RIP Jerome Drayton - Man who held Canadian marathon record for 43 years has died at age 80

RIP. An inspiration to me, a young runner from the USA. I always thought he was cool.

How do you know this? I got his autograph twice (the only autograph's I've ever gotten).

Through a cursory google search I didn't see anywhere that he has died.

I did find this wikipedia entry:

He was born as Peter Buniak in Germany, and came to Canada in the mid-1950s when his mother moved there after divorcing his father. He reportedly based his new name on two famous sprinters he admired: Canadian former world record holder Harry Jerome and American Paul Drayton, former world record holder in the 4 × 100 m as part of the American relay team. However, Drayton has denied this, stating that he chose Jerome because it was a name he had always liked, and Drayton because he thought the two names fit well together.

I have not seen any press about Drayton passing. Sad if true. The Wikipedia entry does not indicate his death yet. Perhaps the poster has direct family information?

runningmagazine.ca

Canadian marathon legend Jerome Drayton dies at 80 - Canadian Running Magazine

https://www.facebook.com/marley.dickinson

Drayton held the Canadian men's marathon record for 43 years and was the last Canadian to win the Boston Marathon

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I was a fan of Drayton (and Rodgers) when I was a teenager. Drayton maintained an aloof bad-ass attitude, the opposite of "aw shucks" skinny boy next door, Bill Rodgers. My buddy and I rode bikes nearby the leaders from Wellesley well towards the finish. I think that was 1975 or 76. At one point I yelled "go Buniak!" Drayton's former name and he turned his head in surprise.

I always heard he denied the account that his new name came from Harry Jerome and Paul Drayton.

I remember in the late ‘70s looking at the printed results and past winners of the Toronto Spring Road Races and seeing
Peter Buniak
Peter Buniak
Peter Buniak
Jerome Dayton
Jerome Dayton
Jerome Dayton

OTFA annual performance lists looked the same. I only ever spoke to him once, at the OTFA cross country champs at Woodbridge in maybe 1979. This guy in cool shades was all alone watching the races and as I was warming up I got close enough to realize who he was and said Hi.

I skipped school the day of the Boston Marathon in 1977 to stay home to listen for updates on the radio, which actually came regularly as they realized he was going to win. A bygone era, eh?

I remember seeing him on the cover of Runner's World when I was in high school, and thinking that his sunglasses were pretty cool!

hopefully, you guys can open this link. Pretty long NYT story after his 1977 Boston win. With yet another version of his Buniak to Drayton name change and a dismissal of the "cool guy" theory of his sunglasses.

nytimes.com

Drayton Wins Boston Marathon, but Isn't Overjoyed (Published 1977)

By Neil Amdur Special to The New York Times

Jerome Drayton wins Boston Marathon; illus (M)

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I just hope someone puts out a biography of Jerome Drayton one day>
Condolences to friends and family.

The guy ran 2:10 low when the WR was 2:08. (And some think that 2:08 was on a short course.) The guy was a stone-cold bad ass. The fact that he was aloof as all hell only adds to his legend. RIP JD.

i seem to recall hearing that his father abandoned him and his mother when he was young so when he started being well known he didn't want it to be with the name of a guy who ran off on him and his mum. Another thing I heard was that Buniak was an obvious eastern European name and as such caused him to suffer discrimination. Sort of along that line I believe he once said he changed it because it made dealing with clients at his job easier.

There was a story bouncing around that said he chose his new name because he was a fan of a couple sprinters. He always denied it and said he just looked in a phone book and chose the first two names he saw that he really liked.

The BAA should formally name the first official drink station on their course for him. He really ripped them for not having official drink stops along the course after his 1977 win. They made it clear they did not appreciate the comments but there were official drink stations the next year. I imagine they'd eventually have added them but it might have taken longer to do it had he not kicked up the fuss he did.

He did a bit better with the Springbank Road Races in London, On. but not perfectly. I ran there in 1978, I think '78, maybe '79 but I think it was '78. He won that race the previous year. He was a hot property in Canadian road running, maybe more than ever off his 6th place in the '76 Olympic Marathon. and '77 Boston win. At a party on the night before the race the director told me that he'd needed to pay Drayton $150,000 the year before to get him to come. He said it in a way that made it sound like he did not appreciate having to do that and would not be doing anything like it again.

It seems to me that he never got quite as much acclaim (except maybe in Japan where his Fukuoka races made him a hero,) as the other big names, Clayton, Hill, Shorter, got. It also seemed to me that he often rubbed people the wrong way which could explain the lesser acclaim. But his results merited any acclaim he got and probably a good bit more. He was very, very, good. RIP

He wasn't as well known as some others of his era, but he was legit world class. I always thought the name change thing was a little strange, but, hey, it was his choice. RIP.

Impressive career and accomplishments given Drayton had a fulltime, non-running related job that he had to show up in person to go to, no working from home or working virtual in those days. If I recall correctly, he had an office job with the Canadian government. No lucrative pro contracts for those guys in those days. Get up early for a run prior to work, then hammer out another one after work. Eat, go to sleep, repeat.

Drayton won 4 majors,

2nd in NY and Commonwealth games.

6th OG

10 mile WR 46 min 3x secs

World rank 1,2,5 for three years.

13 national titles 5, 10k. marathon

5k best 1335 when the WR was 1313

Not to too bad being the best in the world for 18 months ish.

Jerome was one of my favorites. I lived in Toronto for two years and had two "meetings" with him. Once at a track meet in Toronto, where I set my PR for the half mile, and then running the Toronto Marathon, when the marathoners went one way and the half marathoners another. They intersected and Jerome passed me as he went on to win the half (and I surpassed my poor first marathon by 41 minutes).

Very sad. There is risk with any surgery but shocking. RIP

I remember watching an old documentary of at Boston where they were following Rodgers around as the obvious favorite. Drayton walked by him quickly and they said hi and then Rodgers said Drayton looks fit. He didn't comment about anyone else. It was the year he won against Rodgers and I was impressed with a glance Bill knew he was a threat.