Oct 17, 2000

A man I'd never known until we traveled to Munich, and never heard from again after we left the 1972 Olympic city, supplied the inspiration for my October column in Runner's World. I called him my "Olympic hero," though he never set foot on an Olympic track are rarely sat down in an Olympic stadium.

Tom Johnson was his name. He spent most of his German time running and walking the forest trails instead of watching others run at the Games. He taught me not to take these events too seriously, which I did at the time.

The column tells much more about Tom -- except what became of him after 1972. Reading about him there brought a bittersweet response from Kathy Clarke, his niece.

"Your article perfectly describes my Uncle Tom," she wrote. "He lived in Washington, DC, and frequently visited us when I was a child. He always ran the 15 or so miles to our house in Rockville, Maryland, and then gathered up his six nieces and nephews and took us running in the neighborhood with him."

Travels on foot were typical of him since he never owned a car. "When I visited him in Washington, he took me to fancy restaurants that he frequented," said Clarke. "The owners welcomed him even though he wore his running clothes everywhere."

She reported that the man who planted her own lasting love of outdoor activity died in 1993. "I am so glad that you saw Uncle Tom as your hero, because he was my hero too. That was the impact he had on people."

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