Shorter, Frank C.
Track and Field
b. Oct. 31, 1947, Munich, Germany
The son of an American doctor who was working in Germany, Shorter attended Yale and won the NCAA 6-mile championship in 1969. He was the AAU national 3-mile champion in 1970, the 6-mile champion in 1970 and 1971, and the cross-country champion four years in a row, from 1970 through 1973.
Shorter began running the marathon in 1971, when he won gold medals in that event and in the 10,000-meter run at the Pan-American Games.
After winning the marathon in the U. S. trials, Shorter returned to his native Munich for the 1972 Olympics. The Olympic marathon started very slowly and Shorter, who usually preferred to run from behind, decided to set a faster pace. He took the lead at the 15-meter mark and held it the rest of the way.
When Shorter entered the stadium to run the final lap, he was stunned to hear jeering and boos, but they weren't meant for him. A hoaxer had run into the stadium a few minutes earlier, pretending to be the marathon winner, and security guards were hustling him away. When the crowd realized that the real winner was on the track, the jeers turned to cheers.
Shorter finished fifth in the Olympic 10,000-meter run against what was considered the greatest field ever assembled for that event. He was given the 1972 Sullivan Award as the nation's outstanding amateur athlete. In 1976, Shorter won a silver medal in the marathon, becoming the first runner ever to win two Olympic medals in the event.
A recurring foot injury forced Shorter to retire from serious competition in 1979. He founded a company that designs and manufactures running apparel and he has frequently done television commentary.