Running historians - Can you tell me why / how Katherine Switzer became as or more famous than Bobbi Gibb?

curiouser wrote:

A question. Did that big boyfriend of Switzers from the famous photos finish the race? Seems as if he was there to make sure no one stopped her. I find it difficult to believe neither she nor her coach knew that women were not allowed. Not many people just put down initials when entering a race. Maybe when signing the waiver but not the rest of it.

Yeah she said she ran with a pack of men protecting/supporting her after the attack?

who?

Rojo your loco:

starting with comparing this to Rosa Parks to start.

Gibb bandited the race and they - the Boston AThletic Association - didn't know if she jumped on the course at Wellesley or wherever so who result was not considered official. T

Second, the race was then a rather small event that was run pretty much totally by Jock Semple, a hot-tempered Scot who was president of the BAA, and a trainer at Boston Garden who worked on the like of the Celtics and Bruins so was well-known by the press and locals. What he said went, in those days and he didnt' give a hoot what anyone else said about his race, including the governor..

Third, if there was an Internet that day the photo of him trying to grab Gibbs number would have gone viral, but as it was it went worldwide and still resurfaces at this time of year, every year.

By the way the guy throwing the body block on Semple in the photo was a hammer thrower from Cornell who was a friend of Switzer and running the race with her as a body guard, fully expecting problems with Jock.

The BAA did not look at the "KV Switzer" entry and think that was a woman. They would not have allowed her to start. So to say Switzer "entered" and Gibb did not is parsing words, in a sense.

kvothe wrote:

the real question is why did they try to restrict entries to men? Were they uneducated enough to believe a woman couldn't run a marathon? Were they just sexist?

Different day and age. It was a world before sports bras and women's running shoes. Very few men ran marathons. The ones who did were considered odd balls. Until 1972, all US road races were limited to men only by AAU rule, and all Boston participants had to be current card holders. Yes, Switzer wore an official number in '67 but she was an unsanctioned entrant.

Self aggrandizement .

Old And In The Way wrote:

I would say primarily because these photos were all over the news.

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--raa4RDz4--/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/xs2vzcvsbz6zcqvaltfi.jpg

Obviously being in a photo with Superman makes you famous

rojo wrote:

I'll start by saying that I'm male and wasn't alive in 1966 or 1967. But I'd always thought Katherine Switzer was the first woman to run Boston.

The 3 biggest New England myths --

1 - Kathrine Switzer was first woman to run Boston.

2 - Paul Revere rode to Concord to alert Minutemen about Redcoats.

3 - The '86 World Series ended on Bill Buckner's error @ first.

There were less than 10 marathons a year back in those days. I first ran Boston in 1962. Most years there were a few runners from several foreign countries, Finland, Canada, Japan, Korea. Mexico etc. 181 started . You had to have a physical the day before. I think the youngest male runner had to be 18. No women as per AAU rules, no water, no gels, no splits except for the leaders and those splits were at unusual points in the race,

I suggest you read Ton Derderian's great book--"Boston Marathon, The history of the World's Premier Running Event". Copy written in 1994

HRE wrote:

But I think it's worth mentioning that Katherine has always maintained that she did not use initials on the entry form to conceal her gender. She's said that she always used her initials rather than first names when she signed her name.

That's what she asserts. But Switzer's coach Arnie Briggs had run Boston many times, even finishing top-10 one year. There is no way he was ignorant of that rule when he submitted her entry along with the others from his Syracuse Harriers.

Switzer also exempted herself from the pre-race physical that used to be required by back then. A Syracuse doctor's certificate was presented to the BAA instead, also under the name KV Switzer. This was ruse #2.

After the race Briggs met the immediate wrath of New England AAU for his participation in the whole caper and his Harriers were banned from future competition in the region. They soon reformed under a new name, the Syracuse Track Club.

Switzer ran in 67 with a "borrowed" males runner number and finished one hour behind Gibbs. She was not official, she actually cheated.

Gracious,hmm, Katherine is grandstanding opportunist that took advantage of a situation that nobody bothered to correct. Her goal in life is to make money off the falsehood that she was the 1st. She owes a public apology to Gibb.

Aren't you a f'in history major?

Get your facts straight wrote:

She was not official, she actually cheated.

Gracious,hmm, Katherine is grandstanding opportunist that took advantage of a situation that nobody bothered to correct. Her goal in life is to make money off the falsehood that she was the 1st. She owes a public apology to Gibb.

There are a few holes in Switzer's '67 story that leave me wondering about her truthfulness. One example -- her boyfriend at the time was Tom Miller, a hammer thrower at Cornell. She has also referred to him as an All-American football player. Hmmmmm... there were no Big Red AAs for 30 years prior to Ed Marinaro in 1971.

I've also heard Switzer emphatically assert that her Syracuse running coach was a top ten finisher at Boston Marathon several times. Arnie Briggs accomplished that feat just once.

What's up with these tall tales?

That's why I was careful to say that "Katherine has always maintained."

HRE wrote:

That's why I was careful to say that "Katherine has always maintained."

The good to come of all of this is that Gibb is being recognized as one the Boston Marathon Champions Ambassadors this year being recognized with three wins. She will also be this years race Grand Marshall.

Since I've just written a book about the early decades of women's running,

http://www.firstladiesofrunning.com

, I'll briefly weigh in here.

Many good answers already. Derderian and other historians got it right, of course. The Jock Semple-Switzer photos went round the world in 1967; few except those who lived in Boston saw photos of Gibb the previous year. That said, Sports Illustrated gave Gibb plenty of coverage, in part because several senior writers/editors were running Boston in the mid 1960s,

http://www.si.com/vault/1966/05/02/609229/a-game-girl-in-a-mans-game

Gibb asked for entry, was refused, and crouched in bushes at the start literally worried that police might arrest any woman who tried to run. She had never run in a track meet or road race, but had covered up to 40 miles in a day in one race against horses in Vermont.

Switzer got a number by entering as "K.V." and having her male coach pick up the number at registration for her. I don't think you could consider her an "official runner" because there were no official women until 1972 when Nina Kuscsik won. Switzer was more like the second unofficial woman runner at Boston.

Through the decades, Switzer has done much important work to promote women's running and the Olympic Marathon for women. She deserves great credit and thanks. She is brilliant, charismatic, forward-thinking, resilient, and a great leader.

Gibb is the shy, introverted, artsy-loner type--like many other runners. After 1968, when she was first woman at Boston for the third year in a row, she basically moved on with her life. She is brilliant, charismatic, forward-thinking, but not a promoter ... of herself or anyone else. She has done everything from neuroscience to environmental law to painting and sculpture. There is now a movement to have her sculpt a lifesize image of herself somewhere along the Boston Marathon course. Joan Samuelson is Honorary Chair of this project. You can contribute here,

http://www.firstgiving.com/5280_1/bobbi-gibb-fundraiser

Gibb and Switzer are different personalities, yes, but both made important contributions. We are lucky to have had them as pioneer women runners. This year's 50th anniversary (Gibb) and next year's 50th (Switzer) at the Boston Marathon should be wonderful celebrations that provide great glimpses backward.

I first ran Boston in 1965 when there were no women runners. This year there will be 13,000+. What a fantastic change in our sport!

rojo wrote:

I was googling around on letsrun and found an interesting post pointing out that in the Civil Right movement, Rosa Parks wasn't the first black woman arrested for being upset with the bus policies at the time. It was Claudette Colvin.

YOu can read about her and find out why she's less famous here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudette_Colvin

The post about the situation was here:

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=6766338&page=1#6769692

It was douglas burke who first (and repeatedly) brought this knowledge to letsrun:

Blah Blah Blah Blah wrote:

I believe at that time they also did not allow anyone over 40. There is zero press coverage of the first master runner banditing the race.

Hmmm... not sure where you got that from. Johnny Kelley, age 59, broke 3 hours that year. Clarence DeMar ran his final Boston at age 65 in 1953. And Switzer's coach Arnie Briggs was 51 in '67.

Thanks for the interesting post, I'll check out your link