On October 1 1972, I was a 16 year old senior at Long Island City HS (Queens NYC). I wanted to get out for the day and noticed in the NY Times Sports page the NYC Marathon was scheduled in Central Park. I was active in basketball & gym, so I figured I'll get some exercise.
I put on the prize of my wardrobe, a University of Maryland sweatshirt. My neighbor, Howard, was Lefty Driesell's business partner in insurance and would occasionally bring athletes down to College Park. Back then you could only get school apparel at the school, and Howard brought back lots of Maryland stuff. I was already a devoted Terp.
I took the subway (RR train from Broadway in Astoria) to Central Park. Registration for the New York City Marathon was in a "Y." It was $3 to register. They gave me a locker key, a program, two #265 cards and four small safety pins to put on the numbers (front & back).
I was putting my sweatshirt in the locker when a guy came over, "Do you go to Maryland?" I said "No...not yet...but I will be...I hope to." He introduced himself as Shelly, his name was Sheldon Karlin. He was a U of Maryland student from Silver Spring, MD.
Shelly told me he was on the Maryland Track Team, then his father came over and went into a tirade about Maryland AD Jim Kehoe. Bottom line, Shelly was caught drinking a beer when the team was at an out of town meet and was suspended from the team.
Shelly & I wished each other luck.
The NYC Marathon was one (1) 2.2 mile lap & four (4) 6 mile laps within Central Park on the outer main path. The women, there were 10 or so, start 15 minutes earlier than the men. When the whistle sounded, all the women sat down. I was unaware that an "Equality Protest" was planned. Some news photographers took pictures. The women wanted to run at the same start as the men. When the men took off 15 minutes later, the women began their run. Officially, all the women times include the 15 min they sat down.
Shelly passed me a few times and called over words of encouragement. I did walk 8 miles that day. When I got to the finish line (after one lap) and quit, who do you think was coming in for the win?
Sheldon "Shelly" Karlin - a Student from The University of Maryland at College Park MD - hometown Silver Spring MD - Winner of the Third Annual New York City Marathon.
After he hugged his Dad, he came over to me, said "Go Terps!!" as we shook hands.
If you every hear from Shelly, please let him know, I'm Proud to be a Terp too.
**Update Dec 2, 2010 - I received an e-mail from Matthew Karlin that his father, Sheldon, had passed away in July 2000. My memory of Shelly is watching him crossing the finish line as NYC Marathon Champion & Proud Terp.
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