A Look Back: Springtime 1976

By David Yon

If you have an interest in the history of Springtime, I highly recommend you read Bill McGuire’s story – Springtime Tallahassee 10K – The First 15 Years.

Linked to this story are the results from the very first Springtime – a four mile race with 106 finishers. A couple of things in these results really standout to me. First, there were only six runners over 39 and only two over 50. The first “over 40” finisher was Leitch Wright. The over 50 group included Don Reed, who was 55, and the venerable Casey Cason, who, at age 65, was well into his tradition of trying to prop up all of the other runners’ egos by finishing last.

Second, there were only 11 runners that I could document as women. Since the results I worked from did not designate sex, I can’t be sure about this number. But I would say at most there could have been 3 or 4 more women finishers. Of course you would not be the least surprised to find the trendsetter was Janice (Gage) Hochstein, who I believe won the event 5 times. The final thing that struck me is how young some of the names who ran this year were back then. Shannon Sullivan, just 22? Never. I found three people who ran both years – Brant Foster was 15 when he ran the inaugural race; Bill McGuire, a spunky 28 for his first of 30 times running Springtime; and Jerry “Unknown” McDaniel. Please let me know if you find others.

1976 Springtime Results