![]() Official Logo of the Boston Athletic Association | |
Formation | 15 March 1887 |
---|---|
Founder | Robert F. Clark |
Legal status | Non-profit (501c3) |
Headquarters | 185 Dartmouth Street, Boston, MA 02116 |
Location | |
President and CEO | Jack Fleming |
Website | www |
The Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) is a non-profit, running-focused, organized sports association for the Greater Boston area. The B.A.A. hosts such events as the Boston Marathon, the B.A.A. 5K, the B.A.A. 10K, the B.A.A. Half Marathon, the B.A.A. Distance Medley (comprising the 5k, 10K, and half marathon events), and the B.A.A. Invitational Mile.
The mission of the B.A.A. to promote a healthy lifestyle through sports, especially running.
Among the nation's oldest athletic clubs, the Boston Athletic Association was established on March 15, 1887 under its first president, Robert F. Clark, and with the support of George Walker Weld and other leading sports enthusiasts, entrepreneurs and politicians of the day.
According to Article II of its 1890 Yearbook Constitution, their objective was to "encourage all manly sports and promote physical culture." The B.A.A. clubhouse on the corner of Exeter and Boylston Streets in Boston's Back Bay was completed in 1888, on the present-day site of the 1970s-era expansion of the Boston Public Library. In addition to such facilities as a gymnasium, bowling alley, billiard hall, Victorian Turkish baths and tennis courts, the Association also owned a shooting range and a country club.
Among the active sports of the day were boxing, fencing, water polo and athletics. The club held its first organized track and field competition in 1890 and in 1897 the first famed Boston Marathon took place. A unicorn was chosen as the Association's symbol and appears on the Boston Marathon medals to this day.
The Boston Athletic Association ice hockey team won the American Amateur Hockey League championship in 1916 and 1917 and the United States Amateur Hockey Association championship in the 1923 season. [1] [2] [3]
The B.A.A. lost nearly 1,000 of its 1,600 members during the Great Depression. In 1935, the organization filed a petition of reorganization under Section 77B of the Bankruptcy Act of 1898. [4] The B.A.A. closed its clubhouse on August 4, 1935 and the building's furnishings were sold at auction later that year. [5] [6] The building was purchased by Boston University. The school planned to turn the clubhouse, renamed the Soden Building, into a modern gymnasium, but a city ordnance prevented BU from building a hall with a capacity of over 300 people in this type of building. It was instead remodeled and housed classrooms. [7] The building continued to be the headquarters of the Boston Marathon for two decades and was torn down in 1959. [8]
Shortly after the B.A.A. went bankrupt, a number of its members created the Unicorn Club to continue the association's indoor games and the Boston Marathon. On January 3, 1936, the Unicorn Club merged with the old B.A.A. to form a new Boston Athletic Association. Unicorn Club president Clarence A. Barnes was elected president of the revived B.A.A. [9]
Walter A. Brown was elected president of the Boston Athletic Association in 1940 and continued until his death in 1964. [10] [11] During this time, the B.A.A. was a commercial enterprise of the Boston Garden, which hosted the association's annual indoor meet. [12] For many years, the B.A.A. Games, not the Boston Marathon, was the association's premier event. It attracted top athletes, including Cornelius Warmerdam, Wes Santee, and Ron Delany. However, as the years went on, attendance declined (dropping from 13,645 in 1960 to 9,008 in 1971) and overhead costs increased, making the meet unprofitable. In 1971, the decision was made to end the BAA meet. [13]
In 1951, during the height of the Korean War, Brown denied Koreans entry into the Boston Marathon. He stated: "While American soldiers are fighting and dying in Korea, every Korean should be fighting to protect his country instead of training for marathons. As long as the war continues there, we positively will not accept Korean entries for our race on April 19." [14]
Brown was succeeded by Will Cloney, who was president from 1964 to 1982. [15]
With the Boston Garden no longer involved with the B.A.A, a new board of directors was formed in 1977. [12] The B.A.A.'s current headquarters is at 185 Dartmouth Street. In 1986, John Hancock Financial Services, Inc. assumed major sponsorship of the Boston Marathon, an affiliation that helped not just the marathon, but also in its year-round community programming until the 2023 marathon, when Manulife's contract was allowed to expire.
The B.A.A. maintains an active running club, organizes the B.A.A. 5K on the weekend of the Boston Marathon, The B.A.A. 10K in June, the B.A.A. Half Marathon in October, and the Mayor's Cup cross country races in Franklin Park in October. The B.A.A. successfully bid to host the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials Women's Marathon, which was run on the Sunday before the 2008 Boston Marathon.
In January 2016, the B.A.A. purchased an office building just yards from the starting line of the Boston Marathon in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. The office building will be used by the association for the registration of runners and services for various B.A.A. events. [16]
In March 2023, Bank of America took over sponsorship of the Boston Marathon.
The B.A.A. organizes an annual relay race for Boston-area middle school and high-school-aged runners that takes place on Clarendon Street in Boston. [17]
The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon race hosted by several cities and towns in greater Boston in eastern Massachusetts, United States. It is traditionally held on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897, the event was inspired by the success of the first marathon competition in the 1896 Summer Olympics. The Boston Marathon is the world's oldest annual marathon and ranks as one of the world's best-known road racing events. It is one of six World Marathon Majors. Its course runs from Hopkinton in southern Middlesex County to Copley Square in Boston.
Hopkinton is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, 25 miles (40 km) west of Boston. The town is best known as the starting point of the Boston Marathon, held annually on Patriots' Day each April, and as the headquarters for the Dell EMC corporation.
Walter Augustine Brown was an American sports executive. He was the founder and original owner of the Boston Celtics, operated the Boston Garden-Arena Corporation, and served as president of the Boston Athletic Association. In ice hockey, he coached the Boston Olympics to five Eastern Hockey League championships, owned the Boston Bruins, and served as president of the International Ice Hockey Federation. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1962, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1965, and IIHF Hall of Fame in 1997.
Jon Willis ("Jack") Fultz is a retired American long-distance runner, who came to prominence in the 1970s after winning the 1976 Boston Marathon, the world's oldest and most established marathon race.
John Adelbert Kelley was an American long-distance runner who twice represented his native country at the Summer Olympics, in 1936 and 1948, and competed in the Boston Marathon over 50 times, winning in 1935 and 1945. He was often dubbed "Kelley the Elder" to avoid confusion with John J. Kelley, winner of the 1957 Boston Marathon; the two men were not related.
Kimberley Smith is a New Zealand middle-distance and long-distance runner who retired in 2016.
Kathrine Virginia Switzer is an American marathon runner, author, and television commentator.
George Vincent Brown of Hopkinton, Massachusetts, was an American sports official. He championed the development of various sports and sporting events in the United States, most notably the Boston Marathon and amateur ice hockey. From 1904 to 1936, Brown served the United States Olympic Team as a manager, official, and coach. In 1919, he became general manager of the Boston Arena, home to indoor track meets, boxing matches, and hockey games, among other events.
Elisha Kipkoech Tanui-Tultul is a world-class runner at distance ranging from 1500 meters to the 24-hour ultra-marathon.
Roberta Louise Gibb is an American former runner who was the first woman to have run the entire Boston Marathon (1966). She is recognized by the Boston Athletic Association as the pre-sanctioned era women's winner in 1966, 1967, and 1968. At the Boston Marathon, the pre-sanctioned era comprised the years from 1966 through 1971, when women, who under AAU rules could not compete in the Men's Division, ran and finished the race. In 1996 the B.A.A. retroactively recognized as champions the women who finished first in the Pioneer Women's Division Marathon for the years 1966–1971.
Samuel Alexander Mellor Jr. was an American long-distance runner who won the 1902 Boston Marathon and competed in the marathon at the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis, Missouri.
The B.A.A. 10K is an annual road running event for men and women over 10 kilometers (6.2 mi) that takes place in June in Boston in the United States. A total of 3040 people finished the race at the inaugural edition.
Dave McGillivray is a U.S.-based road race director, entrepreneur, philanthropist, motivational speaker, author, and athlete.
Benjamin True is an American track and field and cross-country athlete, who competed for Dartmouth College and currently trains in Hanover, New Hampshire, while competing for Saucony and In the Arena. True was the top American at both the 2011 and 2013 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, as well as the 2011 USATF Road Running Circuit Champion, winning the 5 km and 10 km Road Championships along the way.
Thomas J. Kanaly was an American sports executive with the Boston Athletic Association and the Boston Garden-Arena Corporation.
Henry G. Lapham was an American investment banker, oilman, philatelist, philanthropist, and sportsman. He was the founding president of the Boston Garden-Arena Corporation and a major sports promoter in Boston during the 1920s and 1930s.
The 2018 Boston Marathon was the 122nd running of the Boston Athletic Association's Boston Marathon. It took place on Monday, April 16, 2018. The race was held in unusually cold weather at 39 °F (4 °C) with rain. Yuki Kawauchi won the men's foot race in 2:15:58 and Desiree Linden won the women's foot race in 2:39:54. The previous year's times were 2:09:37 and 2:21:52, respectively, reflecting the difficult running conditions this year. Wheelchair winners were Marcel Hug, 1:46:26, and Tatyana McFadden, 2:04:39.
William Thomas Cloney was an American athletics administrator who was the race director of the Boston Marathon from 1946 to 1982 and president of the Boston Athletic Association from 1964 to 1982.
The Boston Athletic Association ice hockey team was an American amateur ice hockey team sponsored by the Boston Athletic Association that played in the American Amateur Hockey League, United States Amateur Hockey Association, and Eastern Amateur Hockey League. The team won the AAHL title in 1916 and 1917 and the USAHA championship in 1923, and the EAHL title in 1926. The team was nicknamed the Unicorn after the association's symbol.
Adam George "Ag" Smith was a Canadian-American ice hockey player and official. After an amateur hockey career in Hamilton, Ontario and Boston, Smith spent 13 years as an official in the National Hockey League.