Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida says he is the clear front-runner among the 2016 presidential contenders on at least one attribute: speed.
“The fastest I ever ran was a 4.65 [40-yard dash],” Mr. Rubio said Friday on CBS Sports Radio’s “Tiki & Tierney” program.
The 44-year-old Republican, whose football skills have recently come under renewed scrutiny, tore his ACL in 2006. He said he rehabbed hard because he wanted to run that one more time and said he thinks he hit 4.68 after the injury.
“Not now,” Mr. Rubio said, laughing. “I’ll tell you this — I’m the fastest person running for president.”
As for height, Mr. Rubio said he’s “5’ 9” — 5’ 9” and a half, maybe, on a good day.”
“Obviously, I would have wanted to go as far as I could,” said Mr. Rubio, who attended Tarkio College in Missouri for a year on a football scholarship. “At one time, I thought I might go into coaching and kind of flirted with that a little bit. But … at some point, you grow up and realize … [that’s] a very high level, I mean just to play Division I is a very high level, and obviously I didn’t have the body for that.”
He said he misses football and his sons play and that he’s a big fan of high school football.
“[Sports are] something I’m naturally interested in,” he said. “It was my first passion. … I joke to people all the time I really want to be NFL commissioner — the presidency thing [is] like a steppingstone to the most powerful office in the country. When you’re the commissioner, you’re judge, jury and executioner.”
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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