RIP, Steve Hoag

Yes, RIP old friend. Also, Steve was owner of Marathon Sports in South Mpls. a while back.

A Legend from the Golden Age of American running. May he Rest In Peace.

Rojo, can we get a black page?

An inspiration. I have his training in a book from his '75 Boston Marathon. Just hard work, miles after miles. He always shared great advice.

Going back in time, was he on the same team at Minn. With Gary Bjorklund?

What a team they had.

Tom Fleming, now Steve Hoag.

WTF?

Sad news. He was coached by Ron Daws, correct?

HRE wrote:

I am very sorry to announce the passing tonight of my friend and 2nd place finisher at the 1975 Boston Marathon. He had posted here for a while as "Old School Steve" but that was a while ago. Best wishes for his friends and family.

Sorry to hear that. Like Fleming, one of the true studs of that era.

Sad to hear this news. Such a gentleman. Great athlete. Inspiration to many.

RIP Steve.

Sad news. I know the times have dropped, but what a crop of runners from that generation. The training methodology he discusses is pretty simple but tough to execute.

http://runningminnesota.blogspot.com/2007/01/steve-hoag.html

RIP

HRE, thank you for sharing the passing of Steve. My heartfelt condolences to his family and you HRE.

He was such a nice guy.

Steve Hoag's college coach, Coach Roy Griak, U of MN. Ron Daws and Steve Hoag were teammates at U of MN I believe.

Ackley wrote:

Sad news. He was coached by Ron Daws, correct?

I guess "coached" is a good description though I don't know if they considered it a formal coach/athlete relationship or not. He and Ron did a lot of training together and Ron was huge influence on him as was Roy Griak in his college days. Someone asked if he and Garry Bjorklund were at the U of Minnesota at the same time and I'm pretty sure they weren't. I think Steve was gone by the time Garry got there but won't swear to it.

patti wrote:

HRE, thank you for sharing the passing of Steve. My heartfelt condolences to his family and you HRE.

He was such a nice guy.

Patti,

As nice a guy as you'd know.

Steve responded to some posts of mine on the forum, regarding my training partner who had passed away, was quite kind, and I instantly felt a bond with him as a friend. I would have liked to have met him in person but was not able to do so. I'm surprised and sad that he's passed. Rest in peace.

The last time I talked to Steve was about eleven years ago. We talked about what we had more in common: MN High School Track & Field. Steve told me he had a personal best 440 yard split on mile relay in high school of 55 seconds. From our conversation, I do not believe he was asked to race 440yds. or 400m past high school.

I managed Steve's store for a few years in the late 90s. He was kind, funny, a bottomless trove of running knowledge, and knew the business better than anyone. He treated every runner, every customer like a personal friend. I loved working for him and am very sad that he has passed.

Had the pleasure to meet him a couple of days before the Boston marathon a couple of years ago at Crossroads when they brought him back for the 40th anniversary. Was such a gentleman, I think just retired, and great stories from the old days and was really happy to be in Boston for that weekend. RIP.

Was he unhealthy? What was the cause of death?

He was only 70 wrote:

Was he unhealthy? What was the cause of death?

Unhealthy? Hmm. He had a double lung transplant a bit over a year ago. He never got back to 100% after than and then things went really downhill.

I still have Ron Daws book. I used much of Steve Hoag's 1975 Boston Marathon training summary from that book in my own training. My 1979 Boston Marathon was a 7-minute PR. Thanks to both. I'm sorry they are both gone.