March 21, 2025 • 8 mins
The Boston Marathon is next month, but women weren’t officially allowed to run in it until 1972. Officials said it would shock a woman’s body to run more than one and a half miles at a time! In 1966 one woman began to change all that by sneaking into the race wearing her brother’s shorts and a new pair of men’s running shoes since they didn’t make them for women until a dozen years later. But Bobbi Gibb’s finish time was outstanding.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Have you ever had sort of a big dream for
yourself but we're constantly told by people around you that
it just wouldn't work, you don't have the right stuff. Well,
what did you do about it? Here's the thing. Not
that long ago, despite a lifelong love of running, Bobby
Gibb was disqualified from running one of the world's biggest
marathons simply because she was a woman. I'm Patty Steele
(00:22):
going stealth to run the Boston Marathon. That's next on
the backstory. The backstory is back. The Boston Marathon is
coming up in the next month, and backstory listener Sue
Aller of Oceanside, Long Island turned me on to this story.
But honestly, I was really shocked to hear that women
(00:44):
were totally barred from running in the marathon before nineteen
sixty six. In fact, the longest Amateur Athletic Union or
AAU sanctioned races for women were just a mile and
a half, and until nineteen seventy two, the Boston Marathon
was only an AAU men's race, even though after Bobby's
(01:04):
nineteen sixty six race, women could run unsanctioned. Now, what
was that about and how did it change. Bobby Ghibb
was born in Massachusetts in nineteen forty two. Her dad
was a professor at Tufts University. Even as a little
girl growing up in the suburbs of Boston in the
forties and fifties, Bobby loved to run, particularly long distances.
(01:27):
She actually ran to school almost every day a distance
of eight miles. And get this, she ran in white
leather Red Cross nurses shoes because nobody made running shoes
for women in those days. In fact, they weren't made
for women until nineteen seventy eight when Nike introduced him.
Her dream was to run the Boston Marathon, and she
(01:48):
trained for two years to get ready, covering up to
forty miles a day. In February nineteen sixty six, she
mailed in a letter asking the marathon board for an application.
What she got in return was a letter from the
race director, Will Cloney telling her that women were not
physiologically capable of running marathon distances. He said that under
(02:10):
AAU rules, women were not allowed to run more than
a mile and a half competitively. Bobby says that's when
she realized it was more important than ever to run,
that this would have social meaning way beyond just a
personal challenge. The thinking was that if women ran these
really long distances, it would sort of jumble up their
(02:30):
reproductive organs. Okay, but what to do? Bobby was going
to school in San Diego at the time, so after
a four day NonStop bus trip, she got to her parents'
home in Massachusetts the day before the marathon. Now it's
Patriot's Day, that's the traditional race day in Boston. On
the morning of April nineteenth, nineteen sixty six, her mom
(02:52):
drops her off at around the race's starting point. Bobby's
wearing her brother's Bermuda shorts and a blue hooded sweatshirt
over a black tank top bathing suit. She hides in
the bushes near the starting pen. The starting gun fires,
but Bobby waits until about half the runners have started,
and then she just jumps into the race stealthily. Can
(03:14):
you imagine what her nerves must have been like. It
doesn't take long for the men running near her to
realize that she's a woman. But here's the great part,
they're delighted. Their friendliness and support really encourage her, and
after a short time, she takes off her sweatshirt with
her fellow runners telling her they're not going to let
anybody remove her from the race. The crowd starts cheering
(03:37):
at the sight of a woman running the historically all
male race, and the press starts to cover her progress,
both the newspapers and the radio and television. Bobby isn't
just breaking barriers, She's a speed demon. She runs the
first twenty miles at a less than three hour pace. Now,
the problem is she was running with her newly bought
(03:58):
men's running shoes and they were cutting into her feet,
so her speed began to drop just a little bit.
But Bobby had changed the game. Folks on hand said
they cheered like crazy because they knew she had changed
more than just the race. By the time she reached
the finish line, the Governor of Massachusetts, John Volpi was
there to shake her hand. She finished in three hours,
(04:20):
twenty one minutes and forty seconds. That's an incredible race.
She had beaten two thirds of the runners, all of
them male. Bobby Gibb was the first woman to have
run the entire Boston Marathon. I'm sure her feet hurt.
Though She's recognized by the Boston Athletic Association as the
pre sanctioned Era women's winner, not just in nineteen sixty six,
(04:42):
but also in nineteen sixty seven. In nineteen sixty eight,
she had become front page news. She had recently gotten married,
so one headline said, recent bride is first goal to
run the marathon. Okay, and Sports Illustrated's title for her
story was a game girl in a man's game. Of course,
there were naysayers, including the race director who'd turned down
(05:05):
her request for an application to run. Will Cloney he
didn't even believe she'd actually run. Calling her by her
married name, he said, missus Bingay. That's Bobby did not
run in yesterday's marathon. There's no such thing as a
marathon for a woman. She may have run in a
road race, but she did not race in the marathon.
I have no idea of this woman running. She was
(05:27):
not at any of our checkpoints, and none of our
checkers saw her. For all I know, she could have
jumped in midway, Bobby replied. If you don't believe me,
ask the runners who saw me all along the way,
or the spectators who were cheering me on. I don't
want to get into a public debate with mister Cloney
about it. If he doesn't believe me. That's his business.
(05:48):
Things didn't change immediately. It wasn't until nineteen seventy two
that a women's division was added to the race, and
it wasn't until nineteen seventy eight that running shoes made
for women were first introduced by Nike. Finally, in nineteen
ninety six, during the one hundredth anniversary of the Boston
Marathon and the thirtieth anniversary of Bobby's game changing run,
(06:11):
the Boston Athletic Association officially recognized her three wins in
nineteen sixty six, nineteen sixty seven, and nineteen sixty eight
and awarded her a medal. Her name was inscribed with
the names of the other winners on the Boston Marathon Memorial,
and in twenty sixteen, Bobby was the Grand Marshal of
that year's Boston Marathon. She certainly was and is a superachiever.
(06:36):
In school, she studied pre med philosophy, and math. Then
she got a law degree and served as a legislative
aid in Massachusetts. While raising her family, she worked as
a lawyer and also as a scientific researcher for neurodegenerative
diseases at MIT. In addition, she's an author and a
public speaker. Finally, to top it off, she's an accomplished
(06:59):
painter in school. In fact, she was commissioned to create
a sculpture of herself in bronze that now sits in
Boston along the course of the marathon. Pretty incredible. Bobby
Gibb has a lot to teach us about chasing your dreams.
(07:22):
I want to again thank backstory listener Sue Aller of Oceanside,
Long Island for suggesting the Bobby Gibbs story, and feel
free to dm me if you have a story you'd
like me to cover. Like Sue. On Facebook, It's Patty
Steele and on Instagram reel Patty Steele. Hope you like
the Backstory with Patty Steele. I'd love it if you
would subscribe or follow for free to get new episodes
(07:44):
delivered automatically. I'm Patty steel The Backstory is a production
of iHeartMedia, Premier Networks, the Elvis Durand Group, and Steel
Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser, our writer Jake Kushner.
We have new episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free
to reach out to me with comments and even story suggestions.
(08:05):
On Instagram at real Patty Steele and on Facebook at
Patty Steele. Thanks for listening to the Backstory with Patty Steele,
the pieces of history you didn't know you needed to know.
Have you ever had sort of a big dream for
yourself but we're constantly told by people around you that
it just wouldn't work, you don't have the right stuff. Well,
what did you do about it? Here's the thing. Not
that long ago, despite a lifelong love of running, Bobby
Gibb was disqualified from running one of the world's biggest
marathons simply because she was a woman. I'm Patty Steele
(00:22):
going stealth to run the Boston Marathon. That's next on
the backstory. The backstory is back. The Boston Marathon is
coming up in the next month, and backstory listener Sue
Aller of Oceanside, Long Island turned me on to this story.
But honestly, I was really shocked to hear that women
(00:44):
were totally barred from running in the marathon before nineteen
sixty six. In fact, the longest Amateur Athletic Union or
AAU sanctioned races for women were just a mile and
a half, and until nineteen seventy two, the Boston Marathon
was only an AAU men's race, even though after Bobby's
(01:04):
nineteen sixty six race, women could run unsanctioned. Now, what
was that about and how did it change. Bobby Ghibb
was born in Massachusetts in nineteen forty two. Her dad
was a professor at Tufts University. Even as a little
girl growing up in the suburbs of Boston in the
forties and fifties, Bobby loved to run, particularly long distances.
(01:27):
She actually ran to school almost every day a distance
of eight miles. And get this, she ran in white
leather Red Cross nurses shoes because nobody made running shoes
for women in those days. In fact, they weren't made
for women until nineteen seventy eight when Nike introduced him.
Her dream was to run the Boston Marathon, and she
(01:48):
trained for two years to get ready, covering up to
forty miles a day. In February nineteen sixty six, she
mailed in a letter asking the marathon board for an application.
What she got in return was a letter from the
race director, Will Cloney telling her that women were not
physiologically capable of running marathon distances. He said that under
(02:10):
AAU rules, women were not allowed to run more than
a mile and a half competitively. Bobby says that's when
she realized it was more important than ever to run,
that this would have social meaning way beyond just a
personal challenge. The thinking was that if women ran these
really long distances, it would sort of jumble up their
(02:30):
reproductive organs. Okay, but what to do? Bobby was going
to school in San Diego at the time, so after
a four day NonStop bus trip, she got to her parents'
home in Massachusetts the day before the marathon. Now it's
Patriot's Day, that's the traditional race day in Boston. On
the morning of April nineteenth, nineteen sixty six, her mom
(02:52):
drops her off at around the race's starting point. Bobby's
wearing her brother's Bermuda shorts and a blue hooded sweatshirt
over a black tank top bathing suit. She hides in
the bushes near the starting pen. The starting gun fires,
but Bobby waits until about half the runners have started,
and then she just jumps into the race stealthily. Can
(03:14):
you imagine what her nerves must have been like. It
doesn't take long for the men running near her to
realize that she's a woman. But here's the great part,
they're delighted. Their friendliness and support really encourage her, and
after a short time, she takes off her sweatshirt with
her fellow runners telling her they're not going to let
anybody remove her from the race. The crowd starts cheering
(03:37):
at the sight of a woman running the historically all
male race, and the press starts to cover her progress,
both the newspapers and the radio and television. Bobby isn't
just breaking barriers, She's a speed demon. She runs the
first twenty miles at a less than three hour pace. Now,
the problem is she was running with her newly bought
(03:58):
men's running shoes and they were cutting into her feet,
so her speed began to drop just a little bit.
But Bobby had changed the game. Folks on hand said
they cheered like crazy because they knew she had changed
more than just the race. By the time she reached
the finish line, the Governor of Massachusetts, John Volpi was
there to shake her hand. She finished in three hours,
(04:20):
twenty one minutes and forty seconds. That's an incredible race.
She had beaten two thirds of the runners, all of
them male. Bobby Gibb was the first woman to have
run the entire Boston Marathon. I'm sure her feet hurt.
Though She's recognized by the Boston Athletic Association as the
pre sanctioned Era women's winner, not just in nineteen sixty six,
(04:42):
but also in nineteen sixty seven. In nineteen sixty eight,
she had become front page news. She had recently gotten married,
so one headline said, recent bride is first goal to
run the marathon. Okay, and Sports Illustrated's title for her
story was a game girl in a man's game. Of course,
there were naysayers, including the race director who'd turned down
(05:05):
her request for an application to run. Will Cloney he
didn't even believe she'd actually run. Calling her by her
married name, he said, missus Bingay. That's Bobby did not
run in yesterday's marathon. There's no such thing as a
marathon for a woman. She may have run in a
road race, but she did not race in the marathon.
I have no idea of this woman running. She was
(05:27):
not at any of our checkpoints, and none of our
checkers saw her. For all I know, she could have
jumped in midway, Bobby replied. If you don't believe me,
ask the runners who saw me all along the way,
or the spectators who were cheering me on. I don't
want to get into a public debate with mister Cloney
about it. If he doesn't believe me. That's his business.
(05:48):
Things didn't change immediately. It wasn't until nineteen seventy two
that a women's division was added to the race, and
it wasn't until nineteen seventy eight that running shoes made
for women were first introduced by Nike. Finally, in nineteen
ninety six, during the one hundredth anniversary of the Boston
Marathon and the thirtieth anniversary of Bobby's game changing run,
(06:11):
the Boston Athletic Association officially recognized her three wins in
nineteen sixty six, nineteen sixty seven, and nineteen sixty eight
and awarded her a medal. Her name was inscribed with
the names of the other winners on the Boston Marathon Memorial,
and in twenty sixteen, Bobby was the Grand Marshal of
that year's Boston Marathon. She certainly was and is a superachiever.
(06:36):
In school, she studied pre med philosophy, and math. Then
she got a law degree and served as a legislative
aid in Massachusetts. While raising her family, she worked as
a lawyer and also as a scientific researcher for neurodegenerative
diseases at MIT. In addition, she's an author and a
public speaker. Finally, to top it off, she's an accomplished
(06:59):
painter in school. In fact, she was commissioned to create
a sculpture of herself in bronze that now sits in
Boston along the course of the marathon. Pretty incredible. Bobby
Gibb has a lot to teach us about chasing your dreams.
(07:22):
I want to again thank backstory listener Sue Aller of Oceanside,
Long Island for suggesting the Bobby Gibbs story, and feel
free to dm me if you have a story you'd
like me to cover. Like Sue. On Facebook, It's Patty
Steele and on Instagram reel Patty Steele. Hope you like
the Backstory with Patty Steele. I'd love it if you
would subscribe or follow for free to get new episodes
(07:44):
delivered automatically. I'm Patty steel The Backstory is a production
of iHeartMedia, Premier Networks, the Elvis Durand Group, and Steel
Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser, our writer Jake Kushner.
We have new episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free
to reach out to me with comments and even story suggestions.
(08:05):
On Instagram at real Patty Steele and on Facebook at
Patty Steele. Thanks for listening to the Backstory with Patty Steele,
the pieces of history you didn't know you needed to know.
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