Product details
- ISBN 9781684750108
- Weight: 445g
- Dimensions: 141 x 219mm
- Publication Date: 15 Nov 2021
- Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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Following an extraordinary debut--17th place in 1911 Boston Marathon--Penobscot Indian Andrew Sockalexis returned to run a spectacular Boston Marathon on muddy, rainy course on April 19, 1912. Only 20 years old, running just his third marathon ever, he came in second and narrowly missed breaking the record time for that course. That same year he became the first Native American to compete in the Olympics, returning to his home of Indian Island, Maine, a champion.
Ed Rice chronicles the tragically short life of Sockalexis--he died at the age of 27 from what was likely tuberculosi--focusing on his running and the races that earned him recognition from the sports community and made him revered at home.
Mike Ryan, who beat Sockalexis in that 1912 Boston Marathon, had this to say about his rival:
"He is a wonder, and when he gains a little more experience he will be a tough one to beat."
Ed Rice grew up in Bangor, Maine, and has been an arts critic for the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram, Maine Times, and Maine Public Broadcasting System’s “Maine Things Considered.” He has taught journalism and communication studies at several colleges, as well as taught high school English and coached cross country. An avid long distance runner who has completed 27 marathons (including eight Boston Marathons), Rice created Bangor’s popular Terry Fox 5-k in 1982 and directed the charity event for over twenty years. In 1997 he ran across the state of Massachusetts (162 miles in seven days) in support of a research fund to help end ALS. Rice is the author Baseball's First Indian and Robin Emery. He also edited If They Could Only Hear Me, a collection of personal essays about the fight against ALS. He lives with his wife, Susan, in St. Stephens, New Brunswick, Canada.
