The Day in Sports : COUNTDOWN TO 2000 / A day-by-day recap of some of the most important sports moments of the 20th Century: SEPT. 8, 1972 : His Olympic Dream Never Did Come True

Like hall of fame baseball or football players who never made it to a World Series or Super Bowl, Jim Ryun never won an Olympic gold medal.

Twenty-seven years ago today, the table seemed set for the great Kansas miler, the dominant track and field athlete of his time. In his third Olympic Games, he was competing in a preliminary heat, the fourth of seven heats that day, in the 1,500 meters.

Virtually everyone believed the only way Ryun, the world-record holder at 3 minutes 33.1 seconds, would not qualify would be if he fell.

That’s exactly what happened.

A lap and a half from the finish, Ryun, running last, was preparing a finishing sprint. He tried to pass Ugandan Vitus Ashaba on the inside, but the gap suddenly closed and Ryun went down when his legs became entangled with those of Ghana’s Billy Fordjour, who fell on top of Ryun.

Stunned and spiked on both ankles, Ryun lay on the track’s curb for eight seconds before rising shakily. He finished far back, failed to qualify, and his running career was over.

Also on this date: In 1919, Babe Ruth hit his 25th home run of the season, tying the major league single-season record set by John “Buck” Freeman in 1899.