Magnificent Moonlighter

Every weekday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., James Tully Beatty works as a claims adjuster for the Allstate Insurance Co. in Los Angeles. But diligent and deliberate though he is, Beatty is not exactly a model employee: for four hours a day, seven days a week, he moonlights. He gets no

pay for his second occupation, but lately it has been getting him a lot of attention.

At 27, Manhattan-born Jim Beatty is the best miler in the U.S. and the fastest indoor miler in the world.

First Ever. Black-haired, handsome (despite a nose broken in childhood), Jim Beatty does his moonlighting on the dirt track at Los Angeles' Dorsey High School, where he runs 100 miles a week under the watchful eyes of Mihaly Igloi, a former Hungarian Olympic coach who defected at Melbourne in 1956. "I have absolute faith in Coach," says Beatty. "I don't understand his formula; I just do what he says. If he told me to run a 3-min. 50-sec mile [world record: 3 min. 54.4 sec.], I'd do it." Farfetched as this may sound, the way Beatty has been running recently almost anything seems possible. Fortnight ago in the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, he became the first miler ever to break four minutes indoors. According to Coach Igloi's careful plan, he was to run the mile in 3 min. 58.8 sec. Sprinting through a 57.4-sec. last quarter, Beatty was precisely one-tenth second tardy at the tape.

Last week in Madison Square Garden, Beatty was told by Coach Igloi, "Go out and run and see how it develops." Coach and Beatty expected a 4:02 or 4:03 would do the trick. But Beatty was tagged by Loyola Sophomore Tom O'Hara, who cut a startling 6.5 sec. off his own previous best time to keep up the blistering pace.

At the three-quarter mark, the clock was only .3 sec. behind Beatty's world record time. But an anxious over-the-shoulder look was a mistake; Beatty breasted the tape at 4:00.9, 10 yds. ahead of O'Hara.

"I could have gone under four minutes again," Beatty gasped afterward. "Next week I'll be going all out." Big Burst. Beatty's real competitors in Manhattan were the forbidding shadows of Ireland's Ron Delany, whom Beatty will race this week in the A.A.U. indoor meet, and New Zealand's Peter Snell, whom he will tackle next June in the outdoor A.A.U. Both races should be classics : Beatty, Delany and Snell are a study in contrasts. Tense and ready, Ron Delany, 26, is a throwback to Don Gehrmann: undefeated in 34 straight indoor miles, he pays no attention to the clock, runs only fast enough to win, and has yet to demonstrate his full potential (his best indoor time: 4 min. 1.4 sec.). Sturdy and strong, Peter Snell, 23, is probably the finest natural runner in the world; in the words of Coach Igloi, he is a "stamina-speed" runner, who usually kills off his opposition by setting a blinding pace. Within the past month, Snell has set four world records, at distances ranging from 800 meters to a mile.*

Unlike Snell, Jim Beatty is a "big burst" runner. Small and slight (5 ft. 5 1/2 in., 128 Ibs.), he has the endurance to run any distance up to three miles, but his most important weapon is a reserve of speed--a big burst that he can call on at will anytime during a race. Unlike Delany, Beatty runs against the clock; his sense of timing is so precise that he needs little prompting. Now at peak condition, Beatty will concentrate on the mile this summer, but he plans an eventual assault on every world record from 1,500 meters to 5,000 meters. He has one problem: he is injury prone. "I'm always getting hurt," says Beatty. "I've never been able to stay on schedule for twelve months in a row. If I can find the train, I think I can get off anywhere I want."

* Snells outdoor records: 800 meters (1 min. 44.3 sec.), 880 yds. (1 min. 45.1 sec.), one mile (3 min. 54.4 sec.). Indoors: 1,000 yds. (2 min. 6 sec.).

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