Peoples Made History One Lap At A Time

Maurice Peoples of Arizona State turned in one of history’s greatest one-lap performances at the 1973 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

And it wasn’t his upset victory in the 440 yards, which he won relatively easily to equal the year’s fastest time in the world at 45.0 at Bernie Moore Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

The real stunner came just under an hour later in the mile relay. The Sun Devils were in seventh place at the final exchange, more than two seconds behind UCLA when Peoples received the baton.

As John Wenos reported for Track & Field News, Peoples “proceeded to eat up the track (and fellow anchormen) like his life depended on it.”

Timers caught Peoples in a staggering 21.5 at the 220-yard point, but he continued to make up ground. Peoples now had the attention of almost everyone as he stormed down the homestretch, bringing ASU to a photo-finish with Texas for the runner-up spot (both in 3:05.0) behind UCLA (3:04.3).

Amazingly, Peoples had just split an unbelievable 43.4, the fastest ever in a mile relay. The fastest split in the 4 x 400-meter relay was 43.2, interestingly set by another Sun Devil great, Ron Freeman, on the second leg of the U.S. Olympic team in 1968 in Mexico City.

Statisticians use a 0.3-second differential to equate 440-yard times with the shorter 400 meters, meaning Peoples’ 43.4 was worth 43.1 on a converted basis. Peoples’ split was equaled as the world’s fastest in the 1992 Olympics by Quincy Watts. The mark surpassed in 1993 when Michael Johnson recorded an auto-timed 42.91 at the World Championships.