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Birthday: March 29th, 1952 Hometown: Wantagh, NY College: University of Tennessee, Knoxville Current Residence: Bellmore, NY PRs
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Dan O'Connor was at the University of Tennessee on a running scholarship when, just before the Division I NCAA cross-country championships, he stepped in a pothole and twisted his ankle. The trainer taped him up so tight that he lost all flexibility in his ankle. Barely able to finish his race, he aggravated a cyst and damaged his knee. O’Connor managed to limp through two more seasons before accepting that he could no longer run competitively.
Luckily for O'Connor, he had race walked briefly in high school with instant success. Having trained for only three days as a senior, he walked a 7:15 mile and earned a N.Y. State high school record. This experience made O'Connor’s decision to return to walking easier. He felt no pain and amazingly was able to immediately translate his running workload to walking. When O'Connor uses the term workload, he says it flippantly, but his workload was one hundred miles a week!
Once he became a race walker, he never looked back. While he worked full-time, he trained the only way he could to fit in long miles. He carpooled to work and then walked the 15 miles from Far Rockaway back to his home. The approach paid off, as he qualified in both Olympic race walking events in 1980, only to miss the Games because of the boycott. However, he did realize his Olympic dreams in 1984 when he qualified and competed in the 20K at Los Angeles, finishing 6 th.
Over the course of his career, O'Connor amassed 14 national titles, including one 50K, one 20K—with a record-breaking time of 1:26:26 in 1980—and four consecutive 40Ks. Track and Field magazine ranked him nationally for 20 consecutive years, dubbing him Mr. Longevity. Today he remains the only track and field athlete in any event to have achieved this milestone.
Eventually, family obligations became more pressing and O'Connor gave up competitive race walking. He is now the head girls’ track coach for Far Rockaway High School, and two of his relay teams won at the Penn Relays in 2003. He is the proud father of four children who each ran the mile competitively by age six. O’Connor no longer walks, but jogs to stay fit.
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 O'Conner competing at the 1987 50km World Cup |
