Countdown to Boston: 26.2 Random Facts About the Boston Marthon: Part 2

For those of you who are counting, it's 4 days until the 119th Boston Marathon. My brain is currently all over the place as I try to wrap it around the fact that in roughly 96 hours, I will be toeing the line in Hopkinton. Since I'm a little scatterbrained right now, rather than providing you with a perfectly coherent post--though let's be honest, I almost never do that--I thought I would just share some random trivia about the oldest marathon in the U.S.

I present you part two of my 26.2 Random Facts About the Boston Marathon. If you missed Part 1, check it out here.
 
14. Technically, the Boston Marathon is only on its fourth race director. Will Cloney became the first official race director in 1946. Prior to that, the marathon was organized by a committee. Cloney served as race director until 1982, simultaneously serving as director of the B.A.A.'s annual indoor track meet. Tim Kilduff took on the role briefly, from 1983 to 1984, followed by Guy Morse from 1985 to 2000. Current director Dave McGillivray took over in 2001. 

15. In the 1950s it cost race organizers less than $2,500 a year to put on the marathon. Today its annual budget is in the millions of dollars. Talk about inflation!

16. Each year the Red Sox hold a day game on Patriots' Day starting at 11:05 a.m. Up until 1953 when the National League Boston Braves left for Atlanta, the two teams alternated the Patriots' Day game every other year.

17. John Hancock became the race's title sponsor in 1986, necessitating a move of the finish line which had been in front of the Prudential Center, home of one of John Hancock's main competitors.

18. Only one B.A.A. member has ever won the Boston Marathon. John J. Kelley (John "The Younger") won the race in 1957, the first, last, and only member of the Boston Athletic Association to do so.

19. In 1897, the B.A.A. awarded finisher medals to everyone who completed the race--all ten of them.

20. The B.A.A. began awarding medals to all finishers again in 1983. Prior to that, only the top runners received medals, although the number of medals awarded ranged from 25 to more than 100.