Rudy Chapa

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(Rodolfo) "Rudy" Chapa (born 1957) is a Mexican-American businessman who had a successful career as a runner.

Chapa was born November 7, 1957 into humble circumstances in Hammond, Indiana. He is the son of Mexican immigrants. His father Rodolfo Sr. came to the USA as a mechanic through the Bracero program.

Rudy first gained fame as one of the U.S.A.'s great distance runners, setting the still-standing national high school 10,000 meter record, in 28:32, a mark that remains to be seriously challenged to this day. He went out west to run for William Dellinger's famous University of Oregon track and field team, where he continued his excellence.

He was a star among stars during his tenure at Hayward Field, running some of the most famous races ever witnessed at the venue. In 1978 he won the NCAA championship in front of his home crowd in the 5,000 meters, and the next year set the American Record in the 3,000 meters at Hayward Field as well. He and his teammate and friend, former marathon world record holder, Alberto Salazar, became two of the first great Hispanic American distance runners.

After his athletic career, Chapa become one of the most successful and influential minorities in sports. He served as the global director of sports marketing at Nike, Inc, brokering some of the major deals in sports.

Chapa left NIKE in 1999 in order to pursue his own entrepenurial vision, which manifests itself today as SPARQ (Speed, Power, Agility, Reaction, Quickness), a sports equipment and media company. The company is one of the hottest new brands in sports today.

Chapa is married to Patricia Eiting and has five children, Joaquin, Annaliese, Alma, Alberto and Juan. Joaquin and Annaliese are distance runners at Stanford University and University of Washington, respectively, and both are among the top young runners in the nation.