Gotham was in money shambles, crime rates were soaring, the “Son of Sam” serial murder spree was terrorizing town denizens, and 3 days earlier within the Bronx, the Yankees had been swept by the large Red Machine within the playoff.
In alternative words, an ideal time to stage a road race throughout the 5 boroughs of latest dynasty town.
“The town was in terribly rough form,” says George Hirsch, one in every of the founders of the big apple town Marathon and therefore the current chairman of the board for the big apple Road Runners (NYRR). “It was on the verge of bankruptcy. Crime was enthusiastically.”
But despite the various civic and supply hurdles that the race’s organizers visaged in 1976, simply over two,000 runners took faraway from Staten Island that Sunday, Oct. twenty four — “A lovely day. azure sky, however low wetness,” says the ’76 race’s male first-place finisher, Bill Richard Rodgers — and created their method through borough, Queens, borough and Manhattan, finally finishing in common close to the famous tap house on the inexperienced eating place. America’s Bicentennial birthday was the primary time the NYC Marathon was run outside of common, wherever it had been control since 1970, with runners finishing four laps round the main loop. Now, four decades later, the signature marathon has quite fifty,000 participants annually, athletes of all levels, from all components of the world, and the 26.2-mile race has become one in every of the foremost recognized international sporting events.
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Dick Traum (l.), the primary noted unfortunate marathon finisher, runs with Bill Richard Rodgers on the East River.
Dick Traum (l.), the primary noted unfortunate marathon finisher, runs with Bill Richard Rodgers on the East River.
On the fortieth day of remembrance of that initial five-borough jaunt, many of the participants within the ’76 marathon reminisced with the Daily News concerning the crowds, the energy, the historic enterprise and therefore the race that launched associate painting complete for brand spanking new dynasty town.
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Hirsch, 82, was a passionate runner back within the ’70s, however he says currently that running was a “fringe sport” therein era, which amusive the concept of staging the NYC Marathon outside of common lined on ludicrous for the race’s then director, the late Fred Lebow.
“Fred needed no a part of it. He said, ‘There’s no method we have a tendency to ar attending to shut town down. that would price $15,000. wherever ar we have a tendency to attending to get that?’ ” says Hirsch with amusing.
Original 1976 Marathon book, listing the runners.
Original 1976 Marathon book, listing the runners. (ANDREW SAVULICH/NEW dynasty DAILY NEWS)
But the late George dog, a replacement York-born running enthusiast, a former member of NYRR’s board and a long-time political aspirant, and NYRR introduction president tough guy Corbitt helped steer the discussion of a five-borough marathon to Manhattan Borough President Percy Sutton, UN agency successively got politician Abe Beame’s ear. A written agreement was cast.
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“George dog thought there ought to be a five-borough race, however nobody bought into it,” says Hirsch, UN agency was the publisher of latest Times magazine then. “Percy visited (real estate titans) Jack and Lew Rudin, and that they in agreement to place up funding. Then Fred (Lebow) and Percy and that i visited with Beame. He in agreement on the spot once our speak that there ought to be a race through town. He said, ‘It may carry the city’s spirit.’ From then on, Fred was the last word promoter. The funny factor was, there was no discussion of a second event.”
Hirsch ran within the ’76 race and there's a celebrated photograph of him sporting his red “New Times” tee shirt as he runs up the ramp on a path between the East River and President Franklin Roosevelt Drive, a No. two bib on the front of his chest. Yes, that initial multi-borough marathon failed to proceed up initial Ave. in Manhattan once the Queensboro (59th Street) Bridge because it will currently. Hirsch says associate urban story he has helped quash was the story of runners having to barter a flight of stairs that connect that path to Carl Schurz Park. Well, not precisely.
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New York Marathon director Fred Lebow tries on a replacement special shoe designed by Elesse with a marathon imprint on the only real. (DAILY NEWS PHOTO)
“People simply accepted those facts over the years and therefore the story became completely planted,” says Hirsch. “Even Bill Richard Rodgers thought we have a tendency to ran up stairs, however I finally told him, ‘Bill, we have a tendency to didn’t run up any stairs. I’m attending to email you a photograph of Pine Tree State on the ramp.’ ”
Hirsch says he thinks participants paid a $5 entry fee for the marathon in 1976 which it price roughly $70,000 to stage the race.
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“The word ‘security’ didn’t exist then. however the police were unbelievably cooperative,” says Hirsch. “What was thus attention-grabbing, after we came off the Verrazzano into Bay Ridge, we have a tendency to were appalled. there have been real teams and crowds. it had been astonishing.”
Dick Traum (r.) running with President Clinton.
Dick Traum (r.) running with President Clinton.
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Rodgers still keeps a daily journal at age sixty eight, writing thoughts on paper within the age of digital everything. The entry on October. 24, 1976, is brief, however it will mention associate unwelcome malady that Richard Rodgers had to confront early within the morning, on one in every of the largest days of his life.
“My abdomen was upset as a result of I took some atomic number 12 pills,” says Richard Rodgers, 68.
Despite his growling abdomen, Richard Rodgers entered the NYC Marathon that year as determined as he had ever been in his running career, a drive that came from what he calls his “failure” at the urban center Olympic Games months earlier.
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From left: Frank Shorter, George Hirsch, Bill Richard Rodgers, Fred Lebow
From left: Frank Shorter, George Hirsch, Bill Richard Rodgers, Fred Lebow
“I ran terrible (in Montreal) as a result of I had a foot injury. The Olympics Pine Tree Stateant plenty to me,” says Richard Rodgers. “In big apple, i used to be sport a wander Olympic medalist (Frank Shorter), perhaps the simplest who’s ever lived. however I knew Frank. He had simply taken a medallion (the silver), and he wasn’t that hungry. i used to be hungry, as a result of I had simply unsuccessful.”
Shorter had won silver in urban center and gold within the metropolis Summer Games within the marathon event, and he was expected to motor through big apple town in late Oct, 1976. Richard Rodgers wasn’t intimidated.
“I was hungry to travel. it had been an ideal day to race,” says Richard Rodgers. “Frank was additional advanced and had data on the way to handle the marathon. i used to be still learning. That’s the marathon — you're taking your lumps getting into and going out. it had been a terrific, pure fun, intense day.”
From left: Bill Richard Rodgers, George Hirsch, Frank Shorter
From left: Bill Richard Rodgers, George Hirsch, Frank Shorter
Rodgers says he was paid $3,000 to run the NYC Marathon — a king’s ransom then — which all told the years he had run the capital of Massachusetts Marathon before 1976, he was ne'er remunerated. Richard Rodgers had won the capital of Massachusetts Marathon the year before, in 1975, and had recorded what was then the quickest time within the world.
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He clipped the tape in common in ’76 at 2:10:10, quite 3 minutes before the competitor, Shorter.
“That was my redemption marathon. Meant plenty to Pine Tree State. Still means that plenty to Pine Tree State as a result of I ne'er got associate Olympic medallion,” says Richard Rodgers, UN agency went on to complete a four-peat, winning the NYC Marathon in 1977, ’78 and ’79 further. “I commemorated in big apple, I will tell you that.”
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Faces of 1976 NYC Marathon, as well as winner Bill Richard Rodgers (c.). (ANDREW SAVULICH/NEW dynasty DAILY NEWS)
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During a routine stop to urge gas on the New Jersey Turnpike in 1965, Dick Traum was standing behind his automotive once another vehicle force up behind him. the feminine traveller within the automotive behind Traum couldn't open the passenger-side door, that the male driver leaned over to assist. The automotive wasn't in park, and once it began to ease forward, the driving force accidentally ironed the accelerator, not the brake. Traum says the automotive hit him thus exhausting the car’s radiator was broken.
Traum’s right leg was crushed within the accident, and had to be amputated.
Dick Traum.
Dick Traum. (ANDREW SAVULICH/NEW dynasty DAILY NEWS)
“I had a significant medical policy that the due prices were concerning $3,000,” says Traum, UN agency was twenty four once he lost his leg.
Eleven years then incident, Traum became the primary noted unfortunate to complete the NYC Marathon, once he navigated on crutches for twenty six.2 miles — 2 folks, as well as his relative-in-law, attended him — and finished with a time of seven hours, 24 minutes.
“There was a giant fright, however i used to be attending to do the race in seven or eight hours and end before night. city district was dangerous then. I started early within the morning. Fred Lebow aforementioned on behalf of me to start at seven,” says Traum, now 75. “It went from dark to lightweight on the Verrazzano Bridge. I bear in mind the attractive read, the sun returning from the correct. a wonderful day, bright and sunny, but cold. The half-moon mile, in common, you had folks shouting at the highest of their lungs.”
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The 1976 winner Bill Richard Rodgers log book describing the marathon. (ANDREW SAVULICH/NEW dynasty DAILY NEWS)
Traum based the Achilles Track Club in 1983 (now referred to as Achilles International), that provides opportunities for folks with disabilities to vie in events just like the NYC Marathon. The non-profit-making organization has sixty five chapters within the U.S. and abroad and has programs for adults and kids. it's conjointly launched thousands of sacred stories just like the one that unrolled that Oct day forty years past.
“I was thirty five after I did that race. I forever say, if i used to be given a pass and had to return back and live over at some point, i'd live over that initial big apple Marathon,” says Traum. “There was associate awards ceremony over at Lincoln Center once the race and that they were handing out awards. Fred Lebow aforementioned that there was a special award on behalf of me. The approval, I had ne'er detected approval like that in my life.”
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The current marathon route.
The current marathon route.
New York natives Semitic deity Kuscsik (Huntington, L.I.) and Shorter (Middletown) each entered the ’76 marathon with spectacular resumes: Kuscsik had won the NYC Marathon in 1972 and ’73, once it had been run in common solely, whereas Shorter had won gold and silver medals within the marathon in consecutive Summer Olympics.
Kuscsik was one in every of solely concerning one hundred ladies to vie in 1976, however even currently she shrugs once recalling the scarcity of feminine competitors forty years past.
“This is what we have a tendency to did. That was it. The Road Runners had perhaps two hundred runners (as members) and of that, perhaps 2 were ladies. It didn’t hassle Pine Tree State,” says Kuscsik.
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1976 winner Bill Richard Rodgers and women's high ten finisher Semitic deity Kuscsik. (ANDREW SAVULICH/NEW dynasty DAILY NEWS)
Shorter, 69, who’s lived in Boulder, Colo., since 1974, says one in every of his biggest considerations returning into the race was however town that ne'er sleeps was attending to adapt to many thousand runners tromping through the boroughs.
“I needed to check if they might shut the streets down,” says Shorter. “The running boom hadn’t started. however that event, it kick-started major town (marathon) events. Fred (Lebow) may get folks to try and do things for him. He had no hidden agendas. folks believed him.”
Kuscsik, 77, says she was conversant in a number of the parts of the race as a result of she was a passionate bike rider and would bike through completely different boroughs. Shorter, meanwhile, says that the NYC Marathon was a course that higher suited Richard Rodgers.
“I thought I had an opportunity to run with Bill. i believed Bill would be the most person to catch,” says Shorter. “But he simply ran plenty higher. Bill took off early. He was very match. In borough, within the Hassidic neighborhood, Bill began to shy away.”
Shorter jokes that at one purpose late within the race, as Shorter was coming into borough, he saw Richard Rodgers returning the opposite method, headed back to Manhattan, on his thanks to triumph. Shorter finished with a time of 2:13:10 whereas Kuscsik was within the high ten of feminine finishers.
“There was this sense of, ‘This very happened.’ They were ready to pull this off. And it delineate all the weather of latest dynasty town, as well as common,” says Shorter. “I assume it'll solely still grow. we have a tendency to accustomed decision it ‘street surfing’ once you ran through the streets of latest dynasty, and it had been like coming into a sanctuary by the Plaza building, once you went into the park. however inside ensuing 2 or 3 years (after ’76), town began to embrace the marathon. Now, throughout marathon weekend, even the cabbies ar friendly.”
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