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Bunion Derby: The 1928 Footrace Across America
On March 4, 1928, 199 men lined up in Los Angeles, California, to participate in a 3,400-mile transcontinental footrace to New York City. The Bunion Derby, as the press dubbed the event, was the brainchild of sports promoter Charles C. Pyle. He promised a $25,000 grand prize and claimed the competition would immortalize U.S. Highway Route 66, a 2,400-mile road, mostly unpaved, that subjected the runners to mountains, deserts, mud, and sandstorms, from Los Angeles to Chicago. The runners represented all walks of American life from immigrants to millionaires, with a peppering of star international athletes included by Pyle for publicity purposes. For eighty-four days, the men participated in this part footrace and part Hollywood production that incorporated a road show featuring football legend Red Grange, food concessions, vaudeville acts, sideshows, a portable radio station, and the world's largest coffeepot sponsored by Maxwell House serving ninety gallons of coffee a day. Drawn by hopes for a better future and dreams of fame, fortune, and glory, the bunioneers embarked on an exhaustive and grueling journey that would challenge their physical and psychological endurance to the fullest while Pyle struggled to keep his cross-country road show afloat.
"In a wild grab for glory, a cast of nobodies saw hope in the blacks who escaped the poverty and terror of the Old South; first-generation immigrants with their mother tongue thick on their lips; Midwest farm boys with leather-brown tans. These men were the 'shadow runners,' men without fame, wealth, or sponsors, who came to Los Angeles to face the world's greatest runners and race walkers. This was a formidable field of past Olympic champions and professional racers that should have discouraged sane men from thinking they could win a transcontinental race to New York. Yet they came, flouting the odds. Charley Pyle's offer of free food and lodging to anyone who would take up the challenge opened the race to men of limited means. For some, it was a cry from the psyche of no-longer-young men, seeking a last grasp at greatness or a summons to do the impossible. This pulled men on the wrong side of thirty from blue-collar jobs and families."--from the Preface
"In a wild grab for glory, a cast of nobodies saw hope in the blacks who escaped the poverty and terror of the Old South; first-generation immigrants with their mother tongue thick on their lips; Midwest farm boys with leather-brown tans. These men were the 'shadow runners,' men without fame, wealth, or sponsors, who came to Los Angeles to face the world's greatest runners and race walkers. This was a formidable field of past Olympic champions and professional racers that should have discouraged sane men from thinking they could win a transcontinental race to New York. Yet they came, flouting the odds. Charley Pyle's offer of free food and lodging to anyone who would take up the challenge opened the race to men of limited means. For some, it was a cry from the psyche of no-longer-young men, seeking a last grasp at greatness or a summons to do the impossible. This pulled men on the wrong side of thirty from blue-collar jobs and families."--from the Preface
256 pages, Hardcover
First published October 15, 2007
1 person is currently reading
71 people want to read
About the author
Charles B. Kastner
5 books4 followersI’ve been in love with the running for over forty years. The process of running on my own two feet has a primal, and, at times, spiritual appeal to me. I’ve competed in hundreds of races from ultra-marathons to five-kilometer runs. I’ve experienced the preverbal runner’s high, but nothing I’ve done comes close to the Herculean effort required by the men who ran in two long forgotten footraces across America, nicknamed the bunion derbies. These races took place in the twilight of the 1920’s when the nation was a buzz with Lindbergh’s solo flight across the Atlantic and all records seemed there to be broken.
For the past fourteen years, I’ve studied and written about these epic footraces. My first book about the 1928 race—Bunion Derby: The 1928 Footrace Across America—was published in 2007. My second about the 1929 race—The 1929 Bunion Derby: Johnny Salo and the Great Footrace across America—will be published this spring. The runners who competed in these trans-America races pushed themselves to the point of physical and mental collapse. Those that persevered to run the 3,500-mile distance across America are a constant reminder to me of the untapped sources of human potential that rest within each of us.
In my latest book, forty-three veterans from the first bunion derby return for a second try at trans-America racing. On March 31, 1929, these veterans joined thirty-four rookies in New York City for the start of the second and last Bunion Derby. Racing over mountains, and across deserts and prairies, the “bunioneers” pushed their bodies to the breaking point. The men averaged forty-six, gut-busting miles a day during seventy-eight days of non-stop racing that took them from New York City to Los Angeles in the waning months of the Roaring Twenties, just months before the Wall Street crash started the nation on its descent into the Great Depression.
The forty-three veterans dominated the race, after having learned hard-won lessons of pace, diet, and training during the first race. Among this group, two brilliant runners, Johnny Salo of Passaic, New Jersey and Pete Gavuzzi of England, emerged to battle for the $25,000 first prize along the mostly unpaved roads of 1929 America, with each man pushing the other to go faster as the lead switched back and forth between them. Chasing them relentlessly, was Eddie “the Sheik” Gardner of Seattle, an African American who showed remarkable courage as he faced down the endemic racism he encountered on a daily basis.
To pay the prize money, race Director Charley Pyle cobbled together a traveling vaudeville company, complete with dancing debutantes, an all-girl band wearing pilots’ outfits, and blackface comedians, all housed under the massive show tent that Charley hoped would pack in audiences. This is the story of, arguably, the greatest long distance footrace of all time.
To see a video trailer of the book, view it on YOU TUBE at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b17pxI...
For the past fourteen years, I’ve studied and written about these epic footraces. My first book about the 1928 race—Bunion Derby: The 1928 Footrace Across America—was published in 2007. My second about the 1929 race—The 1929 Bunion Derby: Johnny Salo and the Great Footrace across America—will be published this spring. The runners who competed in these trans-America races pushed themselves to the point of physical and mental collapse. Those that persevered to run the 3,500-mile distance across America are a constant reminder to me of the untapped sources of human potential that rest within each of us.
In my latest book, forty-three veterans from the first bunion derby return for a second try at trans-America racing. On March 31, 1929, these veterans joined thirty-four rookies in New York City for the start of the second and last Bunion Derby. Racing over mountains, and across deserts and prairies, the “bunioneers” pushed their bodies to the breaking point. The men averaged forty-six, gut-busting miles a day during seventy-eight days of non-stop racing that took them from New York City to Los Angeles in the waning months of the Roaring Twenties, just months before the Wall Street crash started the nation on its descent into the Great Depression.
The forty-three veterans dominated the race, after having learned hard-won lessons of pace, diet, and training during the first race. Among this group, two brilliant runners, Johnny Salo of Passaic, New Jersey and Pete Gavuzzi of England, emerged to battle for the $25,000 first prize along the mostly unpaved roads of 1929 America, with each man pushing the other to go faster as the lead switched back and forth between them. Chasing them relentlessly, was Eddie “the Sheik” Gardner of Seattle, an African American who showed remarkable courage as he faced down the endemic racism he encountered on a daily basis.
To pay the prize money, race Director Charley Pyle cobbled together a traveling vaudeville company, complete with dancing debutantes, an all-girl band wearing pilots’ outfits, and blackface comedians, all housed under the massive show tent that Charley hoped would pack in audiences. This is the story of, arguably, the greatest long distance footrace of all time.
To see a video trailer of the book, view it on YOU TUBE at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b17pxI...
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 13, 2016
I really enjoyed this book. This is a fascinating look at an event that is not well known. I felt like I was on the road with the athletes and found myself wondering more than a few times how the human body contained the endurance to accomplish such a feat. I'm sure I probably would have fallen out on the first day. Yet 55 of them made it all the way from California to New York and I am glad the author decided to tell their stories. Unfortunately most of them shall remain nameless.
June 10, 2015
The Bunion Derby, the life and times, American history alive.
Byline: The Book Reviewer (www.thebookreviewer.ca)
Title of Book: The Bunion Derby
Author: Charles B. Kastner
Narrator: Andrew L. Barnes
Publisher: University of New Mexico Press
Date of Publication: 2015
Time: 6 hours and 36 minutes
“99 bottles of beer on the wall,
99 bottles of beer,
and if one of those bottles should happen to fall,
98 bottles of beer on the wall . . . “
- Drinking Song
The Bunion Derby, a timepiece of American history, tells the story of a footrace from San Francisco to New York City along Route 66 in 1928. But this was no ordinary footrace, advertising the newly built across-America roadway, the event would take 84 days, covering 3,400 miles “through extreme and varied terrain” including deserts, windstorms, mountains, rain and mud on a road that was largely hardbake and only paved in rare spots, for a grand prize of $25,000 ($3 - $4 million in todays monies). The event was an extravaganza, bigger than any Hollywood Production with a travelling carnival, convoy of cars and busses with 2 huge 24,000 lbs. busses for journalists and the organizers, a cast of sports stars, the promotion of products (the Maxwell House coffee company created the world's largest coffee pot serving 90 gallons of coffee a day, and paid $5,000 for the promotion), and a huge tent city was put up and taken down every day. A chronology of athletes, time and place, a retelling of each day includes a description of countryside and towns, who was ailing, who won that day and how many men were still in the race. The race began with 199 athletes, every day some of the racers would drop out, one got a note from his wife to get home, most had ailments (blisters, infections, shin splints) and fatigue. Each runner was clocked everyday, so the winner was based on the one who completed the entire race in the less time.
As “The Bunion Derby” rolled into town, the townsfolk dropped monies on Charles C. Pyle’s spectacular carnival event. Mr. Pyle, the organizer of what was officially known as “First Annual Transcontinental Footrace”, a businessman, running theater companies, hired famous football player, Red Grange with the Chicago Bears as his assistant. Free food and board was advertised for the racers and often cars were parked 3 and 4 abreast along the route with crowds of onlookers. Attracting runners and hopefuls from all over North America, Europe and the world, a handful were famous or semi-famous, Eddie Gardener “the Sheik of Seattle” (a Black American runner), Sammy Robinson “Smiling Sammy” (a Black professional boxer), Harland Johnson (a Black movie actor, boxer), Lucien Frost (an actor looking for publicity to revive his career), Patrick DeBar (boxer), Mike Kelly (boxer), Johnny Salo (runner born in Finland), Willy Schurer (professional runner from Finland), Peter Gavuzzi (runner from England), Harry Gunn (the millionaire’s son) and the “shadow runners”, the poor, farmers and a few American Indians and Blacks. The lucky few had assistants, people in a car or motor bike with food and drink, change of sneakers and clothing, linement and grease for sunburn. The entire country, if not the world, was entranced as local newspapers and radio interviewed contenders and locals, discussing strategy and picking their favourites, "who would win a runner or a walker?" "would anyone even finish such a grueling long distance race?"
An excellent third person narrative, the writing is pared in, and eloquent, telling the truth about the conditions of the foot race through both the white and the Black press. Narrated in the deep voice of Andrew L. Barnes in a Southern States accent, the audiobook captivates and if you close your eyes, you can be transported back in history. The year was 1928, the golden years of America at their zenith, just before the stock market crash of 1929. Cars had just been invented and 1 in 5 people owned one causing the mass production of roadways. Radio, another new invention, captured the public’s imagination as people in rural and the new citystate America, would gather around and listen to their favourite songs and radio shows.
The runners with monies, a trainer or a crew that followed them along the route seemed to fare better than the lone runners. There was a medical team and people with food that aided the runners and a long list of afflictions, blisters, throat infections, cramps, toothache . . . and the chef quit near the beginning of the run so Charlie Pyle had to give the men $1.50 per day food ration. Long distance runners consume huge amounts of food and some were not able to get the nutrition they needed. Those that could afford to staid in local hotels, the rest staid in a huge tent with cots, but it became evident early on that the organizers had forgotten they would need laundry done and this made for very uncomfortable conditions with dirty sheets and cots. The carnival people were not paid very well and were accused of stealing and the “coochi” girls were sometimes of questionable character. Usually, "the bunion derby" was welcomed with open arms, however, the mayor of Albuqerque had heard the stories and would not allow Charlie Pyle’s carnival inside city limits. In Texas the crowds were abominable to the Black athletes, threatening them, the international athletes were embarrassed and would not segregate the Black runners. Mr. Pyle was beset by financial problems and litigation, making people wonder if the winners would even be paid. By Day 74, there were 55 men and 10 days to go to reach New York, New York, with the frontrunners Johnny Salo, Andy Payne, Philip Granville, Mike Joyce, Eddie Gardener amongst others, all vying for position, 10 of the remaining 55 runners, took honours. Andy Payne, a little known part Cherokee Indian farmer from Oklahoma won the $25,000 first prize and used his winnings to pay off the mortgage on his family’s farm. The final ceremony takes place at Madison Square Gardens, with only about 400 onlookers, (most of the huge crowds had seen the racers for free outside the arena and would not pay the door tab), the winners are awarded pink cheques. After the ceremony the remaining runners looked up Charlie Pyle for the return of their $100 entrance fee, as promised, to get back home.
The stories surrounding the people of “The Bunion Derby” and the camaraderie and rivalry of the men, their families and the communities they ran through goes down in American history. History within history, all the players, their lives and times. The Bunion Derby by Charles B. Kastner, Narrated by Andrew L. Barnes.
Genre: AudioBooks, History, Black Issues, NonFiction, Sports
Byline: The Book Reviewer (www.thebookreviewer.ca)
Title of Book: The Bunion Derby
Author: Charles B. Kastner
Narrator: Andrew L. Barnes
Publisher: University of New Mexico Press
Date of Publication: 2015
Time: 6 hours and 36 minutes
“99 bottles of beer on the wall,
99 bottles of beer,
and if one of those bottles should happen to fall,
98 bottles of beer on the wall . . . “
- Drinking Song
The Bunion Derby, a timepiece of American history, tells the story of a footrace from San Francisco to New York City along Route 66 in 1928. But this was no ordinary footrace, advertising the newly built across-America roadway, the event would take 84 days, covering 3,400 miles “through extreme and varied terrain” including deserts, windstorms, mountains, rain and mud on a road that was largely hardbake and only paved in rare spots, for a grand prize of $25,000 ($3 - $4 million in todays monies). The event was an extravaganza, bigger than any Hollywood Production with a travelling carnival, convoy of cars and busses with 2 huge 24,000 lbs. busses for journalists and the organizers, a cast of sports stars, the promotion of products (the Maxwell House coffee company created the world's largest coffee pot serving 90 gallons of coffee a day, and paid $5,000 for the promotion), and a huge tent city was put up and taken down every day. A chronology of athletes, time and place, a retelling of each day includes a description of countryside and towns, who was ailing, who won that day and how many men were still in the race. The race began with 199 athletes, every day some of the racers would drop out, one got a note from his wife to get home, most had ailments (blisters, infections, shin splints) and fatigue. Each runner was clocked everyday, so the winner was based on the one who completed the entire race in the less time.
As “The Bunion Derby” rolled into town, the townsfolk dropped monies on Charles C. Pyle’s spectacular carnival event. Mr. Pyle, the organizer of what was officially known as “First Annual Transcontinental Footrace”, a businessman, running theater companies, hired famous football player, Red Grange with the Chicago Bears as his assistant. Free food and board was advertised for the racers and often cars were parked 3 and 4 abreast along the route with crowds of onlookers. Attracting runners and hopefuls from all over North America, Europe and the world, a handful were famous or semi-famous, Eddie Gardener “the Sheik of Seattle” (a Black American runner), Sammy Robinson “Smiling Sammy” (a Black professional boxer), Harland Johnson (a Black movie actor, boxer), Lucien Frost (an actor looking for publicity to revive his career), Patrick DeBar (boxer), Mike Kelly (boxer), Johnny Salo (runner born in Finland), Willy Schurer (professional runner from Finland), Peter Gavuzzi (runner from England), Harry Gunn (the millionaire’s son) and the “shadow runners”, the poor, farmers and a few American Indians and Blacks. The lucky few had assistants, people in a car or motor bike with food and drink, change of sneakers and clothing, linement and grease for sunburn. The entire country, if not the world, was entranced as local newspapers and radio interviewed contenders and locals, discussing strategy and picking their favourites, "who would win a runner or a walker?" "would anyone even finish such a grueling long distance race?"
An excellent third person narrative, the writing is pared in, and eloquent, telling the truth about the conditions of the foot race through both the white and the Black press. Narrated in the deep voice of Andrew L. Barnes in a Southern States accent, the audiobook captivates and if you close your eyes, you can be transported back in history. The year was 1928, the golden years of America at their zenith, just before the stock market crash of 1929. Cars had just been invented and 1 in 5 people owned one causing the mass production of roadways. Radio, another new invention, captured the public’s imagination as people in rural and the new citystate America, would gather around and listen to their favourite songs and radio shows.
The runners with monies, a trainer or a crew that followed them along the route seemed to fare better than the lone runners. There was a medical team and people with food that aided the runners and a long list of afflictions, blisters, throat infections, cramps, toothache . . . and the chef quit near the beginning of the run so Charlie Pyle had to give the men $1.50 per day food ration. Long distance runners consume huge amounts of food and some were not able to get the nutrition they needed. Those that could afford to staid in local hotels, the rest staid in a huge tent with cots, but it became evident early on that the organizers had forgotten they would need laundry done and this made for very uncomfortable conditions with dirty sheets and cots. The carnival people were not paid very well and were accused of stealing and the “coochi” girls were sometimes of questionable character. Usually, "the bunion derby" was welcomed with open arms, however, the mayor of Albuqerque had heard the stories and would not allow Charlie Pyle’s carnival inside city limits. In Texas the crowds were abominable to the Black athletes, threatening them, the international athletes were embarrassed and would not segregate the Black runners. Mr. Pyle was beset by financial problems and litigation, making people wonder if the winners would even be paid. By Day 74, there were 55 men and 10 days to go to reach New York, New York, with the frontrunners Johnny Salo, Andy Payne, Philip Granville, Mike Joyce, Eddie Gardener amongst others, all vying for position, 10 of the remaining 55 runners, took honours. Andy Payne, a little known part Cherokee Indian farmer from Oklahoma won the $25,000 first prize and used his winnings to pay off the mortgage on his family’s farm. The final ceremony takes place at Madison Square Gardens, with only about 400 onlookers, (most of the huge crowds had seen the racers for free outside the arena and would not pay the door tab), the winners are awarded pink cheques. After the ceremony the remaining runners looked up Charlie Pyle for the return of their $100 entrance fee, as promised, to get back home.
The stories surrounding the people of “The Bunion Derby” and the camaraderie and rivalry of the men, their families and the communities they ran through goes down in American history. History within history, all the players, their lives and times. The Bunion Derby by Charles B. Kastner, Narrated by Andrew L. Barnes.
Genre: AudioBooks, History, Black Issues, NonFiction, Sports
February 11, 2020
As a former distance runner, I was interested in getting a historical and cultural perspective on some of the multi-day distance running spectacles of this era. To some extent the book provided this in its more interesting sections. However, too much of the book was simply a recitation of how each runner placed in each of the stage races and what the weather and environmental conditions were that day. The book would have benefited from more human, cultural, and historical story-telling and less recitation of facts in narrative form. The book's format of covering each day's race (84 days!) in a stand-alone section, likely contributed to that--the fault of the book's editor more than the book's author.
January 23, 2016
A Review of the Audiobook
Published by University Press Audiobooks in 2015
Read by Andrew L. Barnes
Duration: 6 hours, 36 minutes
Unabridged
In 1928 a sports promoter named Charles C. Pyle had an interesting idea: a footrace across America - from Los Angeles to New York City. This race would be run in timed stages (like the Tour de France) with pre-planned stops along the way. The winner would get $10,000 and the first two-thirds of the race would highlight Route 66.
Pyle brought in legendary football player Red Grange as a celebrity promoter and made grand plans for each stop, including a travelling carnival.
199 men paid the $100 entrance fee and started the race. 55 made it to the end. Along the way they ...
Read more at: http://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/2016/...
Published by University Press Audiobooks in 2015
Read by Andrew L. Barnes
Duration: 6 hours, 36 minutes
Unabridged
In 1928 a sports promoter named Charles C. Pyle had an interesting idea: a footrace across America - from Los Angeles to New York City. This race would be run in timed stages (like the Tour de France) with pre-planned stops along the way. The winner would get $10,000 and the first two-thirds of the race would highlight Route 66.
Pyle brought in legendary football player Red Grange as a celebrity promoter and made grand plans for each stop, including a travelling carnival.
199 men paid the $100 entrance fee and started the race. 55 made it to the end. Along the way they ...
Read more at: http://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/2016/...
September 24, 2013
An exhilarating and inspirational journey across America with some of the world's first, and finest ultra-marathoners. One hundred and ninety nine runners left Los Angeles on March 4th, 1928 in an endurance race through deserts and mountains, amid torrential rains and blinding snow and upon highways we would hardly consider as cow paths - by today's standards.
Included among their ranks were world-renowned racers from England, Scotland and Switzerland along with an Oklahoma farm boy, a Seattle-born iron worker and a Hollywood actor.
A true story of athletic achievement that truly challenged the limits of human endurance.
Included among their ranks were world-renowned racers from England, Scotland and Switzerland along with an Oklahoma farm boy, a Seattle-born iron worker and a Hollywood actor.
A true story of athletic achievement that truly challenged the limits of human endurance.
January 30, 2008
I enjoyed this book, both from the standpoint of the amazing accomplishment those that undertook such a mind boggling challenge (running across the country, from LA to NYC in 1928, far before the advent of coolmax clothing, good running shoes, nutrition know-how, etc.) and also from the standpoint of the promoter and the logistics of the event.
I learned a lot and found it an enjoyable read.
I learned a lot and found it an enjoyable read.
April 2, 2011
An interesting race I knew nothing about. Very well researched.
July 21, 2015
This was an important part of running history that so few of us runners know about. Never has running and life been so intertwined. A very good read for runners and non-runners.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews