Olympic marathon gold medalist Frank Shorter will be inducted into the Honolulu Marathon Hall of Fame, race organizers announced yesterday.
Shorter, 61, has never won the Honolulu Marathon, America's third largest after New York and Chicago, although he ran the race 19 times. Nonetheless, Shorter has attended the event dozens of times and worked as a broadcaster and promoter of the race. He also signed autographs tirelessly as part of the race's Legends of Running program.
"Frank's been coming ever since the '70s, when he was one of the top runners in the world," Honolulu Marathon president Jim Barahal told the Honolulu Star-Bulletin earlier this week. "He's been a great advocate of this event."
Shorter became world famous when he won the 1972 Olympic Marathon in Munich and, along with Bill Rodgers, was largely credited with igniting the running boom of the 1970's in the United States. He first ran the Honolulu Marathon in 1974, finishing fourth behind Jeff Galloway, Kenny Moore, and Duncan MacDonald nearly two weeks after winning the Fukuoka International Marathon in Japan. Shorter's best finish at Honolulu was second place in 1979 when he was beaten by the unheralded Dean Matthews who ran a then-course record 2:16:13.
The Honolulu Marathon Hall of Fame includes the races best marathon runners and event organizers, including race champions Benson Masya, Jimmy Muindi, Mbarak Hussein, Patti Dillon, Carla Beurskens, and Ibrahim Hussein. Shorter will be inducted in a public ceremony at the Honolulu Marathon Expo at the Hawaii Convention Center in Honolulu on Thursday, Dec. 11, at 10:00 a.m.
PHOTO: Frank Shorter relaxes after the 2006 Honolulu Marathon (Photo by David Monti)
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