It was a hot summer day, in July of 1973, when Hall of Fame Coach Ira Dunsworth, took a much needed break from yard work to take a phone call from a Peoria, Illinois sportswriter.
“You are getting a fine distance runner this fall, what do you think of him?” Asked the reporter.
“Oh yeah, who is that”? Coach replied.
“His name is Jim Eicken and he is a good one”, was the response.
Dunsworth had heard of him, and was ecstatic to have this thoroughbred joining the Davenport Central stable.
Eicken had just wrapped up his sophomore track season, running 9:06 at the Illinois state meet finishing 2nd , after leading at the mile, to future 3 time Olympian Craig Virgin. And he was moving to the Quad Cities because his dad had taken a job at International Harvester.
Jim Eicken was a 4 time state champion during his 2 year career at Davenport Central. That may not seem like a lot by today’s standards, but the performances that this young man put up have stood the test of time.
Iowa had it’s fair share of outstanding distance runners in the 70’s and Jim Eicken was the cream of the crop at 2 miles; winning state cross country titles to cap off undefeated seasons in 1973 and 1974, when the distance run was 2 miles. He won Drake Relays 2 mile crowns in 1974 and 1975 and Class 4A state meet 2 mile gold, also, in 1974 and 1975. These performances came in the days when distance doubling, running the 2 mile and the mile in the same meet, was not allowed. Eicken had run 4:13 in the mile as a sophomore in Peoria.
In 1974, Jim set the Class 4A and state track meet record of 8:58.8, as a junior. This equates to 8:55.4 for 3200 meters. Iowa City’s Randy Jackson, in the following year, ran 9:00.2, which converts to a metric time of 8:56.8. These two are the only ones to break the nine minute barrier in Iowa High School history. As a point of reference the state meet record for 3200 meters is 9:07.06 and the 4A class record is 9:07.32.
The best was yet to come. In the spring of 1975, Jim’s senior year, he traveled to Champaign, Illinois to compete in an AAU meet. It was there that Eicken set the 2 mile all time best for Iowa high schoolers at 8:52!
Not only was Jim Eicken a standout on the Cross Country course and on the track, he was exceptional in the classroom. Eicken won the Citizenship Award, was a member of the National Honor Society and a National Merit Scholar while at Central. These accolades along with his athletic talents earned him a scholarship at the University of Illinois, where he took all of his abilities to the next level.
Jim earned varsity letters in track and cross country all 4 years at Illinois while earning his Bachelors Degree in Chemical Engineering. He was honored as a Cross Country All American in 1978, ran on 2 Big 10 Champion track and field teams, finished 7th in the 2 mile at the 1978 NCAA Indoor and ran on the winning 4 mile relay team at the 1977 Drake Relays. He had collegiate bests of 29:06 for 10K, 14:06 for 5K, 3:46 for 1500 meters, 8:40 for 2 miles and 4:03 for the mile.
Jim went on to earn his Masters Degree in Business Administration in 1993 at SMU.
Jim now lives in Bradenton, Florida where he holds the position of Vice President of Global Concentrate Juice Procurement for Pepsico.