Mike Rossi (born May 1967) is a disc jockey and former television host who gained national notoriety in 2015 after qualifying for the Boston Marathon with a time that later came under heavy scrutiny, resulting in widespread accusations that he had cheated in his qualifying race.
In the 1980s, Rossi was one of the dancers on Dancin' On Air . In 1986, one of the hosts quit, and 36 hours later Rossi was appointed one of the co-hosts of the show at the age of 18. [1] The show was canceled in 1987. [2]
In 2015, Rossi ran in the Boston Marathon, and brought his wife and nine-year-old twins on the trip to Boston from their hometown of Abington, Pennsylvania. He subsequently received a form letter from his children's principal informing him that a family vacation was not an excusable reason for absence, and that the school days his children missed would be marked as unexcused. Rossi then wrote a response to the principal, which he never mailed, but did post on Facebook; the post went viral, and was shared by over 28,700 people within a week. [3] [4]
After appearances on the Today show and Fox & Friends, controversy erupted over how Rossi qualified for the Boston Marathon. Rossi had submitted a qualifying time of 3:11 that he had supposedly run in the Lehigh Valley Health Network Via Marathon. The organizers of the Lehigh Valley marathon, in turn, asked USA Track & Field to assist with investigating allegations from other marathoners that Rossi had cheated in the marathon. In exploring Rossi's race history, other marathoners noticed that a 3:11 marathon was inconsistent with all of Rossi's previous publicly-available marathon results. [5] There also were no photos of Rossi actually participating in the Lehigh Valley marathon except at the finish line; he was the only finisher who was not photographed on the course. [6] Most other runners were seen in 10 or more pictures taken along the way by a company hired to take photographs of the runners. [7]
The editors of LetsRun.com concluded that the evidence was "overwhelming" that "Rossi did not run the entire 2014 Lehigh Valley Marathon." [6] The organizers of the Lehigh Valley Via Marathon sent LetsRun a statement explaining why they could not disqualify Rossi's time, stating it was "simply because they received no reports of wrongdoing as the race took place." They also stated that "there is data from Rossi's participation in other racing events indicating that Rossi's time may not be accurate." [6]
The founders of LetsRun.com publicly offered Rossi $100,000 if he could repeat his 3:11 performance within one year of the offer. [8] Meanwhile, the organizers of the Lehigh Valley Via Marathon announced that they had taken several steps to verify runner participation and timing accuracy after the Rossi incident. The only prior timing mats at the Via marathon were at the start and finish line. The marathon committee added four on-course timing mats and video surveillance at several locations that Via began archiving. [9]
In 2015, Rossi was twice elected as "Philadelphia's Biggest Loser" by Philadelphia magazine. [10] (ahead of Bill Cosby) and in 2016. [11]
On June 25, 2016, Rossi was tailgating prior to a Kenny Chesney concert at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia in Lot K, which opened up to tailgaters at 10 am. Around 5 pm, when he was asked to "move along" several times by venue security, he refused, and when police arrived on the scene and made the same request, Rossi refused again, and was arrested for criminal trespass. [12] At his court appearance two weeks later, a Philadelphia magazine reporter approached Rossi, who told reporters that he was not Mike Rossi. Rossi's identity was immediately confirmed by a court official. [13]
On August 19, 2017, Rossi was arrested outside the Wells Fargo Center for allegedly punching a 47-year-old woman following a Tim McGraw and Faith Hill concert. Rossi later posted to his Facebook page admitting he had "a hellish past 2 1/2 years," and "most of it I brought on myself and I take full responsibility." [14]
On January 5, 2020, Upper Gwynedd Township law enforcement officers were called to the scene of a domestic disturbance. Upon their arrival, Rossi physically assaulted both officers, who sustained minor injuries. [15] Rossi punched one of the officers in the face, which led to her colleague tasering him. [16] The officers took Rossi into custody and charged him with aggravated assault, simple assault, harassment, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest. [15] Rossi spent three days in jail, and was freed after posting $25,000 bail. [17]
In August 2021, Rossi pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated assault and was sentenced to three years' probation. [18]
The Lehigh Valley is a geographic and metropolitan region formed by the Lehigh River in Lehigh and Northampton counties in eastern Pennsylvania. It is a component valley of the Great Appalachian Valley bounded to its north by Blue Mountain, to its south by South Mountain, to its west by Lebanon Valley, and to its east by the Delaware River and Warren County, New Jersey. The Lehigh Valley is about 40 miles (64 km) long and 20 miles (32 km) wide. The Lehigh Valley's largest city is Allentown, the third-largest city in Pennsylvania and the county seat of Lehigh County, with a population of 125,845 residents as of the 2020 census.
William Henry Rodgers is an American runner, Olympian, and former record holder in the marathon. Rodgers is best known for his four victories in both the Boston Marathon, including three straight from 1978 to 1980, and 4 straight wins in the New York City Marathon, between 1976 and 1979.
Rosie M. Vivas was a Cuban-American fraudster who, among other schemes, was declared the winner in the female category for the 84th Boston Marathon in 1980, only to have her title stripped eight days after the race when it was discovered that she had not run the entire course. She is believed to have jumped onto the course about a half-mile before the finish.
Jacqueline Gareau is a Canadian runner who won the Boston Marathon on April 21, 1980. Gareau led the women's field for most of the race, only to find another runner, Rosie Ruiz, wearing the traditional victor's laurels when she crossed the finish line. Ruiz was later disqualified after it was determined she had cheated and did not run the entire race. Gareau was awarded the victory in a special ceremony one week later. Her official time for the 1980 marathon, 2:34:28, was the fastest time recorded for a woman in the event's history at the time.
Ryan Hall is a retired American long-distance runner who holds the U.S. record in the half marathon. With his half marathon record time (59:43), he became the first U.S. runner to break the one-hour barrier in the event. He is also the only American to run a sub-2:05 marathon. However, this time is not eligible to be a record due to the course being point-to-point and a net-downhill course. Hall won the marathon at the 2008 United States Olympic trials and placed tenth in the Olympic marathon in Beijing.
Team Hoyt was the athletic duo consisting of Dick Hoyt and his son Rick Hoyt from Holland, Massachusetts. The Hoyts competed together in marathons—including over 30 editions of the Boston Marathon—and Ironman Triathlons. Rick had cerebral palsy. During competition, Dick pulled Rick in a boat during swims, carried him in a seat in the front of a bicycle, and pushed him in a wheelchair as they ran. Team Hoyt were inducted to the Ironman Hall of Fame and were recipients of ESPN's Jimmy V Award.
Kathrine Virginia Switzer is an American marathon runner, author, and television commentator.
The Utah Valley Marathon (UVM) is an annual marathon foot-race in Northern Utah held on the first Saturday of June. The marathon course is USA Track & Field (USATF) certified and is a Boston Marathon qualifier.
Hannibal Amir Buress is an American comedian, actor, producer, and writer. He started performing comedy in 2002 while attending Southern Illinois University. He starred on Adult Swim's The Eric Andre Show from 2012 to 2020, and was featured on Comedy Central's Broad City from 2014 to 2019. He is also known for his October 16, 2014 stand-up routine, which brought the sexual assault allegations against Bill Cosby to public attention and outcry, for which he was lauded.
Jesmuel José Valentín, is a Puerto Rican professional baseball second baseman and shortstop for the Québec Capitales of the Frontier League. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies.
John Duncan Semple was a Scottish-American runner, physical therapist, trainer, and sports official. In 1967, as a race official for the Boston Marathon, he attempted to stop the 20-year-old marathon runner Kathrine Switzer from continuing to run and knocked down her coach when he tried to protect her. Switzer was officially entered in the race in accordance with the Boston Marathon's rule book, which at that time made no mention of sex. Semple subsequently claimed that amateur rules banned women racing for more than 1.5 miles (2.4 km). He subsequently oversaw implementation of qualifying times in 1970 and, in response to lobbying and rule changes by the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), the implementation of a separate women's race in 1972.
The Boston Marathon bombing, sometimes referred to as just simply the Boston bombing, was a domestic terrorist attack that took place during the annual Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013. Brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev planted two homemade pressure cooker bombs that detonated near the finish line of the race 14 seconds and 210 yards (190 m) apart. Three people were killed and hundreds injured, including 17 who lost limbs.
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms are a professional ice hockey team based in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The team competes in the American Hockey League (AHL) and serves as the primary development team for the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League.
Marathon course-cutting occurs when runners complete less than an entire course of a marathon before going over the finish line. The standard length of a marathon course is 42.195 kilometers, about 26.2 miles. Course-cutting may be intentional or unintentional and can be achieved by various means: when done intentionally, course-cutting constitutes cheating.
Mike Rossi or Michael Rossi may refer to:
Victor Joseph Mete is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the American Hockey League (AHL) while under contract to the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League (NHL). Mete was selected 100th overall by the Montreal Canadiens in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft.
Derek Murphy is an American blogger and journalist known for writing the Marathon Investigation blog that investigates suspected cheaters at marathons, triathlons and other running events.
The 1986 Lehigh Engineers football team was an American football team that represented Lehigh University during the 1986 NCAA Division I-AA football season. In the first year of play for the Colonial League, Lehigh tied for second place.
LetsRun.com is a Fort Worth-based news website and internet forum for information and discussion related to track and field, especially long-distance running. The website provides pre-race previews, covers races, and interviews athletes.
Joseph Kamau is a former professional long-distance runner from Kenya who finished second in the 1997 Boston Marathon and third in the 1996 New York City Marathon.
