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Three Races with

John McManus 1923 - 2008

By Paul Fetscher

You may have known him as The Silver Fox. His teammates called him Johnny Mac. Since his father was also John, to avoid confusion, the family called him Bart. But his favorite moniker was Pop Pop as he was known to his five grandchildren.

Bayside High School, in the early 1940s, had brothers John and Francis “Frank” McManus as harriers. In one race, Frank tripped on the treacherous back hills of Van Cortlandt Park. As was his style, John went back to help Frank to his feet before continuing.

WWII was his next venture. That brought a stop to his running career; at least for a while.

John’s eldest son, Jack used to run in Central Park. John came to watch. Recalling the days of youth, at 58, he responded to the call of the roads. He became a regular. He joined the Millrose AA. The club had a long heritage of fine Irish runners. Others might speculate that the real reason he joined was because their club colors were blue & white, just like his favorite New York Football Giants team.

Success for the Sunnyside resident came at all distances. After retirement from Greenpoint Savings Bank, John had the training, the time, and the inclination to focus more on his running.

Ann Makoske became his perennial Trivera Twosome partner. They brought home plenty of hardware and great travel memories from track and road races in far flung places.

While New York and Boston Marathons found their way onto his racing schedule, he also found success at shorter distances, all the way down to the mile; both indoors and outdoors. At the age of 67, he won the Fifth Avenue Mile in 5:52. At age 70, a 6:00 mile. At 75, he was an indoor winner at Boston in record time of 6:24.

With the new friends he had met, and his love for travel, he was off to conquer new challenges in far away places. It might be a marathon in Bermuda or a National Track & Field Championship on the hallowed Heyward Field. Jack worked with the sports premier photographer, Vic Sailor. That opened more opportunities to travel and race.

The New York Road Runners Club recognized and rewarded his performances. He was nominated as outstanding runner of the year in his age group, just about every year. While he looked regal on stage receiving his awards, he’d prefer just to get on to the dancing part of the evening.

John loved the Central Park Races. When he was 63, he ran a 5 K in 18:51.

Come springtime and summer, John was off to Long Island for the rounds of village fairs and their full racing schedule.

At a mere 5’ 6”, and 120 pounds, and always a gleam in his eye, he was a bit of an elf … a very fast elf. When you saw John you knew he was always sincerely glad to see you. His face would light up – and he’d exude that fine Irish warmth. You had to love him. Much as he loved the running, he enjoyed the camaraderie afterwards at least as well. He was always ready for a beer, a post race critique and a story.

Roads, track or trails, John and I might turn up at a cross country race in Van Cortlandt, a Summer Series run in Jones Beach, a NYRR half marathon or a Jersey road race. Over 25 years, we've undoubtedly run in literally hundreds of races together. Yet three of them stand out most prominently in my memory.

John had turned 70 before the George Sheehan 10 K in Asbury Park. That’s a highly competitive race. Being the competitor that he was, he was determined to shatter the age group record for 10 K.

I was out at under 7:00 per mile, but John, with his miler’s speed, was off like a shot.

At about 2 miles, I could see John still 50 yards ahead – but wavering. In oxygen debt, he tripped, stumbled and went crashing to the ground, hitting his face on the curb. A few seconds later I was there to pick him up. Nothing broken, but he sure was scraped up. Five seconds later, and he was back on his way.

We spent the afternoon invited to the home of an ailing George Sheehan, with John, beer in hand and bandages on his face, retelling the event with gusto.

That day John brought new meaning to the Irish Blessing, “May the Road Rise to Meet You”.

The second race that comes to mind was on the track. Long Island Track & Field had a time trial at the mile distance. John had just turned 80 and decided to go for another age group record. He wanted to come in under 8:00 to achieve his goal. He asked me to pace him.

We needed 2:00 per quarter mile to hit that. We went thru the first ¼ in 1:54 giving us a couple of seconds into the bank. The ½ was in 3:56; still under pace. During the next lap, John’s stride shortened. We hit the ¾ in 6:02, with the 8:00 still within our grasp. John simply didn’t have it and had the last quarter slowest of all, missing both his self imposed 8:00, but the record 8:06 as well. He was disappointed, but not bitter.

A runner knows there’s always another day. And for John, there certainly was. He came back at the Fifth Avenue Mile and at age 80 popped a 7:41.

A runner also knows that he also always has friends. At the GLIRC Holiday Party, John would share a table with some of the other superannuated seniors. Bill Benson ran just a few seconds over the then mile world record … 60 years ago and is now the holder of the Over 85 National Mile Record at 9:44. George Dennis is a WW POW survivor. Bert Jablon was just joining the club of octogenarians. Now that there were four members showing up at most races, one of them wouldn't be taking home a medal on any given day. That means there’s competition – and that was just fine with John.

The third and final race that stands our in my mind was the 2006 Main Street Mile in Farmingdale. I was working traffic control about 300 yards from the finish. When at 7:00 into the race, John hadn't passed me yet, I ran out to meet him. I picked him up with about ¼ mile to go. He greeted me with a smile. He had the gleam in his eye, but no spring in his step. John was clearly having a difficult day.

After the race, he confided that he had unexplainably lost 12 pounds over the last two months. He had been to his doctor but found nothing wrong. He agreed that a GI specialist might be his next step if he wasn't getting nutrition properly.

That day proved to be his last race. I was honored to run it in with him.

Over the next 16 months, he visited doctors and medical facilities but came up with no diagnosis while John continued to loose strength.

In September 2007, John lost his wife, the mother to their three sons and daughter who had produced those five fine grandchildren. John often had a couple of photos of them handy to show you.

On September 29^th, John attended his last race. Although he needed assistance in getting there, he couldn't miss witnessing the Fifth Avenue Mile.

On January 9, 2008, John reached the ultimate finish line. His race was well run indeed.

John leaves behind his son Jack, his daughter Susan, along with 4 nephews and nieces as marathoners.

But more than that, he leaves behind numerous fine friends he made over that quarter of a century on the roads. Most fittingly, John’s final resting place in Queens is across the street from a beautiful new all weather track.

John McManus in his last race

The Main Street Mile, September 2006

Paul Fetscher is former VP of the NYRRC, board member of GLIRC, Co-Founder of the Warren Street Social and Athletic Club and very proud to have been a friend of John McManus for over 20 years.