There are runners and athletes that we can all admire for their speed, for their grace, for their dedication - those that race with purpose. There are fewer still that we admire as human beings - those that live with purpose. One such person for me is John Sweeney. I met John five years ago at a local race in Scarsdale, NY, The Scarsdale Historical Society’s Fall Foliage 5K. It’s a local race with a small turnout that happens to take place on an afternoon that exemplifies fall here in the Mid Atlantic states. It’s cool, sometimes cold, breezy, sometimes blustery and always smells of the inevitability of the season’s change and provides a brief preview of what the conditions may be like two weeks hence for the upcoming NYC Marathon.
John was an elder gentleman with an infectious smile, quick to come up and introduce himself and help out with anything that needed to be done to make the little race enjoyable for all. Each year after that, I would look forward to the annual race knowing John would be out there running his easy pace with his contagious personality. Two years ago, the race came up short of medals for the age groupers. John was there when we figured this out and came back with a medal of his own to swap in at the last minute. It was his age group medal from the Boston Marathon. I looked at it, and with my jaw hanging open wide, I said, John, you can’t use this, this is from the Boston Marathon. He said, “Oh is it? I have a boxful of medals that are just sitting there, at least this one will go to good use.”
John saw life at its best and at its worst. John was a WWII veteran who served in the Army and fought in three major battles, including the Battle of the Bulge. During his service he helped to liberate a concentration camp, earned two bronze stars, the Silver Star for bravery and two Purple Hearts. In his later years, he founded a local softball team and in 1980 he and four others crossed the Atlantic Ocean from Connecticut to Ireland in a 40-foot sailboat. He ran over 30 marathons and collected more medals than an admiral. John was a coach in both sport and in life who touched the lives of many, including mine.
Without ego, without agenda and without attitude, John had plenty of what makes up the best in human beings and runners. In a privileged community like Scarsdale, where your address, who you know, where your child will go to college and how much money you make defines a person’s identity, John was a pure ray of light that pierced through those dense perspectives to illuminate what was truly important, a blue sky filled with hope, fun, opportunity and a true joy for living each day as if it was your last.
John was buried at Arlington National Cemetery with full honors on March 2, 2007. On October 14, 2007 at 2:30pm, the Scarsdale Historical Society will once again hold its Fall Foliage 5K Race. The John Sweeney Trophies will be presented to the first overall 5K Race female and male finishers. We miss you John - See ya at the start!
