Este mes, celebramos a los fundadores de NYRR y de nuestros eventos y programas

The NYRR Founders 3.3M on January 24 honors four pivotal figures in our history: Joe Kleinerman, Ted Corbitt, Fred Lebow, and Grete Waitz. Each made an indelible impact on our organization and the world of running and will never be forgotten. Get to know these four extraordinary founders and honor their lives and legacies.

Joe Kleinerman (1912–2003)

As a boy growing up in NYC, Joe Kleinerman attended the Millrose Games with his older brother, and fell in love with running. He ran at DeWitt Clinton High School, and after a year at City College became an assistant coach with the Millrose Athletic Association. He finished 10th in the Boston Marathon in 1941 and 1942 and served in the U.S Army during World War II.

Joe continued to run and coach at a time when distance runners were a small, eclectic group. In 1958, the 40-odd founding members of NYRR, then known as Road Runners Club – New York Association, elected Joe their vice president.

Joe became the head coach of Millrose in 1967. After his retirement from the U.S. Postal Service in 1968, he stepped up his work (mostly unpaid) for NYRR, serving as registrar and managing endless organizational tasks as NYRR grew exponentially during the 1970s, 80s, and 90s. At the time of Joe's death at age 91 in 2003, the organization had over 40,000 members.

“Joe Kleinerman gave more of himself to promote long distance running than any of the rest of us would consider doing under any voluntary circumstances,” wrote Ted Corbitt. “He had a great humanitarian heart.”

Ted Corbitt (1919–2007)

Known as “the father of long distance running,” Ted Corbitt was NYRR’s first president, the first African American to compete in the Olympic marathon, a renowned physical therapist, and the inventor of accurate course measurement. He completed 223 marathons and ultramarathons and ran more than 200,000 lifetime miles. 

Born in South Carolina, Ted moved with his family to Cincinnati as part of the Great Migration of Black Americans in the first half of the 20th century, and then to New York City following his service in World War II. Despite facing racism and discrimination, he was a national champion in the marathon and a member of the 1952 Olympic marathon team. In 1947 Ted joined the New York Pioneer Club, NYC’s first integrated running club, and in 1958 he became the founding president of NYRR.

Ted fought for inclusivity throughout his life and believed that running was for all races, genders, ages, and abilities. His pioneering course measurement work professionalized the sport and leveled the playing field. Ted kept competing at a world-class level into his 80s, running 68.9 miles in a 24-hour run at age 82.

Learn more about Ted at tedcorbitt.com, a site maintained by his son, Gary Corbitt.

Fred Lebow (1932–1994)

Fred Lebow came to running relatively late, joining NYRR in his mid-thirties to improve his tennis game. Born in Romania, he survived the Holocaust in his early teens and immigrated to the U.S. as a rabbinical student. He later managed an improv theater in the Midwest before moving to NYC and establishing himself in the garment business.

Fred finished second-to-last in his first NYRR race but was soon encouraging the tiny club to put on a marathon in Central Park, a vision that he and NYRR president Vince Chiappetta realized in 1970. That first New York City Marathon had 55 finishers. Two years later, Fred was at the helm of NYRR, running the growing organization out of his $69-a-month Manhattan apartment. He eventually quit his garment district job and in 1976 he oversaw the expansion of the New York City Marathon into a five-borough event with more than 2,000 participants from around the world.

The marathon and NYRR kept growing year after year under Fred, who stayed true to his conviction that running is for everyone, everywhere. Diagnosed with brain cancer in 1990, Fred ran the 1992 New York City Marathon while in remission, finishing in 5:32:34. He died two years later.

The 2019 TCS New York City Marathon was the largest-ever marathon in history, with 53,640 finishers.

Grete Waitz (1953–2011)

Born in Norway, Grete Waitz became a world-class middle-distance track runner and Olympian as a teenager. By age 25, competing at a time when the longest international track distance for women was 3000 meters (1.8 miles), Grete was ready to retire. At her husband’s urging, she accepted an invitation to run the 1978 New York City Marathon as a “rabbit”—she would lead the women’s field at a fast early pace, then drop out.

Instead, Grete finished the marathon in a world record time of 2:32:30. She raced again in 1979, running 2:27:33—the first women’s sub-2:30 marathon in history. She won a total of nine New York City Marathons, a world championship, a slew of other major races, and an Olympic silver medal.

After retiring in 1990, Grete coached, wrote fitness books, and became involved with NYRR’s fledgling youth running efforts. She became the founding chair of the NYRR Foundation, which pioneered a free fitness program at a Brooklyn middle school in 1999 and has evolved into our Rising New York Road Runners nationwide free youth fitness program that serves more than 240,000 kids across the country and more than 100,000 in NYC. Despite announcing in 2005 that she was battling cancer, Grete continued to work tirelessly for youth fitness and other causes. She died in 2011.

We are forever grateful to these and other NYRR founders for their vision and pioneering efforts to make NYRR and running what they are today.