Many folks at Duke know Al Buehler primarily for the popular, craggy walking trail around the Washington Duke Inn that bears his name.
But there’s so much more to know.
Al Buehler spent 45 years coaching track at Duke, beginning in 1955 when he was hired to coach cross country. He took over the track team in 1964, leading that program until retirement in 2000.
His reach stretched further, too. He managed the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Teams at three Olympic Games – 1972 in Munich, 1984 in Los Angeles and 1988 in Seoul.
Early in his career, Buehler extended a hand across town to the athletes at N.C. Central University, a historically Black university whose own track facilities were in disrepair. He invited the NCCU athletes to train at Duke; this led to a long relationship with Dr. Leroy Walker, the NCCU track coach who would later head the U.S. track team and the U.S. Olympic committee.
In 1968 in Mexico City, Buehler stepped up to help U.S. track athletes John Carlos and Tommie Smith, two Black Americans who were kicked out of the Olympic village after raising their fists during a medal ceremony to draw attention to racism and other civil rights issues. He helped them safely leave town.
“The whole world was down on them, saw them as bad characters,” he would recall later. “But I knew them.”
A longtime member of Duke’s physical education faculty, Buehler was also a Title IX proponent, vocally advocating for a women’s track and field program at Duke.
Al Buehler died in January 2023. If you want to pay tribute to his life, go for a walk on the trail bearing his name.
