When I started running, I was a twenty-five-year-old married veteran. There was one running magazine, which didn’t seem to come often enough. Black and white photographs. Remember I looked at a pic of Phil Camp on the move, six-one, one-fiddy-five, looking like a big-footed mustachioed crane who got startled from behind and I thought, he’s just like me. Except, except I never got fast and couldn’t rock the headband. – JDW
Ok Jack, hope this is of interest. No head bands or mustaches these days, but I still have my hair!! Running is far more of a social get-together today. I’m not too keen on racing.
When did you start running and why?
My first two years of high school, I didn’t even know there was a cross-country team! I was a puny kid who had to be heads-up on the beach, so some muscle-bound guy wouldn’t kick sand in my face! In the early ’60’s, the JFK Fitness program was being implemented and our PE class was required to do an “endurance” run every Friday. I was way ahead each week and held the record for my period, so my name appeared on a chalk board in the entrance to the locker room.
The course was 3/4 of a mile around the athletic fields and the track, I was running it around 4:00 minutes. The coach wanted me to come out for track, but my back got screwed up and I could barely walk for a few months. Finally came out for XC in the Fall of ’63.
Yeah, I remember that JFK Fitness Program. Your coach asked you to go out for track, while my coach made me run with the slow girls.
Toughest opponent and why?
Hard to say, a tie between Frank Shorter and Bill Rodgers. I was never really that competitive with Frank and was actually sad when I passed him in the ’80 Trials. He was injured and at that point was just running to finish. I had more of a friendship with Bill. As most people know, he’s a great guy and loves to talk!
I was warming up before the ’82 Seoul International Marathon when I realized there would be no safe place to leave my warm ups. All of the sudden a bus rolled up and a group of elite runners including Bill stepped out! I waved and Bill called out, “Phil, come with me!” We rode a short distance to a school gym, where everyone was assigned a locker for their clothes and we could warm up on a track. The bus took us back to the starting line and we stepped in front of a massive group just before the gun went off. Bill was only pacing his girlfriend at the time and wished me well, I was probably the first uninvited runner in 10th place in a 2:19.
Most memorable run and why?
The ’79 Marine Marathon was the amazing for me. To win a race put on by our Marine Corps was such an honor for a Navy Lieutenant! I was watching The Today Show (may have been Good Morning America) the next morning and they showed a video clip of the finish and mentioned my name. I was blown away.
Later the Navy sent a Public Affairs Officer and an enlisted photographer, Steve Harris out to Whiting Field where I was assigned as a Flight Instructor. They shot video of me running, taxiing out to fly and actually put the photographer in the front seat of my T-28 for some airborne footage. I did a barrel roll and some aileron rolls with Steve twisting around in the front seat shooting my picture throughout the maneuvers. Steve turned around and finally said, “I think I’ve got enough, Lieutenant!” He was ready to puke!
The Navy Newsreel video was shown throughout the Fleet and a photo of my finish appeared on the inside cover of the Navy’s All Hands magazine. My CO proudly taped a copy of the picture to the door of his office! Later, a “Face in the crowd” award from Sports Illustrated was presented to me by the local Mayor of nearby Milton, FL.
I had a Letter To The Editor in SI once. About the swimsuit issue.
Biggest disappointment and why?
Missing the Boston Marathon in ’79. I had trained very hard and was really ready for a fast time when I suffered a calf strain some weeks before. Of course, a close friend of mine was able to go and established a PR that he never bested! I finally got to run Boston in ’80 but it was too hot for me and I only ran a 2:21 for 29th.
The 1979 Boston Marathon was a record breaker, there is little doubt. Fourteen men broke 2:15 (ten had done so in ’78). Fifty-four went below 2:20, surpassing 1978’s record of 32. Fifty-seven Americans reached the Olympic Trials qualifying standard of 2:21:54 – Frank Shorter, who placed 79th, missed the mark by just two seconds. The once formidable 2:30 barrier was breached by 286 athletes.
The women shattered some marks themselves. For starters, 520 females had qualified for the race by having run sub-3:30. Here, fifteen bested 2:50′ and 2:55:23 was worth no better than 25th. Benoit’s record was more than 35 minutes faster than Nina Kuscik’s winning time in 1972.
So, yeah, it was a bit of a flyer, but maybe everybody just got better that year.
What would you do differently if you could do it again? Why?
I would probably have skipped Boston in ’80 and perhaps been stronger for the Olympic Trials, which were a little less than four weeks later. I also regret not running more track meets earlier on and lowering those PR’s.
I always look back and wish I could have done better.
Favorite philosopher?
I really don’t have a favorite philosopher. I’ve tried to live by a philosophy about doing things today, so that in the future, I won’t have regrets when I look back on my past and say, “I should have tried to do this or that.”
Quote?
“This to shall pass.”
Special song of the era?
“Goodbye, Yellow Brick Road.” I was also a big Cat Steven fan!
Favorite comedian?
Rodney Dangerfield. We were both late bloomers!
Personal records?
880 – 1:57.
Mile – 4:07.6.
2-mile – 8:54.
3-mile – 13:39.
5000m – 14:16.
6 mile – 28:47.
10,000m – 29:57.
1 hour run – 12 miles, 69 yards.
Marathon – 2:13:46.
What was your ‘best stretch of running’?
1973 to 1980 for the Marathon.
And so why do you think you hit that level at that time?
I think I had finally matured as a runner and gained enough experience to race smarter. Once I got my flight deck running behind me, I became more consistent with my training! I actually had a good stretch running my last three sub-2:20 marathons in ’82, starting with the Manila race against Cierpinski, then winning a race in Taiwan in 2:18 and finishing with the 10th up at Seoul, all in two months.
Unfortunately, as the rainy season was finishing in the Philippines, I made a bad decision to race again in Manila in the heat and high humidity of the dry season. It was a “local” marathon to mark Ferdinand Marcos’s birthday. I had a ten-minute lead with about two blocks to go when I collapsed with heat exhaustion. A close friend of mine, JAG Lieutenant John Rolph came to my aid and called for a medevac flight from Subic Bay. I was so thankful and proud to pin a Navy Commendation Medal on the man who saved my life. How many people get to do that?
Two blocks to go? That is so gangster. Did John Rolph get the medal for saving you?
Yes, I was taken to a small local clinic in a coma. When my wife arrived, they sent her to a local drug store to buy IV fluids, so they could start treatment. Ultimately, John found me, chased away some local photographers and sent people to bring back ice. He then called our Base in Subic Bay to inform them of my condition and a medevac helicopter was dispatched to the US Embassy to take me to Clark AB. My Squadron Skipper heard about my fate and raced to Clark AB from Subic Bay in record time. He was in the ER when I regained consciousness.
What was your edge?
Everyone used to tell me my long stride was an advantage but hauling around a pair of size 13’s was never an easy task, and now size 14’s at age 71!!!
Because you’re you...Tell me about running in the military, Commander?
I really enjoyed my years in the Navy; I would have stayed beyond my 22 years if I could have. As a Student Naval Aviator, I actually got connected to my current wife when I checked with the Base Recreational Services office to apply for the Inter-Service Track Meet. When I returned my application, the receptionist handed me a picture of her little sister with a phone number! I finally called her after I returned from the meet. We dated for just over six months and when I finished training, Judy pinned my wings on. I asked her to marry me before I left Pensacola, but it was not meant to be. In 2017, forty-five years later, Judy and I were finally married.
Phil, I am gonna get hate mail from a bunch of old ladies, if we leave a forty-five-year gap in your love life.
I always felt that Judy was the love of my life and I asked her to marry me before I left Pensacola. Years later she would tell me that she was too immature to make the right decision. I think it had a lot to do with her religion. After I left, she started dating another flight student who was baptized in her church. They were married several months later into a loveless unhappy marriage that ended in a divorce seven years later!
By the time I went on my first cruise, I had pretty much given up on dating in the United States. It wasn’t like Tom Cruise in “Top Gun!” I met a beautiful girl in the Philippines, married her and immigrated her to the US. I adopted two Filipino boys, her son and an orphan nephew, but we never had children of our own. Over the years life got more and more stressful with my first wife. I reconnected with Judy and finally divorced my first wife in 2016. Judy and I got married soon after and are very happy together.
I told somebody, the third marriage is the best. My current wife said, then I can hardly wait for my next one.
Running with a Navy shirt always gave me that extra ounce of pride and drew cheers from the sidelines, “Go Navy!” The Navy would fund me to the Inter-Service meets and other National Championship meets. I still had to do my job and compete for promotions by accepting assignments to “enhance” my career, my training runs were done on my own time, usually before or after a long day, especially during my time as a flight instructor.
I trained in a lot of interesting places, considering my eleven years outside the Continental US. While assigned in the Philippines, I was able to compete against Waldemar Cierpinski in the ’82 Manila Marathon. President Ferdinand Marcos wanted to pit Cierpinski against an American Champion, and Bill Rodgers got the invite! Bill told me later there was a bit of a disconnect with the Manila folks because he was already committed to run Tokyo. Bill came to town and made a few appearances with Waldemar and then left for Japan,
I became the uninvited American contender to take on the East German star. Cierpinski and I met running along Manila Bay several weeks ahead of the race. His coach invited me to do a training run the next morning and I gladly accepted. Cierpinski didn’t speak much English but was very pleasant throughout, so we were not strangers during the race.
Running at the head of the pack was nerve racking, motorcycles with sirens and a convertible with Kathy Switzer and a local sportscaster! I stayed with Waldemar for 10k and then backed off to remain in a comfortable second place. He ended up running a 2:14 with me next at 2:19.
Why the headband? And don’t tell me sweat. That was a very specific look.
In the early years the headband was to keep the long hair out of my eyes! The latter part of the Vietnam War, Admiral Zumwalt softened a lot of grooming regulations. Longer hair, mustaches and beards were allowed in an effort to enhance the morale of a large number of draftees on active duty. As a young single Naval Officer it was difficult to even get a date with a girl outside of the Officer’s Club. Long hair and bushy mustaches helped us close the gap when competing with the civilian “hip” guys for the affections of the local women! After Zumwalt retired, the draftees were rapidly departing and the regulars tightened up. Beards finally left the scene around ’84.
What was your highest mileage? Why?
Seventy to 80 miles a week on average. I would do two or three 100-mile weeks in preparation for an upcoming marathon.
I’m surprised in these days of social media how the achievement of total lifetime miles are recognized. When I went out for XC in ’63, no one told me to log those miles. Don’t get me wrong, I’m impressed by how old running pals kept track, especially Mark Covert’s book, Never Missed. I trained to race when I had time to train, wherever I was in the world.
I think I told Amby Burfoot that we have a given number of miles to run and it’s up to us as to how quickly we use them up. Twenty-five, thirty, or fifty-plus years, who knows? These days, running is my daily stress test,
I have two coronary artery stents and got a pacemaker three years ago for Bradycardia, an abnormally low heart rate.. I wear a heart monitor when I run and when I ride my bike! I’m currently healing a strained calf but hope to get back to my 15 – 20 miles weeks very soon. I also ride a road bike to augment my fitness.
Just before I injured my leg, my cardiologist made some adjustments to my pacemaker to the algorithm that controls the rate of how quickly the heart rate increases to a given value. Still a work in progress!
Still a work in progress. Just like me.
I salute you, sir.