Cutting a Running Legend Way, Way Down
Truly an out-of-the-mouth-of-babes moment for Olympic champion Frank Shorter
My Lutheran High School cross country team was warming up on a damp, drizzly day for the Pat Amato Invitational, hosted by Northglenn High School, sometime in the mid-1990s. While the kids were out running, I noticed standing by himself was 1972 Olympic marathon champion Frank Shorter. Not wanting to miss the chance to talk with an all-time great, I wandered over to chat with him. He said he was there to watch his son, a freshman team member with Boulder High School. His many racing achievements includes a runner-up finish in the 1976 Olympic marathon, too, and he is credited with helping ignite the 1970s running boom. Shorter is also well-known in these parts as one of the founders of the Bolder Boulder 10K road race, which celebrated its 45th running in 2025. As an aside, I first ran it in 1982, among my 22 finishes there. As runners enter the finish at Folsom Field, the University of Colorado’s football stadium, they are greeted at the bottom of the hill by a bronze statue of Shorter in-stride.
My team returned from its warmup and began gathering around us, and Shorter gave them some good advice about how to knock caked-on mud off of their shoes while racing. As the kids drifted off for their final race preparations, one of our top runners, Glen, inquired with me who had been talking to them. I told him it was Frank Shorter. Glen, who had a particularly nasally voice, looked perplexed and asked, “Who the heck is Frank Shorter?” I’m certain the former Olympian could clearly hear Glen. After a short, shocked pause, I explained to Glen that Shorter had won the Olympic marathon, and having spurred the running boom, he might be largely responsible for why we were all there that day. Glen eyeballed this legendary runner, carefully looked him up and down, and proclaimed, “Yeah, sure, Coach, you mean Special Olympics, right?” Oh boy, Mr. Shorter must have felt very, very old!
