For anyone who knew Mary Hartzheim: she died on December 15th. She ran at Wisconsin along with her twin sister Maureen. She was married to Fred Herlitz and died in Boston at the age of 37. She and Fred were married for less than 5 years and she was diagnosed with cancer soon after they were married.
Mary and her sister Maureen finished 2-3 in the 3000 at NCAA 1n 1990. There was a great photo of the two down the finshing straight in TNF News, the same isse with Suzy Favor Hamilton and Merideth Rainey on the cover.
Its very sad to hear of this. She was very talented, smart, ambitious, and had a great, outgoing personality.
I feel very lucky to have briefly known her. She was a wonderful person and a beautiful runner. My heart is with Maureen (Gordy), her family, and everyone else who knew her. Even, today, with Martin Smith.
This news was a total shock to me when I saw the post here today. I've lost track over the years of everbody back in those days but Mary and Gordy were always two people I always asked about when occasionally I communicated with former friends and teammates. If you met them you would understand.
Mary came into her freshman year shadowed by the "queen" as we called her, Suzy Favor. But the two of them hooked up as roomates and Mary followed right along and quickly developed as a top NCAA distance runner. At the time the climate of the women's distance program at Wisconsin was a little shaky-extremely succesful but a lot of the women were a little over the top-obsessive. Suzy and Mary were anything but-I remember seeing the two of them dancing at the Kollege Klub one night, at a time when both were supposedly injured. And us guys used to hit the donut shop after bar-time when they just started making fresh donuts for the day-these chicks had us one-up..they had it figured out that Roccy Roccocos Pizza, who sold pizza by the slice in little boxes, would pitch the leftovers in the dumpster right at closing. That was great pizza by the way.
Perhaps its not appropriate to remenisce publically like this. All I know is that I just saw this news and I've been thinking all day about what a memorable person Mary was, how much she accomplished. She would never back down in an argument and would always tell you what she thought. We'd call her the "feminist". One of the last times I saw her we had a sprited discussion on the merits of the t.v. show "Married With Children". I thought the show was great, she differed. I said its so obvious that they're ridiculing people like the Bundy's, she thought too many people weren't intelligent enough to "get it" and it glorified that sort of attitude.
And if you want to talk about racing, I'll never forget the Big 10 indoor meet when Suzy was running her usual triple and had to match up with defending champ Michelle Dekkars of Indiana in the 3000. Suzy preferred a slow pace and whenever Dekkars tried to take the lead, the Hartzheim girls would sprint wide, take the lead, and slow it back down, not without a few elbows for good measure.
These girls were cool, attractive, tough runners, who could also pound beers with the guys from time to time. We loved 'em!
My heart grieves for her family,her husband, and Gordy, especially. I have lost track of addresses, married names etc, but if anyone knows such info I would love to be emailed at
.
There is a story told at Wisconsin that Mary, disappointed with her running, walked into Peter Tegen's office one
day and gave her scholarship back! She rededicated herself
to her training and eventually "earned" back her $$ in her
mind. She was a fantastic, funny, warm, wonderful person.
We will miss her.
There is a story about her today on the Badger website.
do you have the link for it
Thank you Scott for your comments. I too am saddened, although I knew her only a very.
Here you go.
Very, very sad news. Mary was such an upbeat, optimistic, spunky, just-plain-fun girl. All of which belied an unbelievable desire to win. Once she started to race, look out--she had gears that would usually go unused, but, every now and then, when needed, she would tap into them and just fly.
I wish I could remember some of the placings at some of the Big 10 meets she and Gordy and Suzy and others were in. Where they would go 1-2-4 in one race, and 1-2-3-4 in another, and 2-3-5-6 in another, plus a relay. And then there would be Day 2! Distance domination!!!
My personal favorite Mary story was from the NCAA CC meet in 1990, at Knoxville. I had driven down solo. At one point fairly early in the race, Suzy and Mary were running in the lead. They both appeared a little surprised to find themselves there. Towards the end of the race, Suzy was maintaining pretty well, but Mary was in trouble. CC was not exactly her favorite, as she considered herself to be a middle-distance runner, and 5,000m was becoming problematic for her. I was at a point on the course where no one else was, and yelled encouragement to Suzy, who didn't look like she needed it. Mary was clearly struggling, and, as I started to yell at her as she approached, she put her palms up in the air and said in an anguished voice: "Where am I?" I thought for a split second, and then answered, "Just a half-mile to go, Mary. Just a half-mile. You're doing great. Look ahead!"
Mary hung on for 5th! (Suzy was 2nd? or 3rd? or 4th?)(Sonia O'Sullivan won, then repeated the next year). Afterwards, as Mary sprawled exhausted in the team area, when I told her that no athlete had ever talked to me before whilst running in an NCAA championship, she exclaimed that, "Ugh--I felt so bad. You know, I'm not really a CC runner, I'm really just an 800 runner, so when you said a half-mile to go, that was perfect for me!" I replied with a smile, "I know." To which she replied, "Oh, that's right, you do know that! I'm just so glad it's over. Thank you!"
Mary Hartzheim. One of a kind.
My condolences to Gordy and her family.
Just looked up the 1990 CC results:
1. O'Sullivan, 16:06
2. Suzy Favor, 16:18
3. Susan Bliss, Mizzou, 16:16:31
4.Buffy Rabbit, UC-Irvine, 16:31 (one of the all-time great names)
5.MARY HARTZHEIM, 16:33
other Badger finishers (team=10th)
93. Lisa Dressel, 17:41
123. Sue Gentes, 18:04
128. Julie Revak, 18:08
152. Heather Rawling, 18:34
160. Megan Cheney, 18:50
FYI...
As a measly little freshman in the Fall of '91 I will always remember Mary Hartzheim giving me a hard time as she was still around and in grad school. I always enjoyed the occasional intellectual banter on our way to the library. I found her a very encouraging person in my studies even more than my running. And enjoyed how much she could brighten up a day. Her life was a light, I hope her family takes comfort in that!
everytime I look at this thread it brings tears to my eyes.
it's not fair that such a person is taken from this earth so early.
To all,Here is a website dedicated to Mary.http://www.maryhartzheim.com/
wayward lassie wrote:
Here is the story.
http://www.uwbadgers.com/sport_news/wtrk/headlines/full_story.aspx?story_id=2006_01_19_14_59_49_wtrkhttp://www.uwbadgers.com/photos/full_photo.aspx?pic_filename=hartzheim_mary_wtrk_06_02a
Badger too,
There's so many that feel the same as you. As callous as this sounds, there are dozens of people I have met in my 38 years, that when learning of their passing, would not have the effect that the loss of Mary would. She made such a positive impact on any one who was lucky enough to know her, even if briefly.
When I heard the news I had the urge to call someone because it was hurting me all day. I lost contacts with Wisconsin people so I called my mom instead. And I had tears in my eyes as well.
I can only imagine the pain her husband and her family has had to deal with. I have not yet to go through such a personal tragedy with a close loved one. But her memory lasts strong and she touched so many people that feel the same way you do. She was such a special person. And I'm not even considering her running accomplishments.
I have a fun and fitting story about Mary. Mary was instrumental in getting my wife and I together. Here's the story; It was Jason Dijoseph's birthday and to celebrate people were planning to meet at a Madison bar. Well fortunately, Jason, Mary, and myself were the only people who showed up so we got to talk more intimately than we would have if a bunch of people came. Our most interesting topic of conversation was, why don't any of the badger women and men date? Jason explained matter of factly, "They all have boyfriends!" Mary replied, "If they didn't, who would you ask out?". Jason passed but I chimed in, "Kirstin but she's got a boyfriend." Mary questioned, "Do you know if she can date other people?" When I said I didn't, she optimistically volunteered to find out. A few days later our paths crossed and she immediately told me definitively that Kirstin could date other people and that I should "go for it". Kirstin and I have been married eleven years and have three wonderful kids. Apparently, she sold the idea to Kirstin by asking, "What if you just went out as friends?"
I am also very thankful to Mary for saying the right thing at the right time to interest me in dating my husband! I was blessed to know Mary as a friend, teammate, roommate and a co-worker (she also helped me get a job at Lombardino's). Of the many strong, talented and beautiful women I ran with at Wisconsin, Mary was the one I most aspired to be like. Mary was a woman of great integrity; she was extremely hardworking, intelligent, confident and honest. Her opinions were strong and carefully considered, and even as a young woman, she was refreshingly direct. Even though I was several years younger and definitely on the straggling end of the WI runners, she never made me feel like I was less respectable. Mary seemed to know what she wanted out of life, and she had the guts and tenacity to go after it. One of my favorite things about Mary was the spirit of fun that she brought to any situation. Her positive energy and whit made her a magnet and a light to everyone. My heart and prayers go out to her husband, to Gordy and to the rest of her family. Mary was a treasure, and the world is a much better place for her having been in it.
I am very proud to have been friends, teammates, and roommates with Mary. I often told her how I admired her and that she was my idol....she would just laugh, that infectious Mary laugh. But, I wasn't joking. Mary was smart, sweet, strong, witty, confident and independent and always carried herself with grace. I miss you, Mary.
My first meeting was at a grade school meet and she was incredibly bright and talented back then. She had this big smile and never once acted better than anyone or smarter than anyone (although she was all of the above) As a member of the boys track team we ran together quite a bit. I distinctly rememember being lapped by her in high school and my goal the next year was to not get beat by her!! Of course nine out of ten times she'd beat me in the two mile, but saying you got beat by Mary was pretty commonplace.
Although she will be missed and she was taken way too soon, the people she touched in her 37 years will always stand out from the posts I have read. I am lucky to have known her.
I know her family has gone through a lot the last year and they are in my prayers as well.