Scanned and OCRed from the original article published in the Winter 1987 Newsletter.

Ex-Presidents (Steve Price, Felix LeBlanc, Ray Olfky, Jack Wallace, George Snyder, Mitzi Henscheid, Wendell Owens) reflect on the early years. Hope you enjoy it!

ORRRC THE BEGINNING 1966-67
By Steve Price

As best as I can recollect, the ORRRC got underway during the winter of 1966-67. Western Kentucky University distance runner, Jack Mahurin was living and teaching in Washington C.H., Ohio and was competing for the Ohio Valley T.C. of Cincinnati.

I had recently married and was in my first year of teaching in Kettering. I had run at Miami University in Oxford and now represented the Dayton Athletic Club. In those days there were fun races in our immediate area and Jack and I felt the need for more events and an organization to sponsor such. We were both aware of the RRC at the national level and thus applied for membership. I believe, I even attended a couple of national RRC meetings (usually held the night of the Boston Marathon), and served on some of the national committees. Jack was our first president and I acted as Secretary-Treasurer for the fledgling club. Most of the races were held near my mother's home on the outskirts of Monroe, Ohio.

We used several of the road courses I had laid out while a student at Lemon-Monroe H.S. It was here that the first "Frostbite Five", "Monroe Marathon' and the "Watermelon Run" were held. The fields in those days were such, that many of the post race functions were held in the living room of my house.

I know we disposed of most all of the watermelon in the front yard after the annual "Watermelon Run". I also remember unhappily that Don Buckey collapsed during a 10K one hot summer day and died on my mother's kitchen floor. Don had had a congenital heart dysfunction which had never been detected.

Wayne Yarcho and I were so concerned about this that we even considered cancelling the rest of the races for that season. Don's family bore no ill will and the ORRRC was mentioned in his obituary.

Besides the Monroe Races, Jay Birmingham held events in Wilmington and at Cowen Lake. As you know, Jay has run across the U.S. and is now living in Florida I believe. Joe Rodgers (now track coach at Ball State) put on races in Oxford Talawanda. I remember Roland Anspach coming up to me at one of the Oxford races and asking if I thought he could be a good runner even though he was over 40!

Dick Blue put on races at G.E. Park North of Cincinnati and Jack Mahurin got a 15 miler started in Washington C.H. Jack is now head of the P.E. Dept at Mississippi State University in Starksville, Mississippi.

We had several interesting People show up at our races including, now world famous, exercise physiologist Dave Costill of Muncie, Indiana. Dave would often bring over 8-10 members of the P.E. Dept of Ball state University.....several internationalists have run on the old Monroe course such as Tom Laris of the NYAC and Ken Spames of V.C.T.C.

We also sponsored the first races for women only and this was back in the late 60's.

Our club started small but eventually grew to over 300 members in the first couple of years and this was long before the running boom. In the early days runners and joggers weren't treated with much respect. I can recall Walt George and I being "egged" as we ran down Wagner road towards Bellbrook.

I can also remember a morning run near the Lebanon Correctional Institute when I was picked up by the guards as an "escapee". I finally convinced them that if I was an escaped prisoner I probably wouldn't be running down the road in a white sweat suit.

In those days runners were the Rodney Dangerfields of the athletic world as evidenced by the following. Old friends Dick Trace and Jim Gerard were out on a Sunday morning run one hot August day and their meandering took' them past a church as it was letting out. The smug members of the congregation were giving disapproving looks, in the direction of Dick and Jim. I believe it was Dick who turned and replied, "We've been closer to God in the last half hour than you'll ever be."

Our club was not the first to sponsor races as the Ohio Valley T.C. under Don Whale, had a large and active membership and the Miami Valley Harriers was in business even before them. The Dayton Athletic Club had been around for a long time too, but was mostly interested in track and field and sponsoring local athletes.

Eventually I left the ORRRC to form the Kettering Strider competitive team program and the University of Dayton cross-country team. Wayne Yarcho, Claire Duckham, Felix LeBlanc, and many others since have led the club to where it is today. It brings me pleasure to know I had a small part in the development of this line organization.

I've been involved in the promotion and coaching of the sport for over twenty years now, but those early years have been the best. There were no huge crowds of 1500 in a race but there was also no prize money to worry about or temperamental "stars" to negotiate with...just a bunch of guys who enjoyed the freedom of trotting down a country road with their friends.

The Early Years
1974-1979
By Felix LeBlanc

Allowing for some memory lapses I am going to attempt to recap some of the events that took place during the early 70's which lead to my stepping in as president of the club in 1974-75.

In those early years the club was very low key. Membership varied from less than 100 to more than 150. Attendance at races also fluctuated between 10 and 60+. The race schedule had events going every other week year round, with longer distances (10+ miles) making up 30% ol the schedule. Monroe. Ohio was one of the most popular venues, with nine races taking place there in 1971 at distances from 3 miles up to the Marathon. The balance of the other events were shared by Wilmington and Kettering. Club operation was a one man show and the budget for the year was less than $1,000!! The whole operation could be handled from the trunk of 1 car.

Basically, this way of conducting club affairs would last until the late 70's. Three years after taking over I attempted to pass on the leadership to Mike Sims. Six months later, Mike passed it back, when an out of state job made him move on. Again in 1978 Joe Rivera took over for a brief period until he too moved out of state. When Joe left I immediately got Ray Olfky involved and this marked the real transition of the club from the one man operation to a board of trustees and the sponsoring of larger events.

There was a period in the mid-70's where we attempted to have handicap awards besides the overall male/female. The handicap was based on past performance time and not age. But computing handicaps grew unwieldy as participation increased and finally it just died away from neglect.

In conclusion, thinking back over the years there are times where I think the simplicity of those low key events would be an advantage, but truly I would have to admit how frustrated I was at times because of the lack of participation both on the running and administering sides.

BEGINNING OF THE PROSPEROUS YEARS
1979-81
By Ray Olfky

Becoming president of the club was an unplanned opportunity when Joe involved in some way. With a little experience, we learned with each event and relied heavily on the wisdom of Felix LeBlanc, Bob Thompson, and others who had done it before.

Although unspoken, it was important lo carry on traditions, the annual races, and try some new ideas.

Our association with Dannon Yogurt presented an opportunity for the club to participate in a national race series. Putting on the race was serious business marked with plenty of fun time preparation. Surrounded by friends we divided responsibilities, opened our creative energies, and put together live years of good Dannon sponsored races.  I am sure people still cherish their belt buckles and toy tractors! How about the course designed by Dave Reid and Rich Davis.

Many other events come to mind as highlights during our time:  Addressing by hand hundreds of envelopes, struggling to come up with a schedule before the old one was out of date, arranging with the Ohio Runner for the members to get subscriptions, hospitality rooms at the Corridor, extra help from the Henscheids,  Woods and Jack Wallace, the last minute phone calls for volunteers....

Alas, we don't live in the past, we need to take care of today, but we do learn from our experiences. Our tour was fun, educational, and marked by close associations which will long be remembered. We've been fortunate to continue an involvement in helping area organizations put on road races. Experiences gained have been multiplied many times over. For this we thank all who helped during our couple of years.

We were glad to serve.

HOW THE LOGO GOT ITS START
1981-83
By Jack Wallace

When I arrived in Dayton in July of 1978 I had just left a running club that was very structured and organized in Atlanta. The center of the club was Jeff Galloway, a 1972 Olympian who knew how to make things happen. I was impressed by this, and when I took over as President of the ORRRC in January of 1981 I wanted to use some of the ideas from the Atlanta Track Club. Having started my running career in New York, I also had the privilege of watching Fred Lebow do his magic.

The first order of business was to running events, more fun events with a social atmosphere. We ventured into more outside sponsorship, something the club had not done before. A lot of these ventures were done because runners were getting more sophisticated and wanted more for their money, than just running and a time at the end of the race.

We also instituted our club logo during this period. A young lady from Ohio State, Julie Beck, designed it for us, and it was an instant hit.

When I left the club, triathlons were added along with ultras which again reflect the ever increasing needs and demands of the 1980's runner. The bottom line is that each president does his/her part to further benefit the club and meet its ever increasing needs.

Reflections 1983-85
By George Snyder

When the club decided to have all the past presidents write about their terms in office the first thing I did to jog my memory was get out a couple of newspaper interviews I did when first elected in 1983. In those two articles, I stated two goals that I had for the club. The first was for more fund raising efforts and the second was for more people involvement.

In looking back at the outcome of both of those goals I have seen much improvement in several ways.

During my two years, our club increased in size tram 420 to 530, club social events doubled in attendance and board membership increased in size and quality as well as did race attendance.

We became involved in working race finish lines for income, the Stroh's Run for Liberty, triathlons, and equipment rentals, Members pitched in and volunteered at races, making them the best in the area. The club has done very well and has continued to do so.

The credit for all this belongs to many people. I know Jack Wallace and Mitzi Henscheid (presidents before and after me) worked harder at the job than I ever did. I was just lucky in identifying people who could contribute to the club's success and asking them to help. These people made things work and the club grew. As our club became bigger and more successful,  getting people to contribute became easier.

ln our earlier days, for example, race directors would go to a trophy store and pick out awards for their race. Think of the possibilities for cost waste etc about this situation, became our first awards chairman and did a great job saving money and improving our awards. I did some overall ground work on organizing the triathlons, but it was the captains and their volunteers who made them into a class event.

We had generated some money into the treasury so we started spending more for locations and food at our club social events and they became very popular.

I was rewarded well for my efforts by the very loyal and appreciative members of the club. I will always cherish my memories of working with the club.

 
MARCH 1985-86
By Mitzi Henscheid

During the months in office as President of the ORRRC, nothing world shattering occurred - i.e., no starting events, no spectacular innovations to report. Things ran efficiently and smoothly thanks in a large part to the Board of Directors and other officers; Jim Gerard, served as Treasurer, and did an outstanding job keeping us on the right track, financially; Jill Buzzard, as secretary and Wendell Owens, as V.P., were stalwarts.

The triathlons were in full swing and well organized by Wendell and Stephanie Owens; the Stroh's Run for Liberty was already in its second year and superbly handled by Ken and Carol Meixner; the Country Classic was moved to Germantown and John Bergman could be counted on for giving us not only a well run race but a beautiful ul challenging course as well. The marathon was in the apt hands of Jim  Borgstrom. Our club newsletter came into it's own under the direction of George Snyder and Dennis Schaeffer also, due to the efforts of George Snyder and Chuck Bair, the Grand Prix series was a rounding success. We had increased a number of 5K events as well as added a couple of 20K races to the schedule. The 5Ks started to become our most popular event; all were directed by different race directors including two outstanding jobs by the Building Bridges Running Groups.

The year as "Prez" went quickly; as did the previous six (6) years serving on the Board as secretary and Vice President. I've enjoyed watching the club grow and mature. The experiences I've shared; the acquaintances and friends l have made along the way have made for a very full life; and, for that, I thank all of you.

PRESIDENT'S COLUMN
By Wendell Owens  (Winter 1987)

I have found this newsletter to be especially exciting and interesting. I hope you feel the same. The ORRRC has changed tremendously since its onset in 1966-67. I thought you might be interested in some statistics from 1986 and then reading about some upcoming events for 1987.

ln 1986, we had a total of 8083 entries for all of our races. The participants ran a total of 32,161 miles in races. The 1986 ORRRC budget was $50,000+! We had 46 club races with an average distance of 3.9 miles per race. The dues have been $12.00 and the entry fee for races was $1.00. The entry fee has remained the same since 1977! ln contrast to this, in 1971 we had a total of 604 entries in club races. They raced 5800 miles during 23 club races. The budget was $480 and dues were $3.00 with an entry fee of .50 cents.