1970s Distance Runners Who Started Running Businesses...

Also it would be interesting to hear about some running greats whose professional lives no longer have anything to do with their former sport.

Bill rodgers running center

Marty Liquori was a partner in a running store Franchise, I think Athletic Attic.

Jim Hill started Sporthill, which has been successful. Not a shoe store but a running related business.

Phil Knight seems to have been successful.

I think Rick Saye did in North Hill in Akron back in the 70's which is a surprise as that area has always been kind of a dumpy area.....

Frank Shorter had his own line of gear.

Was Craig Virgin involved with Front Runner or did he just wear the vest?

Tom Fleming!

Tim McLoone - Eatontown, NJ - forgot the store's name - still there, though.

Jeff Galloway. Called Pheidippides in Atlanta.

Gary Muhrcke, winner of the first NYCM - started Super Runners Shop in NYC and Long Island - 5 or 6 stores.

agip wrote:

Gary Muhrcke, winner of the first NYCM - started Super Runners Shop in NYC and Long Island - 5 or 6 stores.

Is Gary the guy who appears (or appeared) at the end their TV commercials and sternly says "Don't stop running!"?

Marty Liquori and Jimmy Carnes started Athletic Attic. Greg Fredericks had the AA franchise in State College for a while. Justin Gubbins started a shop on Long Island, not sure of the name. Steve Hoag had a shop in the Twin Cities.

Bernie Allen, 9th at Boston in 1974 started International Sport which is now InSport. Rick Bayko has Yankee Runner in Newburyport, Ma. Larry Olsen had Tri-Valley Frontrunner. Ron Hill had a shop for a while and also had Ron Hill Clothing and now just sold Hilly Clothing.

Steve Prefontaine had this great idea for a college only social networking site where you friend ppl, view their drunken party pictures and leave racy comments on their walls. But he died before implementing it and a guy named Mark came up with something similar.

John Vitale and Ray Crothers:

http://www.therunin.com

John J. Kelley - Kelley's Pace

Kelley's Pace, Mystic CT

Mark Covert opened one of the first 'running stores' in So Cal, as one of the first employees of the mother ship - in very early 70s. New company was called Nike. Some guy named Bowerman and his best runner flew down from Oregon to help get it started.

Gerry Lindgren owned a store called The Stinky Foot.

[quote]HRE wrote:

Marty Liquori and Jimmy Carnes started Athletic Attic. Greg Fredericks had the AA franchise in State College for a while. Justin Gubbins started a shop on Long Island, not sure of the name. Steve Hoag had a shop in the Twin Cities.

I was in the running business since 1975. Sold Ron Hill shorts and NB shoes out of my house, then opened a store called Running World, selling out of an old gas station on Grand Ave. in St. Paul, MN. Eventually merged with Garry Bjorklund and Mike Slack and a few others to form GBS Sports. This probably grew too fast to nine stores in the metro Twin Cities area. When the first running boom levelled off in the mid 1980s, we imploded. GBS Sports at its zenith had something like 15 guys working there, or owners, that had run sub 2:25 or faster. Dick Beardsley ( an employee) ran 2:09 at the time, Bjorklund had a 2:10, and I had a 2:11. In addition, we had Mike Slack, a 3:55 miler and nationally ranked 5,000m, and a lot of guys between 2:17 and 2:25 marathons. For several years it provided good incomes for a lot of elite and sub-elites in our area.

In 1985, I started Marathon Sports in Minneapolis with one partner. I ran it by myself from 1995 to 2005, then sold it to my General Manager, John Long. It has continued to prosper, being named one of the top 50 running stores in the country.It was nice to be able to buy from other runners who had clothing businesses like Frank Shorter and Bill Rodgers. The running business was not without its problems (especially in our area with bad winters), but overall was a

great experience. For the most part, it provided a decent living for 30 years. The last few years that I owned it, business was very good and allowed me to retire, knowing that the store was in good hands. A few suggestions, if you want to open a store: start small with adequate capital, locate away from established running stores if possible, promote and be in the store as much as possible. Hire good employees ( not necessarily great runners). It's a lot different today, where being a good runner is not as important. Service, service, service is.

Steve Hoag,aka "old school steve"

This is all great stuff. Thanks, folks.

If you push it back to late-50s/early 60s runners, a Univ. of Oregon runner founded a business called Nike.

In terms of world-class runners who went on to impressive careers unrelated to running (not coaches, broadcasters, etc), most of them are old-timers and non-USA. Roger Bannister, John Landy, Ron Clarke, Herb Elliott, Peter Snell, and a little more recently Seb Coe, all went on to significant political or professional careers. In the US, Jim Ryun was a congressman. Neither Nicholas Sparks nor Eric Segal were world-class runnners, but Sparks was a very good college runner and Segal an accomplished marathon runner. They each went on to become two of the most successful writers of romance novels of all time.

Paul Gompers was a very good runner (2:15/2:16ish marathon when he was 19, still the USjr record-holder, I believer) and has had quite a career outside of the world of running:

http://www.people.hbs.edu/pgompers/