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President Chronology
The GFRC Chronicles - History of Our Club
The Greater
Framingham Track Club was formed in 1979 by
a small group of local runners. The name was
changed to "Running Club" in 1998. Those
were much simpler times. So simple that no
written record of nearly the first year of
club meetings still exists. A newspaper
article in the "South Middesex News"
announced the formation of the club in 1979.
But that’s about it in terms of a print
presence for the club during the first year.
Somehow, however, word about the club
spread to the point that membership totaled
32 on June 14, 1980. Several newsletters
from earlier in the spring of 1980 still
exist, and we learn that a significant
percentage of the club membership
participated in such early spring races as
the Garden City Marathon (Newton) and the
New Bedford Half Marathon. Yes those were
simpler times. When the club was born,
Jimmy Carter was president, with lust only
in his heart, not an intern in the closet.
Jim Rice was a power hitting left fielder
and Yaz played first. Larry Bird was a
rookie, Bruce Jenner was still a hero, Bill
Rodgers was a perennial marathon champion
and we hadn’t yet boycotted the Moscow
Olympics. The club met in the Marian High
School gymnasium. The treasury boasted a
grand total of $30.75. Almost half of the
club treasury was spent on registration in
the New England Athletics Congress, the
successor of the AAU and the predecessor of
USAT&F. Gerry Nearman was president, Peter
Selig held the vice president’s position,
Bill Craig was the secretary and Jim Cooney
the treasurer.
It took about one year, but the wisdom of
our founding fathers cannot be doubted. For
one of their first official acts was to see
that the club was incorporated with the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It may seem
extraneous to incorporate a running club,
but there are several good reasons, not the
least of which is, as the newsletter states,
"The incorporation releases individual
members from liability when we sponsor a
race." The issue of the club’s
incorporation, and race liability arose in
the future years, and all club members
should be grateful for the wisdom and
foresight of these founding members.
Some traditions die hard, and the two GFTC
traditions that have endured virtually from
the creation of this organization are the
Saturday morning runs and the monthly
meetings. The same early spring newsletter
noted above reports, "We completed the
winter season without missing a single
Saturday fun run" with a dozen members
running from the Natick Labs on one cold
Saturday morning. With regard to club
meetings, "We originally planned to have
general meetings on the first Saturday of
the month but must change it to the second
Saturday of the month due to the timing of
the mailing of the newsletter." While we
may not have always stuck to the "Second
Saturday Meeting Rule," and some of the
Saturday runs have been run solo, the
tradition endures. From the tidbit column
of early 1980, we learn that Roger Kelleher
qualified for Boston in the over-50
category, back then he probably had to run a
3:05. The club’s first president Drew Doyle
had a new job, but soon expected to be back
running soon. Teenager Jim Byrnes was
beginning to burn up the track and Bob Smith
was nursing another spring injury, yes the
same Bob Smith who runs everyone into the
ground nineteen years later.
Another club activity that found its roots
in those early years was the Summer Track
Series. Does this plea sound familiar:
"Right now we need record keepers, timers,
starters and participants for the weekly
Wednesday evening track meets at Bowditch
Field. There is a job for everyone,
regardless of age or experience and it is
proving to be a lot of fun." The nature of
the Wednesday track series has changed
somewhat from the early days. Of greatest
significance has been the growth in
participation. For many of those early
years, rarely more than 50 or 60 competitors
would show up. Now, weekly crowds of 150
participants or more is common. Many GFTC
members also participated, especially in the
longer distance races, rather than simply
officiated. And the featured events
included a two-mile run, long jump and
softball throw. Of course, there were no
relay races whose introduction perhaps
signaled a crucial change in the focus of
the Wednesday track meets. The relay events
cater to a much younger, yet extremely
enthusiastic crowd of participants. And
over the years, the focus of the meets has
shifted from adult, performance-oriented
programs to the promotion of the
participation of the youth of the Framingham
area in these low-key meets. Taking
inflation into account, the track meets are
still a great deal. In 1980, with Gerry
Nearman’s son Steve in charge, it cost 25
cents per event to participate, or 50 cents
for two or more events. Twenty years later,
we’re only a dollar for all the events that
you want to run.
As you can see, there is a long history of
the Greater Framingham Running Club.
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