Prior to the start of the 1969 cross-country season, the University of Vermont’s new cross-country coach, Bill Nedde, was looking for a meet for his team to begin the season. After talking to his assistant coach, Ed Kusiak, the two decided to put on a five-mile road race that would not only kick off the 1969 season, but also honor UVM’s recently retired long-time coach, Archie Post. Thirty-five years later, the race still is going strong and has the distinction of being the oldest foot race in Vermont. The 35th running will be held Saturday, September 6, 2003 at 9:00 a.m.
The 1969 Archie Post race attracted 33 runners and consisted of members of the UVM team, along with a few members of the local running community. It began just north of Kwiniaska Golf Course, went north on Spear Street and finished next to the Gutterson Field House. The same course was used for the next 20 years. Mike Gallagher of Rutland, a four-time Olympic cross-country skier and Janet Bristol of Burlington, who would represent the United States and finish sixth in the 1970 World Cross-Country Championships in Spain, were the male and female winners of the inaugural race.
Over the years, winners of the Archie Post race represented the “who’s who of Vermont distance running.” Winners included UVM alumnus John Dimick of Brattleboro, a three-time Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier who had a marathon best of 2:11:53; Judi St. Hilaire of Lyndon, a 1980 UVM graduate who later became a 1992 Olympian in Barcelona at 10,000 meters; Olympic skiers Beth Paxson and Todd Boonstra and local Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier Jim Miller. Kathy Aragon, Peter Millard and Bruce Teague were also winners. Course record holders are Judi St.Hilaire, who set a women’s best of 27:30 in 1980, and Jim Miller of Essex Junction, who recorded the men’s best with a 24:22 clocking in 1981.
The 1980 Archie Post race attracted 273 entries, which is still the largest field ever. With new NCAA rules of the 1980’s prohibiting college runners from running in in-season races, the UVM connection disappeared and the Archie Post race starting fields dwindled. Soon, though, a resurgence in running and in local road racing made the race popular again, and with the solid backing of the Green Mountain Athletic Association the starting field has grown to over 100 runners. Steve and Cathy Eustis of Essex Junction, members of the GMAA, are now the race directors. It is their goal break the record of 273 entries for this year’s special 35th anniversary race.
Who is this guy Archie Post, who had a race, as well as an athletic field adjacent to Gutterson Field House at UVM, named after him? Many people do not know Archie Post, the rock-solid individual who guided the cross-country and track and field program at UVM for 40 years, from 1929 to 1969. Born on May 18, 1904 in Hinesburg, Archie Post won eight varsity letters before graduating from UVM in 1927. Post began his coaching career at his alma mater in 1929.
Those who participated on Archie Post teams remember “Archie,” as he was affectionately called by his teams, as a father figure. Larry Damon of Waterbury Center, who graduated from UVM in 1955 and went on to ski in four winter Olympics as a cross-country skier and a biathlete, and recorded a tenth-place finish in the Boston Marathon says, “Besides being a father figure, Archie was a coach and educator. Archie was highly respected by his peers and his athletes and he reminded his teams on many occasions that they had the honor of representing the University of Vermont,” he says.
As part of that representation, Archie insisted that his athletes travel to away meets in a coat and tie. For those who showed up to the bus forgetting or trying to bend the rules, they were left at the curb as the bus drove off. “Archie was strict, but not unpleasant,” says Damon.
Damon also recounts a story that affirmed Archie’s policy to represent UVM in the manner he thought appropriate. While warming up for a track race, Archie approached Damon. Thinking that Archie wanted to talk strategy, Damon listened intently as Archie told him, “You can run just as fast with your shirt tucked in.” Damon tucked in his shirt and went on to win three events that day.
Prior to the early 1970’s, first-year students were not allowed to run on varsity teams; instead, there were freshman teams which competed against other freshman teams or local high school teams. Fresh out of high school in 1960, Leighton Walker joined the UVM cross-country team that fall. Walker admits that his high school practices consisted of getting out of sight of the coach and perhaps taking it a little more easy once in a while. Walker recalls one of his first training runs at UVM. After leaving the “old gym” (now the Royal Tyler Theater), Walker reverted to his high school habits of trying to take an “easy day,” when a car approached and out jumped Archie, who admonished Walker, saying, “If you want to represent the University of Vermont, you had better start running faster.” Walker learned this lesson well and he now coaches the distance runners at Essex Junction High School.
Ray Allen of South Hero was the captain of the 1958 cross-country team that won both the Yankee Conference Championship (consisting of the six New England state universities) and the New England Championship. Of the top seven members, five were native Vermonters. Allen said nobody was able to get anything by Archie. After giving blood one day during the season, Allen told Archie that three or four team members had given blood and that perhaps practice should be canceled. Looking Allen right in the eye, Archie said, “Well if you gave blood, you should be a pound lighter, so you ought to be able to run a little faster.” Practice went on that day.
Both Damon and Allen talked about Archie’s insistence that the English language be used correctly. Those who had a hard time complying were forced to ride with a cigar-smoking assistant coach named Larry Gardner, who was a former major league baseball player and UVM’s varsity baseball coach. Gardner and Post were friends and Gardner volunteered to be the assistant cross-country coach. One runner, Danny Mossman, was forever relegated to ride with Gardner. Not only do Damon and Allen now laugh at this story, but Archie’s daughter, Jean Post-Lamphear, who lives in Shelburne, simply says, “That was Dad—he was a real stickler that the English language be spoken correctly.”
During the cross-country season, the UVM team traveled seven hours to the University of Maine for a dual meet. Allen says that part of the reason for this choice of scheduling was so Archie could check on his deer camp near Bethel, Maine. After all, he had to make sure all was well, as he would be returning there once the season was finished.
During the later part of his life, when Jean Post-Lamphear spent time with her father, he talked often of all the members of his teams and referred to them as his surrogate sons. She said he was forever dedicated to their well being.
Allen went to Maine to visit Archie only months before he died. Archie asked Allen if he would take care of his funeral service. He wanted nothing fancy, but merely wanted to be remembered by the people who knew him. “Being asked by Archie Post to plan his funeral was the best honor I have ever had,” says Allen.
Archie Post is remembered as a coach, educator, and a father figure. As Larry Damon says “Archie Post certainly knew how to coach, but I will always remember the lessons I learned from him during my four years at the University of Vermont. They are lessons that I still use today.”
Archie Post was certainly more than intervals and long runs.
Larry Kimball’s recollections of Archie Post are that he was a man who always had a kind word of encouragement, a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye. Kimball is recently retired from Verizon and is the womens’ cross-country coach at St. Michael’s College. He lives in Burlington.