RIP Bill Donakowski

I remember he won the Twin Cities Marathon when it was the USA Championship.

and dust to dust. In memoriam:

http://www.modetzfuneralhomes.com/obituaries/William-Bill-Jan-Donakowski?obId=2638866

One of the contributors posted the photo from the '81 xc race in Louisville with many familiar faces.

No! I haven't seen Bill in many years but in the early 80's we were friends and frequent training partners. There was no nicer guy in all of T&F. God rest your soul, old friend.

My heart is broken.

If someone told him "you're no rocket scientist" he could say, "yes, actually I am."

Raced him often in college. He was an intense competitor, always stepping up at NCAA's. WAY up.

Ran on the 1981 World Cross Country team with him. He brought his books with him, but took time from his studies for our daily dose of Pacman.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6UMjUDuMpE

Sad to hear. I met him just once as I knew his younger brother Gerald.

We lost a good one here, my friends.

Midwesterner wrote:

Sad to hear. I met him just once as I knew his younger brother Gerald.

We lost a good one here, my friends.

I think you mean Gerard. Gerard and Bill were two of the fastest siblings in U.S. distance running history.

If I remember correctly, he was one of the last national or world class runners in the US to hold a real, full time job. I think I read that in a profile Runner's World did of him, that he could have made a living just from running but preferred not to. Sorry you lost a friend.

His AARS profile

http://more.arrs.net/runner/4439

Bill was very unassuming but very, very bright. Among his professional accomplishments, he invented the hu less caster.

http://www.ensomotion.com/the-idea

Sad news. Awesome career. Running and in his professional life

Should be more than a message thread on this site too.

His form looked a lot like Ritz- raggedly efficient and strong, great for XC. Sad to hear of his passing.

malmo wrote:

My heart is broken.

If someone told him "you're no rocket scientist" he could say, "yes, actually I am."

Raced him often in college. He was an intense competitor, always stepping up at NCAA's. WAY up.

Ran on the 1981 World Cross Country team with him. He brought his books with him, but took time from his studies for our daily dose of Pacman.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6UMjUDuMpE

Didn t he run for Michigan?

HRE wrote:

If I remember correctly, he was one of the last national or world class runners in the US to hold a real, full time job. I think I read that in a profile Runner's World did of him, that he could have made a living just from running but preferred not to. Sorry you lost a friend.

Sorry to hear of his passing. Regarding national class runner while with full time job, my old H.S. teammate may be more recent.

Sorry to hear that, and condolences to his family and friends. Never met him, but might have lined up at the same race a couple times toward the end of his career. And watched him run at Big 10s when I was in high school.

Truth serum wrote:

I remember he won the Twin Cities Marathon when it was the USA Championship.

I think his 2:10:41 still ranks him in the top-30 American performers.

This is very sad news. Ran against Bill several times and he was always a tough competitor and a gracious person. For those old enough to remember, when Bill won Twin Cities in 1986 the conditions were cold, wet and windy, yet he still ran 2:10 and won in a national championship setting. The cover of T&F News the next month had a picture of the lead pack. It would be a nice tribute to Bill if we could get that cover shot posted.

Very sad loss for us...a consummate competitor and nice guy.

Ran against Billy many times and I hated it. He was a bulldog and I always knew he would fight to the end. I now coach high school kids and if I had 5 kids with his tenacity and talent we would be untouchable. Ran the Tom Black Classic 5k against him back in the late 70's and the temps and humidity were high. I saw the entry list and went, "Oh no, Donakowski!". Because the weather was so bad, I was hoping to jog and kick. Billy would not let that happen and I ended up PR'ing. Thanks, Bill! -Marc Hunter-

Sad news. I remember Bill as one of the nicest, smartest, just plain all around greatest guys to be around.

I enjoyed his company on US XC Team trip. An aggressive runner.

He was always in the thick of things mixing it up up front during a time when every meet was against a loaded field during the Greg Meyer, Craig Virgin era.

He was all business during the race and nothing but smiles after it was done.

I heard a lot about him and his brother from my Dad, but my only interaction with him was at our indoor track the afternoon before a home meet. I was one of the scrubs running in the meet, as the better guys were all sitting it out and training.

Bill was in town for an alumni thing and to watch the races. He walked into the indoor track the afternoon before the meet to check out the old grounds. I had finished up my run and was watching all the guys do an interval workout. Bill walks over with a puzzled look on his face. "What are these guys doing?" Then he grinned and asked with sick entertainment, "Is Ronnie having them do intervals before racing?!" So I said, "Ah, no, they're just training through the weekend. Not many guys are racing."

His face dropped and didn't miss a beat, "What?! That's BULLS***! Why would you do intervals when you could be racing... at home! Man, things have changed..."

That stuck with me. A certain type of competitor from a certain era that just relished the opportunity to get in the ring and compete.

Then there are, of course, the spoken-word record books of Barton Tempo times of yore, with him, and Greg Meyer, and Brian Diemer owning absurd marks on the classic route...

Definitely a legend that will live on