Rupp could retire today as one of the top ten best US marathoners ever.

douglas burke wrote:

Rupp will run a time trial type marathon like Berlin, Dubai, Etc. and he will run a High 2:03-low 2:04.

I'd love to see this, but that's a six-minute-plus leap. Considering that he has fallen off the pace in his last two marathons at much slower paces, it seems unlikely that going out hard in a time-trial type marathon will be pretty.

[quote]Ackley wrote:

Thinking about this some more, in addition to KK and Beardsley, I would add Buddy Edelen. He was the the first American to break 2:20 and the first person to break 2:15.

+1. I was thinking the same thing.

Wow, what an amazing post. You're a real genius;). If someone does construct a reasonable list that doesn't include Rupp, will your life be fulfilled? Can you go on after such an un-obvious and unoriginal post? This site has some real winners on it????

Opiate for the Masses wrote:

It’s strange since he’s only run three marathons, but I’m scratching my head trying to put together a list that doesn’t include Rupp.

Has won a marathon? Check.

Has medaled at worlds or OG in the marathon? Check.

Has been on the podium at a major? Check.

The only thing potentially keeping him off any list is a fast time, but I don’t think that’s a necessity - Meb has already shown that.

Can anyone construct a reasonable list that doesn’t include Rupp?

seasoned ranker wrote:

Shorter

Rodgers

Meb

Salazar

KK

Hall

Rupp

He'd be ahead of anyone recent but Meb and Hall (yes, ahead of Ritz). I could see arguments for Beardsley or, for the dinosaurs, DeMar, but I think he's slightly in the top 10.

Here's my list.

1) Shorter (oly. gold, silver, many-time world champ in Fukuoka, AR--he's 1st no doubt)

2, 3, 4) Rodgers, Meb, KK (apples and oranges. Rodgers won a lot and ran fast for his era. Meb has Olympic silver and ran in an insane marathon era. KK ran excellent times but wasn't a product of the US system)

5) Leonard Edelen (2:14:28 WR in 1963, last American to hold it until KK)

6, 7) Salazar, Hall (lesser versions of above. Salazar had wins although not as many as Rodgers, Hall ran fast.)

8, 9) Greg Meyer, Rupp (Meyer won Boston and Chicago, Rupp Olympic bronze and 2nd in Boston. Meyer's time in Boston was about 1min faster than

Rupp's)

10) Kenny Moore (AR, 4th in '72 Olympics)

If Rupp runs a fast time, I'd move him to 6th.

But...Rodgers had a serious foot injury at Montreal and Moscow was boycotted. But...Rodgers ran 2:10:10 less than 3 months after Montreal which included weaving in and out of people and traffic, Shorter was 3 minutes behind him and he won the silver behind a known doper. But...There was no WC back then in his "prime".But...Rodgers won 4 NYC marathons in a row and 3 Bostons in a row.Alan, learn your facts. You can talk about competition back then versus now and then we can get into the fact that Rodgers would be even faster if he....?Me knows stuff:)

Runningart2004 wrote:

broken arrow wrote:

It is always hard to rank marathon runners on their time versus medals in the WC or OG. A medal in the OG carries a lot of weight, so I would have to put Meb and Rupp ahead of Salazar and Hall. Shorter and Rodgers are 1 and 2.

But Rodgers never won a WC or OG medal....

Alan

Calm down.

Mass exit of Opiate wrote:

This site has some real winners on it????

How is this sentence a question? Millennials make this mistake all the time, typing a non-question with a question mark at the end as if to include the vocal inflection they would put at the end, which makes it even more stupid.

Les wrote:

To me, Rupp's "win" doesn't count because it only came against other Americans.

No matter what, winning OTs is kind of a big deal most of the time.

it aint me wrote:

But...There was no WC back then in his "prime".

Runningart2004 wrote:

But Rodgers never won a WC or OG medal....

Alan

Even today the world championships aren't what they should be. As the race with the deepest fields, the London is the defacto word championship. Back in Rodgers' day, Fukuoka was the most prestigious marathon and Rodgers won it in 1977.

Salazar

Rogers

Hall

KK (depends when you start counting)

Shorter

Meb

Rupp

I am not going by medals - just feeling. KK was the most dominant of my time and he was absolutely fearless. I wish his citizenship happened sooner. I give Hall points for being that same type of aggressive runner... his London was awesome.

What about this guy?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fRvrxqlOSpI

2 time Olympian

Oly Trials winner

2nd in NYC Marathon

2:08 at Boston

He is lucky to be born in Us

In any African country he would be "B" team at best.

3hr-marathoner wrote:

Here's my list.

1) Shorter (oly. gold, silver, many-time world champ in Fukuoka, AR--he's 1st no doubt)

2, 3, 4) Rodgers, Meb, KK (apples and oranges. Rodgers won a lot and ran fast for his era. Meb has Olympic silver and ran in an insane marathon era. KK ran excellent times but wasn't a product of the US system)

5) Leonard Edelen (2:14:28 WR in 1963, last American to hold it until KK)

6, 7) Salazar, Hall (lesser versions of above. Salazar had wins although not as many as Rodgers, Hall ran fast.)

8, 9) Greg Meyer, Rupp (Meyer won Boston and Chicago, Rupp Olympic bronze and 2nd in Boston. Meyer's time in Boston was about 1min faster than

Rupp's)

10) Kenny Moore (AR, 4th in '72 Olympics)

If Rupp runs a fast time, I'd move him to 6th.

Disagree with the order, but this seems like a reasonable top 10 unless there's something obvious we're forgetting.

Can't really make an argument for Ritz, with a 2:07 and handful of top 10s at majors, to bump any of these.

Shall we not forget wrote:

[David Kemppainen]

2 time Olympian

Oly Trials winner

2nd in NYC Marathon

2:08 at Boston

I had forgotten. I don't think they'd make made my top 10 quite, but Don Kardong (Olympic 4th place), Amby Burfoot (won Boston), David Kemppainen, Dick Beardsly (2nd in Boston in a fast time), Abdi (3rd in NYC), Ritz (2:07:47 in chicago) and Tony Sandoval (won Oly. Trials in 2:10:19 but didn't race Olympics because of the boycott) all definitely fall in the top 20. Clarence DeMar (7-time Boston winner with a best of 2:18:10 when the course was only 25 miles), as has been mentioned also deserves to be in there somewhere but is really hard to rank.

Greg Meyer is a great addition to the list.

Yeah, the order is pretty arbitrary. Without a way to weigh championship success vs records vs absolute time, it's impossible to agree on an ordering. Buddy Edelen, for instance, who ran a WR back in the 60's could have been pretty much anywhere on this list. The only person I forgot who maybe should be on here is Clarence Demar. Maybe him over Kenny Moore at 10? The only rankings I'm sure about are that Shorter is #1 and Meb is near the top.

kenyanfan wrote:

He is lucky to be born in Us

In any African country he would be "B" team at best.

You do know there's 52 countries in Africa right?? Galen literally beat every African in the Olympic marathon except for 2.

JAinNE wrote:

Salazar

Rogers

Hall

KK (depends when you start counting)

Shorter

Meb

Rupp

I am not going by medals - just feeling. KK was the most dominant of my time and he was absolutely fearless. I wish his citizenship happened sooner. I give Hall points for being that same type of aggressive runner... his London was awesome.

In no world is Hall above Meb, who won Boston, NYC, and medaled at the Olympics. Oh and another 4th place Olympics finish for good measure.

And then there's Shorter being 5th....

Who TF is David Kemppainen?

Bob is a 2:08 guy like Hall is a 2:04 guy.

Why does KK get such a pass when every other Moroccan, including Trafeh, has either been busted or was obviously doping (El G)? His presence on U.S. lists is a blemish.

Meb was the first clean finisher in Athens. Tied with Shorter in my mind, but Shorter gets a bump for being the catalyst of the running boom.

East Africans doping of the marathon since 2000 has skewed the event beyond recognititon.