by Jeff Benjamin
Today is April 20, 2025. This is the 50th anniversary of Bill Rodgers’ first win at the Boston Marathon in April 1975. Bill Rodgers was a 2:19 marathoner who had just taken the World Cross Country bronze medal. He asked Jeff Galloway, who wore Nike, about getting some racing shoes. At the suggestion of Jeff Galloway, Bill Rodgers was sent a letter with a brand new pair of Nike Bostons from Steve Prefontaine, a NIKE sports marketing executive. Bill Rodgers wore those Nike racing shoes, ran a 2:09:55 AR in the marathon in April 1975, and Steve Prefontaine died one month later, in May 1975.
1979 Rodgers was the best road racer in the world, having won Boston in 1975 and 1978 and NYC in 1976, 1977, and 1978. This is that story.
Today, April 20, 2025, Bill Rodgers spoke to seven hundred runners, most of whom were not born when he was racing in Boston in the 1970s. But nearly all knew who he was, and many lined up to get a photo or an autograph on their new Nike shoes.
Bill Rodgers Victory at the 1979 Boston Marathon
The era of Bill Rodgers in road running was unique. Rodgers was an easy-going killer. The guy could run 140 miles a week in his sleep, once winning 38 races of all distances in a row, quietly juggling global travel and four world-class marathons in a year. That mellowness, along with his GBTC teammates, watched by perhaps the most eccentric and joyous coach in distance running (Bill Squires), allowed Bill Rodgers to focus his killer instinct into some brutally contested road races.
Bill Rodgers told this writer a few years ago that he felt poorly in all of his good Bostons until he hit the hills. Frank Shorter called Bill Rodgers ‘a freak of nature’ out of awe and respect for his ability to train and compete at such a high level for many years.
Jeff Benjamin’s feature on the 40th anniversary of Bill Rodgers’ finest victory is a joy to read. It takes us back to when social media traded TFN gossip after a track workout, shared the NY Marathon issues by The Runner, coming out two months after the event, and Bill Rodgers was “Bill.”
Do I wish we were back at that time? What I want to do is that races appreciate the need of the media to build interest in the sport, by video, audio, and text content. Bill Rodgers was Bill because of all the stories written by Joe Condon, Tom Dederian, and Kenny Moore, giving us an inside view into the excellent road warrior that was Bill Rodgers.
“I’m On The Hunt I’m After You!”
– The 40th Anniversary of Bill Rodgers’ Victory At The 1979 Boston Marathon
By Jeff Benjamin
Anxiety, nervousness, self-doubt, and fear are certainly among the feelings of many runners of all abilities in any race that they run. One athlete who carried those feelings in their journey with a significant burden may have been Bill Rodgers when he toed the line in the damp, 40-some-odd-degree April Day at the 1979 Boston Marathon.
But Rodgers, going for his 3rd Boston victory, wasn’t alone with those feelings. Fellow competitors Chris Stewart, Gary Bjorkland, Olympian Don Kardong, Canada’s Jerome Drayton, New Zealander Kevin Ryan And Rodger’s Greater Boston Track Club Teammates Bob Hodge, Randy Thomas And Dick Mahoney without doubt had to have possessed these feelings as well alongside the 10,000 Boston Marathoners on that day. Yet all were no doubt driven by their training.
Regarding training, Rodgers wrote an account for The Runner Magazine on his preparations for the big race with a few days to go. This training regimen was indicative and perhaps unorthodox. Still, it was his recipe for success year in and year out as one of the world’s best distance runners:
“Wednesday, five days before Boston, I do ten easy miles in the morning and later in the day 4X400 meters and 4X800 meters at a 67-second pace with a 200-meter jog/rest between runs, then a 7-mile warmdown. I run 20 (miles!) on Thursday, finishing my week at 121 miles. That leaves 14 (Miles!) for Friday, 7 for Saturday, and 3 or 4 for Sunday – the day before.”
As for his preparations the day before the big race, Rodgers spent time with his brother Charlie, consuming macaroni and cheese with butter almond ice cream for dessert, per his legendary food reputation! Around 5:30 a.m. race morning, Rodgers awoke briefly to eat cookies, drink Pepsi, and then conked out again!
Yet, if someone were to measure the volume of the extremes on each side of those feelings, one could argue that Japan’s Toshihiko Seko was at the bottom of the “noise level”, while New Jersey’s Tom Fleming had to be way over the top!
Seko, who sported a 10K PR of 27:51, had defeated Rodgers at the Fukuoka Marathon months earlier, clocking a time of 2:10:21, while Rodgers finished 6th. Rodgers has to be concerned about Seko, but Tom Fleming tried to steal the show early on.
The boisterous Fleming, who had finished 2nd twice in Boston, had decided to go all for broke in the ’79 race. “I just figured to run as fast as I could for as long as I could, and see if they could catch me,” said the New Jersey legend, who tragically passed away in 2017.
And that’s precisely what Fleming did, bolting out in front and dominating the race in the early miles, going through 5 miles in 23:40! Rodgers wondered how long his friend could set that pace and thought about the 2:06 Marathon time Fleming had talked about throughout the years.
But Rodgers felt strong at this stage and started harboring thoughts of confidence. “I felt comfortable despite Tom going out hard,” he said recently. However, one of Rodgers’ concerns was with the quiet, low-key but dangerous Seko. “Toshihiko was following me since he figured I knew the course, and it was his first Boston Marathon, and I had forgotten about him in our pack!”
On The Hunt
Then, Bjorklund plunged, eventually surging away from the pack and even passing Fleming at the 15 1/2 mile mark.
As Rodgers and the pack finally caught up to Fleming at the 17 1/2 mile mark, a little humor was injected into the drama, as written about in Tom Deredrian’s masterpiece book, Boston Marathon
“…Fleming turns to Rodgers and said, “Hi Bill, nice to see you, but why did you have to bring him along?” Rodgers asked, “Who?” Fleming said, Behind You.”
To Rodger’s great surprise, it was Seko, quietly stalking him.
As the duo passed Bjorkland (Who said, “Go For 2:08!”) just before Heartbreak Hill, it was then that Rodgers felt he had to go. “Boston is a very different course from Fukuoka, and most Marathon courses are flatter,” said Rodgers. “So knowing the course and being more rested for Boston than for Fukuoka in ’78 helped me greatly in ’79.”
Also, firing up Rodgers was a positive mental thought. “In February, I set the World Record at 25K (1:14:12), so I knew I was sharper and more in tune with this race than at Fukuoka.”
“I was only thinking of racing the Boston hills and going for the win, so I ran hard through the hills and could sense Toshihko slipping back,” said Rodgers, pumped up by the hometown fans.
As the race progressed, Seko fell back, and Rodgers poured it on. “The Boston fans gave me a lot of support.”
The hammer is down, Rodgers grinds up Seko, 1979, Boston, photographer unknown.
As Rodgers entered the last minute of the race, he took his winter hat off and began waving to the crowd, as he picked up the pace even more to try and snatch Englishman Ron Hill’s best of 2:09:28. Rodgers would break it by one second, as his tone of 2:09:27 was a personal best and the Boston Marathon record. “I was really pleased to set my PR that day with no tailwind like my previous pr of 2:09:55,” said Rodgers, who quipped that he needed a bathroom with 10 miles to go in the race. As he ran towards that finish, Rodgers and the joyous crowd could hear the announcer proclaim,
Bill Rodgers won the 1979 BAA Boston Marathon. ( To Order A “Relentless” Poster Commemorating Rodgers’ 1979 Boston Win (Autograph Available On Request), Please Go To http://www.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the greatest runner in Massachusetts, the greatest runner in the United States, the greatest runner in the world and the history of the world!” The team performance of Rodgers’ GBTC teammates was equally impressive, as Rodgers, Hodge, Thomas, and Mahoney all finished in the top 10 that day, cementing them as not only America but perhaps the world’s best long-distance running club, which was coached by Bill Squires!
(To watch the Boston marathon video, please visit the 1979 Boston Race Video, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XvM50uNQ4A, which is six minutes of excellent history.)
Looking Back & Forward
40 years later, one can point out that Rodgers’ 1979 Boston win was the pinnacle of his illustrious career. One thing eluded Rodgers: An Olympic medal. In 1976, juggling a teaching job with training and running with an injured foot, Rodgers finished out of the medals in Montreal. 1980 was his Olympic Year, as Rodgers was still consistently training at a high quality. Still, the American Boycott of the Moscow Games robbed Rodgers and other top American runners of ever getting to the Olympic medal podium. Once Rodgers knew there would be no Olympics for him, he motivated himself to win his 4th Boston Marathon in 1980. “I think all Olympic Sport athletes are saddened by boycotts,” said Rodgers recently. “The heavy hand of the Government was obviously at work, and we were in the Cold War Era… I had hoped to represent the USA in Moscow.”
But Rodgers found he could still turn things positive. “I’ve just returned from the Bix 7 in Iowa, which I was invited to run in the boycott year,” said Rodgers, who won the ’80 edition and had been invited back every year since. “I was fortunate to have help making lemonade from the lemons of the 80 Olympic Boycott by being invited to the Bix 7. I am grateful to Race Director Ed Froehlich and the Cornbelt Running Club and Quad City Times for their support!”
“The race gives you a cool patriotic feeling along with its Community, which is what I have always loved about Road Racing in America!”
“I don’t have an Olympic Medal, but I have 40 Years of Road Races like the Bix! “
