V 11 N. 10 A Time Line of African American Road Running History

 The following article came to us from Gary Corbitt and is reprinted here with his kind permission.

Secondly we have included a recent press release from NYC Parks announcing the naming of a 

six mile loop in Central Park after Ted Corbitt.  ed. 

New York Road Runners (NYRR) History Project-   Gary Corbitt

Gary Corbitt

Curator: Ted Corbitt Archives

Historian: National Black Marathoners Association (NBMA)

 

A Timeline of Black American Distance Running History

 

FEB 05, 2021 – New York Road Runners (NYRR)

 

When runners learn about Ted Corbitt, NYRR’s founding president, many assume that he was 

the first Black American distance runner of historical significance. Corbitt (1919-2007) was a 

towering figure in distance running, but he was far from the first—or the only—African 

American distance runner of note. Black running history in America dates back to at least 

the 1870s and is both rich and deep.

 

Gary Corbitt, Ted’s son, has spent years researching and writing about Black American running 

and bringing many untold stories to life. He established the  Ted Corbitt Archives to preserve 

and highlight some of the amazing and near-forgotten stories of Black American runners, 

coaches, clubs, teams, events, supporters, and administrators.

 

“My father always told me that he wasn’t alone—that there were other great Black American 

distance runners,” said Gary, pictured below. “I didn’t know just how rich the history was until I 

started to look into it myself.”

 

Drawing from books, articles, and a huge volume of primary documents, Gary has created a  

Black Running History Timeline that covers 100 years (1880-1979).

 

“The work is ongoing,” he said. “I’ve probably captured about 75 percent of what’s known from 

that 100-year period.”

 

He’s inspired by a story his father told him of a letter he received from a young Black runner. 

“The runner wrote that he wished he’d known about my father when he was in school and 

coaches steered him away from distance running and toward the sprints,” said Gary. “If he’d 

had a Black distance runner like my father as a role model, things might have been different. I 

want today’s young Black runners to know they are part of a rich history and have many role 

models.”

 

Gary added that when he started his research, "I was both shocked and saddened to see how 

Black long distance running history had been ignored. This void in running history preservation 

motivates me to work at building a team of running history scholars to ensure this subject is 

never ignored again."

 

Here are just a few of the many highlights from the timeline; for more, visit  tedcorbitt.com.

 

Frank Hart and the Pedestrian Movement

In the late 1870s, the most popular sport in the U.S. was pedestrianism—multi-day running 

and walking events of hundreds of miles, often conducted around indoor tracks in front of huge 

crowds. Competitors were of all races and backgrounds, and one of the most successful was a 

young Black runner named Frank Hart (above, left). Born Fred Hichborn in Haiti in 1858, he 

moved to Boston in his teens, worked as a grocer, and began running distance races to make 

extra money, changing his name when he became a professional “ped.”

 

Hart won the prestigious O’Leary Belt six-day race in Madison Square Garden in 1880, 

completing an astonishing 565 miles, a world record. The second-place finisher, William 

Pegram, was also Black. Hart’s success brought him fame and fortune; his image was on 

trading cards (the precursor to baseball cards) nationwide and he probably earned over 

$100,000 in his lifetime, thanks to the legal gambling that was central to the sport and even 

allowed competitors to bet on themselves!

 

Unfortunately, Hart also endured racism, including heckling and physical harassment from 

spectators and snubs and racial slurs from his rivals. By the late 1880s, baseball—with rigid 

segregationist policies—supplanted pedestrianism in popularity. An outstanding all-round 

athlete, Hart joined a Negro league team for several years.

 

The spirit of the pedestrian era inspired Ted Corbitt, who ran (and won) many ultra races and 

completed an incredible 68.9 miles in 24 hours at age 82. "My father would talk about running 

600 miles in six days and walking 100 miles in 24 hours," said Gary. "These were pedestrian-era 

milestones that I didn’t fully understand the significance of until much later, after his passing."

 

Early NYC Running Clubs and Marathoners

 

Several Black running clubs in NYC in the early 1900s, including the Salem Crescent Athletic 

Club, St. Christopher’s Club of NY, Smart Set Athletic Club of Brooklyn, showcased the talents 

of a generation of Black runners at distances from the sprints to the marathon.

 

In 1919, Aaron Morris of the St. Christopher Athletic Club finished sixth in the Boston Marathon 

in 2:37:13 becoming the first known African American to run the race. In the 1920 Boston 

Marathon, 

Morris’s teammate Cliff Mitchell finished eighth in 2:41:43. Mitchell finished 13th in Boston in 

1921, and another St. Christopher runner, John Goff, finished ninth in 2:37:35 that year.

 

The New York Pioneer Club and Coach Joe Yancey

 

The New York Pioneer Club, founded in 1936 in Harlem by coach Joe Yancey and two other 

Black men, was committed to providing opportunity to anyone interested and qualified, regardless 

of race. “It was an integrated running team that predated the integration of pro sports,” said 

Gary Corbitt. Ted Corbitt joined the Pioneer Club in 1947, and in 1958 he and other members 

were the founding core New York Road Runners. Stay tuned for a longer article about the NYPC 

next week.

 

Marilyn Bevans and other African American Woman Marathoners

 

Opportunities for women distance runners were few and far between before the early 1970s. 

NYRR always allowed women as members and in its events, but the Boston Marathon barred

women until 1972, the same year a women’s 1500m (less than a mile) was added to the 

Olympics.

 

In the 1970s, Marilyn Bevans of Baltimore came on the scene as the first competitive Black
American woman marathoner in the modern era. Bevans was the first Black American woman 

to win a marathon—the Washington Birthday Marathon in Maryland in 1975. She placed fourth 

in the 1975 Boston Marathon in a time of 2:55:52, becoming the first sub-three-hour Black 

American woman marathoner. She ran a total of 13 sub-3:00 marathons. Stay tuned for more 

on Bevans (who went on to become a coach and is now in her 70s) and other Black American 

women marathoners in a future article.

IN CELEBRATION OF BLACK HISTORY MONTH NYC PARKS NAMES 

6-MILE CENTRAL PARK LOOP FOR STORIED BLACK OLYMPIAN RUNNER

 

First Black American Olympian and training pioneer Theodore ‘Ted’ Corbitt honored in Central 

Park--Ted Corbitt Loop

 

Next phase of park namings to include public suggestions--Parks encourages New Yorkers to 

submit names in honor of prominent Black Americans

 

NYC Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver, FAICP, last week joined New York City Council 

Member Peter Koo, Central Park Conservancy President Elizabeth W. Smith, New York 

Road Runners Chairman George Hirsch and Vice President of Events Ted Metellus, 

USATF Road Running Technical Council Chairperson David Katz, friends of the Corbitt 

Family, and running groups and runners from across the city to celebrate the naming of 

the Central Park loop in honor of the first African American Olympian Ted Corbitt, who 

was a pioneer in long distance running and ran in the first New York City Marathon 

wearing the “No. 1” bib. To commemorate the naming, Parks will install six scenic 

landmark street signs donning ‘Ted Corbitt Loop’ along the 6-mile route, and a Parks 

branded routed sign at the base of Harlem Hill at 110th St. and Adam Clayton Powell 

Blvd. in Harlem.

 

“As an avid runner, I am incredibly proud to commemorate the contributions of a man 

that inspired me and countless others to push through boundaries and live more 

abundantly,” said  Commissioner Silver. “It is an honor to celebrate Black History 

Month this year by shining light on Ted Corbitt’s influence and advocacy for 

underrepresented groups in running and beyond. May his legacy and pioneering spirit 

live on to inspire the next generation of runners to strive for greatness, progress, and peace.”

 

“My father and other men and women volunteers worked tireless hours to help invent 

the modern day sport of long distance running,” said  Corbitt’s son  Gary Corbitt. 

“Many of the innovations in the sport were started in New York during the 1960s and 

early 1970s. This naming tribute celebrates all these pioneers.”

 

“This is a fitting honor for Ted, who made a home for runners in Central Park,” said  

Elizabeth W. Smith, President & CEO of Central Park Conservancy. “He saw in 

the Park, the promise for running to build a community as diverse as the City itself.”

 

“Among his many contributions, Ted Corbitt was our trusted and dedicated leader. 

I became a runner back in the late 1960’s when there were not many of us runners. 

We were an offbeat group and Ted Corbitt was our leader. Not because he wanted to 

be or ever sought attention, but because of his passion to make a positive impact, as

 well as being a champion, Olympian, and a student of the sport. We always looked 

to Ted to see what he was he doing. And then, we did it as well,” said  George Hirsch, 

Chairman of the Board, NYRR.

 

“Today is a fitting tribute and we are proud to be part of NYC Parks, Central Park 

Conservancy, and the City of New York’s recognition of pioneering force Ted Corbitt. 

As an African American man, and alongside an African American NYC Parks 

Commissioner, this recognition is monumental,” said  Ted Metellus, Vice President of 

Events, NYRR. “Ted’s lasting legacy continues to inspire and impact generations every 

day, every runner, and every single step taken in this park.”

 

“In 2006, my grandson Christopher, who was a three-year-old toddler at the time, ran 

in a NY Road Runners’ youth marathon here in Central Park. I was so proud of him as 

he focused his little self and ran in earnest. He was so adorable. Little did I know that 

we were standing on the phenomenally broad shoulders of Mr. Ted Corbitt, the ‘father 

of long distance running’,” said  Community Board 10 Parks Committee Chair Karen 

Horry. “On behalf of Manhattan Community Board 10, I would like to extend sincere 

gratitude and congratulations to the Corbitt family, the New York Road Runners and 

marathon runners around the world on this auspicious occasion, as NYC Parks, under 

the leadership of Commissioner Silver, commemorates the longest loop in Central Park 

to the astounding legacy of Ted Corbitt.”

 

Born in South Carolina, Theodore ‘Ted’ Corbitt was an ultramarathon pioneer, author, 

and physiotherapist. Throughout his illustrious 50-year career, he ran 199 marathons 

and ultramarathons’, which are typically races of 50 or 100 miles or 24 hours. In 1952, 

Corbitt became the first Black American to represent the United States at the Olympic

 Marathon which was held in Helsinki, Finland. He was the founding President of New 

York Road Runners, a member of the inaugural class of inductees into the National 

Distance Running Hall of Fame in Utica, and a pioneer of race course measurement. 

Corbitt is noted to have run up to 312.5 miles a week and is widely credited as a 

source of inspiration to runners around the world.

 

Corbitt will join Mayor John Lindsay, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux who 

have roads in Central Park named for them. Most recently, the lower loop  was named 

John V. Lindsay Dr. in 2013, and the 72nd Street Cross Drive, that runs past Bethesda 

Terrace,  was named Olmsted Vaux Way in 2008. Ted Corbitt Loop encompasses the 

6 miles he and runners world-wide have run for more than a century.

 

NYC Parks is committed to supporting the fight to end systematic racism locally, nationally, 

and throughout the world. In June 2020, the agency declared solidarity with the Black

 community when it created Juneteenth Grove in Brooklyn’s Cadman Plaza Park. In 

addition, on Black Solidarity Day 2020, Parks also announced the first tranche of 

namings for prominent Black Americans in an effort to foster effective and equitable 

changes within the City’s parks system. In preparation for the second phase of 

namings, New Yorkers now have an opportunity to submit name recommendations 

to further highlight the Black experience in New York City. For more details and to 

submit suggestions, please visit our  website. Parks will accept suggestions for the 

next two weeks. Those interested in submitting names of other protected class peoples 

can do so as well--for later consideration.