Oct 22, 2007 Neal Shine - Free Press Marathon Founder By Doug Kurtis

Neal Shine, former publisher of the Detroit Free Press, loved the Free Press Marathon. Without his vision the marathon may have been quite different today. His career at the paper spanned forty years. He died this past April at age 76.img src="https://www.runmichigan.com/mynews/data/upimages/subfolders/doug_kurtis/shine.gif" alt="shine.gif" border="0" width="120" height="151" />

Five years ago, he was interviewed for the marathon’s 25th anniversary. Here’s what he had to say about his history with the event.

The year before our first marathon I was visiting my brother on Cape Cod and we went to the Woods Hole to Falmouth road race. It was my first race and I remember being overwhelmed by how much fun everybody was having, runners and spectators alike.

I was managing editor of the paper and came back and suggested we sponsor our own marathon in Detroit. The late Ladd Neuman, then our sports editor, suggested we run it across the border and make it an international race. The first FP marathon was run the following fall.

What I liked most about the marathon was the satisfaction in seeing the concept become reality.

My fondest memory of the marathon is seeing the first runner in that first race cross the finish line on Belle Isle while the University of Michigan marching band played "The Victors." I think I cried.

I'd like to forget, but never will forget, the scores of complications that emerged during the planning of the first race. The logistical problems were incredible. I slept with a yellow legal pad next to my bed and was jolted awake several times a night with thoughts of more things to that had to be done. I scribbled them down on the pad and went back to sleep to wait for the next problem to wake me. I remember during that time thinking that this was absolutely the worst idea I had ever had.

Nothing will ever be more special than that first runner crossing the finish in that first race.

That first year the marathon office was run by my wife Phyllis with the help of two of our neighbors, Jan O'Leary and Jan Gibney, and our children and their children - a handy total of 13. They worked in the Free Press building late every night in the weeks leading up to the race processing applications, collating material, stuffing envelopes and mailing the packets to the runners while the phone rang incessantly with people who had problems or needed information.

Not all the calls qualified as serious inquiries. One man asked my wife if it was advisable to have sex the night before the race. She told him it was advisable to have sex any time the opportunity presented itself, including the night before the marathon.

On the morning of the race these three women and my daughters ran the information table at the starting line. When one runner turned up without a number and said God had instructed him the night before to run the race, my wife told him if he wanted to run the race he would have to get a number from God because it was too late to get one from her. He took the bus back to Detroit.

The toughest thing to accomplish in the first race was getting the tunnel people to agree to close the tunnel for the race. It had never been closed in its entire history and they were not easily convinced to close it for a bunch of people to run through it. I really believe they thought they were dealing with crazy people because only those who had taken leave of their senses would even suggest such a thing. They have been our solid partner ever since.

The best idea was to make it an international race.

The last time I ran I was trying to catch the Clairmount streetcar when I was late for a date with my girl friend. I caught the streetcar and the girl. We got married in 1953. I have not had a serious reason to run since that time.

The race has done nothing but get better since that first year, thanks to the hard work of hundreds of people at the Free Press, their families, the running community, the sponsors and the officials of the cities through which the race passes. They are and will continue to be the strength of the Free Press Marathon.