Former Gophers and Olympic swimmer Virgil Luken dead at 80

He helped set an Olympic record in 1964 in Tokyo, but he didn't receive a gold medal because he only swam in the preliminaries.

June 12, 2023 at 10:39PM
September 4, 1964 LUKEN of Minneapolis and the University of Minnesota has won a berth on the United States Olympic team and an October visit to Tokyo, Japan, after placing second to Bill Craig of Southern California in Thursday's 100-meter breaststroke final at New York. Wally Richardson, another University of Minnesota swimmer, made the team earlier. February 5, 1963 January 30, 1964 January 31, 1964 March 8, 1964 March 9, 1964 September 4, 1964
Virgil Luken, shown here in a photo from 1964, was a standout for the Gophers swimming team and made the U.S. Olympic team. (RPA/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Virgil Luken, who won Big Ten titles and an NCAA title as a member of the Gophers swimming team and was a member of the U.S. Olympic team in 1964, died on Saturday at age 80.

At the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, he teamed with Gophers teammate Wally Richardson and Rich McGeagh and Bob Bennett to set an Olympic record in the 400-meter medley relay preliminaries. The United States went on to win gold, but because Luken didn't swim in the finals, under the rules at the time, he did not receive a medal.

Two years earlier as a Gophers sophomore in 1962, he won the NCAA 200-yard breaststroke title. He also was a member of the Gophers' 400-yard medley team that won the Big Ten title in 1963 and he won the breaststroke title again in 1964 before going to Japan later that year.

During his high school career at Minneapolis Roosevelt, Luken won the state 100 breaststroke title.

Luken, who was living in Minnetonka, earned 12 National Masters titles. He was inducted into the U of M Aquatics Hall of Fame in 1986 and the M Club Hall of Fame in 2004.

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Joel Rippel

News Assistant

Joel Rippel writes about sports for the Star Tribune.

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