 Olympic silver medalist Melvin "Bus" Shimek (1904–1987) was the longtime coach of both programs; he was a top distance runner at MU in the 1920s and coached until 1976, the last 29 years as head coach, a total of 52 years as athlete and coach at Marquette.Shimek set the school record in the mile in 1927 and it held up for over thirty years.Both programs were dropped with football in December 1960, but cross country was reinstated within weeks so the athletic program could retain its NCAA membership, which required a varsity intercollegiate sport in each season.