Consistent with our traditions throughout Boston Marathon Week, we posted this story right this moment, April 7, 2024. With the 128th Boston Marathon developing on April 15, 2024, we’re proud to put up this tribute to the one and solely Larry Rawson, the Voice of the Boston Marathon for the previous 50 years. We thank Ian Eckersley for his great writing and options from Invoice Rodgers and Jack Fultz for Ian and me to catch up. A particular due to Jeff Benjamin for getting us all collectively.
Larry Rawson – 1 Man, 26.2 miles, 50 years of Boston Marathon broadcasts
Larry Rawson, the Voice of the Boston Marathon, this yr celebrates 50 years of calling the enduring occasion initially for radio, then tv. He shares some insights and reflections with runner/author from Australia, Ian Eckersley, a long-time Boston aficionado, two-time Boston Marathon finisher, and former tv sports activities broadcaster.
By Ian Eckersley **
It began manner again in 1974 as a serendipitous ‘fact-checking’ second on the end line of the Boston Marathon throughout the infancy of its broadcast days. But 50 years later, broadcaster and commentator Larry Rawson – The Voice of the Boston Marathon, the esteemed Patriot’s Day race that magnetically attracts over 30,000 runners worldwide – racks up a rare milestone on April 15.
However in spite of everything, if you’ve grown up within the shadows of the well-known Newton Hills and attended Boston Faculty, the place else is Girl Luck more likely to ship you however out into the thick of Boston Marathon motion every April because the eyes, ears, and voice of the 128-year-old occasion?
In between—in case you weren’t conscious—there have been a number of main skilled detours to globally vital occasions and establishments such because the Vietnam Battle (as a Captain and ahead artillery observer seeing frontline motion in opposition to the Viet Cong) and a profitable profession on Wall Road (serving to to construct high-yield bond departments for Lehmann Brothers and Morgan Stanley).
Larry says the lead-up to his wonderful half-century of Boston broadcasting is a “true pinch me” second – the place he permits himself a uncommon indulgence into the ‘ultra-marathon’ journey of his Boston Marathon love affair and the various issues in regards to the occasion which have morphed and remodeled on his watch.
“I’m excited as a result of it’s 50. I actually am. I admit it’s an enormous quantity, and it’s a privilege to have been so deeply concerned in such an iconic occasion for thus lengthy,” says Larry.
“I imply, in our nation, to be completely trustworthy with you, it’s laborious to final a very long time in broadcasting, particularly tv, and I’m grateful that the audiences, ESPN, and my fellow commentators have caught with me and have continued to need to take heed to me and to work with me and to the work I put in.”
But for Larry, the extra issues have modified, the extra they’ve stayed the identical.
As he’s completed for many of the earlier 49 broadcasts, initially for radio and numerous tv networks, together with ESPN since 1976, he’ll arrive in Boston from his house in Naples, Florida, 5 days earlier than Patriots Day. (He initially pitched the concept to PBS to televise the marathon in 1978, they usually raised the cash to fund it with a one-hour nationwide same-day telecast in 1979.)
Like a Michelin-starred chef, he could have been considering, researching, and getting ready a brand new, appetizing sports activities broadcast ‘creation’ for weeks, utilizing components tried, examined, and confirmed through the years—“I all the time attempt to create a number of ‘Wow’ moments with details and figures and data that folks haven’t heard earlier than or won’t hear elsewhere.”
However by the point he hits Boston, he’s on the hunt for some further spices or a remaining layer or two so as to add distinctive taste to every yr’s race – perhaps even a bit of various garnish from final yr’s name and the yr earlier than.
The origin of these items of pizzazz may originate from any continent on this planet, particularly these lands whose runners have provided the dominant Boston Marathon runners in latest a long time—from Kenya and Ethiopia for yearly besides two, since 1991, within the males’s occasion. (The outliers had been Eritrean-born American-raised Meb Keflezighi in 2014 and the extraordinary and idiosyncratic Japanese-born Yuki Kawauchi in 2018.) The African girls have been barely much less omnipresent, successful all however 9 races since ’91.
Larry’s remaining components aren’t sourced from Boston Public Market—they’re extra more likely to be across the motels, the streets, and even across the end line, the place athletes, their brokers, coaches, coaching companions, and marathon-running ‘intelligentsia’ is likely to be hovering and buzzing round.
“I’ll be attempting to speak to the brokers, coaches, and different folks within the know to see if there’s something attention-grabbing I can glean from them in regards to the prime 15 Kenyans and Ethiopians who could possibly be pushing the tempo and within the hunt for victory on the enterprise finish of the race, plus different elite athletes from exterior the USA,” he says.
“Whereas there’s all the time some acquainted African runners (earlier winners Edna Kiplagat and Evans Chebet have returned once more in 2024 chasing extra Boston blue and gold glory) I additionally need to know in regards to the lesser recognized Kenyans and Ethiopians and who is likely to be a brand new rising star. For a wide range of causes, their background can usually be a ‘bit skinny’, so I depend on human intelligence and individuals who know them to assist me put together to create a story and paint an image for race day.
“By way of general preparation, firstly, we as a broadcast staff need to make sure that we’ve acquired the fundamentals proper in regards to the runners and wheelchair athletes, together with identify pronunciation. However I need to know that ‘again story’, some lesser-known slices of their story that may have normal curiosity.
“I used to be lucky to journey to Africa 20 years in the past, and the historical past and trajectory of African runners in endurance occasions are fascinating and extraordinary. However then I ask, ‘What has made them so actually dominant over the past 30 years?’ What are the explanations and elements behind their success, and what has their journey to Boston appeared like? I believe it’s vital for our viewers to listen to and perceive that.”
Perhaps it’s additionally vital for the viewers to listen to and perceive why Larry Rawson has continued to be a fixture of the Boston Marathon for 50 years and what motivates him to maintain doing one thing persistently and to an extremely excessive normal. However you gained’t hear that story from Larry himself.
“It’s not about me—it’s by no means been about me, so far as I’m involved. I’ve all the time stated, ‘I’m just like the physician attempting to ship a wholesome child on the day of the occasion.’ The eagerness for the marathon, Boston, and sharing athletes’ tales remains to be there, and the starvation to share tales on air and to convey insights remains to be there. It’s all the time been this manner—it’s simply the way in which I’m,” he says.
“As for with the ability to recall stats and details – that’s not one thing I ‘prepare for’. I definitely put together and do a variety of analysis and homework earlier than any broadcast occasion, however I’ve all the time been a math man … stuff simply sticks in my mind.”
Whereas there have been many fixed options of the Boston Marathon, together with being the Voice of the Boston Marathon, some issues have modified for ‘Dr. Rawson.’
Like Yr Zero (1974) whereas, a former star miler at Boston Faculty, he grew to become an unintentional broadcaster the place he felt compelled to right factual errors that had been being broadcast about Irish-born race chief Neil Cusack, bailed up the hapless engineer-turned-rookie commentator on the end line and abruptly had a microphone thrust below his nostril and was in a position to competently fill a 45-minute radio slot with native data and normal distance working and coaching insights.
That led to changing into a ‘actual broadcaster’ and Yr One (1975), the place he discovered himself within the again seat of a Rolls Royce, no much less, between the media truck and the lead pack, calling the 1975 race for radio as somewhat recognized native runner named Invoice Rodgers burst from obscurity for his first of 4 Boston victories.
And there was the yr when Larry swapped the Rolls Royce for the again of a bike on one of many colder marathon days. He sat backward, dealing with the runners, carrying a headset and microphone, calmly portray an image of the unfolding race and the roadside colour over the cacophony of sound. In response to famend Boston historian and co-commentator that day, Tom Derderian, who was extra lucky to be within the consolation of the nice and cozy studio, Larry made a colourful on-course correspondent.
“ I requested him: ‘Larry, Larry, what do you see?’ He spoke clearly over the roar of the bike and the shouts of the group. I believe he was struggling on the market within the climate. He might have been shivering, however we by no means heard that in his voice. He’s knowledgeable and an endurance athlete, so he by no means complained and fantastically captured the sights, sounds, and unfolding occasions of the race,” recollects Tom.
So, whereas many issues have modified about how and the place he does his commentary, there appears to be one fixed for the person himself: a surprise and admiration for all the pieces, that’s, the Boston Marathon and, extra broadly, athletics. For Larry – it seems virtually as if he’s like a younger baby seeing the occasion for the primary time. It’s the surprise of human athleticism, large occasion efficiency, the awe within the energy of the thoughts to push the physique to exhaustion, and typically past that retains him energized.
Whether or not it’s the Boston, New York, or Chicago Marathons (he’s known as 46 and 17 of these, respectively, for a complete of 113 World Marathon Majors), the summer time Olympics, the 100-meter monitor remaining (of which he’s known as seven), or 50 years of NCAA meets, Larry nonetheless appears to maintain his thoughts and eyes recent and interesting, which he hopes is mirrored in his commentary.
Whereas every Boston Marathon has been distinctive in its personal manner, like several broadcaster, there are a number of ‘infants’ (broadcasts) for ‘Dr Rawson’ that stick with him and burn brighter in his huge reminiscence: his first ‘official’ name in 1975 (Invoice Rodger’s first well-known Boston win); the Salazar-Beardsley ‘Duel within the Solar’ in 1982; the 2013 race and the Boston Bombing; the ‘comeback yr’ of 2014 with the tear-jerking, brave win of America’s personal Meb Keflezighi; and the memorable 2018 occasion (wind, rain and freezing chilly) gained with kamikaze frontrunning ways by Japan’s Yuki Kawauchi – “Someplace within the subsequent 5 or 10k, someone’s gonna hand this gentleman a piano to hold. That is too quick,” stated Rawson in his commentary, as Kawauchi scorched via the horrendous situations, at one stage at world file tempo! (Kawauchi beat a cultured subject by over 2 minutes in a win that nobody predicted – Rawson’s thoughts boggled on the Japanese runner’s ways because it did for everybody on the day!)
And there’s familiarity and fidelity within the tributes of friends, which have flowed thick and quick on the eve of his broadcast milestone:
Invoice Rodgers (Boston Winner 1975, 1978, 1979, 1980):
“Larry has all the time been one of many most knowledgeable broadcasters of marathon protection within the US. Within the early days of Boston broadcasting, the locals didn’t know a lot about marathons, particularly these concerned within the TV protection. Thank God we had Larry Rawson to succeed in the general public intelligently and insightfully!
Having been a aggressive athlete throughout his Boston Faculty scholar years, he is aware of and understands athletics, whether or not the mile, sprints, subject occasions or the marathon. He’s reached the best degree of broadcasting for sport, having known as a number of Olympic Video games.
Amby Burfoot (1968 Boston Winner):
“As a former New England runner, Larry has all the time strived to report the game with full integrity. Yearly, He has all the time labored laborious to current his broadcast in an attention-grabbing, insightful, anecdotal method to attract in new viewers who didn’t know a lot about marathons and monitor and subject.”
Jack Fultz (1976 Boston Winner)
“Larry is superb at what he does and has been nice for maintaining our sport obtainable, accessible, and related to our ‘fringe followers and spectators’ – those that won’t know the historical past and backgrounds of present athletes, particularly the Kenyans and Ethiopians. We all the time chat at Boston yearly, and I look ahead to doing that once more in 2024.”
The compliments and respect for Larry are graciously accepted and deeply humbling—though The Voice repeats his acquainted chorus: “It’s not about me.”
But his friends beg to vary with The Voice – simply this as soon as. Come April 15, they consider that this time, the highlight ought to shine for a quick time on Larry Rawson in recognition of his skilled service to the occasion earlier than pivoting again to the 30,000 runners, officers, volunteers, civic officers, and spectators who, as all the time, would be the coronary heart and soul of the 128th Boston Marathon.
