A native of New England, Jeff and his wife, Maureen, moved to Baltimore in 1984, when Jeff began his teaching career at McDonogh School. After finding Les Kinion’s phone number, which he fondly recalls as serendipitous, he was invited to Peerce’s Plantation for a Saturday morning run, and shortly thereafter joined the BRRC.
Jeff’s running career began with his first high school race in 1969, on a cinder track in Augusta, Maine, where he ran 2 miles in 11:44. Two years later, he became Maine’s 2-mile state champion, 9:48, and in 1972, he was Maine’s 1-mile and 800-meter champion in 4:28 and 1:58.7 respectively. He finished 6th overall, 4:21.7, in the outdoor mile at the 1972 New England meet. During high school, he competed in cross country and basketball every season, in addition to leading his teams as captain.
At Bowdoin College, Jeff ran and lettered three seasons for four years and captained all three sports his senior year. He was the Bowdoin record holder in the [outdoor] mile, 4:11.3, and in the indoor 1000 yards, 2:13 (a distance no longer run). Jeff has run 18 marathons to date including four Bostons and four NYCs. Counted among his Boston bests are times of 2:34.22 (1982) and 2:40.53 (1983), although his PR belongs to NYC, 2:29.14 (1982). In 1987, he ran a 2:30.13 at Twin Cities. His first year in Maryland, Jeff ran the Marine Corp Marathon in 2:38.07 (1984) and followed that one month later with the Baltimore “Mean” Marathon in 2:39.45 for 26th place overall. A favorite race and distance is the Philadelphia Distance Classic half-marathon, where Jeff ran 1:07.51 (1984) and 1:08.31 (1985). Notable 10Ks include the 1984 Rum Run, 30:35, and a 31:25 at the Columbus Chase. A 30:21 finish at the Fort McHenry Tunnel [opening] race gave Jeff a first-place overall win against fellow competitor, Anthony Greir.
Jeff was a member of BRRC’s racing team in the late 1980s and early 1990s and served as club president from 1993-1995. He
has directed numerous club races and founded the Crustacean Crawl, which became a crowd favorite. He actively supported the annual BRRC’s Kids Cross Country event and continues to volunteer at the club’s GPS Cross Country race (usually held on McDonogh’s campus).
From 1994 to 2004, Jeff was head coach of the Maryland Leukemia Lymphoma Society Team in Training. Since his arrival at McDonogh School through 2011, he has coached all three seasons (cross country, indoor, outdoor track) every year. His girls teams have won multiple championships: for eight consecutive years, the girls outdoor track team has been undefeated and has won the outdoor IAAM Championship; three consecutive Indoor Track IAAM titles have been captured; and their first Cross Country Championship was won this past fall. Jeff may have coached as many or more kids than any present coach in the state. A 2009 inductee into the McDonogh Athletic Hall of Fame, he has also been honored as City/County Coach of the Year on multiple occasions.
Jeff’s enthusiasm and passion for running is shared by his family. His wife, Maureen, runs almost daily despite double-knee replacement in 1983. His daughter, Sarah, and son, Rory, both former college lacrosse players, have become avid runners post-college and enjoy marathons and “Billy Goat” trails. Jeff admits to logging 100,000 miles and counting. He states, “…I don’t run for streaks but tend to run all but a handful of days every year….hopefully I have one more [marathon] in there, although it’s not quite as easy as it used to be.”
Congratulations, Jeff, on being selected to the Baltimore Road Runners Club Hall of Fame!
