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Some Legends: Three Boston Marathon Legends | Boston Billy Rodgers
Boston Billy - Bill Rodgers a Boston Marathon Legend Returns
by Sharon Ekstrom
Bill Rodgers - 1975, 1978, 1979, 1980 Boston Marathon Champion
 A legendary athlete is not merely a man or woman with a resume of accomplishments and in our time, a legendary athlete is not a work of fiction. They are those who take on the challenges and, in surpassing the odds, make history. We scour the past to find such standouts and rejoice in their accomplishments as if they were our own. When it comes to marathons, we relate to the blood, sweat and tears that go into training for the grueling distance; and as competitors, the agony of the race. A legend is not the first or the last of his kind, but the one we remember best. So, it's of no surprise in searching the annals of the Boston Marathon that we find one of our top American running legends from the not so distant past. As the running boom swept the country less than forty years ago, there was Bill Rodgers.
Bill Rodgers born December 23, 1947 did not start his career as a running phenom. He was a cross country runner in high school and at Wesleyan University, where he was the roommate and teammate of Amby Burfoot winner of the 1968 Boston Marathon; but once he graduated college, Rodgers stopped running and went to work at a hospital. When his job failed to work out as planned, Rodgers decided to return to peak running shape.
Rodgers did not win the Boston Marathon on his first try. He did not finish at his debut in the distance at the 1973 Boston race dropping out at mile 20 due to heat and met an uneventful finish in 1974. In fact, at that time he struggled with the distance at three other marathons elsewhere in the country and met with disappointing finishes no faster than 2:21. These were in no way predictors of things to come. In 1975, Rodgers won the Boston Marathon in a 2:09:35 setting an American Record and was the first champion to break 2:10, not to mention he stopped four times for water and one time to tie his shoelace. Rodgers made history and along with Frank Shorter was credited with starting the American running boom.
Rodgers, a one-time smoker, loved to run and averaged three to five marathons per year. In 1975, he won bronze at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, the best finish by an American in an international cross country competition. Second at the 1976 Olympic Trials, he failed to perform well at the 1976 Montreal Games finishing 40th in 2:25:14. Yet, he remained married to the distance and later in 1976 won the New York City Marathon beginning a series of victories in the marathon; most notably at the Boston, New York City, and Fukuoka Marathons. Rodgers became an incredible competitor in all road races and "won twenty-seven of the thirty races he entered" in 1978. Back at the Boston Marathon in 1979, Rodgers ran to victory, setting another American record in a lifetime personal best of 2:09:27. He continued to run marathons for the following two decades as a masters and senior masters runner.
Rodgers never stopped running. He planned to return to the 2008 Boston Marathon but, recovering from prostate cancer surgery, he opted out of the race. Still battling the cancer, Rodgers plans to run the 2009 race, if weather is favorable. Twenty-eight marathons with sub-2:15 finishes and twenty-two victories is remarkable in its own right - giving Rodgers immediate status as an incredible athlete. Yet, it is his good spirit, his contribution to the sport and his passion and dedication to running which make him legendary.
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