Bill Rodgers (athlete)

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For other persons named Bill Rodgers, see Bill Rodgers (disambiguation).

William ("Bill") Henry Rodgers (born December 23, 1947) 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. He was born in Hartford, Connecticut. Rodgers won both races four times each between 1975 and 1980, twice breaking the American record at Boston with a time of 2:09:55 in 1975 and a 2:09:27 in 1979. In 1977 he won the Fukuoka Marathon, making him the only runner ever to hold the championship of all three major marathons at the same time. He made the 1976 U.S. Olympic team and raced the marathon at the Montreal Olympics in 1976, finishing 40th. He did not participate in the Olympics in 1980 due to the U.S. boycott over the invasion of Afghanistan by the USSR.

In 1975 he won the bronze medal at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, equaling Tracy Smith's 1966 bronze in the International Cross Country Championships as the highest an American had ever finished in international cross country competition. Rodgers' most remarkable year on the road racing circuit came in 1978 when he won 27 of the 30 races he entered, including the Pepsi 10,000 meter nationals (with a new world road 10K best time of 28:36.3), the Falmouth Road Race, and the Boston & New York marathons. Rodgers is also the former world record holder for 25 kilometers as he broke Pekka Paivarinta's world record with a time of 1:14.11.8 on a track in Saratoga, California in 1979.

Track & Field News ranked Rodgers #1 in the world in the marathon in 1975, 1977 and 1979. 28 of the 59 marathons Rodgers ran were run under 2:15. In all he won 22 marathons in his career.

Rodgers received his B.A. in sociology from Wesleyan University, where his teammate Amby Burfoot also won the Boston Marathon while still a student. Rodgers also has an MS in special education from Boston College.

Rodgers was inducted on December 3, 1999, in Los Angeles, California to the National Track & Field Hall of Fame located in Indianapolis, Indiana. In 1998, Rodgers was inducted in the first round to the National Distance Running Hall Of Fame in Utica, New York.

The Bill Rodgers Running Center in Boston, Massachusetts is owned and operated by both Bill and his brother Charlie. The family run business has been going since 1977.

1 Marathons
2 Awards and distinctions
3 Personal track records
4 Personal road records
5 Major road race wins
6 Books
7 See also
8 Audio interviews
9 External links

[edit] Marathons

1973 Boston (Did not Finish)(DNF)
1973 Bay State (2:28:12) 1st Course Record (CR)
1974 Boston (2:19:34) 14th
1974 New York (NYC) (2:36:00) 5th
1974 Philadelphia (2:21:57) 1st CR
1975 Boston (2:09:55) 1st American Record (AR)
1975 Enschede, Holland (DNF)
1975 Fukuoka (2:11:26) 3rd
1976 Olympic Trials (2:11:58) 2nd
1976 Montreal Olympics (2:25:14) 40th
1976 NYC (2:10:10) 1st CR
1976 Sedo Island, Japan (2:08:23) 1st CR (200 meters short)
1976 Baltimore (2:14:28) 1st CR
1977 Kyoto, Japan (2:14:25) 1st
1977 Boston (DNF)
1977 Amsterdam, Holland (2:12:46) 1st CR
1977 Waynesboro (2:25:12) 1st
1977 NYC (2:11:28) 1st
1977 Fukuoka (2:10:55) 1st
1978 Boston (2:10:13) 1st
1978 NYC (2:11:28) 1st
1978 Fukuoka (2:12:53) 6th
1979 Boston (2:09:27) 1st AR
1979 Montreal (2:22:12) 15th
1979 NYC (2:12:12) 1st
1980 Boston (2:12:11) 1st
1980 Toronto (2:14:47) 1st
1980 NYC (2:13:20) 5th
1981 Houston-Tennaco (2:12:10) 1st CR
1981 Boston (2:10:34) 3rd
1981 Atlantica-Boavista, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2:14:13) 1st CR
1981 Stockholm, Sweden (2:13:28) 1st
1981 Bank One, Columbus, OH (2:17:34) 7th
1982 Houston (2:14:51) 5th
1982 Tokyo (2:24) 301st
1982 Boston (2:12:38) 4th
1982 Atlantica-Boavista, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (DNF)
1982 Big M, Melbourne, Australia (2:11:08) 1st
1983 Orange Bowl, FL (2:15:08) 1st
1983 Boston (2:11:58) 10th
1983 Beijing, China (DNF)
1983 Chicago (2:21:40)
1984 U.S. Olympic Trials (2:13:31) 8th
1985 New Jersey Waterfront (2:14:46) 2nd
1985 NYC (2:15:31) 7th
1986 Boston (2:13:35) 4th
1986 Chicago (2:15:31) 11th
1987 Phoenix (DNF)
1987 Boston (2:18:18) 15th
1987 NYC (2:25:01) 54th
1988 Phoenix (DNF)
1988 Los Angeles ( 2:20:27) 2nd masters
1988 Boston (2:18:17) 2nd masters
1988 NYC (DNF)
1989 Los Angeles (2:22:24)
1990 Boston (2:20:46) 5th masters
1992 Vietnam International 19th
1996 Boston (2:53)
1999 Boston (DNF)

[edit] Awards and distinctions

1973 AAU All-American Long Distance Team (20K)
1975 National AAU- DI Benadato Award - Best Athletic Performance
1975 Nominated Sullivan Award (placed second)
1975 Ranked #1 in the World in the Marathon by Track & Field News
1976 Ranked #6 in the World in the Marathon by Track & Field News
1976 Member U.S. Olympic Team - Montreal, Canada
1976 AAU All-American Track & Field Team (10K)
1977 Ranked #1 in the World in the Marathon by Track & Field News
1978 Ranked #2 in the World in the Marathon by Track & Field News
1979 Ranked #1 in the World in the Marathon by Track & Field News
1981 Ranked #7 in the World in the Marathon by Track & Field News
1989 New York Road Runners Club Abebe Bikila Award
1989 Tiffany's Man of Achievement Award
1990 RRCA Masters of the Year Award
1992 RRCA Masters of the Year Award
1994 CT Sports Writers Alliance Gold Key Award
1999 Inducted into Long Distance Running Hall of Fame
2000 Inducted into USA Track and Field Hall of Fame

[edit] Personal track records

1 mile - 4:18.8
2 miles - 8:48 (indoor practice); 8:53.6 (1975)
3 miles - 13:25.4 (1976)
5 kilometers - 13:42.00 (1978)
10 kilometers - 28:04.4 (1976)
15 kilometers - 43:39.8 (1977 - American Record)
10 miles - 46:35
20 kilometers - 58:15 (1977 - American Record)
1 hour - 12 mi 1351 yd (20.556 km) (1977 - American Record)
25 kilometers - 1:14:12 (1979 - World and American Record)
30 kilometers - 1:31:50 (1979 - American Record)

[edit] Personal road records

10 kilometers: 28:16 (1983)
15 kilometers: 43:25 (1981)
20 kilometers: 58:43 (1982)
25 kilometers: 1:17:23
30 kilometers: 1:29:04 (1976 - Unofficial World Road Record)
Marathon (42.195 kilometers): 2:09:27 (1979 - former American record)

[edit] Major road race wins

Boston Marathon: 4 wins
New York City Marathon: 4 wins
Fukuoka Marathon: 1 win
Houston Marathon: 1 win
Amsterdam Marathon: 1 win
Falmouth Road Race: 3 wins
Lynchburg 10 miler: 5 wins
Cherry Blossom 10-Mile Run: 4 wins
Beverly Hills 10 km: 4 wins
Azalea Trail 10 km: 4 wins
Gurnet Classic Beach Run, Duxbury MA
Bloomsday 12 km: 1 win
Gasparilla 15 km: 1 win (first yr.)
Jacksonville 15 km: 1 win
BIX 7: 2 wins (incl. first yr.)
Big Boy 20 km: 3 wins

[edit] Books

Rodgers, Bill, Marathoning (with Joe Concannon) (1980) Simon & Schuster, ISBN 0-671-25087-6
Rodgers, Bill, Masters Running and Racing (with Joe Henderson (runner)|Joe Henderson and Priscilla Welch) (1995) Rodale Books, ISBN 0-87596-330-7
Rodgers,Bill, Bill Rodgers' Lifetime Running Plan: Definitive Programs for Runners of all Ages and Levels (1996) Collins, ISBN 0-06-273386-9
Rodgers, Bill & Douglas, Scott, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Running, 2nd edition (2003) Alpha, ISBN 0-02-864466-2
Derderian, Tom, Boston Marathon:The First Century of the World's Premiere Running Event, 1996, Human Kinetics, Champaign, IL, ISBN 0-88011-479-7

[edit] See also

[edit] Audio interviews

Bill Rodgers: "Don't Boycott Beijing" Podcast Interview

[edit] External links

Bill Rodgers Running Center

Sporting positions
Preceded by Neil Cusack Jerome Drayton	Boston Men's Marathon Winner 1975 1978 – 1980	Succeeded by Jack Fultz Toshihiko Seko
Preceded by Tom Fleming	New York Men's Marathon Winner 1976 – 1979	Succeeded by Alberto Salazar
Preceded by Ian Thompson Waldemar Cierpinski Shigeru So	Men's Fastest Marathon Race 1975 1977 1979	Succeeded by Waldemar Cierpinski Shigeru So Gerard Nijboer
Preceded by Jerome Drayton	Fukuoka Men's Marathon Winner 1977	Succeeded by Toshihiko Seko
Preceded by Karel Lismont	Amsterdam Men's Marathon Winner 1977	Succeeded by Ferenc Szekeres
Preceded by Jeff Wells	Stockholm Men's Marathon Winner 1981	Succeeded by Kjell-Erik Ståhl