Essay About Fred Lebow And New York City Marathon

Anything for a T-Shirt
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Almir Kolari
POL 100
How was the NYC Marathon conceived, and why does it give the Big Apple its happiest, most unifying day of the year?
Fred Lebow was a showman. He liked action. He liked attention. Originally born Fishl
Lebowtiz on June 6, 1932 in Transylvania, Romania he did something that was beyond belief.
He is the father of the worlds greatest foot race, The New York City Marathon. Lebow
transformed the marathon from a small race with 55 finishers in 1970 to one of the largest
marathons in the world with over 30.000 finishers today. Lebow proved to the world that
ordinary people can run in a marathon. Lebow survived the Holocaust after the German army
arrived late in the war in his Transylvanian town near the Hungarian Border. Lebow migrated to
America, studied at the Yeshiva Torah in Brooklyn, and opened an improvisational theater in
Cleveland.
Upon his return to the Big Apple, Lebow organized the first New York City Marathon in
1970. His “Jewishness” definitely contributed to his lifelong goal of “inclusiveness.”Long
before he emerged as the master promoter, the only sport Lebow played was tennis. Most of his
tennis matches were against his roommate, Brian Crawford. Never being able to win a match
against him Lebow joined a health club. Being bored of lifting weights, Lebow was told that he
should start jogging and was a recommendation was around the 1.577-mile oval track of Central
Park, reservoir. Enamored of running, he became a regular in going the distance around the
reservoir.
With an ” Whatever I want, I get” attitude, Lebow directed the Cherry Tree Marathon, which is
also considered the mother of The New York City Marathon. The race started at the Yankee
Stadium across the MacCombs Dam Park, site of other Road Runners Club races. People were
literally throwing rocks at the runners, and this encouraged them to move its location. Seeing
that no attention is being given to the race, Lebow visits the New York Times, but no one
showed any kind of interest. However, when told that Ted Corbitt would be running things would
change.
The New York Times ran an article about the race and Lebow learned something he
would apply down in the road in promoting his marathon party, the importance of the big names.
The race was won by a fireman, Gary Muhrcke, with a 2 : 31: 38 and the award was a $10 watch.
Lebow paid for the awards from his pocket. With the marathon growing from year to year,
Lebows entrepreneurial mind, told him to take his project a step further. The idea came to him
on framing a five borough party. The marathon would not only be a vehicle of showcase running,
but it would also boost the New York Citys economy which was in a deep downturn. A boost to
his dream came from borough president Sutton, who requested Lebow that if the proper police
protection and the money was offered would Lebow stick with his idea. Lebow accepted this idea
and the next step was who would sponsor the race. Rudin Management Companybecame on the
first sponsors, offering twenty thousand. . Knowing that it would not be enough Lebow turned to
other sponsor. He wrote a letter to Citibank and no interest was shown by them. Than he turned
to Manufacturers Hannover Bank and the vice president thought ” Wouldnt it be wonderful to
have thousands of people running around New York City in our T-shirts?” He offered five
thousand dollars. However, Lebow requested eight thousand to nine thousand. Deciding not to
press for more he proposeda barter deal for the airlines sponsorship, suggesting that Finnair fly
some ten to fifteen top European runners and have European offices publicize the five-borough
marathon in European running clubs. Seeing the marathons business as potential Finnair agreed.
George A. Hirsch, thepublisher of the New York Times became a sponsor, offering five thousand
dollars. Himself a runner, he thought it was the right thing to do. He later would be the publisher of the Runners World magazine.
The idea itself had its weaknesses. A question that would come up would be how the
New Yorkers would respond to something this strange. The marathon was drawn up to be of a
distance of 26 miles, 385 yards, including all the five boroughs. Doubts were raised, of how
many runners would sign up, how would people react to closed bridges, and streets, would the
streets be wide enough and the thoughts of half-naked people running around the streets. To this
the race, organizer had no