A former BRC member who now lives in another state returned to Bradenton on vacation and met Joe at the beach for a long run. In a few miles the run was interrupted for breakfast and then many miles later for lunch. We all used to assume that a long run with Joe included one meal, but not two. This was a few years ago, but this former member still owns the bragging rights to multiple meals during a long run with Joe. He has helped a lot of people train for and run their first marathon, and these people are easily identified by their need to eat during long training runs.

I’m sure Joe doesn’t remember, but when I first showed up on Tuesday for the library run, he was the first person I met, and it didn’t take long to realize he was the pivotal guy everything seemed to revolve around. In those days club runs were a little more congenial than competitive. Everyone seemed to start off together talking and then later broke into smaller groups. Joe may not have even realized it, but he was usually the core of the larger group. Even now, have you ever seen Joe run alone?

It must be fate! If Joe had not had Dan Forbes (founder and first president of the BRC) on his mail route, things might have been a lot different. Joe hadn’t done much running, maybe a little bit in the Air Force, but he noticed that Dan was receiving race applications, newsletters, and running magazines. Catching him in the yard one day, Dan explained that he and some others had started the BRC about three months earlier. Who would have guessed at that point Joe would become the most constant thread through BRC history. He was there at the beginning, and if we don’t see him this Sunday and Tuesday, someone will always ask, “Where’s Joe?”

Born and raised in Bradenton, Joe is definitely a Florida boy. He left Manatee High to join the Air Force. You would think the most memorable thing about his Air Force duty was his scary year in Vietnam, but probably the major event was meeting Jan while stationed in Charleston, SC. After the Air Force and some time at Manatee Community College, Joe returned to Jan in Charleston. Three years later he graduated from the Citidel with a degree in psychology. Joe and Jan (now married) returned to Florida, and after trying several small business ventures, he started what is now a 30 year career with the Post Office. We know he currently has a rural route with many miles between deliveries, which has enabled him to listen to almost every book that has been put on tape. If you notice on Tuesdays, Joe always parks in the library parking lot because he is exchanging tapes he has listened to for new ones.

Most of you have met Jana and Jared. They are, of course, Jan’s two adult children. Joe claims some credit, but Jana is beautiful and Jared tall and handsome. You do the math! We all have seen the kids at races. What you may not know is that Joe has probably promised them $50 to join him.

Joe and his posse were responsible for the 6 p.m. Tuesday library run. Jim Duval, Dan Zuber, Julann Retzlaf, Mary Stein, Dave Rogerson, and Joe were known affectionately as the “6 o’clockers.” Our Tuesday run began as a 7 p.m. 3 miler which was increased to 6 miles later on. Joe and friends, in an effort to increase their mileage in preparation for marathons, started running at 6 p.m., and then when others showed up at 7 p.m. ran the Palmetto course again with them. More and more people started running with the “6 o’clockers” and eventually the later run was eliminated and our 6 p.m. library run became official. Early BRC newsletters featured pictures of Joe with other runners. It was always a coup to get your picture taken with him. If there was a race in Tampa, St. Pete, Jacksonville, Brandon, the Keys, or really anyplace, Joe was the man to contact. Everyone was always anxious to do out of town races with Joe. During the years he has done races at every distance including 17 marathons. The fastest one was 3:24 at Jacksonville which qualified him for his first Boston Marathon in 1995. The following year he joined a bunch of BRC runners for the running of the 100th Boston. Many of his marathons were right here in Florida – Disney, Jacksonville, Brandon and Sarasota – but he also has traveled to Milwaukee and Chicago for out of town races.

There are many theories as to the origin of the Sunday long run at the beach. It is true that the reason it’s called by many the Sunday beach run is because Joe always insisted on actually running on the beach. I’ve been told that when Jim Duval returned from New Hampshire each fall he’d call Joe, Holly Hollinsworth and Dan Zuber to run at the beach. This run grew in number and evolved into our BRC Sunday run. Every so often Joe is still able to convince somebody to run back on the beach with him. There has to be a pretty good reason for Joe not to show up on Sunday morning. The Bradenton Herald even captured him running alone at the beach during the early stages of what turned out to be a major hurricane. That was a Sunday the rest of us boarded up and stayed home.

You will notice from the photographs that it is difficult to get a picture of Joe alone because he always draws a crowd!