By Clarice Burger
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Frank Charles Shorter (born October 31, 1947) is an American former long-distance runner who won the gold medal in the marathon at the 1972 Summer Olympics and the silver medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics. His Olympic success, along with the achievements of other American runners, is credited with igniting the running boom in the United States during the 1970s.
Frank Shorter was born in Munich, Germany, where his father, physician Samuel S. Shorter, served in the U.S. Army. He grew up in Middletown, New York, where a street was named in his honor (Frank Shorter Way). Frank Shorter Way was formerly part of the Orange Classic 10K course route, which Shorter won in its inaugural race in 1981. After earning his high school diploma from the Mount Hermon School in Gill, Massachusetts, in 1965, Shorter graduated from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, with a Bachelor of Arts degree (B.A.) in 1969, and the University of Florida College of Law in Gainesville, Florida, with a Juris Doctor degree (J.D.) in 1974.
In the October 2011 issue of Runner’s World, an article by John Brant detailed the traumatic household life Frank and his siblings suffered at the hands of his extremely abusive father and the buckle end of his belt. With the publication of the Runner’s World article, Shorter began to elaborate on stopping similar cycles of violence in more detail and in public.
Shorter first achieved distinction by winning the 1969 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) six mile run title during his senior year at Yale. He won his first U.S. national titles in 1970 in the three mile and six mile events. He also was the U.S. national six mile/10,000 meter champion in 1971, 1974, 1975 and 1977.
From 2000 to 2003, Shorter was the chairman of the United States Anti-Doping Agency, a body that he helped to establish.
Shorter was inducted into the United States Olympic Hall of Fame in 1984, the USA National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1989, and the National Distance Running Hall of Fame in 1998.
Previously a long-time resident of Boulder, Colorado, Shorter co-founded the Bolder Boulder in 1979. The annual 10k race is a popular Memorial Day event, which culminates with a tribute to U.S. Armed Forces at Folsom Field at the University of Colorado. A life-size bronze statue of Shorter stands outside the stadium.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Friday, October 31, 2025
Halloween (October 31) originated with the ancient Celts, who, beginning at sundown on October 31 and extending into November 1, celebrated Samhain (pronounced sow-in, which rhymes with cow-in), which marked the end of harvest time and the beginning of the new year. The ancient Celts believed that at this time, the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead was at its thinnest, thereby making it a good time to communicate with the deceased and to divine the future.
In later years, the Irish used hollowed-out, candlelit turnips, carved with a demon’s face to frighten away the spirits. When Irish immigrants in the 1840s found few turnips in the United States, they used the more plentiful pumpkins instead.
Question of the Day
Advice of the Day
Home Hint of the Day
Word of the Day
Puzzle of the Day
Born
- John Keats (poet) –
- Richard Morris Hunt (architect) –
- Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman (author) –
- Ethel Waters (actress) –
- Lee Grant (actress) –
- Dan Rather (newscaster) –
- Michael Landon (actor) –
- Brian Piccolo (football player) –
- Frank Shorter (runner) –
- Jane Pauley (broadcast journalist) –
- John Candy (actor) –
- Peter Jackson (director) –
- Rob Schneider (actor) –
- Mike O’Malley (actor) –
- Eddie Kaye Thomas (actor) –
- Samaire Armstrong (actress) –
Died
- Harry Houdini (magician) –
- George Halas (football coach) –
- Federico Fellini (filmmaker) –
- River Phoenix (actor) –
Events
- Martin Luther affixed his 95 Theses to door of Wittenberg Castle Church –
- Nevada admitted to the Union as the 36th state –
- After 14 years of work, drilling was completed on Mount Rushmore, near Keystone, South Dakota –
- The U.S. naval destroyer Reuben James was torpedoed by a German submarine and sunk off the coast of Iceland, despite the fact that the U.S. was not at war with Germany –
- Indian Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, is assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards in New Delhi. Rajiv Gandhi is inaugurated as his mother’s successor –
- Due to ice build up on its wings, an American Eagle commuter plane crashed in Roselawn, Indiana, killing all 68 passengers and crew members aboard –
Weather
- The temperature at Minneapolis, Minnesota, reached 83 degrees F –
- New York City experienced an October high temperature of 95 degrees F –
COURTESY www.almanac.com
