Bill Rodgers - the most liked and respected runner on the Lets Run message boards?

I would say that other contenders for the most liked and respected would include Geb, Billy Mills, and possibly Lagat (that A sample issue hurts him).

I was out to dinner with my track team in Lawrence, Kansas for the relays. There were literally hundreds of other teams in town. He walks up to our table, stares me straight in the eye and tells us the story of his OG, his life, his running, etc. He had others waiting for him. It took 15 minutes at least.

Totally classy, totally touching and sincere, my vote goes to Mills.

He is bigger than the sport.

JackOfAss wrote:

BR just seemed to be like the guy you saw win the local road race, but now he had moved on and was winning the Boston Marathon.

That's the same reason Yuki Kawauchi is another of the most liked and respected guys around here.

Letsrun poster Bob Schul has an honest-to-God gold medal. Boston Billy doesn't.

Do all those mentioned really post here? Geb? Shorter? Mills?

My son, 11 years old at time, ran Falmouth along side of him a few years back. Rogers talked him up after race, complimented him etc...

I said son "do you know who that is?".

I was a kid growing up in Boston when he was in his prime.

I was stoked to meet him.

I first knew of Bill when he won the Lexington to Cambridge 15K in 1974, I ran well behind.

Next year, as a senior in high school, I was a spectator at the finish of the Boston Marathon, we knew Billy was running fast, we are all saying, "He'll come around the corner in 2 or 3 minutes", and BOOM! THERE HE WAS RUNNING 2:09:55! Pandemonium -- runner's heaven for a high school kid.

Rodgers comes off a lot nicer and more regular than Shorter, whether that is fair or not. In their personal historical trajectories Rodgers, who struggled in his immediate post college years trying to figure out his life and what he would be doing, probably also resonates with more people than a Yale undergrad followed relatively quickly with a law degree.

I also think that Shorter's decades long attempt to get his 1976 silver medal turned into a gold because the Stasi files indicated that Cierpinski used PEDs comes off at some point at pointless whining. I know I got sick of hearing about it. I know it is unfair, but lots of people were using PEDs in the 1970s and they did not have the testing to catch them. If we could determine with any level of certainty who they all were perhaps we could fix the medals and record books, but we can't and the only ones who kept records were the East Germans. Americans getting PEDs from private doctors in the 1970s are not going to be foudn out ever and their medals and performances will not be wiped from the books.

Rodgers, on other hand, while complaining about the absurd 1980 Oly boycott which ruined his best chance for an Oly medal, has never obsessed on this nearly as much. He did talk about it in the 1980s, he never shied from making his feelings known about it. But I have not heard him on NPR and other places in the last 20 years as part of an ongoing complaint in the way that Shorter campaigned for silver to be turned into gold.

These are surely different situations. Rodgers, from afar as I also have never me either of them, just appears to be more gracious and humble.

Steve Jones is surely as loved

Great post. Thank you.

genetic_dysfunction wrote:

I also think that Shorter's decades long attempt to get his 1976 silver medal turned into a gold because the Stasi files indicated that Cierpinski used PEDs comes off at some point at pointless whining.

Pointless whining? I call that an admirable pursuit of justice.

Frank should have joined Bikila as the only runner to win back-to-back golds in the Olympic marathon. And he ran the second one with a stress fracture. No one can call someone like that a whiner.

I idolized Rodgers in high shcool (even had the white running gloves in the late-1970s) and then had the chance to run with him five years ago when he came to our town to speak. His talk was not polished or formal, but quite amusing. He was super friendly to everyone that weekend. He was one idol that lived up to all expectations thirty years later.

People have accurately described the personality traits of

Bill and Frank. Quite different fellows. One can begin to understand a little of why Frank was aloof and not as endearing by reading this article about his abusive childhood

The fact that he is as sane and reasonably normal as he is, is a testament to his character. I like Frank and Bill both, but reading about Franks past brought me to tears and gave me a whole new level of respect.

http://www.runnersworld.com/article/printer/1,7124,s6-243-297--14056-0,00.html

I agree with Ralph re: Shorter's pursuit. (I also still have a t-shirt with his art from F&L in Las Vegas.) Don Kardong was also denied a bronze due to Cierpinski's cheating.

Special shout out thanks to Bob Hodge for posting Bill's running logs from those years(use search engine). Amazing reading.

I would note that Ed Whitlock might be as liked and respected as Bill, at least it is close.

I met Frank Shorter briefly back when I was in high school, and he was very nice to me and my parents. So when people describe him as prickly it seems weird, but I guess being opinionated opens you up to a different type of criticism.

But I think Bill and Joanie are more beloved because they seemed to have conjured great careers out of nothing - Bill was an ex-smoker who trained like a maniac and Joanie essentially invented women's marathoning for a lot of people. And, they also continue to plug away on the circuit so more people know them from road races.

However, runners from that era, in general, are more fun than the runners of today.

Bill is the most unpretentious, honest, down to earth elite athlete I've ever met. All kudos well deserved. His friendship with my dad (a masters legend) was worth its weight in gold for the smiles it brought dad. That being said, after reading about the background of Frank Shorter, I can think of no one I respect more, for his laser focus and courage.

The Burfoot, Gallowalking stuff gets old. Lets cork that one.

Met Shorter twice, good experiences both times. Easily the greatest American-born distance runner ever.

A reflection of the popularity of Bill Rodgers and Frank Shorter is how both of them had their own running clothing lines. I really miss their clothes and the excitement they brought to the U.S. marathon scene.

+1

I was scrolling through to see is Mr Whitloc is already mentioned or not.

This is a very enjoyable thread.