Tim Quinn - MCSHOF Inductee - 2006

At 165 pounds, Tim Quinn was well-muscled. At 6-foot-1, he was lean and angular with the kind of physique that would lend itself to any endeavor. Indeed, when he graduated from Ludington High in January 1932, the quick-to-smile, easy-going Quinn was the school's best football player, best basketball player and, oh, yes, its best track runner. His time of 1 minute, 57.2 seconds in the 880-yard run was a national record, set at the National High School Track Meet in Chicago on May 31, 1930, on a cinder track, using spiked shoes that were lightweight for the time, but a far cry from the synthetic shoes of today. To qualify for the nationals, Quinn posted a state record time of 1:58.8 at the state finals. The mettle of Tim Quinn is best described by his younger brother, Don, himself a pretty fair middle-distance runner. "Put Tim in any kind of game and he'd come out a winner or bust doing it," said the younger Quinn. And then on Sunday, June 1, the banner headline was splashed across the front of the Ludington Sunday Morning News to an anxious community: 'Quinn Breaks National 1/2 Mile Record.' Below it was the following story: "CHICAGO - Tim Quinn, a sturdy middle distance runner from Ludington, Mich., stepped out in the first section of the 880-yard run in the National Interscholastic Track and Field Meet at the University of Chicago and lowered the meet record for the event. Laying back until the last 150 yards, Quinn cut loose with a great sprint and finished in 1:57.2, eight-tenths seconds better than the record set in 1915 by Kasper of Shattuck School, Faribault, Minn., and equaled by Cronch of Vernon, Texas, in 1926." The following year, Quinn defended his title in the 880 with a time of 1:57.4. Daniel J. Ferris, secretary of the Amateur Athletic Union, selected Quinn to the All-American prep track and field team for the second straight year. Quinn graduated from Ludington High in January 1932. He attended Michigan Normal in Ypsilanti where he continued running. His best time in college was 1:56.2. He coached for many years at Onekama and Arcadia high schools. His accomplishments as a runner were refreshing in a time when the country was wallowing in depression and it was said of Tim Quinn: "He has never met the runner he could not defeat easily."