Barefoot at Boston Marathon in 1947

from GoldenAger

Howdy Folks

I just got off the phone with Mr. Donald Post also known as "Barefoot" Post.

He ran the Boston Marathon barefoot in 1947, but dropped out after 15 miles when he realized that he was not going to win, "there were just too many professionals and foreign runners that year", said Mr. Post. So, instead of continuing fruitlessly, he decided to go and watch a Boston Braves baseball game instead...barefoot.

He was well-known as a barefoot baseball player who trained barefoot.

He ran the marathon because he thought he had a chance to win.

Here are a few snippets from newspapers of the day:

from The Berkshire Evening Eagle on Saturday, April 19, 1947
(Pittsfield, Massachusetts)

Read the last sentence...

156 Starters In Annual Boston Run 51st Marathon Gets Off in 47-Degree
Weather BOSTON A classy field of including 6 former winners 156, and
the finest foreign delegation in years, started from Hopkinton at noon
today in the 51st renewal of the Boston AA marathon, the city's top
annual Patriot's Day event. A spanking northwest breeze chilled the
runners as they began the 26-mile 385-yard grind to Boston's Back Bay
m 47-degree weather over a hill-and-dale course lined with a Patriot's
Day crowd of some 500 000. Among 28 scratches were two standout
performers two-time winner Ellison (Tarzan) Brown of Rhode Island and
Ki Chung Sohm, one "of three Korean contenders. Brown dropped out
because of a sprained ankle while the Korean, the Olympic
record-holder, was reported ill. Stylianos Kynakides of Greece, last
year's winner, and most of the other favorites were deep in the pack
as the classic got under way. Running barefoot as the field broke
under the starter's gun was Donald A. Post of Rochester, N.Y. He was
the only man to discard shoes.

from The Lethbridge Herald on Wednesday, May 21, 1947 (Lethbridge,Alberta)

Money has been pumped into the Barefoot Runner Enters Marathon
TORONTO. May 21 A. Post won't need running shoes to bound through the
26 miles of the Canadian marathon championship to be held here in June.
He is going to run barefoot. Barefoot Post, as he's called is a 22-year-old
Navy veteran from Rochester. N.Y.. who stars down there in the local
sports club as a barefoot performer in football, basketball, softball
and baseball. Post made his first cross-country attempt, barefoot
style, in the Boston marathon last month, but fell out after a mere 15
miles. Also scheduled to run here are the two outstanding Finnish
marathoners.

BFT...finding new barefoot history