Running boom of the 1970s
Encyclopedia
At the 1972 Summer Olympics
, American
long distance runner Frank Shorter
won the 1972 Olympic Marathon. He was the third American to win the Olympic marathon, but the first event since 1908. The victory was covered by ABC
, including dramatic coverage of the finish, when a German imposter ran into the stadium ahead of Shorter. Serving as guest color commentator was writer Erich Segal
, who called out over the airwaves (but obviously inaudible to Shorter) "It's a fraud, Frank." That phrase is considered one of the top ten sports calls of all time.
The television story changed the way Americans viewed the sport of long-distance running. At that point in time:
The event is credited with inspiring the running boom. It is estimated that 25 million Americans took up some aspect of running over the course of the next two decades, including President Jimmy Carter
. With the popularity, many other people around the world did the same thing. Many running events, shoe and apparel manufacturers grew and formed to accommodate the demand.
Many factors combined to build momentum for the boom. Other athletes and events before Shorter's victory caused a growth in popularity and recognition. Jim Ryun
grew from a top high school runner to an American sports hero and a popular rivalry with Marty Liquori
. Bill Rodgers
, Steve Prefontaine
and his coach Bill Bowerman
, even non-american athletes like Lasse Viren
were inspirational. Women were just beginning to become accepted as athletes. Road running and marathoning became a place they could excel. Female pioneers including Katherine Switzer, Jacqueline Hansen
and Miki Gorman
led other women to believe they could run seriously. Little Mary Decker
, Francie Larrieu and Norway
's Grete Waitz
were all part of a phenomenon that culminated in Joan Benoit
's 1984 Olympic Marathon victory, which itself inspired more women to run. Title IX
, mandating gender equality, was passed in the United States in 1972, opening up scholastic athletic opportunities for women. Many academic institutions used running sports like Cross Country
and Track and Field
for women to help numerically offset the number of players on their economically lucrative football
teams.
Other running authors and writers:
Many new racing events evolved. As technology improved, television coverage of major races eventually included:
1972 Summer Olympics
The 1972 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from August 26 to September 11, 1972....
, American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
long distance runner Frank Shorter
Frank Shorter
Frank Charles Shorter is a former American long-distance runner who won the gold medal in the marathon at the 1972 Summer Olympics. His victory is credited with igniting the running boom in the United States of the 1970s....
won the 1972 Olympic Marathon. He was the third American to win the Olympic marathon, but the first event since 1908. The victory was covered by ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, including dramatic coverage of the finish, when a German imposter ran into the stadium ahead of Shorter. Serving as guest color commentator was writer Erich Segal
Erich Segal
Erich Wolf Segal was an American author, screenwriter, and educator. He was best-known for writing the novel Love Story , a best-seller, and writing the motion picture of the same name, which was a major hit....
, who called out over the airwaves (but obviously inaudible to Shorter) "It's a fraud, Frank." That phrase is considered one of the top ten sports calls of all time.
The television story changed the way Americans viewed the sport of long-distance running. At that point in time:
- "most Americans had no idea what the marathonMarathonThe marathon is a long-distance running event with an official distance of 42.195 kilometres , that is usually run as a road race...
was, let alone its weird 26.2-mile distance. Some folks may have heard of the Boston MarathonBoston MarathonThe Boston Marathon is an annual marathon hosted by the U.S. city of Boston, Massachusetts, on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897 and inspired by the success of the first modern-day marathon competition in the 1896 Summer Olympics, the Boston Marathon is the world's oldest...
, an event that had been held since 1896, but few Americans had the desire to tackle the race itself."
The event is credited with inspiring the running boom. It is estimated that 25 million Americans took up some aspect of running over the course of the next two decades, including President Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
. With the popularity, many other people around the world did the same thing. Many running events, shoe and apparel manufacturers grew and formed to accommodate the demand.
Many factors combined to build momentum for the boom. Other athletes and events before Shorter's victory caused a growth in popularity and recognition. Jim Ryun
Jim Ryun
James Ronald Ryun is an American former track athlete and politician, who was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1996 to 2007, representing the 2nd District in Kansas. In the 2006 election, Ryun was defeated by Democratic challenger Nancy Boyda...
grew from a top high school runner to an American sports hero and a popular rivalry with Marty Liquori
Marty Liquori
Martin Liquori is an American middle distance athlete.Liquori first rose to fame when he became the third American high schooler to break the four-minute mile by running a 3:59.8 in 1967, three years after Jim Ryun first did it.He grew up in Cedar Grove, New Jersey and attended Essex Catholic...
. Bill Rodgers
Bill Rodgers (athlete)
William "Bill" Henry Rodgers is an American runner and former American record holder in the marathon who is best known for his victories in the Boston Marathon and the New York City Marathon in the late 1970s...
, Steve Prefontaine
Steve Prefontaine
Steve Roland "Pre" Prefontaine was an American middle and long-distance runner. Prefontaine once held the American record in the seven distance track events from the 2,000 meters to the 10,000 meters...
and his coach Bill Bowerman
Bill Bowerman
William Jay "Bill" Bowerman was an American track and field coach and co-founder of Nike, Inc. Over his career, he trained 31 Olympic athletes, 51 All-Americans, 12 American record-holders, 24 NCAA champions and 16 sub-4 minute milers...
, even non-american athletes like Lasse Viren
Lasse Virén
Lasse Artturi Virén is a former Finnish long-distance runner, winner of four gold medals at the 1972 and 1976 Summer Olympics...
were inspirational. Women were just beginning to become accepted as athletes. Road running and marathoning became a place they could excel. Female pioneers including Katherine Switzer, Jacqueline Hansen
Jacqueline Hansen
Jacqueline Hansen is a former long-distance runner from the United States who is recognized by the International Association of Athletics Federations as having set a world best in the marathon on two different occasions.Hansen set a world best mark on December 1, 1974 with a 2:43:55 performance...
and Miki Gorman
Miki Gorman
Miki Suwa Gorman was one of America's foremost women's marathoners during the mid 1970s. Gorman is the only woman to win both the Boston and New York City marathons twice, and one of only two woman runners to win both marathons in the same year.-Biography:Gorman, who grew up in Japan's Fukushima...
led other women to believe they could run seriously. Little Mary Decker
Mary Decker
Mary Slaney is an American former track athlete. During her career, she won gold medals in the 1500 meters and 3000 meters at the 1983 World Championships, and set 17 official and unofficial world records and 36 US national records.-Biography:Mary Decker was born in Bunnvale, Hunterdon County, New...
, Francie Larrieu and Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
's Grete Waitz
Grete Waitz
Grete Waitz was a Norwegian marathon runner and former world record holder. Waitz won nine New York City Marathons between 1978 and 1988, more than any other runner in history...
were all part of a phenomenon that culminated in Joan Benoit
Joan Benoit
Joan Benoit Samuelson is an American marathon runner, who won gold at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, the year that the women's marathon was introduced. As a result she was the first ever women's Olympic marathon champion. Benoit Samuelson still holds the fastest times for an American...
's 1984 Olympic Marathon victory, which itself inspired more women to run. Title IX
Title IX
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 is a United States law, enacted on June 23, 1972, that amended Title IX of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In 2002 it was renamed the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act, in honor of its principal author Congresswoman Mink, but is most...
, mandating gender equality, was passed in the United States in 1972, opening up scholastic athletic opportunities for women. Many academic institutions used running sports like Cross Country
Cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
and Track and Field
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
for women to help numerically offset the number of players on their economically lucrative football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
teams.
Media coverage
Responsive and supportive to the boom was media coverage.- Jim FixxJim FixxJames Fuller Fixx was the author of the 1977 best-selling book, The Complete Book of Running. Best known as Jim Fixx, he is credited with helping start America's fitness revolution, popularizing the sport of running and demonstrating the health benefits of regular jogging.- Life and work :Born in...
wrote The Complete Book of Running, which became a best seller. - George Sheehan wrote Running and Being a philosophical approach which also became a best seller.
- Runner's WorldRunner's WorldRunner's World is a globally circulated monthly magazine for runners of all skills sets, published by Rodale Press in Emmaus, Pennsylvania, in the United States...
magazine, launched in 1966 and became a monthly in 1973. Competitors included Running, The Runner and Running Times, which eventually merged in various forms.
Other running authors and writers:
- Bob AndersonBob Anderson (runner)Bob Anderson is an American runner, photographer, publisher and film producer. He is the founder of Runner's World magazine. A desire to find information about running and racing led him to a career in magazine and book publishing for more than twenty years...
- John BinghamJohn Bingham (runner)John Bingham is an American marathon runner and author, nicknamed "The Penguin", who has achieved widespread recognition for promoting the walking of long-distance race courses to the general public....
- Amby Burfoot
- Kenneth H. CooperKenneth H. CooperKenneth H. Cooper is an doctor of medicine and former Air Force Colonel from Oklahoma, who introduced the concept of aerobics. He is the author of the 1968 book Aerobics, which emphasized a point system for improving the cardiovascular system...
- Bob GloverBob GloverBob Glover is best known as an author of instructional running books. He is author of the book The Runner's Handbook : The Bestselling Classic Fitness Guide for Beginning and Intermediate Runners, which is a best-seller trade paperback. Another Glover book, The Competitive Runner's Handbook has...
- Joe HendersonJoe Henderson (runner)Joe Henderson is an American runner, running coach, writer, and former chief editor of Runner's World magazine. He currently writes for Marathon & Beyond magazine, and since 1982, a weekly column entitled "Joe Henderson's Running Commentary"...
- Hal HigdonHal HigdonHal Higdon is an American writer and runner. He has contributed to Runner's World magazine longer than any other writer. He is the author of 34 books, including the best-selling Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide...
- Don KardongDon KardongDonald Franklin Kardong is a noted runner and author from the United States. He represented his native country in the men's marathon at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada....
- Kenny MooreKenny MooreKenneth Clark "Kenny" Moore is an American athlete and journalist. At the University of Oregon, Moore was one of Bill Bowerman's finest distance runners. After college, Moore ran in the Olympic marathon at both Mexico City and Munich, finishing fourth in 1972...
- Browning Ross
Many new racing events evolved. As technology improved, television coverage of major races eventually included:
- Bay to BreakersBay to BreakersThe Bay to Breakers is an annual footrace which takes place in San Francisco, California on the third Sunday of May. The name reflects the fact that the race starts at the northeast end of the downtown area a few blocks from The Embarcadero and runs west through the city to finish at the Great...
- Boston MarathonBoston MarathonThe Boston Marathon is an annual marathon hosted by the U.S. city of Boston, Massachusetts, on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897 and inspired by the success of the first modern-day marathon competition in the 1896 Summer Olympics, the Boston Marathon is the world's oldest...
- Chicago MarathonChicago MarathonThe Bank of America Chicago Marathon is a major marathon held yearly in Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Alongside the Boston, New York, London and Berlin Marathons, it is one of the five World Marathon Majors. Thus, it is also an IAAF Gold Label race...
- Los Angeles MarathonLos Angeles MarathonThe Honda LA Marathon is an annual running event held each spring in Los Angeles, California. The 26.219 mile footrace, inspired by the success of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games, has been contested every year since 1986...
- New York Marathon