitive skating while in high school. Sime starred in football, basketball, and baseball at Fair Lawn High School, where he was a superb student.

Sime graduated in 1954. He wanted to attend the United States Military Academy and become a pilot (the United States Air Force Academy opened in July 1955) but discovered he was colorblind.

That ruled out West Point. Most of the other schools that had recruited Sime had already used up their scholarships. Duke baseball coach Clarence "Ace" Parker told Sime to come down to Durham and they would work out something. Parker found scholarship money.

Freshmen were not eligible for varsity competition in those days. In the fall of 1955 Sime was working out, trying to stay in shape for spring baseball. He began running with the track team and discovered that he was the fastest guy on the block. Word filtered out to Duke track coach Bob Chambers and his assistants, Red Lewis and Buehler. They decided to see for themselves by putting the stop watch on Sime over 100 yards.

Buehler tells what happened next. "The track was in terrible condition. It was the middle of football season so trucks were constantly driving over the track in order to maintain the football field. Without any real training, Sime ran a 9.8." (The school record was 9.6, run in competition on a manicured track.)

Parker could have made it difficult for his would-be sprinter. But he willingly granted Sime's desire to see how far he could take this track and field thing. Sime had never run track before. But he had run fast. "Speed was an essential part of everything I did in sports. My father stressed it. We used to race along the railroad tracks on the way home. Rest awhile and do it again. I always knew I had speed."

But his talent needed refinement. A quick start out of the blocks is an important part of any sprint. The best starters tend to be short, compact runners. Buehler says, "Dave was never going to be a great starter. He was just too big. But he had to get better out of the blocks."

Duke turned him over to another elite athlete, Joel Shankle, a decathlete and nationally ranked sprinter. Shankle recalls, "The first time I saw Dave run I was stunned. I couldn't believe anyone had that kind of speed and power. Like lots of beginners, Dave wanted to stand up too quickly on his starts. We worked and worked on that. He improved."

Sime showed a desire to run some hurdle events. Again, Shankle was called into action. "He actually ran too fast between hurdles. Whenever we ran a hurdle workout, he would pull away from me between hurdles. I would catch up going over the hurdles, because his technique wasn't refined. Then he would pull away again and I would catch up again. We would do this over and over."

Sime was a quick learner. He won several big indoor races, including the 60-yard dash at the prestigious Millrose Games in Madison Square Garden. But the indoor season was just a prelude. Mere months after beginning his track career, Dave Sime was running times close to world records. He hit the national spotlight in April at the Drake Relays, when he defeated Abilene Christian star Bobby Morrow in the 100-yard dash. In a cold rain, his time was 9.4 seconds, only 1/10 off the world record. Morrow had won 30 consecutive races at that distance.

Sime came back to run in front of the home folks for much of May. On May 5, Duke hosted North Carolina in a dual meet, a seemingly modest setting for a world record. But Sime did just that, running the 220-yard low hurdles in 22.2 seconds. Sime also won the 100-yard dash in 9.4 and the 220-yard dash in 20.3, both 1/10 off the world record. He finished second in the broad jump, third in the discus, second in the high jump. This was all accomplished in a single Saturday afternoon. Sime routinely competed in multiple events. "It made me stronger," he recalls. "It was more fun than running and down the stadium steps."

A week later Duke hosted the ACC Championships in front of 7,000 fans. Sime equaled the world record time of 20.1 in the 220 and won the 100 in 9.5 and the 220-yard hurdles in 22.4.

Sime had become a national sensation. Sports Illustrated anointed him as "Superman in Spikes." 1956 was an Olympic year and medals loomed. The local competition was outclassed. UNC runner Rand Bailey gave some idea of what it was like to run against such a force of nature. "You don't exactly feel like you're stopping or standing still when Sime zooms by you," he told the Raleigh News and Observer. "It's more like you're being sucked backwards. It's a strange feeling."

Virginia's John Russell added, "I got ahead of him in our dual meet and I got so excited. But near the end he comes shooting by me like a bullet. It's sort of disgusting."

Sime was a hero but he didn't act like one. "It could have gone to his head," says Shankle, "but it didn't." He was high strung. Shankle recalls, "We had to settle him down so he wouldn't burn all his energy before the races."

Buehler compares him to the March Hare. Sime whimsically told Time Magazine that he stayed in shape by dancing to be-bop music. "A good bop keeps you nice and loose. If I go out and bop, I feel O.K. the next day."

Sime's season was supposed to culminate in a trio of meets in California in June when the NCAA championships, AAU championships, and Olympic Trials would be contested on three consecutive weekends. Athletes had to finish in the top six at either the NCAA or AAU meets to qualify for the trials. Several tune-up meets preceded the big three. Sime won the 100 and 220-yard dashes on June 2 in Stockton in exceptional times of 9.3 and 20.4. The following week in Sanger, he ran a world record 20.0 in the 220 and defeated rival Mike Agostini in the 100-yard dash in 9.3.

Sime was in the best shape of his life. But trouble was brewing. Right before the Sanger races, Sime went horseback riding. A spooked horse led to a strained groin muscle. Buehler says, "Dave had never been hurt before. He didn't know how to handle it."

Sime aggravated the muscle in a heat of the 220 in the NCAAs but continued. Sime finished a close second to Morrow in the 100 but an abductor muscle blew up in 220. He was unable to finish. "It felt like someone had lassoed my leg," he recalls. "The pain was excruciating."

Sime sat out the AAU meet and tried to rehab the injury. The United States Olympic Committee gave him a waiver into the 220 but it was a futile gesture. Sime started the 100 but collapsed shortly after the start. Morrow went on to win gold medals for the United States in the 100- and 200-meter dashes.

It took Sime six months to recover. He ran indoor track in the winter of 1957, played baseball that spring, and still ran outdoor track meets. Sime led the ACC in batting at .376 and was named All-ACC as an outfielder. He also won the 100- and 220-yard dashes and the 120-yard low hurdles at the conference meet.

Participating in two sports at a high level during the same season was an extraordinary accomplishment but it came with a price. "I was young and strong and accustomed to hard work. But eventually I got sick of baseball. Just burned out on it I guess."

Sime had entreaties from major league teams but decided not to pursue baseball any further. He went back to track fulltime in 1958, his senior year, and won ACC titles in the 100, the 220, and the javelin.

Sime had other things on his mind. Sports were important but he was the first member of his family to go to college and he wasn't about to waste the opportunity. "I didn't have a social life. I didn't have the money or the time. Work out and study. Study and work out. I was focused on two things." (He majored in psychology at Duke and dreamed of medical school.)

Duke Athletic Director Eddie Cameron helped him secure a scholarship to Duke Medical School. Sime actually played football for Duke in 1959 while in medical school but was used mainly as a decoy at wide receiver.

Despite his immersion in a demanding academic discipline, Sime decided to make one last effort at the Olympics. He spent the summer of 1960 in California training with Bud Winter, a well-known sprint coach. Although he considered the 200 meters his best event, "it took more conditioning than the 100. I didn't think I had time to get in shape for the 200 so I concentrated on the 100."

Sime qualified for the United States team and spent the summer dominating the 100 meters in the U.S. and in Europe. He got strep throat just before the start of the Rome Olympics and had to shut down training for awhile. Then Sime had an adverse reaction to the penicillin. But he got stronger through the 100-meter heats, qualifying for one of the most controversial finals ever.

German star Armin Hary was famous for his quick starts and occasional false starts. Hary blasted out of the blocks, while Sime got a terrible start. He was in last place at the midpoint of the race. Sime exploded down the stretch, inching closer and closer, finally diving across the line in a photo finish.

After agonizing minutes, Hary was awarded the gold medal, Sime the silver. Despite questions of whether or not Hary jumped the gun, Sime takes the high road. "I don't think he did. He timed it perfectly. He had the fastest first two steps I've ever seen. I only wish the race was three yards longer. But it wasn't."

Sime had one last chance. He was running the crucial anchor leg of the 4x100-meter relay for the favored United States team. Sime took the baton several steps behind Hary but ran him down and passed him for a stunning victory.

"I celebrated for just a few seconds," Sime recalls. "I looked back and saw the red flag and saw Ray Norton in tears. I knew." The three baton passes had to be made within a prescribed zone. Norton's pass - the first - had been made outside the zone. The United States was disqualified.

Dave Sime's athletic career was over. "I didn't have time to feel sorry for myself. I had gotten turned on by medicine and had to get back home and become a doctor."

Sime had plans to become a neurologist but a class with Lawton Smith changed his mind. "He turned me on to ophthalmology. He was a brilliant man. He taught me that eye surgery was more complex and more satisfying than brain surgery."

Sime settled in Miami and became the longtime head of eye surgery at Mercy Hospital. He helped pioneer intraocular lens implants, a procedure used in cataract surgery. Sime was eye surgeon for the Miami Dolphins and counted numerous athletes as patients, including baseball great Mickey Mantle. "Mantle was a wreck. I saw what happened when an athlete was used up. It wasn't pretty. It reinforced my belief that walking away from sports was the right decision (for me). The great thing about being an eye surgeon is that you're not dealing with death and tragedy. You're helping people see, making people happy."

Sime is retired now, married for the second time, and a cancer survivor. Son Scott, a former Duke football player and wrestler, is in real estate. Daughter Sherrie played tennis at Virginia and Lisa played soccer at Stanford. Lisa is married to former NFL star Ed McCaffrey, whose brother Billy played basketball at Duke.

It's tempting to view Sime as some sort of tragic hero, punished by the track and field gods for some imagined affront. He'll have none of it. "Sure I wish it had turned out differently on the track. But I did the best I could. When it was over, I had no trouble walking away. Besides, sports took me to Duke and Duke was the highlight of my life."

Jim Sumner's articles on southern sports history have appeared in the ACC Handbook, the ACC Area Sports Journal, Blue Devil Weekly, Inside Carolina, the Wolfpacker, Baseball America, Basketball America, and other publications. His latest book, Tales From the Duke Blue Devils Hardwood, was published in 2005. In his bimonthly column "Looking Back... by Jim Sumner", he will examine the rich history of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

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